Techmeme: Xbox One voice commands will only work fully in some launch countries, languages (Richard Lawler/Engadget)

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August 30, 2013, 5:20 AM

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Washington Post:

U.S. spy network's successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary — U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats …

More: Wired, memeburn, TechCrunch, Techdirt, Guardian, The Switch, The Verge, ZDNet, VentureBeat, The Daily Caller, It's a Gadget, WorldViews, Boing Boing, Ars Technica, Hillicon Valley and Gawker

Tweets: @washingtonpost, @percival, @shanewharris, @declanm, @laughingstoic, @declanm, @kgosztola, @rj_gallagher, @bencnn, @gregorydjohnsen, @declanm, @wlpress, @yahoo, @nycjim and @granick

Patrick Gray / Wired:

Tech Companies and Government May Soon Go to War Over Surveillance — Everyone assumes that technology companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google don't care that their customers are being spied on. I don't believe that's true. — On the very day the media dropped detailed documents …

Tweets: @dangillmor and @jilliancyork

Andrea Peterson / The Switch:

The NSA has its own team of elite hackers — Our Post colleagues have had a busy day. First, they released documents revealing the U.S. intelligence budget from National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden. Then they recounted exactly how the hunt for Osama bin Laden went down.

More: SlashGear. Tweets: @percival, @vinceinthebay, @virusbtn and @csoghoian

Washington Post:

NSA paying U.S. companies for access to communications networks

More: The Daily Caller. Tweets: @abbyohlheiser, @karabrandeisky, @emptywheel, @paleofuture, @starchy, @billmon1, @csoghoian, @timothys and @kgosztola

Washington Post:

Inside the 2013 U.S. intelligence ‘black budget’

More: Salon and Business Insider. Tweets: @bcmerchant, @kaymee, @azmatzahra and @declanm

Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:

More Galaxy Gear details leak: 10 hour battery life, two storage options — We've already heard most of the details on Samsung's smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, but there's still room (and time) for some more information. The latest leaks from AmongTech confirm what our sources have told us but with the addition of a few more tidibts.

More: AmongTech, Gearburn, CNET, Android Community, TechnoBuffalo, Examiner, Gotta Be Mobile, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, pocketnow.com, MobileSyrup.com and Digital Trends

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:

Screenshots of Samsung's ‘Galaxy Gear’ smartwatch companion app leak ahead of Sept. 4 unveiling — We've been hearing a lot about Samsung's upcoming smartwatch dubbed “Galaxy Gear” in recent weeks, and just a few days ago Samsung's Lee Young-hee confirmed that the device …

More: The Verge, Sammy Hub, Android Beat, Mashable, Android Police, Pocket-lint, pocketnow.com, Gizmodo, TechnoBuffalo, Fone Arena and IntoMobile

Tweets: @evleaks and @charlesarthur

Bloomberg:

Microsoft Is Said to Be in Talks to Invest in Foursquare — Microsoft is in talks with Foursquare about a potential investment in the social-media company, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. The talks are at an advanced stage, said two of the people …

More: BGR India, PhoneArena, GigaOM, Ubergizmo, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, ScreenwerkScreenwerk, Reuters, ValueWalk, TechCrunch, The Next Web, ZDNet, Digits and WMPoweruser

Tweets: @amir and @dcurtis

See also Mediagazer

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

Foursquare Said in Talks for Strategic Investment

More: GigaOM, GeekWire, Business Insider, ValueWalk and WebProNews

Tweets: @sarahfrier and @sarahfrier

Thanks:@mattlynley

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple begins training support staff on iOS 7 & iTunes Radio, preparing for customer surprise — Apple has started training its AppleCare technical support staff on the changes and feature-set of iOS 7, according to multiple AppleCare employees. These people say that training began today …

More: Guardian, iDownloadBlog.com, IntoMobile, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, PadGadget, ValueWalk, MacNN, Gotta Be Mobile, App Advice, iClarified and MacRumors. Tweets: @markgurman. Thanks:@jordankahn

Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:

Three Months After Being Banned From The App Store, Bang With Friends Returns As “Down” — They're baaack. — Bang With Friends, the Facebook friend hookup app that seemed to be endlessly engulfed in one controversy or another earlier this year, is returning to the iOS App Store …

More: Macgasm, IntoMobile, GeekWire, Betabeat and The Verge. Tweets: @qthrul

Kevin Fitchard / GigaOM:

Nokia unveils its connected car platform: Here Auto — After years of being the auto industry's mapmaker, Nokia on Friday announced its intention to become a much bigger technological force in the vehicle. Nokia took the wraps off of Here Auto, an embedded infotainment and connected car system …

More: The Next Web, TechCrunch, Engadget, Nokia Conversations, Nokia Conversations, Ubergizmo and Windows Phone Central

Joanna Stern / ABC News:

Twitter Conversations New Blue Line Causing Many Twitter Users to Feel Blue … Twitter made some updates on Wednesday to its apps and its website, as it does from time to time. The biggest change was intended to make it easier to keep up with conversations on the social network.

More: CNET, The Atlantic Wire, Bijan Sabet, CNN, Fortune, Los Angeles Times, POPSUGAR and Slate

Tweets: @hunterwalk, @_theblueline, @parislemon, @zpower, @jbrodkin, @zpower, @parislemon, @gaberivera, @mat, @levie and @mattbuchanan

Michael Steeber / 9to5Mac:

Gold, Graphite iPhone 5S shells shown on video, structure compared to iPhone 5 — In what seems to be a never-ending string of “gold” iPhone 5S part leaks, new high-quality videos analyze what appear to be legitimate rear shells for the upcoming iPhone 5S...

More: Gearburn, MacRumors, AppleTell, SlashGear, iDownloadBlog.com, everythingiCafe, TechnoBuffalo and iPhone Hacks

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft makes latest Surface price cuts permanent — Summary: Microsoft is cutting prices on Surface Pro, Surface RT and touch covers and making those cuts permanent, rather than promotional. — Microsoft has made previously temporary price-cut promotions for its Surface devices permanent.

More: Pocket-lint, PC Pro, Softpedia News, SlashGear, The Verge, WinBeta and Engadget

Harry Brignull / The Verge:

Dark Patterns: inside the interfaces designed to trick you — These carefully crafted elements are built to misdirect and confuse — Harry Brignull is a London, UK-based independent user experience designer with a PhD in cognitive science. He is also the founder of Dark Patterns …

Alexei Oreskovic / Reuters:

Facebook considers adding profile photos to facial recognition — (Reuters) - Facebook Inc is considering incorporating most of its 1 billion-plus members' profile photos into its growing facial recognition database, expanding the scope of the social network's controversial technology.

More: Facebook, VentureBeat, Washington Post, BGR India, The Technology Chronicles, Hillicon Valley, Marketing Land, WebProNews, The Verge, Computerworld, AllFacebook, TechHive, GigaOM and Inside Facebook. Tweets: @nsqe

Jennifer Van Grove / CNET:

Facebook forced to clarify how it's using your data for ads

More: AllThingsD, TechCrunch, Digits, San Francisco Chronicle, ReadWrite, Engadget and The Next Web

Tweets: @dangillmor and @waltmossberg

Scott Buscemi / 9to5Mac:

Text-based bug that crashes apps in OS X 10.8 & iOS 6 discovered, fixed in OS X 10.9 and iOS 7 — An exploit publicly announced yesterday (picture of source page available here - won't force a crash) shows how a string of Arabic characters can crash applications in OS X 10.8 and iOS 6.

More: Ars Technica, TechCrunch, MacNN, The Mac Observer, TechnoBuffalo, PC Magazine, TUAW, iMore and MacRumors

AppleInsider:

Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac launches with cloud storage support, Windows 8 Start button, 40% faster read times — Existing Parallels users can now get their hands on Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac, the latest version of the virtualization software that lets Mac users run Windows applications natively …

More: Ars Technica, Business Wire, Windows Phone Central, Engadget, Macworld, MacRumors and 9to5Mac

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Xbox One voice commands will only work fully in some launch countries, languages — Earlier this month Microsoft trimmed the list of countries where its Xbox One will launch to 13, and now it's revealed the new Kinect voice commands will only support all of its features in some of them.

Brandon Russell / TechnoBuffalo:

BBM for Android and iPhone Gets Landing Page, Launch Imminent — It won't be long until BlackBerry Messenger is out on more platforms. But before the service officially launches, the company has set up a landing page to help familiarize Android and iPhone users with what BBM has to offer.

More: CrackBerry.com, iMore, Engadget, BerryReview, BGR India, SlashGear, pocketnow.com, BGR, Gotta Be Mobile and Android Phone Fans. Tweets: @simonpb

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