Techmeme: Messaging service Line gets updated with video calls and Vine-like Snap Movie feature (Kaylene Hong/The Next Web)

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September 24, 2013, 11:15 AM

Top News

George Chen / South China Morning Post:

EXCLUSIVE: China to lift ban on Facebook - but only within Shanghai free-trade zone — Beijing has made the landmark decision to lift a ban on internet access within the Shanghai Free-trade Zone to foreign websites considered politically sensitive by the Chinese government, including Facebook …

More: Quartz, CNET, AllFacebook, SiliconANGLE, BBC, VentureBeat, The Switch, Reuters, TechCrunch, The Verge, Business Insider, TechEye, GigaOM, Gizmodo, Engadget, ZDNet, SocialTimes, The Next Web, The Register and Softpedia News. Tweets: @markmackinnon

Chris Ciaccia / TheStreet.com:

Exclusive: Twitter Picks NYSE for $1.5B IPO — NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Looking to learn from the past, social media company Twitter will list on the New York Stock Exchange in an IPO estimated to net around $1.5 billion, sources close to the situation have said.

More: VentureBeat, The Atlantic Wire, The Verge, SlashGear, Forbes, bizjournals, Softpedia News, Mashable, WebProNews and Financial Times

Tweets: @finansakrobat, @cgasparino, @danprimack, @defcon_5, @pkafka and @chris_ciaccia

DealBook:

BlackBerry Buyout Offer Raises Array of Questions — An offer to take BlackBerry private does not end the uncertainty surrounding the ailing smartphone maker. — BlackBerry said on Monday that it had signed a letter of intent from a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings …

More: Wired, SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg and IntoMobile. Tweets: @owlese

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

What Does Prem Watsa See in BlackBerry? — © University of Waterloo, Graphics, Photo/Imaging — With the announcement of its proposed $4.7 billion takeover bid, Fairfax Financial Holdings and its chairman, Prem Watsa, answered the long-running question, “Who would ever buy BlackBerry?”

More: Quartz, The Verge and Mashable

BlackBerry:

BlackBerry Enters into Letter of Intent with Consortium led by Fairfax Financial

More: Globe and Mail, eWeek, AllThingsD, MoneyBeat, The Verge, Reuters, CrackBerry.com, Digital Trends, Tech Trader Daily, T3 News, MediaNama, ZDNet, Wired.co.uk, CNBC, Ubergizmo, CNNMoney.com, Wired, BuzzFeed and Computerworld

Tweets: @levie, @qhardy, @davidmarcus, @chchien, @zseward, @davidfaber, @reckless, @miketrose, @danprimack, @caseynewton and @tim_stevens

David Benoit / MoneyBeat:

Meet Prem Watsa: The Man Riding to BlackBerry's Rescue

Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:

Full Remote Device Lockdown Is Now Live In The Android Device Manager, Instantly Overrides Previous Lock Settings With Specified Password — In our recent APK/website teardown, we unearthed Android's upcoming remote device lock functionality through Google Play Services, and now it has quietly gone live in the Android Device Manager.

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Purported iOS 7 bug logs users out of popular apps like Mailbox and Snapchat — An apparent bug in Apple's iOS 7 software is repeatedly logging users out of several apps like Mailbox, Snapchat, and Loom. The Verge has confirmed the issue directly with a few of the affected companies.

More: Softpedia News, iMore, Phones Review, iPhone in Canada Blog, iPhone Hacks, App Advice, AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog and GeekWire

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Following criticism & lawsuit, Apple refunding Breaking Bad iTunes Season Passes — In August, we noted that iTunes was offering Season Passes of the popular show Breaking Bad in a split-up format. For Season 5 of the show, the first eight episodes was under one iTunes purchase …

More: The Verge, BBC, Engadget, MacRumors, GigaOM, Inquirer, TechnoBuffalo, Gotta Be Mobile, blog.chron.com, iPhone, The Next Web, App Advice, iMore, I4U News, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, Forbes and Insanely Great Mac

Tweets: @gaberivera and @mikebeas

See also Mediagazer

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

After botched debut, new Apple TV update is back with fixes — After releasing a buggy version of new Apple TV software last week (and subsequently removing it from download) Apple has issued a new version of the update to Apple TV users. The new version is labeled Apple TV Software 6.0, and it comes in at build number 11A502.

More: TechCrunch, GigaOM, AppleInsider, The Verge, iPhone, SlashGear, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, Electronista, iMore, Engadget, CNET, GadgetGuide4U and Mashable. See also Mediagazer

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple launches faster iMacs with 802.11ac WiFi, Pro graphics, improved Flash — Apple has launched an updated line of iMacs with faster processors, improved graphics, faster 802.11ac WiFi connectivity, and improved Flash storage. The new iMacs are now available from Apple's online store.

More: Apple, Ars Technica, Inquirer, InfoWorld, GigaOM, Macworld, iMore, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Gizmodo, CNET, The Verge, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Next Web, AllThingsD, Softpedia News, TIME, Bloomberg, Yahoo! News, I4U News, WebProNews, App Advice, The Loop, Insanely Great Mac, Gotta Be Mobile, The Mac Observer, Cult of Mac, Mashable, TUAW, iDownloadBlog.com and Electronista

Tweets: @benedictevans and @tim_stevens

Jason Del Rey / AllThingsD:

Intuit Overhauls QuickBooks Online as Competition for Small Businesses Ramps Up — Intuit today is unveiling a drastic overhaul of its QuickBooks Online accounting software for small businesses. The redesign takes visual cues from Mint.com, the personal finance website that Intuit acquired in 2009 …

More: The Next Web, PC World and Entrepreneur. Tweets: @flyosity

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Adobe Unveils Photoshop and Premiere Elements 12 for Mac — Adobe today released new versions of Photoshop and Premiere Elements, its lower-cost photo and video editing software aimed at consumers. Photoshop Elements 12 and Premiere Elements 12 have been revamped with several new features, focusing heavily on mobile integration.

More: Inquirer, The Verge, iMore, iClarified, VentureBeat, Softpedia News, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, Macworld, Electronista, Gizmodo, TUAW, Engadget, CNET, AppleInsider and I4U News

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

U.S. trade panel judge says HTC violates Nokia patents — (Reuters) - HTC Corporation infringed on two Nokia Corp patents in making its mobile telephones and tablets, a judge said in a preliminary ruling for the U.S. International Trade Commission. — HTC was found to have infringed …

More: CNET, GeekWire, FOSS Patents, Inquirer, ZDNet, Android Community, WMPoweruser, Phones Review, Electronista, TechnoBuffalo, The Next Web and SlashGear. Tweets: @binarybits

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:

Messaging service Line gets updated with video calls and Vine-like Snap Movie feature — Japanese messaging service Line is moving beyond just texts and stickers to include video features, as it continues introducing new (and more creative) ways of communicating in its march to become a content platform.

More: LINE official blog, Tech in Asia, Engadget, TechCrunch and SlashGear

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 now available for pre-order — As Microsoft announced at its launch event yesterday, the new Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets are now available for pre-order, with shipments expected for October 21st. The Surface 2 starts at $449 for the 32GB model, while the 64GB version is $549.

More: BetaNews, istartedsomething and WindowsObserver.com

Andrew Bocking / Inside BlackBerry:

BBM for Android and iPhone will not launch this week following leak of unreleased version — BBM for Android and iPhone Update - Note from the head of BBM — This is Andrew Bocking, head of BBM at BlackBerry. As a follow up to our first blog post on Saturday, I want to take a moment …

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Google looks to drop Netscape Plugin API support in Chrome, starting with blocking most plugins in January 2014 — Google today announced it is dropping Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) in Chrome. The company will be phasing out support over the coming year …

More: Chromium Blog, TechCrunch, TechEye, Softpedia News, gHacks Technology News, ZDNet, Lifehacker, AndroidHeadlines.com and Google Operating System

Tweets: @danctheduck and @thebeebs

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

EBay Debuts Its Answer To Amazon Lockers: Click & Collect At Retail Stores, While eBay Now Goes Abroad — E-commerce giant eBay today made its latest moves to blur the lines between online and offline commerce, and it's chosen the UK to do it: it launched a new “Click & Collect” service …

More: The Next Web, ZDNet, Business Wire, Inquirer and The Verge

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Partners With PayPal, Stripe, Braintree To Autofill Billing Info In Mobile Commerce Apps — Facebook wants to put an end to typing billing details on the small screen, help developers and payment processors earn more money, and prove that its app install ads make money for e-commerce companies.

More: The Verge, AllFacebook, Softpedia News, MobilePaymentsToday.com News, CNET, Business Insider, Marketing Pilgrim, Business Insider, SlashGear and Inside Facebook. Tweets: @tedr

Ki Mae Heussner / GigaOM:

Finally, FDA tells mobile health app developers what it plans to regulate — More than two years after issuing its draft guidance on the regulation of mobile health apps, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finally released its final guidelines. — By some counts, there are about …

More: Food and Drug Administration, Computerworld, New York Times, AllThingsD, WebProNews, Engadget, VentureBeat and CNET

Takashi Amano / Bloomberg:

Applied Materials to Buy Tokyo Electron for $9.39 Billion — Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT), the largest chipmaking equipment supplier, agreed to acquire Tokyo Electron Ltd. (8035) for $9.39 billion in stock in the largest deal for a Japanese company from outside the country in six years.

More: Digits, GigaOM, Reuters, Tech Trader Daily, Associated Press, Pulse 2.0, DealBook and Wall Street Journal

Brian Klug / AnandTech:

Moto X Update Dramatically Improves Camera Quality — In my Moto X review, I characterized camera performance and quality as very bimodal. In some scenes it could take great photos, in others it seemed to struggle and either produce images that looked somewhat washed out with weird white balance or aggressive noise reduction.

More: Droid Life, TechSpot, Android Community, 9to5Google and Android Authority

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