Techmeme: Samsung eyes software acquisitions, has evaluated several gaming and mapping startups (Wall Street Journal)

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October 8, 2013, 3:45 PM

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Bloomberg:

Samsung Loses Bid for Presidential Veto of Apple-Won Import Ban — Samsung Electronics Co. must stop importing certain models of its smartphones and tablet computers after President Barack Obama's administration let stand a ban won by Apple Inc. in a patent-infringement dispute.

More: The Verge, Examiner, BGR, AllThingsD, AppleInsider, ZDNet, Washington Post, MacRumors, Computerworld, 9to5Google, Engadget, PhoneArena, GigaOM, SlashGear, Business Insider, iPhone in Canada Blog, App Advice, Patently Apple, iClarified and Electronista. Tweets: @dangillmor

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Older Samsung phones banned from US as trade order goes into effect

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Office for iPad will debut after Microsoft's touch-friendly Windows version — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has revealed that the company is planning to bring Office to the iPad with a touch user interface. Speaking at a Gartner event in Florida today, Ballmer said “iPad will be picked up when there's a touch first user interface.”

Steven Levy / Wired:

Nest Gives the Lowly Smoke Detector a Brain — And a Voice — One day in June, about 20 engineers and managers at the startup company Nest went on a field trip. They didn't need to pack a lunch. Their destination: a storage closet near the bathrooms at their new headquarters in Palo Alto.

More: Nest, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, StrictlyVC, 9to5Mac, ABC News, Business Insider, iLounge, CNET, Reuters, NYT Bits, stratechery and Gotta Be Mobile

Tweets: @stevenlevy, @tfadell, @dangillmor and @jess

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Nest unveils its $129 Protect smoke and carbon monoxide detector, available from November — Connected home provider Nest is expanding its offering as launches a new product designed to redefine what you come to expect out of appliances in your domicile. On sale this November …

More: GeekWire, The Verge, GigaOM, ZDNet, VentureBeat, AppleInsider, BetaNews, Associated Press, TechHive, Ars Technica, AllThingsD, MacRumors, Guardian, everythingiCafe, iMore, Los Angeles Times, TUAW and Fortune

Sarah Silbert / Engadget:

Google announces HP Chromebook 11 for $279, we go hands-on — Today Google announced some new hardware: the HP Chromebook 11. Priced at $279, this 11-incher is available today, and we've already spent had a change to get our hands on several units. — The laptop is sleek and attractive …

More: The Official Google Blog, The Next Bench Blog, GeekWire, The Verge, ZDNet, Ars Technica, Softpedia News, TechCrunch, ABC News, Ars Technica, Technology Personalized, The Next Web, Android Beat, Electronista, CNET, LAPTOP Magazine and GigaOM. Tweets: @stshank

Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:

Yahoo Redux: HP Says “All Hands on Deck” Needed, Requiring Most Employees to Work at the Office (Memo) — Computing and technology services giant Hewlett-Packard, which appears to be taking a page from Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, has quietly begun enacting a policy requiring employees to work from the office and not from home.

More: SiliconBeat, NYT Bits, Dice News, Signal vs. Noise, bizjournals and Business Insider

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Amazon's ‘Login and Pay with Amazon’ Service Challenges PayPal For The Web's Payment Business — Amazon launched a service called Login and Pay with Amazon today at Money 2020 that lets partner sites enable a payments button that will compete with PayPal and credit cards for customer checkout.

More: Amazon.com, Engadget, GeekWire, The Verge, Gizmodo, ZDNet, The Next Web and Payments News

Wall Street Journal:

Samsung eyes software acquisitions, has evaluated several gaming and mapping startups — A Weak Spot for Samsung? — South Korean Giant Weighs Software Deals to Better Compete With Apple, Google — Samsung Electronics Co. is stepping up its hunt for acquisitions and building …

More: BGR, SlashGear, MobileBurn.com, The Verge and AndroidGuys. Tweets: @scottmaustin

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Yahoo Mail Gets Cross-Platform Themes, 1TB of Storage, ‘Mail Plus’ Features For All And Better ‘Conversations’ — Yahoo is updating its Mail app across all platforms with a fresh design that includes syncing themes, a new compose experience, collapsible toolbar and better handling of threaded conversations.

More: Yahoo, The Verge, Yahoo Mail, Associated Press, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Engadget, Softpedia News, iPhone, Mashable, iDownloadBlog.com and Electronista

Artem Russakovskii / Android Police:

All But Confirmed - Google Hangouts 1.3 Screenshots Suggest SMS/MMS Integration; Video Sharing Capabilities Coming Too — Several days ago, I started a series of rumor posts on my personal Google+ account discussing some Android rumors I felt were interesting enough to share …

More: VentureBeat, TechCrunch, TechHive, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, Gotta Be Mobile, iDownloadBlog.com, IntoMobile, GigaOM, CNET, The Droid Guy, 9to5Google, Phones Review, Engadget, AndroidHeadlines.com and Droid Life

Siobhan Gorman / Wall Street Journal:

Meltdowns Hobble NSA Data Center — Investigators Stumped by What's Causing Power Surges That Destroy Equipment — Chronic electrical surges at the massive new data-storage facility central to the National Security Agency's spying operation have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth …

More: The Register, Forbes, Associated Press, The Verge, TechCrunch, Wired, NEWS.com.au, Business Insider, The Switch, BBC, Web Host Industry Review, Gizmodo, Nextgov, ITworld.com, The Atlantic Wire and Ars Technica

Tweets: @timaeppel, @kashhill, @_cypherpunks_ and @intelfail

Eduard Kovacs / Softpedia News:

Avira Confirms Network Solutions Has Been Hacked — Palestinian hackers of KDSM Team have managed to deface several high-profile websites, including the ones of AVG, Avira and WhatsApp. Moments ago, Avira representatives have confirmed for Softpedia that this is a case of DNS hijacking.

More: CNET, Graham Cluley, Guardian, Help Net Security, The Register and BetaNews

Kyle VanHemert / Wired:

Early Apple designer and Frog Design founder Hartmut Esslinger on 4 areas ripe for innovation — The Godfather of Apple Design Spots 4 Looming Tech Trends — Before there was Jony Ive, there was Hartmut Esslinger. The founder of the influential design consultancy Frog started working …

Luke Reimer / Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog:

Coming Soon: A Simple, Easy to Use Cloud Service for Managing Users and Apps on iOS, Android, and BlackBerry Devices — Here at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2013, we are very excited to announce an upcoming BlackBerry cloud service that will bring trusted and simple enterprise mobility management to a new level of convenience.

More: 9to5Mac, Engadget, GadgetGuide4U, iDownloadBlog.com and TechSpot

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:

Silk Road Dealers Are Getting Arrested All Around The World — Arresting the site's owner was just stage one. — Ross William Ulbricht, known online as Dread Pirate Roberts, is shown in this courtroom sketch appearing before Federal Judge Joseph Spero in U.S. Federal Court in San Francisco, California, on Oct. 4, 2013.

More: BBC, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, Krebs on Security, Telegraph, GigaOM, Gawker and Business Insider

Jason Del Rey / AllThingsD:

PayPal Unveils Yet Another Way to Pay in Stores. Now It Has to Get People to Use It. — Another day, another announcement of a product aimed at getting shoppers to buy stuff in retail stores using an app on their phone instead of a physical credit card or cash.

More: The Official PayPal, GigaOM, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, The Verge, The Next Web, Digits, WebProNews, Mashable, CNET, Engadget and Payments News

New Yorker:

How Lavabit Melted Down — On August 8th, Lavabit, newly famous for being the secure e-mail service used by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, went dark. Its owner and operator, Ladar Levison, replaced its home page with a message: “I cannot share my experiences …

More: GigaOM, TechPresident and The Verge. Tweets: @cmdrtaco

Ki Mae Heussner / GigaOM:

Basis bags $12M for health-tracking watch amid growing competition in wearable tech — Seven months after announcing an $11.5 million Series B round of funding, Basis Science is filling its coffers once again. On Tuesday, the startup behind the Basis health-tracking wristwatch …

More: AllThingsD, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and silicontap.com

John Cook / GeekWire:

Zulily files for $100M IPO — reveals $331M in 2012 revenue, 2.2M active customers — Fast-growing Zulily is looking to take the IPO plunge. — The Seattle company, which sells clothes, toys and accessories for babies, kids and moms, today filed to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

More: Business Insider, AllThingsD and TechCrunch. Thanks:@toddbishop

Bloomberg:

iTunes Radio to reach UK and Canada before Pandora, also expanding to Australia and NZ in early 2014 — Apple Said to Expand ITunes Radio to U.K. Before Pandora — Apple Inc. (AAPL) plans to expand iTunes Radio to English-speaking countries outside the U.S. by early 2014 …

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Fox, Sinclair and Local TV file suit against Aereo in Utah — This post has been updated. Please see details below. — The fight over Aereo is moving to Utah. — On Monday afternoon, Fox Broadcasting Co., Sinclair Broadcast Group and Local TV filed suit in federal court in Utah against Aereo …

More: GigaOM, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Plagiarism Today and Techrockies.com

Rachel King / ZDNet:

Intel's Internet of Things roadmap led by low-power chips — Summary: Intel has published a new roadmap for low-power processors embedded with software from McAfee and Wind River. — SAN FRANCISCO—Intel tapped into some of the bigger brands under its umbrella for a number …

More: Digits, GigaOM, Intel Newsroom, PC World and Business Insider

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Enterproid Lands Another $12 Million, Led by Google Ventures, to Help Manage Corporate Mobile Devices — Enterproid, which helps businesses manage their mobile devices, is announcing on Tuesday that it has landed a further $12 million in funding to help it in its effort to nab more corporate customers.

More: VentureBeat, GigaOM and CITEworld

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Nexus 7 (2013) Case now available in the US with a microsuede cover, built-in stand, and four colors for $49.99 — Google today released the Nexus 7 Case (2013) in the US. You can grab it now for $49.99 on Google Play. — Google describes the case as custom-molded with a microsuede cover and built-in stand.

More: CNET, Engadget, 9to5Google and Droid Life

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