Techmeme: Skype under investigation in Luxembourg over link to NSA (Ryan Gallagher/Guardian)

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October 11, 2013, 11:45 AM

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Google:

Terms of Service update — We are updating the Google Terms of Service. The new Terms will go live on November 11, 2013 and you can read them here. — Because many of you are allergic to legalese, here's a plain English summary for your convenience. — We've made three changes:

More: The Next Web, Digits, Gizmodo, Engadget, Hillicon Valley, The Verge, 9to5Google, CNET, Softpedia News, Macgasm, gHacks Technology News and SlashGear

New York Times:

Google updates ToS allowing inclusion of users' names, photos and comments in web ads — Google Sets Plan to Sell Users' Endorsements — SAN FRANCISCO — Google, following in Facebook's footsteps, wants to sell users' endorsements to marketers to help them hawk their wares.

More: Marketing Land, GigaOM, ReadWrite, TechCrunch, Softpedia News and Electronista. Tweets: @mathewi. See also Mediagazer

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Apps on iPhone 5s Crashing at Twice the Rate as on Other iPhone 5 Models — Whenever there is a new operating system, it's not surprising to see apps crash at a somewhat higher rate, given all the changes. — But one of the interesting things in Apple's latest iPhone transition …

Ryan Gallagher / Guardian:

Skype under investigation in Luxembourg over link to NSA — Ten years ago, the calling service had a reputation as a tool for evading surveillance but now it is under scrutiny for covertly passing data to government agencies — Skype is being investigated by Luxembourg's data protection commissioner …

More: GigaOM, Inquirer, InfoWorld, ZDNet, CNET, TechWeekEurope UK, WebProNews, Electronista, Hillicon Valley and Softpedia News

Tweets: @headhntr, @davidkenner, @rj_gallagher and @beuctweet

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Google to sunset Google TV brand as its smart TV platform merges with Android — Google TV is dead, long live Android TV: Three years after launching the first generation of Google TV devices, Google is now looking to rid itself of the brand and realign its smart TV platform efforts more closely with Android.

Financial Post:

Apple Inc looks to poach BlackBerry Ltd workers in Waterloo — Apple Inc. has all but destroyed BlackBerry Ltd.'s business model and now it's after the Canadian company's decimated workforce. — Just days after BlackBerry Ltd. revealed plans to lay off 40% of its global workforce amid …

More: CNNMoney.com, AllThingsD, Digits, MacRumors, Financial Post, AppleInsider, The Mac Observer, MacDailyNews, App Advice, iPhone in Canada Blog, iDownloadBlog.com, BerryReview and Electronista

Miguel Helft / Fortune:

Sheryl Sandberg: The real story — The motorcade that snaked through 1 Hacker Way earlier this year surprised even jaded Facebook employees, who are used to on-campus celebrity sightings and visits from politicians and world leaders. So a few days later, at the question-and-answer session …

More: SiliconBeat, AllThingsD, Digits and AllFacebook

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Best Buy offering between $200 and $350 for Microsoft Surface trade-ins — As it has previously done for iPads, Best Buy is now running a trade-in promotion for Microsoft's Surface tablet. The retailer is guaranteeing that customers will receive a gift card worth at least $200 when they trade …

More: Computerworld, ZDNet, CNET, The Register, WinBeta, Windows Phone Central, Softpedia News, The Seattle Times and AppleTell

Brandon Bailey / Mercury News:

Zuckerberg buys four houses near his Palo Alto home — PALO ALTO — Living the fantasy of every homeowner who's faced the prospect of a nuisance project next door, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has bought four homes adjacent to his own 5-bedroom crash pad in one of Palo Alto's toniest neighborhoods.

More: Business Insider, Betabeat, WebProNews, Softpedia News, Valleywag and NBC Bay Area

Tweets: @mike_ftw, @drewharwell and @joshconstine

Thanks:@brandonbailey

Yuliya Chernova / Digits:

Weary of ‘Fruit Fly’ Consumer Startups, Andreessen Horowitz Raises Series A Bar — Andreessen Horowitz is one of the biggest venture firms around and an investor in some of the most prominent consumer startups in recent years, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Groupon and Zynga.

More: StrictlyVC and Business Insider. Tweets: @ajs, @gaberivera, @lessien and @davegirouard

Kevin C. Tofel / GigaOM:

Chrome rises from 1.5% to 3% of iOS use since June 2012 launch — After stagnating for months, usage of Google's Chrome browser for iOS in North America is on the rise. According to data from its ad network, Chitika says Chrome for iOS has climbed to 3 percent of iOS web traffic on the network as of the end of September.

More: Chitika Online Advertising …, MacRumors, Softpedia News, eWeek, TUAW and The Next Web

David Meyer / paidContent:

Anonymous comments could suffer under European Court of Human Rights ruling — An Estonian court did not violate a local news site's right to free expression by holding it liable for offensive anonymous comments made under one of its stories, the ECHR has ruled.

More: Index on Censorship, Forbes, The Register and The Next Web

Tweets: @eurorights and @glynmoody

See also Mediagazer

Kyle VanHemert / Wired:

GE's Radical Software Helps Jet Engines Fix Themselves — The card-based UI and focus on contextual smarts make comparisons to Google Now a no-brainer. … A few years back, after an internal audit of their vast and various business holdings, the folks at General Electric made something of a discovery …

More: Silicon Valley Watcher. Tweets: @henningfischer, @mitchwagner, @gpetroff and @davcron

John Koetsier / VentureBeat:

Apple iWatch is actually a home automation play, not a smartphone companion (analyst) — Nov. 12 - 13, 2013 — Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch launched a couple of weeks ago as a fat, ugly, and expensive smartphone accessory that our own Devindra Hardawar called “relentlessly inessential.”

More: MacRumors, SiliconANGLE, BGR, blog.chron.com, Softpedia News, PhoneArena, App Advice, iDownloadBlog.com, PhoneArena, iPhone Hacks and Forbes. Tweets: @reckless

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Instagram no longer lets users disable video autoplay, a small but important step towards ads — Instagram announced earlier this month that it will begin serving in-feed advertising before the end of the year, and the Facebook-owned photo and video app has made a subtle, but important …

More: Digital Trends

Digits:

Judge: Google's Tracking Not Harmful — It just got even tougher to stop a company from tracking your movements online. — A federal judge in Delaware Wednesday dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought against Google and two other tech companies, arguing that the Web users who brought …

More: TechCrunch, GigaOM, The Switch, CNET, The Verge, The Mac Observer, AppleInsider, Electronista, iClarified, Bloomberg and InfoWorld

Jason Evangelho / Forbes:

Valve Confirms Official AMD-Powered Steam Machines For 2014 — In a statement to Forbes, a Valve representative has confirmed that AMD graphics hardware will be included in commercially available Steam Machines next year. The more interesting story, however, is why Valve needed to confirm this in the first place.

More: Ars Technica, SlashGear, Gizmodo, I4U News and destructoid

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Removing Option To Be Unsearchable By Name, Highlighting Lack Of Universal Privacy Controls — “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” Anyone you haven't blocked. Facebook is removing this privacy setting, notifying those who had hidden themselves that they'll be searchable.

Andy Fixmer / Bloomberg:

Hulu Said Close to Naming Fox's Mike Hopkins CEO of Web Service — Hulu LLC, the streaming service controlled by Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox Inc., is close to naming Fox executive Mike Hopkins as its new chief executive officer, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

More: Reuters, VatorNews, CNET, VentureBeat, AllThingsD, bizjournals, Mashable, The Verge, SlashGear and GigaOM. See also Mediagazer

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Seven Key Designers of BlackBerry 10 Left the Company in January — The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) has decamped BlackBerry. — Earlier this year, seven members of the Swedish design house acquired by the smartphone maker to help develop BlackBerry 10, left it to found a new design group called Topp.

More: SiliconANGLE

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

BlackBerry Co-Founders Lazaridis, Fregin Mulling Bid to Buy Back Company

More: TechCrunch, TechSpot, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, Ars Technica, Electronista, The Verge and CNET

Tweets: @markgurman and @johnpaczkowski

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

As More Startups Move To San Francisco, Y Combinator Opens A Satellite Office In The City — Y Combinator has been a mainstay of Silicon Valley, with an office not far from the Mountain View Caltrain station. * Over the years, however, the seed-stage venture firm has seen more of its companies …

More: ZDNet, bizjournals and CNET

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

Can Silicon Valley boot camps get you a $120K job? — These crash courses accomplish in 12 weeks (or less) what top computer science schools might teach in four years. Welcome to the 21st century vocational school. — FORTUNE — Hiring a good software engineer in Silicon Valley these days …

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