Techmeme: So the 5S is (allegedly) killing the 5C. Why is this bad news? (Ben Thompson/stratechery)

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October 21, 2013, 11:55 AM

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Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Google's iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary — Android is open—except for all the good parts. — Six years ago, in November 2007, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) was announced. The original iPhone came out just a few months earlier …

More: 9to5Google, GigaOM, memeburn and rc3.org

Tweets: @caseyjohnston, @xor, @_andycowley, @cdixon, @bgurley, @anildash and @mattrosoff

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:

GarageBand for iOS 7 to Become Free with In-App Purchases as Apple Reveals Full Set of New iLife and iWork Icons — Ahead of Tuesday's media event, Apple has revised its Built-in Apps page for the iPhone 5s to reveal the full set of new iOS 7-themed icons for the six iLife and iWork apps offered for iOS.

Marissa Mayer / Yahoo:

Everyone's Favorite Gadget Geek, David Pogue, to Join Yahoo — I am thrilled to announce that award-winning columnist, best-selling author, and TV host David Pogue will be joining Yahoo. David will lead a major expansion of consumer tech coverage on Yahoo and will publish columns …

More: A Note from Pogue, Valleywag, Business Insider, Marketing Land and The Next Web

Tweets: @brianstelter, @pogue, @waltmossberg, @tim_stevens, @joemfbrown, @mbyhoff, @mattbuchanan, @mattbuchanan, @om, @pkafka, @hblodget and @miriamgottfried

See also Mediagazer

Sean Buckley / Engadget:

Nokia leaks Lumia 1520 details on Chinese online store: 20MP PureView camera, Snapdragon 800 processor — Looking for more evidence that Nokia's about to unleash an oversized Windows Phone? You've got it: the company's official Tmall store (an online marketplace in China) recently published a product page for the fabled Lumia 1520.

More: TechHive, Daily Mail, CNET, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, Electronista, techshout.com, Gearburn, pocketnow.com, The Next Web, SlashGear and Mashable

John D. Stoll / Wall Street Journal:

Elop will unveil six Nokia products Tuesday, and possibly offer Microsoft hope in devices

More: BGR, The Verge, CNET, The Verge, Electronista, The Next Web, TechEye, Softpedia News, PhoneArena, Cult of Mac, WMPoweruser and memeburn

Tweets: @christophlawton and @wsjnordics

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

Experian Sold Consumer Data to ID Theft Service — An identity theft service that sold Social Security and drivers license numbers — as well as bank account and credit card data on millions of Americans — purchased much of its data from Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus …

More: InfoWorld, The Verge, ZDNet and Softpedia News

Tweets: @briankrebs, @dodgy_coder and @dangillmor

Le Monde:

France in the NSA's crosshair : phone networks under surveillance — The future will perhaps tell us one day why France has remained so discreet in comparison with Germany or Brazil, for example, after the first revelations about the extent of the American electronic espionage programmes …

More: Computerworld, CNET, GigaOM, BBC, CNN, Guardian, emptywheel, Gawker, Daring Fireball, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, RT, Softpedia News, The Verge, Wired.co.uk and Daily Dot. Tweets: @csoghoian

Ben Thompson / stratechery:

So the 5S is (allegedly) killing the 5C. Why is this bad news? — John Koetsier, writing at VetureBeat: … First, the necessary caveat: Apple supply chain rumors are notoriously unreliable. But let's assume this one is true, and see if we can figure out the bad news Koetsier is referring to.

More: Localytics, VentureBeat, I4U News and Forbes. Thanks:@monkbent

steve cheney:

Why Android First is a Myth — In mobile, particularly in consumer markets, there has been an ongoing debate about when or if Android will become the first platform that sophisticated startups develop for. Often times, this argument is wrongly centered around vanity metrics for Android …

Tweets: @markpinc, @christianhern, @timoreilly, @benedictevans, @monkbent, @carnage4life, @ericries, @dghoang, @mdudas and @jerrymarino

Anand Lal Shimpi / AnandTech:

Surface Pro 2 is an improvement over its predecessor: quicker, quieter, longer battery life — Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review — When Microsoft introduced its first Surface devices last year, it did so in a staggered fashion. Surface RT showed up first, then four months later Surface Pro went on sale.

More: Engadget, The Next Web, LAPTOP Magazine, Engadget, The Verge, Gizmodo and ZDNet. Tweets: @codinghorror

Anand Lal Shimpi / AnandTech:

Surface 2: Big step forward compared to RT but still faces same struggles

More: ZDNet, Mashable, Guardian, SuperSite for Windows, The Verge, The Next Web, TechCrunch, GeekWire and CNET

Gordon G. Chang / Forbes:

Is China's Lenovo Bidding For BlackBerry To Destroy It? — As we learned Thursday, , the Chinese consumer technology firm, has signed a non-disclosure agreement with BlackBerry in preparation for a bid to buy the struggling Canadian business. Lenovo surely knows it will not be permitted to take over BlackBerry.

More: I4U News and PhoneArena

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:

Like Everyone Else, Twitter Hides from U.S. Taxes in Ireland — If Twitter's transformation from “that micro-blogging service” to publicly traded advertising titan works out, it's going to have a painful tax bill. But there's good news! Twitter is already pulling an Apple and setting itself up with Irish money loopholes.

More: Business Insider, memeburn, SlashGear and Forbes

Tweets: @arimelber and @frankpasquale

John Paul Titlow / Co.Labs:

WordPress looks to enable fast cross-platform content synchronization with Simperium — Why WordPress Gobbled Up This Scrappy iCloud Alternative — Matt Mullenweg thinks mobile blogging is too damn slow. It's not so much the clunky touchscreen input of devices like the iPhone and Nexus 4 …

Tweets: @simplenoteapp and @mikejohnstn

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple silently updates OS X Mavericks Golden Master to new version — This weekend, Apple seems to have updated the OS X Mavericks Golden Master (GM) version to a new build. The new build is 13A603 while the original GM seed was 13A598. It's not common for Apple to change the GM build for a Mac OS, but it is not without precedent.

More: TUAW, TechCrunch, Cult of Mac, MacRumors, iMore, Loop News and iClarified. Tweets: @theromit

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

OS X Mavericks may arrive this week, plus rounding up expectations for Tuesday's Apple event

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