Techmeme: Microsoft and Facebook sponsor Internet Bug Bounty program, offer cash for hacking the Internet stack (Emil Protalinski/The Next Web)

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November 7, 2013, 8:15 AM

Top News

@twitter:

We just priced our IPO. pic.twitter.com/NWXaO4Myq0

More: CNET, TechSpot, AllTwitter, Digital Trends, memeburn, The Register, SlashGear, bizjournals, ReadWrite, Forbes, Reuters, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, The Technology Chronicles, Mashable, ZDNet, GeekWire and CNNMoney.com

Tweets: @davewiner, @alex, @dealintel, @rmac18, @ampressman and @fmanjoo

See also Mediagazer

Yoree Koh / Wall Street Journal:

The Architect Behind Twitter's IPO … The architect of Twitter Inc.'s initial public offering is a 42-year-old finance whiz with a knack for finding calm amid chaos. — For four months, Twitter Chief Financial Officer Mike Gupta steered the social-media company through the IPO process …

Tweets: @wsj and @yoreekoh

Peter Eavis / DealBook:

Twitter's Market Valuation Suggests Wall St. Sees Huge Growth Potential — Twitter is a young company generating large losses as it competes in a highly uncertain sector of the economy. — And that is exactly why investors clamored for a piece of its initial public offering, which closed on Wednesday evening.

Bloomberg:

Twitter raises $1.82 billion at a valuation of $18.1 billion, pricier value than Facebook — Twitter Raises $1.82 Billion, Pricier Value Than Facebook — Twitter Inc. (TWTR) raised $1.82 billion in its initial public offering, seizing on surging investor demand to price at a more expensive valuation than rival Facebook Inc. (FB)

More: BBC

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple Stores to soon offer iPhone 5s & 5c screen replacements, other repairs — Apple is gearing up to soon begin hardware repairs for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in its chain of retail stores, according to sources with knowledge of the upcoming initiative.

More: ZDNet, MacRumors, SlashGear, iDownloadBlog.com, Softpedia News, I4U News, Gearburn, App Advice, iClarified and Byteoid. Thanks:@sarahg1113

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Microsoft Updates Office 365, Brings Real-Time Collaboration To Free Office Web Apps, Adds Yammer To All Enterprise Versions — It's been six months since Microsoft launched Office 365, its subscription-based version of Office for businesses and consumers. Over 2 million consumers now subscribe …

More: The Microsoft Office Blog, The Microsoft Office Blog, Computerworld, ZDNet, The Verge, Inquirer, The Microsoft Office Blog, CNET, LiveSide.net, Ars Technica, WindowsObserver.com, Engadget, I4U News, The Next Web, SlashGear and PC World

Douglas MacMillan / Digits:

Square Exploring 2014 IPO With Banks — Technology entrepreneur Jack Dorsey is trying to pull off two high-profile initial public offerings in the span of one year. — Square Inc., the payments startup with a square credit-card reader that plugs into Apple and Android-based mobile devices …

More: TheStreet.com, San Francisco Chronicle, MoneyBeat, Inc.com, Electronista, bizjournals, Business Insider, The Verge and CNET

Tweets: @cnbcnow, @danprimack, @scottmaustin and @dmac1

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Minting Cash: how Square designed a product with no design at all — Is the best interface no interface? — Robert Andersen was feeling flustered. Square founder Jack Dorsey had asked him to design a product that was so simple, it wouldn't even have an interface. “Square Cash” would let people send money over email.

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Google Says Its Mystery Barges May Be Used As Interactive Space Where People Can Learn About Its Technology — Google has issued a statement (finally?) about its months-long mystery barge project. The barges, which are anchored in both Portland, Maine and San Francisco …

Justin Bachman / Businessweek:

Blockbuster's Death Scene Won't End the Video Rental Store — The long-foretold death of the video rental shop—all but sealed Wednesday with news that Blockbuster will shut its last 300 stores in the U.S.—can be read as a wistful moment for retail nostalgics or a proud triumph of digital simplicity.

More: New York Times and ParisLemon

DISH Network:

Blockbuster to End Domestic Retail, DVD By Mail Services

Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:

Google starts testing ART, a potential replacement for Dalvik in Android — After a 2010 spat over how Java works in Android with Oracle, Google is moving on to a new way for apps run on mobile devices. Dubbed ART, the new runtime environment is available as a preview option in Android 4.4.

More: Android Police, SlashGear, DIGITS to DOLLARS, Android Beat, Engadget and Android Community

Brian Heater / Engadget:

Amazon Kindle HDX 8.9 review: a high-end tablet at a mid-range price — It's worth noting just how far Amazon has come since the early days of the Fire line. With the first generation, it was tough to see the tablet as anything more than a content-delivery device designed to keep users locked into the Kindle ecosystem.

More: Mashable, The Verge and TechHive

David Ruddock / Android Police:

Verizon: Google, Asus Have Opted To Wait Until Nexus 7 Gets KitKat To Certify For Use On Network, “Systems Issue” With 4.3 To Blame — We've received an official statement from Verizon on the ongoing Nexus 7 LTE / Verizon saga, a story that has gone silent in the months since Verizon promised …

More: BuzzMachine, Android Beat, The Verge, Droid Life, Electronista, Phones Review, IntoMobile and pocketnow.com

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

The Nexus 5 isn't pure Android, it's pure Google — In this, the fifth year of Android's existence, we also have seen the release of the fifth Nexus phone — appropriately enough called the Nexus 5. Meanwhile, it's been two years since we saw the release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich …

More: Computerworld, Electronista, Softpedia News, pocketnow.com, Gotta Be Mobile, Phandroid, ZDNet, PhoneArena and Droid Life. Thanks:@aashutoshvatsa

Will Connors / Digits:

Full Text of BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins Goodbye Letter — Earlier this week, BlackBerry called off a plan to go private but did make a big change in the executive suite: Chief Executive Thorsten Heins is out, to be replaced by Silicon Valley veteran John S. Chen.

More: Digital Trends, MobileSyrup.com, CrackBerry.com, BerryReview and The Verge. Tweets: @wconnors

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Microsoft and Facebook sponsor Internet Bug Bounty program, offer cash for hacking the Internet stack — Microsoft and Facebook today jointly launched a new initiative called the Internet Bug Bounty program. In short, the two companies are looking to secure the Internet stack by rewarding anyone …

More: BBC, BetaNews, The Verge, Ars Technica, Inquirer, Digits, Engadget, Softpedia News, The Register and ZDNet. Tweets: @csoghoian

Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:

Samsung admits its software needs improving, commits half of R&D workforce — Samsung is just like the Red Sox — Samsung today admitted it needs to work on software, an area it's “not as good” at as hardware. Samsung Vice Chairman & CEO Kwon Oh-hyun compares the company's software efforts …

More: Digits, Guardian, AppleInsider, Sammy Hub, iDownloadBlog.com, TechSpot, PhoneArena, Ubergizmo, iClarified, FierceWireless, CNET, 9to5Google and ZDNet

Steven Millward / Tech in Asia:

Samsung says 100 million Galaxy S and Note phones will ship this year, coins terrible word “fonblet”

More: The Verge, TechCrunch and Gizmodo

Tweets: @phonewisdom and @darth

James Kanter / NYT Bits:

Details Emerge of Potential Google Monitor in Europe — Wanted: A Google watchdog in Europe. — A 96-page description of the potential job emerged on Wednesday, giving a window into what Google faces if it signs the latest settlement offer from the European Commission and ends the long-running antitrust case against the company.

More: Softpedia News, PR Newswire and The Next Web

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

Microsoft Is Making An Astonishing $2 Billion Per Year From Android Patent Royalties — Microsoft is generating $2 billion per year in revenue from Android patent royalties, says Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund in a new note on the company. — He estimates that the Android revenue has a 95% margin, so it's pretty much all profit.

More: Guardian, BGR and Daring Fireball

Derrick Harris / Gigaom:

Facebook open sources its SQL-on-Hadoop engine, and the web rejoices — Facebook has open sourced Presto, the interactive SQL-on-Hadoop engine the company first discussed in June. Presto is Facebook's take on Cloudera's Impala or Google's Dremel, and it already has some big-name fans in Dropbox and Airbnb.

More: Facebook, GitHub, AllFacebook, VentureBeat, Business Insider, The Register, Computerworld and The Next Web

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Prominent VCs join the fight in Congress to stop patent trolls — VCs say it's harder for startups to survive with patent trolls waiting in the wings to make a quick buck. — startuppg — The first comprehensive anti-patent-troll bill was introduced in Congress last week, with bipartisan support.

More: bizjournals and TheHill. Tweets: @joemullin

Rachel King / ZDNet:

Qualcomm closes fiscal 2013 on a mixed note with Q4 earnings report — Summary: The chip maker squashed revenue estimates, but a missed earnings target coupled with a weak outlook ends the fiscal year on a sour note. — Amid a slow week for tech earnings to begin with …

More: Reuters, Android Community, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, SlashGear, AllThingsD and Tech Trader Daily

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