Techmeme: BBM for Android and iPhone updates now available (Ty Williams/Inside BlackBerry)

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November 15, 2013, 8:35 AM

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Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Sony launches PlayStation 4, fans go nuts — Sony launched its PlayStation 4 tonight across North America tonight at thousands of midnight store openings. — The company's next-gen console is now on sale for $400 at retailers around the country (it comes out Nov. 29 in Europe).

More: Inquirer, Digits, The Technology Chronicles, Softpedia News, The Next Web, The Verge and Digits

iFixit:

PlayStation 4 Teardown — A television game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, first announced February 20, 2013 and released November 15, 2013. Step 1 — PlayStation 4 Teardown We'd like to send out a big thank you to our friends at Chipworks for hosting our remote teardown of the newest Sony Play-device, the Play-Doh.

More: Gizmodo, Engadget, SlashGear and I4U News

Jungah Lee / Bloomberg:

Samsung Said to Plan Galaxy Phone Using Three-Sided Display — Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) plans to release a Galaxy smartphone next year with a three-sided display that wraps around the edges so messages can be read from an angle, two people familiar with the plans said yesterday.

More: CNET, Digital Trends, ZDNet, Inquirer, The Register, Unwired View, AndroidOS.in, T3 News, pocketnow.com, Sammy Hub, PC Pro, Phones Review, Android Beat, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, 9to5Google, SlashGear, The Verge, Droid Life, Softpedia News, Electronista, I4U News, BGR and iDownloadBlog.com. Tweets: @bloombergnews

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

New FCC chairman tells wireless carriers to unlock cell phones — Act now or we will regulate, Wheeler tells CTIA. — In one of his first days on the job, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has asked the CTIA Wireless Association to move quickly toward unlocking phones for consumers.

More: Engadget, AllThingsD, Computerworld, The Verge, DSLreports, Broadcasting & Cable and The Switch. Tweets: @digiphile. See also Mediagazer

Leander Kahney / Gizmodo:

The Inside Story of How the iPad Got Its Iconic Design — While Jony Ive's group was secretly working on the iPad, Steve Jobs was telling the public and press that Apple had no intention of releasing a tablet. “Tablets appeal to rich guys with plenty of other PCs and de- vices already,” he said publicly.

More: iDownloadBlog.com and App Advice

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple releases iOS 7.0.4 & iOS 6.1.5 with FaceTime bug fix — This morning, Apple has released iOS 7.0.4 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The update is a bug fix release with improvements. Apple notes that the update includes a fix for FaceTime calls that could fail for some users.

More: Inquirer, BetaNews, MacRumors, Softpedia News, MacNN, AppleTell, iPhone Hacks, ZDNet, Gigaom, iMore, Yahoo! News, Engadget, Electronista, The Verge, TechnoBuffalo and TUAW

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple revamps design of iBooks and iTunes U for iOS 7 on iPad & iPhone

More: MacStories, TechCrunch, TechnoBuffalo, pocketnow.com, ITworld.com, The Verge, AppleInsider, The Next Web, Ars Technica, iMore, MacRumors, TUAW and Engadget. Thanks:@sarahg1113

Ty Williams / Inside BlackBerry:

BBM for Android and iPhone updates now available — Originally published on the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog — A new update to BBM is rolling out for Android and iPhone users. In addition to several new features, bug fixes and performance improvements, we are also proud to deliver something you've …

More: ZDNet, Digital Trends, iMore, TechnoBuffalo, Electronista, MobileSyrup.com, Macworld Australia, PhoneArena, Digits, BerryReview, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacRumors, Voice on the Web, TUAW, Phones Review and 9to5Mac

Wall Street Journal:

CIA's Financial Spying Bags Data on Americans — Information on International Money Transfers Includes Financial and Personal Data of Americans — The Central Intelligence Agency is building a vast database of international money transfers that includes millions of Americans' financial and personal data …

More: New York Times, Gizmodo, CNET, The Verge and SlashGear

Tweets: @kgosztola, @jenvalentino, @ashk4n, @mtthwrose, @shiraovide, @ggreenwald, @trevortimm and @privacydigest

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:

Homeland Security must disclose cell network ‘kill switch’ protocols, court says — Summary: The U.S. government's rules governing its ability to shut down cellular and wireless networks to prevent remote bomb detonation must be disclosed, a court has ruled. — Zack Whittaker

More: RT, Washington Times and TechEye

Spencer E. Ante / Wall Street Journal:

NSA Fallout: Tech Firms Feel a Chill Inside China — Big U.S. computer and software companies are reporting a sudden chill in sales to China, and some blame increased government hostility toward the U.S. — In the latest sign, computer-networking-gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. said Wednesday …

CNET:

Pricey, mighty Retina Mini is best small tablet yet — $399.00 — The good: The iPad Mini with Retina Display adds an excellent high-resolution display that rivals the iPad Air's, a far faster A7 processor, and tops it off with improved Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity, with battery life that's as good or better than in last year's Mini.

More: 9to5Mac, Wired, The Verge and AppleInsider. Thanks:@kentgerman

Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:

White spaces anyone? Google opens its spectrum database to developers — All of those unused frequencies that linger between TV channels, called white spaces, are ripe for the taking, and starting today network builders and device makers can start using them, with a little help from Google.

More: Google Public Policy Blog, The Next Web, PR Newswire, Softpedia News, Engadget, dailywireless.org and CNET

Pew Research Center's Journalism Project:

News Use across Social Media Platforms — How do different social networking websites stack up when it comes to news? How many people engage with news across multiple social sites? And what are their news consumption habits on traditional platforms? As part of an ongoing examination …

More: Business Insider, Beyond Search, USA Today, Nieman Journalism Lab, Daily Dot, AllFacebook, TechCrunch, Mashable, Poynter and TheBlaze.com. Tweets: @buzzfeednews. See also Mediagazer

Loek Essers / Computerworld:

Europe allows in-flight 3G and 4G broadband — Passengers will get mobile Internet access, but they'll have to pay roaming charges — The European Commission gave airlines permission to offer their passengers Internet access via 3G and 4G connections so they can send emails and surf the Web while in flight.

More: Digital Trends, The Next Web, TechCrunch, CNBC and CNET

Nick Statt / CNET:

Inside Coin's techie vision for the all-in-one credit card — In a compact San Francisco office suite equipped with soldering stations and swipe-testing machines, Coin's team of seven has been working furiously to perfect the final prototype of an unlimited credit card. No, not one that will let you charge with abandon.

More: Gigaom, Quartz, NBCNews, GSMArena Blog, It's a Gadget, Business Insider, BestTechie, PC Magazine, Mashable, LAPTOP Magazine and TechnoBuffalo. Tweets: @cmdrtaco

Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:

Tired of a fat wallet? Coin lets you hold all your cards in a single connected card

More: Inquirer, TechCrunch, Techendo, iPhone, The Huffington Post, PandoDaily, AllThingsD, Laughing Squid, Digits, The Verge, TechSpot, Gotta Be Mobile, AppleInsider, The Next Web, Engadget, Gizmodo and BGR

Tweets: @jkottke, @samfbiddle and @evelynrusli

Thanks:@bobpatters

Corynne McSherry / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Court Upholds Legality of Google Books: Tremendous Victory for Fair Use and the Public Interest — It's a good day for fair use and sane copyright law. After years of litigation, Judge Denny Chin has ruled that the Google Books project does not infringe copyright.

More: New York Times, Motherboard and The Atlantic Wire

Tweets: @daviddeweerdt and @samgustin

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Google wins book-scanning case: judge finds “fair use,” cites many benefits

Christina Farr / VentureBeat:

Yuri Milner is betting big on genetics, pouring millions into GenapSys — The latest investment from Russian millionaire and entrepreneur Yuri Milner is in a genetics upstart called GenapSys. — Like many other technology investors, Milner is hoping to leverage the plummeting cost of sequencing human genes.

More: SYS-CON MEDIA, VCPOST, GenomeWeb Daily News and bizjournals

Mark Hachman / PC World:

Microsoft Office still isn't available for iPad, but now HopTo fills the void — Eventually, Microsoft will bring a touch-optimized version of Office to the iPad. Until that day arrives, however, there's Apple's iWork—and now HopTo, which offers a reskinned version of Word as lovely and useful as an iPad app should be.

More: Cult of Mac, iPhone Hacks, TUAW, BestTechie, App Advice and VentureBeat. Thanks:@bobpatters

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:

Exclusive - Comcast to sell movies for download, streaming: sources — (Reuters) - Comcast Corp plans to start selling movies for download and streaming through the cable operator's set-top boxes and its Xfinity TV website, according to people with knowledge of the plan.

More: Wall Street Journal, SlashGear, VentureBeat, Engadget, The Verge, The Next Web and Gigaom. Tweets: @ryanlawler. See also Mediagazer

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Apple Store Point Of Sale Systems Go Down Again Today, Outage Continues — Some Apple Stores have had their point-of-sale systems go down repeatedly today, TechCrunch has learned. There was an extensive outage early Thursday morning and there has been an ongoing outage this evening in some stores.

More: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, MacRumors and CNET

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Skype is considering adding automatic removal of typing sounds from calls — At a press event in Stockholm, Sweden today, Skype confirmed it is evaluating the addition of a typing suppression feature to its desktop clients that will automatically filter the sound of your fingers hitting the keys.

More: SocialTimes, Kioskea.net, WinBeta and Softpedia News. Thanks:@epro

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:

Kids Do Not Track Bill Introduced — Now-Senator Markey teams with Rep. Joe Barton, others, on new effort — As expected, Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) have reintroduced House and Senate versions of their Do Not Track Kids Act, which would, among other things …

More: Adweek and MediaPost

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