Techmeme
November 22, 2013, 8:35 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. To Consider Cellphone Use On Planes  —  Proposal Would Allow for Calls Above 10,000 Feet  —  The Federal Communications Commission will propose allowing passengers to use their cellphones on airplanes, people familiar with the matter said.  —  While phone use would still …
iFixit:
Xbox One Teardown  —  After eight years, Microsoft has finally released a proper successor to the Xbox 360—the Xbox One.  Will this be the One Xbox?  Follow us as we journey into the tower of Microsoft's new console—coming to you straight from Mordor New Zealand!  Step 1 — Xbox One Teardown This is the One.
Rachel Weber / GamesIndustry International:
Microsoft: We're working unbelievably hard to match demand  —  “I can only apologise in advance to anybody who is let down before Christmas,” says Xbox boss Phil Harrison … Q: This is the first time there have been two products like this launching simultaneously, and it feels like there's …
Mike Beasley / 9to5Mac:
Dropbox updated with new design for iOS 7, AirDrop, and more  —  As first shown by 9to5Mac, Dropbox has updated its iOS app with an all-new design for iOS 7 and several new feature and improvements.  The update brings a streamlined iPad interface, improvements to the sharing process …
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Samsung owes Apple $290M more in damages, jury says  —  (Credit: CBS) SAN JOSE, Calif. — A jury on Thursday ruled that Samsung must pay Apple $290,456,793 in additional damages for patent infringement, slightly less than the $380 million Apple had requested.  —  That brings its total award to about $930 million.
Federico Viticci / MacStories:
Video Trailers Debut On The App Store With ‘Clumsy Ninja’  —  Apple is featuring Clumsy Ninja, an iOS game that was first announced at the iPhone 5 keynote in 2012, with a custom page on the App Store that, alongside a description, features a 1-minute trailer for the game.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Google invites devs over for a Chromecast hackathon plus SDK show-and-tell, updates official app  —  Google has slowly trickled out more authorized commercial apps that can stream to its Chromecast dongle since launch (Hulu, Pandora, and most recently HBO Go) but what about homebrew?
Liam Boogar / Rude Baguette:
Deezer to launch in the USA in 2014 with a partner, potentially Microsoft  —  2014 will be the year of US expansion for Deezer, LeFigaro confirmed finally this week.  After a week of rumors around Deezer's US launch, as well as a rumor that Microsoft would acquiredthe online music streaming service …
Jill Duffy / PC Magazine:
Automatically rising/falling Stir Kinect smart desk now on sale for $3890, ships February  —  Smart Sit-Stand Desk Goes on Sale for $3,900  —  My fingertips rise and fall about an inch over six seconds, as if my hands were resting on the chest of a sleeping person.  But I'm touching a desk, not a human.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Music Tech Company The Echo Nest Expands Into Ad Targeting  —  The Echo Nest, a “music intelligence” company whose technology powers recommendations in services like Rdio and Clear Channel's iHeartRadio, is now looking to help partners make money from advertising as well.
Carl Franzen / The Verge:
AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile will stop charging customers for spam texts  —  Three of the top four US wireless companies — AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — have agreed to stop billing American customers for the spam texts that millions of people have been tricked into receiving and sending out in recent years.
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment called Spark  —  Google's Chromium team never ceases to amaze.  Its latest project is a Chrome app-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) codenamed Spark.  —  The new app was first noted by developer …
Kim Zetter / Wired:
Alleged Silk Road Owner Loses Bail Request; Prosecutors Say He Ordered Six Murders  —  Federal prosecutors in New York dropped a bombshell in their response to a bail request from alleged Silk Road owner Ross Ulbricht.  —  In a filing to the court today in New York, they say that Ulbricht …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Source: Microsoft In Talks To Buy Shoutcast And Winamp From AOL  —  Looks like the llama may not get off so easily after all.  AOL yesterday announced that it was shutting down Winamp, media playing software for Windows and Android devices that it picked up through its 1999, $80 million acquisition of Nullsoft in 1999.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
TapCommerce Raises $10.5M To Compete In The Mobile Ad Retargeting “Land Grab”  —  Mobile ad retargeting startup TapCommerce is announcing that it has raised $10 million in Series A funding.  —  When I first spoke to co-founder and CEO Brian Long earlier this year, he described the company's approach …
Wall Street Journal:
Spotify Raises $250 Million, Valued Above $4 Billion  —  Swedish music-streaming company Spotify AB has secured nearly $250 million in new financing led by Silicon Valley firm Technology Crossover Ventures, valuing the company somewhere “north” of $4 billion dollars, according to multiple people familiar with the deal.
Alex Wagner / PhoneDog:
Verizon now offering prepaid $5 Daily Plan for tablets with 300MB of data  —  Verizon today took the wraps off of a new prepaid tablet plan aimed at consumers that need just a little data to nibble on while they're out and about.  The new $5 Daily Plan is compatible with tablets and connected devices …
Om Malik / Gigaom:
Qualcomm quakes: Sources say layoffs at mobile chip giant  —  Qualcomm, the mobile chip giant that eats competitors like Pac Man munches berries, is cleaning up its middle management ranks and is said to be making more cuts across the board in order to rein in expenses.
More: Android Beat and CNET
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
AT&T and Verizon Pressed to Detail Roles in U.S. Surveillance Efforts  —  Shareholders are putting AT&T and Verizon Wireless on notice: Tell the public more about the companies' role in government surveillance efforts or risk a ding to the bottom line.  —  Two separate but similar shareholder resolutions …
Roger Cheng / CNET:
Sprint dead last in Consumer Reports' phone service survey  —  The Sprint innovation center in Burlingame, Calif.  —  Sprint is eating everyone's dust.  —  The nation's third-largest wireless carrier by subscriber base sank to the bottom of a survey conducted by Consumer Reports over cell phone service.

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Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google: