Techmeme: Dreamworks-incubated video-creation app Ptch acquired by Yahoo, shutting down January 2 (Hans Ku/Ptch Blog)

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December 4, 2013, 4:20 AM

Top News

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Exclusive: Instagram Business Lead Emily White to Be Named COO of Snapchat — Emily White, the Facebook executive in charge of bringing advertising to its Instagram photo-sharing unit, is leaving to become COO of Snapchat. — The move is a major talent grab by the ephemeral photo and video mobile service …

More: Business Insider, The Verge, Digits, The Next Web, CNET, Mashable, PhoneArena and Wall Street Journal

Tweets: @jguynn, @howardlindzon, @dannysullivan, @brandee, @mikeisaac, @jess, @felixgillette, @orbuch, @ksimm, @ischafer and @alexia

John Markoff / New York Times:

Andy Rubin heads up a new robotics effort in Google that includes seven acquisitions to date — Google Puts Money on Robots, Using the Man Behind Android — PALO ALTO, Calif. — In an out-of-the-way Google office, two life-size humanoid robots hang suspended in a corner.

More: CNET, The Verge, AllThingsD, Engadget, Hunter Walk, 9to5Google, The Next Web and Android Community

Tweets: @startupljackson, @joshelman, @hunterwalk, @sacca, @jasonkincaid, @mikeisaac, @percival, @laurengoode, @technogasms, @percival, @caseynewton and @caseynewton

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Google is building Chrome apps support for Android and iOS, beta release coming as soon as January 2014 — Google is working on bringing Chrome packaged apps from the desktop to the mobile world. The company is currently building a toolkit to help developers create Chrome apps for Android and iOS …

More: 9to5Mac, CNET, The Verge, Android Beat, iPhone Hacks, Ubergizmo, Phandroid, SlashGear, PhoneArena, Android Authority, AppleInsider, 9to5Google and Engadget

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Chrome Beta Gets New Tools For Mobile Development With Better Viewport Emulation, Screencast-Enabled Remote Debugging

More: Chromium Blog, Gigaom, The Next Web and Engadget

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

Twitter Considered Buying Topsy, Too — Here's Why It Didn't Happen — Apple just spent a bunch of money on social analytics company Topsy. And while everyone has good guesses on what Apple wants from Topsy, no one seems to know for sure. — But before Apple, Topsy had at least …

More: GeekWire, AllTwitter, Business Cloud News, ReadWrite, memeburn and WebProNews. Tweets: @mikeisaac

John Battelle / John Battelle's Search Blog:

Apple+Topsy: It's Not About Twitter (And Twitter Is Probably Cool With That) — I'm going out on a limb, but a fairly stout one: Like Azeem, I think Apple bought Topsy for its search chops. But Azeem, who I admire greatly, says Topsy could become the search engine “for iOS …

More: LinkedIn Today and Tech Trader Daily. Tweets: @monkbent

Hans Ku / Ptch Blog:

Dreamworks-incubated video-creation app Ptch acquired by Yahoo, shutting down January 2 — Ptch Joins Yahoo! — We launched Ptch just over a year ago. Our passion and our mission was to give you the best way to make and share beautiful movies made from the photos and videos on your phone.

More: TechCrunch, Computerworld, The Next Web, Softpedia News, AllThingsD, Engadget, Business Insider, Ubergizmo, CNET, App Advice, I4U News and bizjournals. Tweets: @hansku. Thanks:@hunterwalk

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

YouTube's Music Subscription Service Won't Show Up This Year — Waiting for YouTube's subscription music service? You're going to have to be patient. — The video service, which is already the biggest free music service in the world, had planned on launching a paid service this year.

More: The Verge, Softpedia News, 9to5Google, CNET, Engadget, Android Community and PhoneArena

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Honda integrates iPhone w/ 2014 Civic touchscreen in first steps towards iOS in the Car — Honda is introducing two new technologies in its new 2014 Civic that will make it easier for iPhone users to interact with content in the car in its first steps towards Apple's iOS in the Car.

More: MacRumors, AppleInsider, MacStories, Gigaom, CNET, iDownloadBlog.com, TUAW and Electronista. Thanks:@jordankahn

Ben Popper / The Verge:

UPS researching its own delivery drones to compete with Amazon's Prime Air — Flying parcel-carriers are the next logical frontier for delivery companies — Amazon made headlines Sunday night when it announced it was working on small drones that could someday deliver customers packages in half an hour or less.

More: stratechery, TechCrunch, VatorNews, ABC News, Nextgov, Pocket-lint, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, Geek.com, Examiner, Los Angeles Times, GeekWire, Gizmodo, Salon, WebProNews, Engadget, Digital Trends, Gotta Be Mobile, Bloomberg, Business Insider and Quartz

Tweets: @karlbode, @kevinroose and @samfbiddle

Richard Nieva / CNET:

You are the query: Yahoo's bold quest to reinvent search — When Yahoo launched its home page redesign in February — its first such overhaul in the Marissa Mayer era — the company's chief executive sent out a jovial tweet: — A new experience launching on Yahoo today with a newsfeed …

More: SiliconBeat. Tweets: @livbarton

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Obama administration backs patent troll bill, House vote set for this week — The White House has been trying to crack down on patent trolls, and today it's come out in support of a House bill that would begin to do just that. The bill, Representative Bob Goodlatte's (R-VA) Innovation Act …

More: Techdirt, TIME, Computerworld, TheHill, Gigaom, TheHill and Boing Boing

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Hotfile settles MPAA copyright case, agrees to $80 million in damages — Six days before movie studios were set to begin a jury trial over alleged copyright violations by the “cyberlocker” site Hotfile, the case has settled. Hotfile has agreed to pay $80 million and to stop operating …

More: Variety, Techdirt, Gigaom, The Verge, Wall Street Journal and TorrentFreak. See also Mediagazer

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

Twitter IPO Sparks Investor Interest in Social Startups — DataSift Inc., a startup that makes information from social sites easier to manipulate, wasn't planning on raising money this year — until Twitter Inc.'s initial public offering prompted a surge of investor interest.

More: VentureBeat and silicontap.com

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Firehose Provider DataSift Raises $42M Led By Insight Venture Partners For Global and Non-Social Ambitions

More: DataSift, Gigaom, VentureBeat, Digits, VatorNews, Tech Europe, Telegraph, Tech City News, Mashable, PE Hub Blog, CloudAve and socalTECH.com. Tweets: @jasoncosta. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Future iPhones may unlock, hide messages based on a user's face — Apple on Tuesday was granted a patent that uses facial recognition technology to control a computing device, like an iPhone, iPad or Mac, allowing for a more secure and productive operating environment. — Source: USPTO

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

NORAD and Microsoft team on a touch-friendly Santa Claus web tracker — NORAD's Santa Claus tracking has officially entered the tablet era. The defense agency has teamed up with Microsoft on an updated web-based tracker that's designed for touch-friendly browsers, including Internet Explorer 11.

More: TechNet Blogs, Phones Review, Digits, Telegraph, Softpedia News, Cult of Mac, The Verge, Gizmodo, AllThingsD, Pocket-lint, Ubergizmo, BetaNews, The Windows Blog, Mashable, PC World, ABC News and Google Operating System. Tweets: @dannysullivan

Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:

AllCast beta, like AirPlay for Android, goes live in the Play Store — Looking for an easy way to wirelessly stream local content from an Android device to a connected television, video game console or even an Apple TV? Check out AllCast a beta app now available in the Google Play store …

More: Engadget, Koushik Dutta, CITEworld, TechSpot, Android Police, TUAW, Droid Life, Geek.com and MobileSyrup.com

Washington Post:

Officials estimate a third of people enrolled through HealthCare.gov affected by system errors — Health-care enrollment on Web plagued by bugs — The enrollment records for a significant portion of the Americans who have chosen health plans through the online federal insurance marketplace …

More: ABC News, ThinkProgress, The Wire, The Week and Business Insider

Tweets: @shawnanbcnews, @sarahkliff, @washingtonpost and @sarahkliff

Gautham Nagesh / Wall Street Journal:

The Agency Running HealthCare.gov Mostly Kept to Itself as Warning Signs Grew About the Website

Tweets: @stefaniei

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