Techmeme: Plex for Chromecast: new clues hint at imminent launch (Janko Roettgers/Gigaom)

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December 5, 2013, 6:55 AM

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Rana Foroohar / TIME:

TIME Exclusive: Icahn Files Apple Shareholder Proposal — The richest man on Wall Street is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile. — Veteran investor Carl Icahn is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile.

More: Softpedia News, The Verge, iDownloadBlog.com, TUAW, The Register, Forbes, Cult of Mac, MacRumors, CNET, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Tech Trader Daily, Business Insider, Electronista and iPhone Hacks

Tweets: @carl_c_icahn, @davidfaber, @danprimack and @time

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Carl Icahn Files $50B Apple Share Buyback Proposal

More: Forbes

Brad Smith / The Official Microsoft Blog:

Microsoft to expand encryption, increase software transparency to protect customer data — Protecting customer data from government snooping — The following post is from Brad Smith, General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft.

More: Gigaom, Computerworld, The Verge, CNET, GeekWire, Reuters, ZDNet, Washington Post, Engadget, Softpedia News, The Next Web, Digits and bit-tech.net

Tweets: @gordoncorera, @msftnews, @kimzetter, @jeffreycarr and @fxshaw

Nicole Perlroth / NYT Bits:

Microsoft's General Counsel: N.S.A. Hacks Were an ‘Earthquake’ for Tech — Microsoft is the latest company to try to protect its data from its own government. — An article on Thursday indicates that Microsoft is in the process of expanding and strengthening the encryption …

Nitasha Tiku / Valleywag:

Leaked: Uber's Internal Revenue and Ride Request Numbers — Valleywag has obtained detailed internal financial information indicating that Uber, the e-hailing app that has spawned a hundreds of half-baked pitches, is making a lot more money than its investors had anticipated.

More: AllThingsD, IntoMobile, VentureBeat, Digits, Business Insider and bizjournals

Tweets: @paulcarr, @monkbent, @pkafka, @danprimack, @benpopper and @mikemadden

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Leaked Uber Numbers, Which We've Confirmed, Point To Over $1B Gross, $213M Revenue

More: StartupBook. Tweets: @fmanjoo and @moiraforbes

Wall Street Journal:

China Mobile signs deal with Apple, bringing iPhone option to 700 million+ subscribers later this month — Apple, China Mobile Sign Deal to Offer iPhone — Tie-Up Would Give Apple Access to 700 Million Subscribers … China Mobile Ltd. has signed a long-awaited deal with Apple Inc …

Bloomberg:

China Bans Financial Companies From Bitcoin Transactions — China's central bank barred financial institutions from handling Bitcoin transactions, moving to regulate the virtual currency after an 89-fold jump in its value sparked a surge of investor interest in the country.

More: Tech in Asia, The Verge, CoinDesk, Gigaom, The Next Web, Reuters and memeburn

Tweets: @sacca and @eduanton

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Twitter Is About To Officially Launch Retargeted Ads — Twitter is ready to roll out retargeted ads fueled by browser cookies, sources confirm. Twitter could make the announcement as soon as tomorrow, expanding retargeted ads beyond the “experimental” phase that started in July.

More: Telegraph and AdExchanger. Tweets: @aulia, @novaspivack and @cjc

Dara Kerr / CNET:

Apple desktops overtake Dell on shoppers' holiday wish lists — Apple has long been the most-desired brand for tablets, smartphones, MP3 players, and streaming media devices on US shoppers' holiday lists. And, for the first time, the company also got ranked as the top brand for desktops this year …

More: Parks Associates, MacRumors, Ubergizmo, I4U News, MacNN, The Mac Observer and AppleInsider

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Plex for Chromecast: new clues hint at imminent launch — One of the most-requested features for Google's Chromecast streaming stick has been support for local file playback, and it looks like Chromecast users won't have to wait much longer: Media center app Plex could get support for Chromecast very soon …

More: MacStories, Softpedia News, Plex, iPhone Hacks, Digital Trends, iClarified, Phandroid and 9to5Google

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

Google invites Glass Explorer Edition owners to upgrade their eyewear — Google promised early Glass wearers that they could eventually upgrade to next-generation Explorer hardware, and that moment is finally at hand. The company is now inviting owners to swap devices through a free mail exchange before February 5th.

More: SlashGear, The Verge, Android Beat, Geeky Gadgets, Electronista, PhoneArena and The Next Web

Washington Post:

NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show — The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials …

Anna Yukhananov / Reuters:

Obama says he's not allowed iPhone for ‘security reasons’ — (Reuters) - The troubled mobile phone maker BlackBerry still has at least one very loyal customer: U.S. President Barack Obama. — At a meeting with youth on Wednesday to promote his landmark healthcare law …

More: SecurityWeek, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, The Verge, PhoneArena, ZDNet, iPhone Hacks, AppleInsider and App Advice

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

FCC chair: ISPs should be able to charge Netflix for Internet fast lane — Newly anointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said this week that it would be OK for Internet service providers to charge Netflix and other companies for a faster lane to consumers.

More: The Verge, The Register, Maxistentialism, Seeking Alpha, Motherboard, GamePolitics blogs and Center for Democracy …

Tweets: @jeffatrad and @hkanji

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Pinterest's Engineering Lead Jon Jenkins Leaves To Launch His Own Startup — Jon Jenkins, who joined Pinterest a year ago as its head of engineering, is leaving the company in what he describes on Quora as a “bittersweet” decision. Jenkins says wants to launch his own company, a wish he had even before he joined Pinterest.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon's New Cloud Desktop Service, Amazon WorkSpaces, Arrives On iPad — Amazon WorkSpaces, the company's recently announced virtual desktops service and competitor with VMware, has now arrived on the iOS platform, or more specifically, on iPad. The new app will allow those who have access …

More: ZDNet, GeekWire, PadGadget and CITEworld

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Google Search for Android gets app listings, surfacing results from inside apps on your device and Google Play — Google today announced a big update to Google Search for Android that will make it a lot easier to find information. In short, the company has added app listings …

More: Inside Search, Softpedia News, Search Engine Land, Android Beat, ZDNet, SlashGear, Android Community, BetaNews, Android and Me, Phandroid, pocketnow.com, Engadget, Droid Life, 9to5Google, Search Engine Watch and Android Central. Tweets: @mdudas

Kwame Opam / The Verge:

Verizon wins approval for $130 billion takeover of Vodafone's share of its wireless network — Months after Verizon confirmed its $130 billion buyout of Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless, the FCC has given its approval. With the commission's blessing, Verizon will have complete control …

More: PR Newswire, Droid Life, Electronista, SlashGear, AndroidHeadlines.com, PhoneDog.com, PhoneArena, ITworld.com, The Register and MobileBurn.com

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Video on Demand Pushes TV Viewing Up - Nielsen — No one watches TV anymore. — You don't, and no one you know does, and it's just a matter of time before the TV Industrial Complex folds in on itself and disappears. — Except ... it turns out that people are. Still. Watching. TV.

More: Nielsen

AllThingsD:

Rhode Island School of Design President John Maeda Departs for Roles at Kleiner Perkins and eBay — John Maeda, the former MIT professor who is a director on the boards of Sonos and Quirky, is leaving his job as president at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design to take a role at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

More: kpcb.com, PE Hub Blog, Gigaom and TechCrunch

Tweets: @johnnie, @kpcb, @bryce, @johnmaeda, @tednesi and @ebayinc

Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:

Digital spy tech could face same regulation as weapons in international treaty — A consortium of international governments are working on an update to a nearly 18-year-old agreement in order to limit the export of various electronics security technologies.

Jake Smith / Pocket-lint:

LG partners with Qualcomm's AllJoyn for 2014 Smart TV line, will connect to any phone — LG Electronics has announced it will incorporate AllJoyn into its 2014 line of Smart TVs, a big step in creating a connected home entertainment ecosystem. — AllJoyn, developed by Qualcomm …

More: LG Newsroom, Gigaom, TWICE, Engadget, Digital Spy and IntoMobile

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates Put $9M Into EducationSuperHighway To Improve School Broadband — The digital divide between those who have Internet access and those who do not is often described as an economic or geographical issue, but there is another divide that actually runs across both of those other segmentations: education.

More: EducationSuperHighway.org, GeekWire, SlashGear, PC Magazine and Softpedia News

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