Techmeme: Microsoft's General Counsel: N.S.A. Hacks Were an ‘Earthquake’ for Tech (Nicole Perlroth/NYT Bits)

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December 5, 2013, 12:40 PM

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David Pierce / The Verge:

Fixing the Nexus 5: with a new version of Android, Google tackles the camera — Android 4.4.1 is coming to help you take better pictures — Only a few years ago, Dave Burke remembers, cellphone users were just happy to have a camera at all. But expectations have changed.

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.

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 …

More: Computerworld, BetaNews and Inquirer

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 …

Aly Song / Reuters:

China Mobile still talking to Apple on iPhones

More: Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, Macworld, Light Reading and iLounge

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Twitter Names Marjorie Scardino, Ex-CEO Of Pearson, As The First Female Member Of Its Board — Twitter has announced the appointment of its first female board member, Marjorie Scardino, the former CEO of media company Pearson. The appointment is effective immediately.

More: ReadWrite, Bloomberg, AllThingsD, Digits, ZDNet, Gigaom, The Verge, Business Insider, Associated Press, WebProNews and Mashable

Tweets: @marjscar, @twitter, @katyfinneran, @owenthomas, @jbrodkin, @wadhwa, @dangillmor, @lanceulanoff, @dangillmor, @zseward, @danprimack and @rafat

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: The Verge, Tech in Asia, Engadget, CoinDesk, The Switch, BBC, InfoWorld, Reuters, SlashGear, Business Insider, Gigaom, I4U News, memeburn, Geeky Gadgets, The Next Web and Electronista

Tweets: @eduanton and @sacca

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

AT&T launches ‘Mobile Share Value Plans’ with notable monthly savings for BYOD customers, 18-month Next option — AT&T has launched a new initiative called Mobile Share Value Plans that is designed to save customers money on their monthly AT&T mobile phone service bills.

More: AT&T, The Verge, Gigaom, GeekWire, ZDNet, MacRumors, AllThingsD, iMore, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, IntoMobile, CNET, Engadget, Lifehacker, Android and Me, Gotta Be Mobile, Android Central, Yahoo! News, Cult of Mac, Electronista, iDownloadBlog.com, SlashGear and CrackBerry.com. Tweets: @davidj

Bing Blog:

Bing Maps Preview Arrives on Windows 8.1 — A first step in introducing a new way to explore the world, the Bing Maps Preview app hits the Windows Store today. Built from the ground up for clarity, detail and scale, the app provides a seamless and dynamic way to experience mapping.

More: The Next Web, Engadget, TechCrunch, The Windows Blog, TechNet Blogs, WebProNews and SlashGear

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Google now lets you download a copy of your Gmail and Google Calendar data — Google today rolled out a long-requested feature: being able to download a copy of your Gmail and Google Calendar data. The new feature means you can now back up your emails and calendars, or just export …

More: Gmail Blog, 9to5Google, Engadget, The Verge, SlashGear, Android Community and Lifehacker

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Foursquare 7.0 Brings Scannable Design And Expands Proactive Recommendations To All Users — Way back in the ancient prehistory of 2009, Foursquare made its first foray into push notifications, at a time when using push at all was still rare. Two years later, it made an attempt to capitalize …

More: ReadWrite, 9to5Mac, Engadget and The Next Web

Jason Del Rey / AllThingsD:

Online Retail Giant's Grocery Delivery Service AmazonFresh May Launch in San Francisco Next Week — Another online grocery delivery service seems set to launch in San Francisco, and it's a big one: AmazonFresh. — All signs are pointing to Amazon publicly launching the same- and next …

More: TechCrunch

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Google's copyright win against Oracle is in danger on appeal — A federal judge ruled that API packages are like bookshelves in a library. Will that view hold? — Nett E / flickr — The most dramatic outcome of the Oracle v. Google trial in spring 2012 wasn't anything the jury said …

More: Reuters, Bloomberg, The Register, Gigaom, ZDNet, ReadWrite, Softpedia News, Out-Law News, CNET and Disruptive Competition Project. Tweets: @dangillmor

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, BetaNews, TechnoBuffalo, CNET, Android and Me, Phandroid, Digital Trends, Mashable, Android Beat, Geeky Gadgets, The Next Web and Glass Almanac

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: Business Insider, SocialTimes, Telegraph and AdExchanger. Tweets: @aulia

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 …

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Credit card fraud comes of age with advances in point-of-sale botnets — Inside the command and control channel of a point-of-sale botnet powered by StarDust. — IntelCrawler — Underscoring the growing sophistication of Internet crime, researchers have documented one of the first known botnets …

More: Help Net Security

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, PC Magazine, iPhone in Canada Blog, iDownloadBlog.com, AppleInsider, I4U News, T3 News, TUAW, The Mac Observer, Ubergizmo, MacRumors and MacNN

Caitlin Dewey / WorldViews:

Of the 7,776 languages in use in the offline world, fewer than five percent exist online — How the Internet is killing the world's languages — Less than five percent of current world languages are in use online, according to a recent study by prominent linguist András Kornai …

Tweets: @yalecls and @language_today

Edgar Alvarez / Engadget:

Acer's 21.5-inch Aspire Z3-600 all-in-one can move from room to room, costs $779 — It may seem as if Acer is all about Chromebooks these days, at least judging by its most recent announcements. Today, however, the company is putting the focus back on Microsoft's operating system …

More: CNET, ZDNet, Digital Trends, Geeky Gadgets, Electronista, TechRadar.com, SlashGear and BetaNews

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Layer aims to deliver XMPP-style open-source messaging interoperability for mobile apps — You have too many chat apps. Can Layer connect them? — The people behind Jabber and Grand Central want to reinvent how we chat — Jeremie Miller almost brought on a golden age of instant messaging.

Tweets: @rsarver and @caseynewton

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

U.S. says online ads should be clearly marked, undeceptive — The growing online usage of ads designed to blend in with the rest of a website's content, a practice known as “native advertising,” may be illegal in some instances, the Federal Trade Commission warned on Wednesday.

More: AdAge, Adweek, New York Times, Digiday, The Seattle Times, VentureBeat, MediaPost, Forbes and Marketing Pilgrim

Tweets: @dannysullivan and @elanazak

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