Techmeme: Box raises $100M at $2B valuation from overseas partners to speed international growth (Douglas MacMillan/Wall Street Journal)

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December 5, 2013, 9:10 PM

Top News

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.

Adrianne Jeffries / The Verge:

Bank of America says Bitcoin could become a ‘major means of payment’ — Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch issued the bank's first research report today on Bitcoin, the virtual currency that approximates cash on the internet, concluding that the currency has the potential to become a …

More: Forbes, Ars Technica, DealBook and The Register

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:

Bitcoin Boom Spreads to IPhones With Mobile-Payment Apps: Tech

Tweets: @gli_ph

Bloomberg:

China Bans Financial Companies From Bitcoin Transactions

More: The Verge, CoinDesk, Reuters, ExtremeTech, The Switch, Business Insider, Gigaom, Engadget, Tech in Asia, Businessweek, BBC and SlashGear

Bloomberg:

Alan Mulally, considered a candidate for Microsoft CEO, commits to Ford through end of 2014 — Ford's Mulally Not Leaving Company, Board Director Says — Ford Motor Co. (F) Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, considered one of the leading candidates to take the top job at Microsoft Corp. …

More: The Register, TechnoBuffalo, TechCrunch, BGR, CNET, GeekWire, Digits, Quartz, CNNMoney.com, Electronista and Ubergizmo

Reed Albergotti / Digits:

Big Data, Big Bucks: Palantir Valued at $9 Billion — Palantir Technologies, the “big data” miner that the counts the CIA and the FBI among its clients, is poised to announce a new round of funding that will value the company at roughly $9 billion, according a person familiar with the matter.

More: TechCrunch, The Register and Forbes

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Ryan Seacrest invests $1 million in Typo iPhone keyboard case, will debut CES 2014 — Ryan Seacrest Wanted a Keyboard for His iPhone, So He Invested $1 Million in One — Well-known entertainment personality and producer Ryan Seacrest said he had invested in a startup, which he also co-founded …

More: Gigaom, Examiner, everythingiCafe, Ubergizmo, MacDailyNews, iPhone in Canada Blog, Betabeat and Death and Taxes

Tweets: @panzer and @bla1ze

Shara Tibken / CNET:

Instagram invites press to ‘share a moment’ at NYC event — CNET today received a mysterious invite — sent via FedEx, not e-mail — from Instagram for an event it's hosting next week. — The package, wrapped with brown paper and a white ribbon, contained a wooden block …

More: Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo and iDownloadBlog.com. Tweets: @sfiegerman. Thanks:@jbruin

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: Bloomberg, Quartz, AllThingsD, Gigaom, Associated Press, 5by5 Master Audio Feed, CNET, WebProNews, VatorNews, Mashable and Business Insider

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

See also Mediagazer

Dante D'Orazio / The Verge:

New York Times brings print edition to tablets and computers with Today's Paper web app — The daily print edition of The New York Times now has a home of its own on digital devices. A new web app called Today's Paper, released today, offers solely the articles and sections that go to print every …

More: Poynter, ReadWrite, App Advice, The Next Web, PC Magazine, Gizmodo and Engadget. See also Mediagazer

Hannah Karp / Wall Street Journal:

Spotify to Introduce Free Mobile Music Service — Free Version of Streaming Service Was Previously Only Available on Desktop and Laptops — Spotify AB is planning a free, ad-supported version of its streaming-music service on mobile devices, according to people familiar with the matter …

More: The Verge, Associated Press, Bloomberg, MacNN, SlashGear and Pocket-lint. See also Mediagazer

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

House of Representatives passes widely supported bill to fight patent trolls — A bipartisan bill that cracks down on potentially frivolous suits from “patent trolls” has passed the House of Representatives. Rep. Bob Goodlatte's (R-VA) Innovation Act passed committee in November and reached …

More: The Switch, Electronic Frontier Foundation, ZDNet, Droid Life and Gigaom. Tweets: @paulg

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: GeekWire, The Windows Blog, PC Magazine, Pureinfotech Newsletter, TechNet Blogs, Computerworld, LiveSide.net, TechnoBuffalo, The Verge, Ubergizmo, Engadget, TechCrunch, TechNet Blogs, SlashGear and WebProNews

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: The Foursquare Blog, ReadWrite, VentureBeat, The Next Web, TUAW, Engadget, IntoMobile, iMore and Gigaom

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, PC World, ZDNet, Ars Technica, Computerworld, Google Operating System, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, The Verge, ReadWrite, gHacks Technology News, Lifehacker, Engadget, BetaNews and Gotta Be Mobile

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: Ubergizmo, VatorNews, TechCrunch, GeekWire and The Verge

Cotton Delo / AdAge:

Facebook Admits Organic Reach Is Falling Short, Urges Marketers to Buy Ads — Brands Urged to Think of Fan Acquisition As Way to Enhance Performance — Facebook is being more blunt about the fact that marketers are going to have to pay for reach. — If they haven't already …

More: Marketing Land, TechCrunch, [a]listdaily and hypebot

Tweets: @lulugrimm, @jguynn, @chrisschlosser, @ryanlawler, @future_of_music and @r

Thanks:@petersontee

Julie Bort / Business Insider:

Snapchat Is Raising $54.5 Million On A Valuation Of Up To $2 Billion, This Regulatory Filing Says — The sleuths at VC Experts, a site that tracks the financial information of private companies, have done it again. They uncovered a new regulatory filing that shows Snapchat is about to raise …

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat and Valleywag

Sruthi Ramakrishnan / Reuters:

Twitter to be available on mobile phones without Internet — (Reuters) - Twitter Inc is tying up with a Singapore-based startup to make its 140-character messaging service available to users in emerging markets who have entry-level mobile phones which cannot access the Internet.

More: CNET and The Next Web. Tweets: @kenyanpundit

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Job-Review Site Glassdoor Hints at IPO Aspirations While Raising $50M More — Glassdoor, the job-review site that has also become a job-listings and recruiting platform, wants to go global. That is, more global than it is today — the Sausalito, Calif.-based company says 25 percent of its traffic already comes from outside the U.S.

More: Glassdoor, Digital Media Wire, Business Insider, GeekWire, Gigaom, peHUB, Venture Capital Dispatch, VentureBeat and bizjournals

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

comScore: Apple takes 40.6% share as top US smartphone maker, Samsung hits 25.4%; Android stops losing share — In the US, Apple's dominance as the top smartphone OEM appears to have peaked at just above the 40 percent mark. In the last three months, Samsung gained share faster than its main competitor …

More: comScore, Inc., GeekWire, MacRumors, ZDNet, AppleInsider, BGR, Android Beat, Marketing Land, Android Community and Android Central

Reuters:

JPMorgan warns 465,000 card users on data loss after cyber attack — (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co is warning some 465,000 holders of prepaid cash cards issued by the bank that their personal information may have been accessed by hackers who attacked its network in July.

More: Ars Technica, AllThingsD, Naked Security, Threatpost and ZDNet

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Box raises $100M at $2B valuation from overseas partners to speed international growth — Box Secures $100 Million Funding at $2 Billion Valuation — Web Storage Vendor Expects Sales to Top $100 Million This Year — Box Inc. has secured $100 million in funding at a valuation of about $2 billion …

More: The Box Blog, ZDNet, Gigaom and Business Insider

Tweets: @dmac1 and @dmac1

Thanks:@davedonohue

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Apple's ‘smart dock’ would give Siri a permanent place in the home — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published an Apple patent application detailing a full-function “smart dock” that continually listens for cues to activate and communicate with the voice recognition functions …

More: iLounge, MacRumors, FierceMobileIT News, iPhone in Canada Blog, CNET, iDownloadBlog.com and TechCrunch. Thanks:@_trendspotter

Joshua Goodman / Associated Press:

Venezuela Cyber Crackdown Ensnares Web's Bitly — CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans have been scrambling for dollars for weeks, taking refuge in the greenback as their own currency is in free fall. Rather than address the economic imbalances behind the bolivar's plunge …

More: TIME and bitly blog

Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:

Verizon quietly unleashes its LTE monster, tripling 4G capacity in major cities — We've already logged a few sightings of Verizon's powerful new LTE network in New York and other cities, but in the last few months Verizon has been rapidly working behind the scenes on upgrading its LTE infrastructure across the country.

More: ZDNet, Wall Street Journal and Verizon Wireless Promotions. Thanks:@kfitchard

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