Techmeme
December 9, 2013, 9:55 PM

Top News

Reform Government Surveillance:
Global Government Surveillance Reform  —  The undersigned companies believe that it is time for the world's governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information.  While the undersigned companies understand …
James Ball / Guardian:
Revealed: spy agencies' covert push to infiltrate virtual world of online games  —  NSA and GCHQ collect gamers' chats and deploy real-life agents into World of Warcraft and Second Life  —  Read the NSA document Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments
Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed:
The Biggest Social Network No One Is Talking About: Gamers  —  The NSA is spying on gamers for the same reason it wants to spy on your Facebook account.  It's a clear map of your relationships.  —  The easy reaction to today's revelation in the Guardian that the National Security Agency spied …
More: GuardianTweets: @jbasher
Dan Primack / Fortune:
Stealth payment startup Clinkle lays off 25% of staff  —  Layoffs at stealth payment startup Clinkle  —  Clinkle still wants to kill Square.  But first it needs to get its own house in order.  —  FORTUNE — Clinkle, a stealthy mobile payment startup that recently raised …
Daniel Terdiman / CNET:
Google barge on ‘hiatus’ amid scrutiny from two agencies  —  Whether it's a Google Glass store or a showroom for all things Google X, one thing is clear: No one will be visiting Google Barge anytime soon.  —  The once-mysterious barge, currently sitting idle alongside a pier at Treasure Island …
Tweets: @amir
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft's “Threshold” could include three SKUs (modern, traditional, and enterprise) built on common Windows core  —  More on Microsoft's SKU-morphic Windows vision  —  Summary: Microsoft's plans for Windows SKUs is undergoing a transformation.
Lorraine Luk / Digits:
China Mobile to Accept iPhone Orders This Week  —  China Mobile Ltd. plans to take preorders for Apple Inc.'s iPhones from Thursday in Shanghai, according to an advertisement on its website, as the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers moves closer to launching high-speed fourth-generation mobile services in the country.
Joe Eskenazi / The Snitch:
Google Bus: Max Bell Alper Is the Boy Who Cried Gentrification  —  Max Bell Alper has befouled his own well.  He's soiled his own bed.  You can use Google to hunt down other apropos analogies.  Busloads of employees roll out of San Francisco every day to make it so.
AppleInsider:
Ousted Apple exec Scott Forstall reportedly advising startups, focusing on philanthropy  —  Not much has been heard of former iOS head Scott Forstall since he was fired from Apple in 2012, but a report published on Monday claims to shed some light on the ousted executive's activities over the past year.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Scripps Buys Newsy For $35M To Expand From TV And Newspapers To Digital Video  —  Another exit for a new media startup into the arms of the old media industry: E.W. Scripps, the storied owner of 19 local television stations and daily newspapers in 13 markets across the U.S. …
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Confirmed: Flipboard Raises Another $50 Million To Close Out Its Series C Round  —  Flipboard has confirmed that it raised an additional $50 million, which will close out the Series C round of financing that it brought on in September.  In addition to the new funding, Flipboard is also announcing …
Bloomberg:
Twitter Rises Most Since IPO Amid Advertising Product Optimism  —  Twitter Inc. rose the most since its initial public offering after enhancements to its advertising products sparked optimism that the social-networking company will grow into its valuation.  —  Twitter gained 8.4 percent …
More: Reuters and Forbes
Pradeep / WMPoweruser:
Microsoft Research Releases Socl App For Windows Phone 8 Devices  —  If you are not aware of Microsoft's own social network called Socl, here is the description from Microsoft.  Socl offers a set of simple, fun “create experiences” that make it even easier to express and share ideas with people worldwide …
Jean-Louis Gassée / Monday Note:
Microsoft CEO Search: Stalemate  —  The Microsoft CEO succession process appears to be stalled.  This is a company with immense human, technical, and financial resources; the tech industry is filled with intelligent, energetic, dedicated candidates.  What's wrong with the matchmaking process?
More: Forbes

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Michael Lee / ZDNet:
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD: