Techmeme
December 11, 2013, 4:10 AM

Top News

The Switch:
NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking  —  The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using “cookies” and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.
The Switch:
New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data  —  Everyone who carries a cellphone generates a trail of electronic breadcrumbs that records everywhere they go.  Those breadcrumbs reveal a wealth of information about who we are, where we live, who our friends are and much more.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Nokia's “Normandy” phone uses a forked variant of Android, a la Kindle Fire  —  This is Nokia's Android phone  —  Codename Normandy is ‘full steam ahead’  —  Nokia has been building its own Android phone according to multiple sources familiar with the company's plans.
Variety:
Epic Fail: The Rise and Fall of Demand Media  —  The future of the so-called “content farm” looks bleak as its search-centric biz crumbles  —  Take note, Twitter: Not every tech company has a happy ending after a ballyhooed IPO.  —  Just look at Demand Media, the Santa Monica …
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Twitter Apps Updated With New Swipeable Design And Photo Support In Direct Messages  —  Today, Twitter has announced an update to its apps that bring a renewed focus on direct messaging.  The app now features a direct link to DMs in the tab bar and allows you to send photos inside direct messages.
John Herrman / BuzzFeed:
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Facebook Wants to Be a Newspaper.  Facebook Users Have Their Own Ideas.  —  Most people think of Facebook in a similar way: It's a place to share photos of your kids.  It's a way to keep up with friends and family members.  It's a place to share a funny, viral story or LOLcat picture you've stumbled upon on the Web.
Marguerite Reardon / CNET:
AT&T chief: We can't keep doing big subsidies on phones  —  AT&T's top executive says the era of big subsidies for devices is coming to an end, as wireless operators can no longer afford to fund a constant smartphone upgrade cycle.  —  Speaking at an investor conference in New York City on Tuesday …
Tim Culpan / Bloomberg:
Foxconn Said to Target Wearables With New Startup Fund  —  Foxconn Technology Group, maker of Apple Inc. iPhones and iPads, is launching an investment fund to finance startups developing new kinds of wearable computers, according to two people familiar with the project.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay Moves to .AC After Domain Name Seizure  —  A few hours ago Pirate Bay users were shocked to discover that their favorite torrent site was no longer loading.  —  Without warning the nameservers were removed from thepiratebay.sx domain, making it impossible to load the site in places where DNS entries were not cached.
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
New York Asks Cellphone Carriers to Explain Why They Rejected Antitheft Switch  —  SAN FRANCISCO — New York State's top prosecutor is investigating why American cellphone carriers have yet to embrace antitheft software on Samsung smartphones, raising questions about possible coordination among the biggest carriers.
Dan Ackerman / CNET:
Dell joins the Chromebook club with the Dell Chromebook 11  —  This 11-inch laptop, running Chrome OS, is targeted at schools.  —  Dell is officially announcing its first Chromebook on December 11.  The system, to be called the Dell Chromebook 11 (HP also has a system called the Chromebook 11) …
More: PC World and Engadget
Jonathan Mayer / Web Policy:
Three hops from one phone number may let NSA analyze sizable proportion of US phone records  —  MetaPhone: The NSA Three-Hop  —  Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler.  —  MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata.  If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating.

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More News

Brian Klug / AnandTech:

Earlier Picks

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Tim Peterson / AdAge:
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider: