Techmeme: Foxconn and Apple Make Strides Towards Improving Work Hours, But Still Violate Chinese Limits (Juli Clover/MacRumors)

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December 12, 2013, 3:20 PM

Top News

Instagram Blog:

Introducing Instagram Direct — Today, we're excited to bring you Instagram Direct, a new way to send photo and video messages to friends. Over the past three years, the Instagram community has grown to over 150 million people capturing and sharing moments all around the globe.

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Instagram announces Instagram Direct for private photo, video, and text messaging — At an event in New York City today, Instagram announced a new messaging feature that lets users send text and photo messages to each other privately. “Communication is not about photography, necessarily,” said CEO Kevin Systrom.

More: The Switch, Betabeat, TechHive, TechCrunch, ABC News, Ars Technica, Gigaom, NYT Bits, Gizmodo, iMore, The Register, Guardian, Engadget, Softpedia News, The Next Web, BGR and Electronista

Tweets: @erinbury, @austincarr, @anildash, @danprimack, @zpower, @pkafka and @mikeisaac

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Instagram Says Half Of All Instagrammers — 75M+ — Use the App Daily

Tweets: @mikeisaac

Jason Del Rey / AllThingsD:

Bitcoin's Biggest Bet: Andreessen Horowitz Leads $25 Million Investment in Coinbase — Coinbase co-founders Brian Armstrong (l) and Fred Ehrsam, sporting we-got-money grins. — If you're a bitcoin doubter, you might want to turn away. The doors to venture funding in bitcoin startups are about to swing wide open.

More: The Coinbase Blog, DealBook, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Y Combinator Posthaven, TechSpot, PE Hub Blog, Payments News, Business Insider, The Switch and The Social Customer Manifesto

Tweets: @btcfoundation and @delrey

Chris Dixon:

Coinbase — One of the interesting things about Bitcoin is the contrast between how it is portrayed in the press and how it is understood by technologists. The press tends to portray Bitcoin as either a speculative bubble or a scheme for supporting criminal activity.

More: Gigaom, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, On Bitcoin and Mashable

Tweets: @fromedome and @mathewi

Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:

Fleksy wants to become your new iOS keyboard, everywhere — Can a software keyboard startup succeed where others failed? — In 2007, early iPhone users had a problem. They wanted to take a snippet of text from one place to another, and their phones wouldn't let them do it.

More: TechCrunch, Engadget, AppleInsider, MacRumors, iMore, iDownloadBlog.com, MacStories, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, Geeky Gadgets and MobileBurn.com

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Highlight Raises $4 Million From DFJ, Releases Version 2.0 Of Its Location-Based Social Networking App — Location-based social startup Highlight has just released a new version of its app, aimed at being smarter about the connections it shows, while also giving users more context about what those connections have been up to.

More: The Verge, Gigaom, The Next Web and Wired. Tweets: @besvinick

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Yahoo Says Mail Functionality Is Returning, but Some Users Might Be Missing Up to Two Weeks of Email — Yahoo, which had been glacial in giving users information about problems with its high-profile Yahoo Mail product over the last several days, said last night that it had restored access …

More: PC Magazine, Mashable, SiliconBeat and BGR. Tweets: @alex

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Gmail for desktop now automatically shows images in your messages, coming to Android and iOS 'in early 2014′ — Google today announced a change to how Gmail handles images: on the desktop, the email service will show images in your messages automatically starting today.

More: Gmail Blog, Ars Technica, TechHive, Google Operating System, 9to5Google, Engadget and The Verge

Miyoung Kim / Reuters:

Apple scores legal victory over Samsung in South Korea — (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday lost its bid to ban sales of Apple Inc's older iPhone and iPad in South Korea, as a court dismissed a lawsuit claiming the U.S. firm had infringed three of Samsung's mobile patents.

Richard Devine / iMore:

Google Maps for iOS will now show you your flight, hotel and restaurant reservations — Google has bumped Google Maps for iOS up to version 2.5.0 and with it brought some neat new additions for folks in selected locations. Maps will now pull information from your Gmail account and show you your flight …

More: Search Engine Land, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, Gigaom, Engadget, Mashable, MobileSyrup.com, Electronista, TUAW, iPhone, BetaNews, Geeky Gadgets, Softpedia News, iClarified, Gigaom and iDownloadBlog.com

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

IFTTT Launches iOS Location Channel With Integrations For Foursquare, Twitter, Instagram And Facebook — Today, IFTTT announces the addition of an iOS Location channel to its ‘Internet glue’ service. The channel will allow users to specify an ‘area’ that will allow them to trigger actions …

More: The Next Web, The Verge, iDownloadBlog.com, SlashGear and Wired

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

LifeLock Acquires Mobile Wallet Platform Lemon For $42.6 Million, Launches LifeLock Wallet — Lemon, a digital wallet platform which allows users to store their ID, payment, loyalty cards and more on their smartphone, has been acquired by identity theft protection service LifeLock …

More: The Next Web, Gigaom, CoinDesk, Street Fight, Techrockies.com and Laughing Squid

Jennifer Van Grove / CNET:

Kik rides teen interest to 100M users — The company behind the mobile messaging app Kik announced Thursday that it now has more than 100 million registered users, which is more than triple the number it had just one year ago. The app is signing on as many as 250,000 new people each day, CEO Ted Livingston told CNET.

More: TechCrunch, Digits, Gigaom, VentureBeat, Light Reading and MobileSyrup.com. Tweets: @cnet

Charles Arthur / Guardian:

iPhone 5S makes rapid start in China and hits 10% of iPhones in use, data shows — CounterPoint Research report comes before China Mobile deal, while iOS 7 adoption running faster than last year, statistics show — Apple's iPhone 5S has been a dramatic hit in China, comprising 12% of sales …

More: AppleInsider, Counterpoint Research, MacRumors, Fortune, CNET, iPhone in Canada Blog, InvestorPlace, Gotta Be Mobile, Electronista and Forbes

Alina Selyukh / Reuters:

Wireless carriers, FCC agree on ‘unlocking’ cellphones — (Reuters) - U.S. wireless carriers will make it easier for consumers to “unlock” their mobile phones for use on a competitor's network, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said on Thursday.

More: MacRumors, DSLreports, Electronista, The Mac Observer, The Verge, Gigaom, Bloomberg, Ubergizmo and FierceWireless

Lora Kolodny / Venture Capital Dispatch:

On Road to IPO, Shopify Raises $100M to ‘Bridge Clicks and Bricks’ … Canadian startup Shopify Inc. has raised $100 million to challenge juggernauts like Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. in the arena of merchant software and services. — Shopify's systems help merchants sell as easily online as they do offline, or vice versa.

More: VentureBeat, BetaKit, Gigaom, DealBook, PE Hub Blog, Financial Post, Globe and Mail and Insight Venture Partners

Tweets: @andyoliverwpg and @asenkut

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

Former Google executive to run U.S. patent office — (Reuters) - Former Google Inc executive Michelle Lee has been named deputy director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and will run the agency until a new director is named, the agency said on Wednesday.

More: Wired, 9to5Google, AllThingsD, AppleInsider, bizjournals, Mercury News, Trends, IPWatchdog.com and SiliconBeat. Tweets: @fedcourtjunkie

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Foxconn and Apple Make Strides Towards Improving Work Hours, But Still Violate Chinese Limits — The Fair Labor Association has published a final status report on the working conditions at Apple supplier Foxconn, finding that Foxconn successfully reduced working hours to comply …

More: Reuters, Fair Labor Association, Guardian and iPhone in Canada Blog

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Twitter's MoPub Fires Up An In-Stream Native Ad Product, Launches On Tango — Twitter's recent acquisition of MoPub has fired up a native advertising business that will launch with in-stream ads on the Tango messaging platform and with other partners. The product is obviously taking some cues …

More: MoPub, Digits and CNET. Tweets: @kevinroose. See also Mediagazer

Bloomberg:

In-Flight Calling Ban Considered by U.S. Transportation — The U.S. Department of Transportation will consider whether to ban in-flight calls aboard airliners, the agency's leader said today. — The DOT, which oversees consumer protection of airline passengers, will seek public comment …

More: Reuters and Politico. Tweets: @ceciliakang, @ceciliakang, @ceciliakang and @ceciliakang

Tamar Lewin / New York Times:

Study of a million users of MOOCs says they are a failure, only four percent completed courses — After Setbacks, Online Courses Are Rethought — Two years after a Stanford professor drew 160,000 students from around the globe to a free online course on artificial intelligence …

More: Hit & Run and Forbes. Tweets: @cheeky_geeky

Electronista:

Dell reveals new partnerships with Dropbox, Microsoft, Google, Red Hat — Dropbox for Business to be offered to Dell enterprise customers — Dell has announced a number of new partnerships it has formed with other companies at its Dell World event in Austin today.

More: Computerworld, Dropbox for Business Blog and Dell

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