Techmeme
December 15, 2013, 8:10 PM

Top News

Adam Fisher / New York Times:
A profile of Google Maps, an integral part of the company's future location-aware products  —  Google's Road Map to Global Domination  —  Fifty-five miles and three days down the Colorado River from the put-in at Lee's Ferry, near the Utah-Arizona border, the two rafts in our little flotilla suddenly encountered a storm.
Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
How Americans Were Deceived About Cell Phone Location Data  —  Remember when multiple Obama Administration figures said the NSA doesn't collect it?  That wasn't true.  —  Shortly after the earliest articles sourced to Edward Snowden appeared, Americans newly aware of the cell phones …
New York Times:
Leo Mirani / Quartz:
The future of Microsoft as seen by an insider who could be its next CEO  —  It's been a fun couple of weeks for Microsoft watchers.  First Ford CEO Alan Mulally dominated headlines as a favorite for the top job at Microsoft, even as his board publicly said he would stay at the auto manufacturer at least through the end of 2014.
More: TechCrunch
Allison Arieff / New York Times:
As tech companies embrace urban life, many in San Francisco remain closed off from their city  —  What Tech Hasn't Learned From Urban Planning  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The tech sector is, increasingly, embracing the language of urban planning — town hall, public square, civic hackathons, community engagement.
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Music streaming services struggle to attract paying subscribers amidst increasing competition  —  A Stream of Music, Not Revenue  —  When Spotify, the digital music company of the moment, announced this week an exclusive deal with Led Zeppelin and free access on mobile devices, it also reported impressive numbers.
More: BillboardTweets: @nycjim and @pkafka
Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:
Boston Police indefinitely suspends license plate reader program  —  The Boston Police Department currently has 14 license plate scanners, which are often mounted on police cars.  —  cle0patra  —  The Boston Police Department (BPD) has indefinitely halted its use of license plate readers …
Marco Arment / Marco.org:
Apple Can't Ban “Rate This App” Dialogs  —  There's been a lot of discussion in the last few days about those annoying “Rate This App” dialogs in far too many iOS apps today, initiated by John Gruber, summarized nicely by Chris Gonzales, and followed up with a nice discussion between Gruber and Daniel Jalkut in The Talk Show this week.

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Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'What's in Louie's Wallet', With Louie Mantia
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Big Technology Podcast:
Leopold Blows Up, OpenAI Drastically Cuts Prices, Microsoft's Best Day
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Open Model Wars + Claire Stapleton's Dishy Google Memoir + Substack's Slop Fight
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Great Chat:
Tech's short-term era
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Access:
Meet the most AI-pilled CEO on Earth
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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Brendan O'Connor / The Awl:

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