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December 17, 2013, 12:00 PM
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Top News

Facebook:
Testing a New Way to Watch Promoted Videos in News Feed  —  Since September, we've been testing a way to make videos more engaging on Facebook, and as a result we've seen views, likes, shares and comments increase more than 10 percent.  —  We're beginning to test a similar video viewing format for advertisers.
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Facebook Shows Video Ad, Launches Test This Week  —  Facebook has been working on a plan to sell video ads for more than a year.  Now they are just about here: As the Wall Street Journal reported last night, Facebook is rolling out its first auto-playing video ads this week, for the upcoming movie “Divergent.”
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Samsung launches a gamepad for Android that's optimized for its Galaxy phones  —  Apple began allowing third-party gamepads on the iPhone with iOS 7, and Samsung is also upping its presence in the space after announcing its own gamepad (the not-so-creatively named 'Smartphone GamePad') for Android 4.1 phones.
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Amazon Reportedly Buys Mobile Payments Startup Gopago, Working On An ‘Ambitious’ New Project  —  Looks like Amazon may have quietly made another acquisition, and another move to expand its role in the world of mobile: Italian newspapers are reporting that the e-commerce giant has acquired Gopago …
Michael Steeber / 9to5Mac:
Apple airs touching holiday commercial featuring the iPhone 5s and AirPlay  —  As is tradition, Apple is airing a new holiday commercial this evening, this time highlighting the iPhone 5s, its movie making capabilities, and AirPlay with the Apple TV.  The ad is set to the tune of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”.
Peter Rubin / Wired:
Oculus Primed: Meet the Geniuses Who Finally Mastered Virtual Reality  —  In May 2012, a programmer named John Carmack—who, as a cofounder of id Software and the man behind games like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, is widely seen as the father of 3D gaming—tweeted a picture of what looked like steampunk bifocals made out of a black shoebox.
Tweets: @cdixon
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
CloudFlare Reveals $50 Million “Secret” Funding — From One Year Ago  —  CloudFlare co-founders, left to right, Michelle Zatlyn, Lee Holloway and Matthew Prince  —  CloudFlare, the Web security and performance company, said yesterday that it had raised $50 million in a Series C round …
Dan Lyons / Inbound Hub:
Qualcomm Insider: Apple 64-Bit Chip ‘Hit Us in the Gut’  —  In public, Apple's rivals in the smartphone market have tried to downplay the technological advances Apple introduced in the iPhone 5s.  But it turns out that one breakthrough — Apple's speedy, 64-bit A7 microprocessor — has set off a panic inside its competitors.
Chris Smith / BGR:
Video: Steam Machine beta unboxing, gameplay, teardown and specs  —  Valve on Friday shipped Steam Machine beta units to 300 lucky developers, with some of them already posting details - including image galleries and hands-on videos - about the new console in town.
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Mac Pro Build-to-Order Upgrade Pricing Revealed  —  Late last week, we noted that Apple's business sales staff have been offering customers price quotes for build-to-order configurations of the new Mac Pro, providing the first glimpse at what these machines will cost beyond the $2999/$3999 base configurations shown on Apple's site.
Joseph Ax / Reuters:
Oregon politician gets six years for Facebook IPO fraud  —  (Reuters) - A former candidate for governor of Oregon was sentenced to six years in prison on Monday for fraudulently convincing investors he had access to shares of Facebook Inc before its highly anticipated initial public offering in 2012.
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
NSA surveillance critic Bruce Schneier to leave post at BT  —  Bruce Schneier, at an Open Technology Institute presentation on Capitol Hill last Friday, said the NSA had created vulnerabilities in the Internet that criminals could exploit within the next two to three years.  —  Sean Gallagher
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Chromebook 11 charger recalled after nine overheat and melt  —  Google and HP are recalling power chargers for the Chromebook 11 after receiving nine reports of them overheating and melting.  One minor burn and one minor incident of property damage resulted from the heating issues …
Zeke J Miller / TIME:
Obama To Meet Tech Execs Over NSA Spying, Obamacare Website  —  President Barack Obama will meet with many of Silicon Valley's best-known executives Tuesday at the White House to discuss the troubled Healthcare.gov website and controversial surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency, the administration announced.
Jeremy Kirk / PC World:
Android botnet stole SMSes from South Korea, emailed them to China  —  An Android botnet found in South Korea that steals text messages may be one of the largest and most advanced mobile malware operations discovered, according to security vendor FireEye.  —  The botnet, which FireEye called …

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From Mediagazer

Jennifer Jacobs / CBS News:
Sources: the Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes' publisher, EIC, and a Middle East reporter for insubordination; the publisher earlier announced his retirement

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Sources: Paramount reps are expected to meet Monday with the California AG's office to discuss a possible settlement of the antitrust suit blocking the WBD deal

Dominic Patten / Deadline:
Chris Aronson, ex-president of domestic theatrical distribution at Paramount, sues the company, claiming breach of contract and age discrimination

More News

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Exclusive: Twitter working on “edit” feature for tweets

Earlier Picks

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Launches “Donate” Button For Non-Profits That Also Collects Billing Info For Itself
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