Techmeme
December 19, 2013, 1:05 PM

Top News

Reuters:
Exclusive: Dish eyes 2014 bid for T-Mobile - sources  —  (Reuters) - Dish (DISH.O) is considering making a bid for T-Mobile (TMUS.N) next year, according to people close to the matter, in what would be the satellite TV provider's second attempt in as many years at acquiring a major wireless operator …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Target confirms breach: 40 million accounts affected  —  Summary: Customer name, credit or debit card number, and the card's expiration date and CVV (the three-digit security code) were breached, the retailer said.  —  Target on Thursday confirmed that its payment card data was compromised …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg Sell Shares, Facebook Stock Price Drops  —  After a nice run on the Nasdaq, Facebook and its CEO are selling a big block of shares.  Wall Street's reaction: We're selling, too.  —  Facebook says it is planning a secondary sale of 70 million shares …
Andrew Zajac / Bloomberg:
Secret Spy Court Won't Reconsider Phone Data Collection  —  The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rejected a request by a civil liberties watchdog group to re-examine an order authorizing the U.S. to collect call data from phone companies.  —  The Center for National Security Studies …
More: The Star Online.  Tweets: @gabrielmalor
New York Times:
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Hot mod: Cyanogen raises another $23 million to become the next big version of Android  —  The effort to turn CyanogenMod into the next big mobile operating system just got a big new vote of confidence.  The company announced today that it has raised an additional $23 million …
Mike Deri Smith / BBC:
Porn filters block sex education websites  —  The new filters are designed to block sites unsuitable for children  —  Pornography filters used by major internet service providers are blocking websites offering sex education and advice on sexual health and porn addiction, the BBC has learned.
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple's Redesigned Mac Pro Now Available for Online Orders  —  In line with yesterday's announcement, Apple's redesigned Mac Pro is now available for order through the company's online stores.  The Mac Pro currently ships by December 30, though upgraded versions list a non-specific “January” shipping estimate.
Paul Thurrott / SuperSite for Windows:
Windows Phone Turned the Corner in 2013  —  We're number three.  And no, that doesn't suck  —  2013 was nothing less than a blockbuster success for Windows Phone, which went from industry also-ran to the undisputed third mobile ecosystem, and is poised to challenge iPhone for the number two spot.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram Says First Ad Results Are “Promising” With Recall Up 32%, Show It Wants TV Brand Dollars  —  Instagram may prove a valuable platform for advertisers.  Instagram released its first results on ads since they began appearing November 1st.  Brands saw average ad recall up 3X …
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
No One Buys Music on the Web Anymore.  Except When They Buy a Million Beyonce Albums in Five Days.  —  Sales of music downloads, which were supposed to rescue the music business from the decline of the CD, have been flattening for a few years.  Then things got worse: This year, digital sales were down 4 percent through Thanksgiving.
ACLU:
Senate Report Opens a Window Into Hidden World of Data Aggregators  —  Today, the powerful Senate Commerce Committee issued a damning report on the invasive practices of the online data broker industry.  The Committee's report is the result of a year-long investigation targeting nine …
The Switch:
Research shows how MacBook Webcams can spy on their users without warning  —  The woman was shocked when she received two nude photos of herself by e-mail.  The photos had been taken over a period of several months — without her knowledge — by the built-in camera on her laptop.
Barbara Lewis / Reuters:
Europe reaches deal on common mobile phone battery charger  —  (Reuters) - Mobile phone makers will have to provide a standard battery charger that can fit any device, including smart phones, under a provisional deal on a new EU law reached on Thursday.  —  Provided the outline agreement …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work  —  Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.
Zoho:
Introducing Zoho TouchPoint: Every handshake deserves a next step  —  Here's a scene you've probably experienced.  You spend a day at an event, talk to dozens of people, and come home with a stack of business cards.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
WebBrain:
WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser  —  Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox.  Use local models or your preferred AI provider.  Get started free.

Featured Podcasts

Machine Gods:
Why the AI World Will Never Be the Same
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
The Upstarts Podcast:
The $1.4B Startup Deciding What You See When You Shop Online | Sequen's Zoë Weil
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
Too soon to call it a vibe shift?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
Storm Clouds Ahead For Apple?, Debating Amazon's Bee Frontier, AI as UI
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Encore: Chuck Klosterman on Why Football Owns TV (and Why It Won't Forever)
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Zach Reitano - Building Ro and Why Healthcare Should Be 50% of GDP
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:05 PM ET, December 19, 2013.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks