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December 19, 2013, 10:25 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Trouble in Austin: Apple repeats last year's iMac holiday shortage with the Mac Pro — The December supply of Mac Pros? — The new Mac Pro is an awesome machine for those with several thousand dollars to spend on a computer and a need for all the power that comes with that thermal core …

More: Computerworld, Forbes, Fortune, Ars Technica, Pocket-lint, TechnoBuffalo and MacDailyNews. Tweets: @tim_cook

David Pierce / The Verge:

Up close and personal with the new Mac Pro (hands-on) — It's been talked about and endlessly dissected. It's either the future of professional computing or an overpriced, undersized trash can. It's the new Mac Pro, it's on sale starting today, and I've finally had a chance to hold it in my own two hands.

More: Macworld, Engadget, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, iClarified, iPhone Hacks, iPhone in Canada Blog, Yahoo! News, Gizmodo and Gigaom

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:

SEC Charges Microsoft Senior Manager and Friend With Insider Trading in Advance of Company News — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a senior portfolio manager at Microsoft Corporation and his friend and business partner with insider trading ahead of company announcements.

More: Quartz, GeekWire, TechCrunch, WinBeta, WebProNews, Forbes, AllThingsD and Gigaom

Tweets: @jyarow, @jonathanweil, @markgurman, @counternotions and @bdsams

Mike Carter / The Seattle Times:

Interview with former Microsoft senior manager Brian Jorgenson: “I told myself, “Members of Congress can do it""

More: Business Insider, Forbes and SlashGear. Tweets: @jyarow

iFixit:

Steam Machine Teardown — If last month's round of next-gen console launches left you in a fog, prepare yourself for the incoming Steam Machine. Valve has released only 300 beta kits into the wild, so grab your companion cube and hold tight—we're about to open one up.

More: Business Insider, Engadget, Ars Technica, PC World, TechSpot, WebProNews, Geek.com, The Tech Report, GeekWire, CNET, Gizmodo and Joystiq

Tweets: @ifixit and @steamdb

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Apple hints at future Maps app in ‘layered map’ patent filing — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published an Apple patent application that takes the company's existing mapping apps and extends them to new levels of interactivity with data-rich layered viewing modes. — Source: USPTO

More: CNET, Gigaom, iPhone in Canada Blog, TechnoBuffalo, iDownloadBlog.com, PadGadget, Spatially Adjusted, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, BGR and Electronista

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 …

More: TechSpot, IntoMobile, eWeek, ZDNet, The Verge, TechnoBuffalo, iMore, Ars Technica, GeekWire, Electronista, Gigaom, Gigaom Research and DSLreports. Tweets: @reckless. See also Mediagazer

Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:

Calxeda, Chipmaker That Sought to Bring ARM Chips to Servers, Has Shut Down — Depending on whom you ask, the coming year is supposed to be the one during which server chips based on the ARM architecture that is now so popular in smartphones and tablets start appearing in servers.

More: Ars Technica, eWeek, PC World, Wired, Data Center Knowledge, Gigaom, VentureBeat, EE Times, The Register, Forbes and ZDNet. Tweets: @qthrul

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

WhatsApp announces 400M active users, aims to “steer the conversation” away from registered users — WhatsApp Does a Passive-Aggressive Stats Release to Call Out Others for Bulls**t Metrics — There's a big difference between someone signing up for a service, and someone using it on a regular basis.

More: WhatsApp Blog, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Next Web, Digits, Business Insider, The Verge, Online Dating Insider, IntoMobile and Forbes

Tweets: @sarahfrier, @benedictevans, @scottmaustin, @jwherrman and @papadimitriou

Libby Jacobson / Verizon Public Policy:

Verizon to Publish Transparency Report Disclosing Law Enforcement Requests for Customer Information — NEW YORK — Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) today announced plans to publish an online report that will provide data on the number of law enforcement requests for customer information …

More: TIME, Washington Post, Engadget, Gigaom, CNET, NYT Bits, The Verge, ZDNet, SecurityWeek and TheHill

Tweets: @eff, @runasand and @csoghoian

Donna Tam / CNET:

DA to Apple: Make iPhone's Activation Lock the rule — San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón released survey results Wednesday that he says makes an argument for Apple to enable its Activation Lock security feature on every phone. — When enabled, Activation Lock …

More: Senator Mark Leno, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, The Register, NEWS.com.au, IntoMobile, SiliconBeat, Gotta Be Mobile and iDownloadBlog.com

Gerry Smith / The Huffington Post:

California Lawmaker To Introduce Bill Mandating Smartphone ‘Kill Switch’

More: RT and Associated Press

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Foursquare Raises a $35 Million Round and Adds DFJ's Schuler to Board — Foursquare, the iconic social location service, has raised $35 million in a Series D round, led by DFJ Growth and the Capital Group's Smallcap World Fund. — The company confirmed the raise to me and later in a blog post …

More: The Foursquare Blog, Digits, The Technology Chronicles, TechCrunch, The Next Web, ClickZ, The Verge, VatorNews, Inc.com, Mashable, Business Insider, WebProNews, Valleywag and Skift

Seth Weintraub / 9to5Google:

After recall, Google releases updated HP Chromebook 11 with newly-designed power adapter — Google recalled the power adapters to its popular little HP Chromebook 11 last week after an investigation by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said that some of the AC adapters were overheating and could be dangerous.

More: Engadget, The Verge and The VAR Guy. Thanks:@davidj

Lisa Eadicicco / LAPTOP Magazine:

$350 Google Glass Competitor Covers Both Eyes to Augment Your Reality — If you think wearing Google Glass makes you look like a futuristic cyborg, than the Atheer One is sure to make you feel like you've just crawled out of a time machine. Atheer Labs has just announced …

More: VentureBeat, PC Magazine, Mashable, AllThingsD, TechCrunch, CNET, The Next Web, Fast Company, CITEworld, Gigaom and Digital Trends. Thanks:@akattkisson

Richard Nieva / CNET:

Yahoo Mail brings back popular tabs feature — When Yahoo overhauled its Mail product in October, many people howled at the redesign, and particularly missed a tabs feature that allowed users to multitask while writing and reading e-mails. — Related posts — Nope, Yahoo isn't building a Siri rival — at least one we know of

More: Yahoo Mail, Engadget, Bloomberg, The Verge, Ubergizmo, gHacks Technology News, Softpedia News and AllThingsD

Derrick Harris / Gigaom:

IBM acquires Aspera and its tech for moving massive files to the cloud — IBM on Thursday announced plans to acquire Aspera, a startup whose protocol technology is used to transfer large files fast over the slow public internet. The Aspera protocol, called fasp, is used by a large number …

More: IBM, eWeek, ZDNet, The Register and Wall Street Journal

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

Shazam for iPhone can now listen for songs and shows in the background — Ever rush to identify a song with Shazam with your phone, only to be frustrated as the tune ends before you've even reached into your pocket? That won't be a concern with the latest update to Shazam's iPhone app.

More: Gigaom, App Advice, everythingiCafe, The Next Web, Cult of Mac, TechRadar.com, Fast Company, Consumerist, Pocket-lint, iDownloadBlog.com, Ubergizmo, TUAW, Multichannel.com and Electronista. Tweets: @qthrul

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

BitTorrent serverless chat replaces usernames with crypto keys — BitTorrent, Inc. is developing a serverless instant messaging system that relies on public key encryption to protect the privacy of communications, identifying users not with traditional usernames but with cryptographic key pairs.

More: The Official BitTorrent Blog, The BitTorrent Engineering …, Business Insider, VentureBeat, The Verge, Ubergizmo, PC World and PandoDaily

Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:

Latest mobile dev trends: Facebook's mobile API & Javascript are hot; HTML5 & old web architecture are not — For mobile developers, a lot has changed in the past year. — Facebook has now swiftly become the most popular social service for devs to connect their apps to …

More: Appcelerator Inc, TechCrunch, InfoWorld and eWeek

Khoi Vinh / Medium:

What streaming music lacks: the metadata of analog days and the personalization of now — What Streaming Music Can Be — Getting past the breadth of Spotify's catalog to more meaningful connections with the music — One gift that I won't be giving to loved ones this holiday season is music, sadly.

Tweets: @splatf, @smc90, @penciledin, @noodlepie and @benedictevans

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Airbnb Tops 10 Million Guest Stays Since Launch, Now Has 550,000 Properties Listed Worldwide — This is what hockey-stick growth looks like: Peer-to-peer lodging marketplace Airbnb announced this morning that it'll top 10 million guest stays since being launched in 2007.

Thanks:@ngerke

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

500px brings its photo sharing to Windows Phone — Windows Phone users wanting to browse 500px photo galleries have so far had to rely on unofficial apps, but they can now go straight to the source thanks to an official app for Microsoft's platform. As on Android and iOS …

More: Softpedia News

Paul Thurrott / SuperSite for Windows:

Windows Phone Turned the Corner in 2013

More: PhoneArena and Global Nerdy

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