Techmeme: BitTorrent serverless chat replaces usernames with crypto keys (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)

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December 20, 2013, 7:05 AM

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

David Pierce / The Verge:

Up close and personal with the new Mac Pro (hands-on)

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

Fred Vogelstein / The Atlantic Online:

The Day Google Had to ‘Start Over’ on Android — Google was building a secret mobile product to fend off chief rival Microsoft. Then Apple announced the iPhone, and everything changed. — In 2005, on Google's sprawling, college-like campus, the most secret and ambitious of many …

More: The Verge, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo, AppleInsider, Daring Fireball, iPhone in Canada Blog, BGR, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac, The Switch and The Loop. Tweets: @whatthebit

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

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: Inquirer, BBC, Computerworld, Washington Post, TIME, NYT Bits, CNET, Gigaom, Engadget, TheHill, SecurityWeek and The Verge

Tweets: @eff, @csoghoian and @runasand

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:

Verizon plans to issue transparency report, despite silence on NSA co-operation

Walter Frick / HBR:

The Danger of Turning Cynical About Silicon Valley — Silicon Valley is losing its luster, at least among elite opinion-makers. An increasing number of critiques have been mounted in publications as diverse as The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, and Wired (to name only a few) …

Thanks:@wfrick

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

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

Mike Carter / The Seattle Times:

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

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

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, AndroidHeadlines.com, Electronista, The Verge and The VAR Guy. Thanks:@davidj

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

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

Tweets: @patricknorton, @ifixit and @steamdb

Gregory Ferenstein / TechCrunch:

Tim Draper Wants To Split California Into Pieces And Turn Silicon Valley Into Its Own State — TechCrunch has learned about noted technology investor Tim Draper's plan to split California into six separate states, including a Northern California slice appropriately named “Silicon Valley.”

Tweets: @lenkendall, @susie_c, @mat, @qthrul, @tcarmody, @jacksonwest, @johnjcook, @monstro, @leelefever, @johnolilly and @loyalelectron

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, The Next Web, Cult of Mac, everythingiCafe, TechRadar.com, Multichannel.com, Fast Company, Consumerist, Ubergizmo, TUAW, Electronista, iDownloadBlog.com and Pocket-lint. 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 Verge, TechCrunch, Business Insider, The BitTorrent Engineering …, VentureBeat, PandoDaily, PC World and Ubergizmo

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

AOL Finalizing Talks To Sell Winamp And Shoutcast, No Shutdown Expected On Dec. 20 — AOL is finalizing negotiations to sell off Winamp and Shoutcast in a deal that would allow both products to live on, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

More: The Atlantic Online, Softpedia News and Boing Boing

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

Reuters:

EU says Google concessions in antitrust case not acceptable — Google's revised proposals to settle an antitrust case are not acceptable, European Union competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Friday. — “The latest offer as submitted by Google in October …

More: The Verge, Gigaom and Bloomberg

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Final Cut Pro updated to version 10.1, 4K monitoring, Mac Pro optimisations and more — Alongside the release of the new Mac Pro, Apple has updated Final Cut Pro in the Mac App Store to take advantage of the machine's immense raw processing power. Specifically, Apple says that playback …

More: Gigaom, Softpedia News, SlashGear, iMore, MacDailyNews, O'Grady's PowerPage, Softpedia News, AppleInsider, Engadget, WebProNews, The Next Web and MacRumors

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, TechCrunch, ZDNet, eWeek, The Register, Wall Street Journal and WebProNews

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, Bloomberg, Engadget, Ubergizmo, gHacks Technology News, The Verge, Softpedia News and AllThingsD

Michael Davidson / Xconomy:

Techstars CEO David Cohen to Raise $150M Fund — Techstars co-founder and CEO David Cohen has begun the process of raising a $150 million fund, according to an SEC filing made earlier today. — While Cohen is best known as the head of Boulder, CO-based Techstars, he's also an active investor …

More: Daily Camera, Boulder County Report and bizjournals. Thanks:@curtwoodward

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

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