Techmeme
December 19, 2013, 2:40 PM

Top News

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 …
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
eMarketer:
Mobile Growth Pushes Facebook to Become No. 2 US Digital Ad Seller  —  Mobile now accounts for more than 22% of all US digital ad spending, compared with less than 3% in 2010  —  US mobile ad spending is expected to near $9.6 billion in 2013 and account for a whopping 22.5% of all digital ad investments …
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.
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 …
New York Times:
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%, Shows 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 …
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 …

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