Techmeme: iPad, Surface, Kindle owners reveal their top gripes (Lance Whitney/CNET)

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December 20, 2013, 8:00 PM

Top News

Joseph Menn / Reuters:

RSA received $10 million to use backdoored NSA algorithm by default in crypto software BSafe — Exclusive: Secret contract tied NSA and security industry pioneer — (Reuters) - As a key part of a campaign to embed encryption software that it could crack into widely used computer products …

More: Ars Technica, Techdirt, The Verge, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Daring Fireball, Gigaom, Electronista, SlashGear and SC Magazine

Tweets: @cdixon, @dhh, @edfelten, @nicoleperlroth, @mccrory, @declanm, @csoghoian, @sacca, @e3i5, @csoghoian and @csoghoian

Thanks:@joeross

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

Cards Stolen in Target Breach Flood Underground Markets — Credit and debit card accounts stolen in a recent data breach at retail giant Target have been flooding underground black markets in recent weeks, selling in batches of one million cards and going for anywhere from $20 to more than $100 per card, KrebsOnSecurity has learned.

New York Times:

N.S.A. Dragnet Included Allies, Aid Groups and Business Elite — Secret documents reveal more than 1,000 targets of American and British surveillance in recent years, including the office of an Israeli prime minister, heads of international aid organizations, foreign energy companies …

More: Guardian, Spiegel Online, Ars Technica, Computerworld, The Verge, CNET, ZDNet, The CIO Report, TheHill, Techdirt, Quartz, RT, Daily Dot, Gawker, BBC, Nieman Journalism Lab and Softpedia News

Tweets: @virusbtn, @csoghoian, @declanm, @thomas_drake1, @koenrh, @dhh, @barakravid, @froomkin, @ggreenwald, @ggreenwald and @ggreenwald

Miguel Helft / Fortune:

Square's Dorsey returns 10% of his shares — Exclusive: The founder and CEO makes an uncommon move to expand the company's pool of shares for compensation and acquisitions. — FORTUNE — Jack Dorsey, the founder and CEO of Square, has voluntarily given 10% of his shares in the company back to Square.

More: Digits, Business Insider, The Next Web, Gigaom, bizjournals and AllThingsD

Tweets: @noah_weiss, @shuvster, @stevecheney, @om and @anildash

Brad Molen / Engadget:

BlackBerry CEO hoping to avoid future layoffs, expects to be profitable by 2016 — This morning's earnings report may not have been BlackBerry's brightest moment, but John Chen seems confident in the company's future — and his ability to turn things around.

More: New York Times, CNET, CrackBerry.com and PhoneArena. Tweets: @parislemon

Steve Dent / Engadget:

BlackBerry teams up with Foxconn for budget smartphones as sales continue to plunge

Sean Silcoff / Globe and Mail:

BlackBerry posts massive $4.4-billion quarterly loss, revenue plunges

More: Quartz, The Verge, Reuters, Business Insider, TechnoBuffalo, Ars Technica, CNET and Gigaom Research

Tweets: @charlesarthur and @iainmarlow

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

BlackBerry's First Foxconn Partnership Phone Will Be 3G BB10 Device, Coming March Or April 2014

More: BGR and MobileSyrup.com. Thanks:@romaindillet

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

T-Mobile Plans to Talk “Un-Carrier” 4.0 at CES — T-Mobile is ready to make another big move, announcing plans for a media event at January's CES to discuss the next step in its “un-carrier” strategy. — “This one you aren't going to believe,” T-Mobile says in an invitation to journalists.

More: TmoNews, Computerworld, 9to5Google, Pocketables, PhoneArena, The Droid Guy, IntoMobile and AndroidHeadlines.com

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

Alleged Top Moderators Of Silk Road 2 Forums Arrested In Ireland, U.S. In International Sweep — At least two moderators of the Silk Road 2 user forums have been arrested by authorities in the U.S. and Ireland. A source claiming to have inside knowledge of the arrests said that Libertas …

More: Forbes, Deep Dot Web, The Register, The Verge, Daily Dot, Mashable and NYT Bits

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: BGR, Business Insider, The Verge, PhoneArena, MacRumors, iPhone Hacks, AmongTech, Mashable, Global Nerdy, pocketnow.com, InvestorPlace, TechSpot, 9to5Google, iMore, Fortune, iPhone, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo, Daring Fireball, AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog, Yahoo! News, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac and The Loop. Tweets: @whatthebit

Beth Kowitt / Fortune:

Warby Parker raises $60 million — Exclusive: The fashionable eyeglasses purveyor more than doubles its total investment. — FORTUNE — Warby Parker has raised $60 million in its latest round of venture capital funding, led by its biggest investor, Tiger Global Management.

More: VentureBeat, StrictlyVC, TechCrunch, VatorNews, Mashable and AllThingsD. Tweets: @lererventures

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Microsoft appoints Jim DuBois as new CIO — Jim DuBois. Photo via Microsoft. — Microsoft this afternoon announced Jim DuBois as the company's chief information officer. — DuBois had served as the interim CIO for the past six months and replaced Tony Scott, who left after five years with the company to be CIO of VMWare.

More: Microsoft Corporation and Seattle Times blogs

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple seeds first OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 beta, brings FaceTime Audio to Macs — Just days after the first public release of OS X 10.9.1, Apple has seeded the first beta of OS X 10.9.2 to developers. The update is available in the Mac App Store for registered developers …

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.”

More: CNET, SiliconBeat, Valleywag, NBC Bay Area, Inc.com, Business Insider, Mashable, Yahoo! News, InfoWorld, bizjournals, TechSpot, SlashGear and Motherboard

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

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

New milestone: Amazon stock surpass $400 for first time ever — This summer, Amazon.com's stock hit $300 for the first time. — Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″. — Now, five months later, it has reached a new milestone: $400.

More: VentureBeat

Gabriela Vatu / Softpedia News:

Google Changes Policy for Chrome Extensions, Seeks to Kill Multi-Purpose Tools — Google is cracking down on extensions that are slowing down your browser experience as it updates the Chrome Web Store policy to dictate that extensions must have a single purpose.

More: Chromium Blog, CNET and ZDNet

Michael Dalder / Reuters:

Clock ticking for Google after EU rejects latest antitrust offer — (Reuters) - Google has been told it is running out of time to improve its offer to settle a European Union investigation into anti-competitive behavior or face formal charges that could lead to a hefty fine.

More: Gigaom, The Verge, BGR, Associated Press, Search Engine Land, Forbes, Electronista, ZDNet, The Next Web, Engadget, Bloomberg and WebProNews

Lance Whitney / CNET:

iPad, Surface, Kindle owners reveal their top gripes — Got a beef about your iPad, Surface, or Kindle tablet? Join the club. — The new holiday report from Q&A site FixYa sifted through thousands of problems reported by its Web site users to determine the most common grievances.

More: eWeek, ZDNet and Yahoo! News

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:

Oracle snaps up marketing software maker Responsys for $1.5B — Summary: The business-to-consumer marketing software company will be bought for a 38 percent premium of its stock price as of Thursday. — Zack Whittaker — Software giant Oracle said Friday it will buy Responsys …

More: Gigaom, Mercury News, AllThingsD, Marketing Land, internetretailer.com, Associated Press, AdExchanger and BetaNews. Tweets: @qthrul

David Ruddock / Android Police:

The Oppo N1 Is Officially The First Google CTS-Certified CyanogenMod Phone, Can Run Google Apps Suite Legitimately — It's officially official: the Oppo N1 is the first Google-approved CyanogenMod phone. After passing through Google's CTS (compatibility test suite), CDD …

More: Engadget, CNET, Droid Life, The Next Web, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, Android Central, Geeky Gadgets and Softpedia News

Lauren Hockenson / Gigaom:

In honor of Winamp, Spotify releases Spotiamp — After Friday, longstanding music player Winamp will fade from existence, as AOL discontinues support, shuts down the website and erases any possibility of downloading the software. In honor of Winamp's departure, Spotify has released Spotiamp …

More: AppleInsider, Spotify Blog, Engadget, CNET, VentureBeat, The Next Web and BetaNews

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Rocket Internet Partners With African Telecom Operator MTN To Invest $410M in Middle East Startups — MTN Group and Rocket Internet announced that they have formed a new joint venture to invest in startups in the Middle East, with a focus on e-commerce. The two companies will each hold …

More: VentureBeat and The Next Web

Lance Ulanoff / Mashable:

Walt Mossberg: The Exit Interview — At an age when some may consider spending more time practicing their golf swing or perfecting their poker face, tech journalist Walt Mossberg is about to embark on what may be his biggest adventure yet. After 22 years as The Wall Street Journal's personal …

Tweets: @stuartdredge, @velocitywong, @mashable, @markgurman, @stevesi and @pkafka. See also Mediagazer

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