Techmeme: The Bitcoin-Mining Arms Race Heats Up (Businessweek)

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January 9, 2014, 6:55 PM

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Jungah Lee / Bloomberg:

Samsung Plans Galaxy S5 by April With Possible Eye-Scan Security — Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) will release its Galaxy S5 smartphone by April and is considering using iris scanning technology for the first time as it readies the new high-end handset to compete with Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s latest iPhones.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

New Gmail Feature Allows Anyone On Google+ To Email You & Vice Versa, But Opt Out Is Provided — Google is today making a change to Gmail that will further bake in Google+ to its webmail product in a way that's actually somewhat practical, though also potentially invasive.

More: Gmail Blog, The Verge, CITEworld, Marketing Land, SiliconBeat, ZDNet, PC Magazine, ReadWrite, iMore, Daring Fireball, BetaNews, AndroidGuys, The Next Web, TUAW, Android Beat, Mashable, PC World, Computerworld, WebProNews, 9to5Google, Android Central and Technovia

Tweets: @kevinrose, @fxshaw, @mmasnick, @violetblue, @mikeisaac, @jeffjohnroberts, @joshuatopolsky, @verge, @ow and @jeffjohnroberts

Cade Metz / Wired:

Overstock.com becomes the first major online retailer to accept bitcoins, will use Coinbase's payment system — The Grand Experiment Goes Live: Overstock.com Is Now Accepting Bitcoins — Overstock.com is now accepting payments in bitcoin, making it the first major online retailer to embrace …

More: ZDNet, Examiner, VentureBeat, Business Insider, TechCrunch, The Coinbase Blog and CoinDesk

Tweets: @overstock, @joyce and @brian_armstrong

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:

Co-Chief Eric Eldon Leaving TechCrunch — One half of the heavyweight duo operating Silicon Valley's industry blog of record is making his exit. After a little over two years at the helm alongside Alexia Tsotsis, TechCrunch co-editor Eric Eldon will soon depart the site.

Tweets: @pickavet, @megan, @dannysullivan, @tolles, @semil, @mikeisaac, @jguynn, @samfbiddle, @anthonyha, @harrisonweber, @caseynewton and @eldon. See also Mediagazer

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Gartner: PC shipments slip 6.9% to 82.6m units in Q4, as 2013 sees the worst yearly decline in history — The PC market continues to be in free fall, having now seen its seventh consecutive quarter of declining worldwide shipments. Worldwide PC shipments dropped to 82.6 million units …

More: Gartner, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, ZDNet, Engadget, CNET and Electronista

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Snapchat apologizes for leaked user data, updates app to let you opt out of ‘Find Friends’ — Snapchat today rolled out the security fix it promised last week, which lets users opt out of the app's “Find Friends” feature. The feature, which let users plug in their phone number to find friends …

Businessweek:

The Bitcoin-Mining Arms Race Heats Up — Joel Flickinger's two-bedroom home in the hills above Oakland, Calif., hums with custom-built computing gear. Just inside the front door, in a room anyone else might use as a den, he's placed a desk next to a fireplace that supports a massive monitor …

More: Business Insider and Mashable. Tweets: @phil_mattingly, @glennf, @tophtucker, @mims, @coopeydoop, @dbfarber, @mccarthyryanj, @jimprosser, @valleyhack and @jessicalessin

Bloomberg:

Bitcoin Woos Washington to Ensure Lawmakers Don't Kill It

GeekWire:

Surprise: Amazon tests physical retail with ‘Kindle Kiosk’ vending machines — LAS VEGAS — Amazon, the company that defined the world of online commerce, is venturing further into the world of physical retail — experimenting with standalone, automated “Kindle Kiosk” vending machines in selected airports and shopping malls.

More: The Verge. Tweets: @dannysullivan

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Nokia brings folders to Windows Phone with its Lumia Black rollout — Nokia is once again extending and improving Windows Phone. While Microsoft has implemented Live Tiles across Windows Phone, Nokia is adding a new App Folder interface that allows Windows Phone users to stack apps and settings into a folder Tile on the Start Screen.

More: Nokia Conversations, The Windows Blog, GeekWire, Engadget, The Next Web, CNET, Computerworld, Gigaom, BetaNews, LiveSide.net, Softpedia News, Gotta Be Mobile, SuperSite for Windows and WMPoweruser

David Cohen / AllFacebook:

UPDATED: Facebook To Sunset Sponsored Stories April 9 — Facebook's sponsored stories have seen their highs and lows, with the lowest low occurring when the ad unit became the subject of a class-action lawsuit, but sponsored stories will be history after April 9, according to a list …

More: VentureBeat, Inside Facebook, Daily Dot, internetretailer.com, Facebook, Marketing Land and WebProNews

Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:

Google Data Chief Says ‘Flawed’ EU Privacy Law Is Dead — Google Inc. (GOOG)'s top privacy official said the European Union's “flawed” attempt to overhaul data-protection rules is “dead” and urged politicians to go back to the drawing board. — “Europe's much-ballyhooed, and much-flawed …

More: SiliconBeat, Digits, CNET, Peter Fleischer and Business Cloud News

Guardian:

NSA and GCHQ activities appear illegal, says EU parliamentary inquiry

More: Daily Dot. Tweets: @anniemachon and @lukeharding1968

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:

Online Privacy Could Spark U.S.-EU Trade Rift

More: Marketing Land, bizjournals and Gigaom. Tweets: @willmauldin

Alex Hern / Guardian:

Yahoo malware turned European computers into bitcoin slaves — Search firm remains silent on how its ad servers infected Windows PCs of visitors to homepage — As many as two million European users of Yahoo may have received PC malware from virus-laden ads served by its homepage over a four-day period last week.

More: BBC, BGR, SiliconANGLE, CNET, Darknet, ZDNet, Techdirt, VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE, Daily Dot, Daily Mail, SlashGear, Yahoo! Finance, Gigaom, Softpedia News, WebProNews and CoinDesk. Tweets: @nytimesbits

Matt Asay / TechRepublic:

Google's master plan for Android: More Internet users paying $6.30 a pop — The mobile industry is headed to Google, who is in an ideal position to clean up at roughly $6.30 per Internet user per year. — Forget today's smartphone profits: Apple and Samsung increasingly split those relatively evenly …

More: TheStreet.com and BGR. Tweets: @nytimesbits. Thanks:@jasonhiner

Matt Brian / Engadget:

Social calendar app Sunrise finally comes to iPad — Launching on iPhone in February 2013, Sunrise changed our perception of calendar apps with its ability to provide more context to daily events. By connecting to Google, iCloud, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare accounts …

More: App Advice, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, The Next Web, iMore, The Verge and MacRumors

Stephanie Armour / Wall Street Journal:

Lenders Use Social Media to Screen Borrowers — Regulators Have Concerns About Lenders' Use of Facebook, Other Sites — WASHINGTON—More lending companies are mining Facebook, Twitter and other social-media data to help determine a borrower's creditworthiness or identity …

More: The Verge, SiliconBeat, Gigaom and Marketing Pilgrim

Tweets: @ronlieber, @lheron, @carmensense and @wsj

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Uber Slashes UberX Fares In 16 Markets To Make It The Cheapest Car Service Available Anywhere — Riding Uber just got a lot cheaper — at least for most customers using its low-cost UberX option. That's because Uber has committed to slashing fares for its on-demand car service in a majority …

More: Uber Blog, Digits, CNET, GeekWire, VatorNews, VentureBeat, Valleywag, Betabeat, CB Insights and Gawker. Thanks:@pickavet

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Github acquires Y Combinator graduate Easel and its Web-based visual design service — Online code repository Github has completed its second acquisition to date after it snapped up Easel, a Y Combinator graduate that offers a browser-based visual tool for designing and prototyping, in an undisclosed deal.

More: Easel, TechCrunch and VentureBeat

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