Techmeme: Facebook acquires link-sharing service Branch for around $15 million (Ellis Hamburger/The Verge)

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January 13, 2014, 4:45 PM

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Google:

Google to acquire Tony Fadell's smart home startup Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash — Google to Acquire Nest — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to buy Nest Labs, Inc. for $3.2 billion in cash. — Nest's mission is to reinvent unloved …

More: Re/code, Gizmodo, Fortune, TechCrunch, Marketing Land, The Verge, Business Insider, GeekWire, ZDNet, MacRumors, The Next Web, VentureBeat, Ars Technica, Gigaom, CNET, BGR, Valleywag, Cult of Mac, IntoMobile, Mashable, App Advice and MobileSyrup.com

Tweets: @sundarpichai, @nest, @cdixon, @markgurman, @ryan, @om, @jwherrman, @fmanjoo, @jank0, @mattbuchanan, @samir, @samfbiddle, @piercedavid, @qthrul, @cdixon, @zpower, @hunterwalk, @fromedome and @getwired

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Nest Says Customer Data From Devices Will Only Be Used For Nest Products And Services — Nest says that it's not going to just hand over its customer data to Google willy-nilly post-acquisition - in a blog post sent to TechCrunch penned by Nest founder Tony Fadell, a question and answer section at the end contains the following:

Tweets: @caseyjohnston. Thanks:@mjburnsy

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook acquires link-sharing service Branch for around $15 million — Link-sharing service Branch and subsidiary Potluck have agreed to be acquired by Facebook for around $15 million, sources familiar with the deal told The Verge. Branch CEO Josh Miller broke the news in a Facebook post this morning, but didn't disclose a price.

Matt Mullenweg:

In role swap, Matt Mullenweg becomes Automattic's CEO, Toni Schneider to focus on new products — Toni Schneider & Automattic CEO — Eight years and one day ago I blogged about Toni Schneider joining Automattic as CEO, as I said then: … Fast-forward roughly two thousand, nine hundred …

More: Toni.org, Om Malik, Gigaom, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, Post Status, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Re/code and WebProNews

Tweets: @jeffjarvis, @hunterwalk and @dangillmor

See also Mediagazer

Liam Boogar / Rude Baguette:

Taxi protest in Paris turns to guerrilla warfare as Uber car attacked on freeway — The right to protest has always been powerfully upheld in France - whether it's protesting an immigrant's right to healthcare, the closing of a factory, or even Taxis, who have perfected the art of making their voice heard …

More: GeekWire, bizjournals, blogs.ft.com, CNET, Los Angeles Times, Engadget, Tech.eu, VentureBeat, Business Insider, PC Magazine, Mashable, CNET, english.rfi.fr, Gigaom, Gawker, TechCrunch, SlashGear and The Verge

Tweets: @katborlongan, @katborlongan, @sacca, @michaelklishin, @loic, @rudebaguette and @papadimitriou

Simon Khalaf / Flurry:

Mobile Use Grows 115% in 2013, Propelled by Messaging Apps — In November 2013, Benedict Evans, a well-respected and widely followed analyst, shared an updated version of his famous slide deck called “Mobile is Eating the World”. This deck quickly made the rounds on social media …

More: VentureBeat, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, The Next Web, iPhone in Canada Blog, TelecompetitorTelecompetitor, TechCrunch and Gamasutra

Aaron Souppouris / The Verge:

Sprint's ‘One Up’ early upgrade plan axed after just four months — Sprint's One Up early upgrade plan is no more. With the announcement of the plan last September, Sprint joined T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon in offering a way for customers to upgrade their handset mid-contract.

More: PC Magazine, CNET, Examiner, IntoMobile, Electronista, Gigaom, TechSpot, BGR, Pocketables, PhoneArena, iPhone, Gotta Be Mobile, App Advice, LAPTOP Magazine, TechnoBuffalo, AndroidHeadlines.com, Android Central and Overclockers Club

@twitter:

We're now rolling out a refreshed http://twitter.com reflecting the look & feel of our iOS & Android apps. pic.twitter.com/Mb6qjjP8Dm

More: TechCrunch, The Next Web, The Verge, Engadget and CNET

Klint Finley / Wired:

Out in the Open: An NSA-Proof Twitter, Built With Code From Bitcoin and BitTorrent — When mass political protests erupted throughout Brazil in June, Miguel Freitas did what countless others did: He followed the news on Twitter. Tweets revealed information he couldn't get anywhere else, including the mainstream media.

More: Daily Dot. Tweets: @trevortimm

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Groupon Moves Into Flash Fashion, Buys Ideeli For $43M In Cash — More acquisitions for Groupon to widen the net of consumers using its platform for more than daily deals. Today it is announcing the acquisition of ideeli, a flash fashion retailer, for $43 million in cash.

More: Business Wire, Betabeat, VentureBeat, Re/code, TechnoBuffalo, The Next Web, internetretailer.com and WebProNews. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Michael Gold / Reuters:

New Acer CEO disappoints with lack of detail on future plans — (Reuters) - Investors looking for specifics as to the future of Acer Inc, the world's No.4 PC vendor, came away disappointed when the new CEO spent more time delivering a history of the company's past mistakes than on where it was headed.

More: eWeek, ZDNet, Bloomberg, Maximum PC, Taipei Times and Wall Street Journal

Rich McCormick / The Verge:

Nokia's Android phone appears in prototype form — Images of Nokia's Android phone — code-named Normandy — were published in November, showing what purported to be a low-cost smartphone that would run with a custom implementation of Android. Now another picture of the phone has appeared on Twitter …

Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:

‘High-profile’ Google+ users will get better default email settings — A few days ago, Google rolled out a potentially invasive new feature — if you have both a Gmail address and Google+ account, other Google+ and Gmail users will soon be able to send messages right into your inbox, even if you never gave them your email address.

Tweets: @nateingraham and @tomwarren

Jean-Louis Gassée / Monday Note:

Internet of Things: The “Basket of Remotes” Problem — We count on WiFi and Bluetooth in our homes, but we don't have appliances that provide self-description or reliable two-way communication. As a result, the Internet of Things for consumers is, in practice, a Basket of Remotes.

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft, GoDaddy partner on Office 365 plans for small businesses — Summary: GoDaddy will be offering its small-business customers a choice of three Mirosoft Office 365 plans, including one for $12.49 a month that includes desktop versions of Office. — Microsoft and GoDaddy are extending …

More: The Microsoft Office Blog, Re/code, GeekWire, The Verge, PR Newswire, TechCrunch, WebProNews, Softpedia News, The Next Web and Electronista

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