Techmeme: Nest CEO Tony Fadell vows to make any privacy policy changes transparent and opt-in (Nick Summers/The Next Web)

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January 20, 2014, 5:50 PM

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Nick Summers / The Next Web:

Nest CEO Tony Fadell vows to make any privacy policy changes transparent and opt-in — Following last week's Google acquisition, Nest chief executive Tony Fadell has vowed to make any alterations to its privacy policy opt-in, and to be transparent about such changes to all of its users.

More: Ars Technica, BGR, GeekWire, Valleywag, SiliconANGLE, Gotta Be Mobile, TechnoBuffalo, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, VatorNews, The Verge, Engadget, App Advice, WebProNews, Softpedia News and Electronista

Tweets: @caseynewton and @boris

Tom Warren / The Verge:

HP brings back Windows 7 ‘by popular demand’ — HP really wants people to buy a Windows 7 PC instead of a Windows 8 machine. The PC maker has been emailing customers over the weekend noting that “Windows 7 is back.” A new promotion, designed to entice people to select Windows 7 over Windows 8 …

More: Computerworld, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, Gizmodo, ZDNet, Inquirer, SlashGear, VentureBeat, Digital Trends, Softpedia News, GeekWire, TechnoBuffalo, BGR, Gigaom and Global Nerdy. Tweets: @mitsuhiko

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

Stealth marketing: Microsoft paying YouTubers for Xbox One mentions — Machinima campaign offered undisclosed money to videos promoting new console The line between traditional, paid advertising and organic editorial content on the Internet can sometimes be hazy.

More: Forbes, iGame Responsibly, Pastebin, BGR, PC World, Kotaku, Joystiq, Polygon, The Escapist, CinemaBlend.com and WinBeta

Dan Levine / Reuters:

Intellectual Ventures' first ever trial is set to begin against Google's Motorola this week — Google set to face Intellectual Ventures in landmark patent trial — (Reuters) - Intellectual Ventures is set to square off this week against Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit in the first trial …

More: GeekWire, Gigaom, SiliconBeat and Softpedia News. Tweets: @fosspatents

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Apple insists on anti-cloning provision as part of any patent settlement with Samsung — When the CEOs of Apple and Samsung, accompanied by several in-house lawyers, meet for their (court-requested) settlement negotiations on or before February 19, there will probably be flexibility …

More: AppleInsider, PhoneArena, iPhone in Canada Blog and Electronista

David Meyer / Gigaom:

Fon pulls in $14M as it partners with Qualcomm and Facebook — The crowdsourced Wi-Fi network Fon is about to find its way into a whole lot more routers, as Qualcomm and others have plowed $14 million into the Spanish company. Qualcomm in particular will bake Fon functionality into its Atheros wireless chipsets.

More: Martin Varsavsky, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Re/code, ZDNet and dailywireless.org

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Jimmy Wales joins UK-based charitable MVNO The People's Operator as chairman, plans international expansion — Jimmy Wales' Plan to Save The World With Mobile Phones — Jimmy Wales, the founder and public face of Wikipedia would like to give $1 billion to charity, but he doesn't have $1 billion to give.

More: CNET, VatorNews, The Next Web, Wired.co.uk, Guardian, Inquirer, The Verge, Telegraph and Gigaom

Todd Spangler / Variety:

As Netflix Rises, HBO and Showtime Subscribers Shrink as Percentage of U.S. Households — NPD finds that U.S. households subscribing to premium cable channels dropped 6 percentage points over 18-month period, while Netflix and other SVOD services grew 4 points — Is Netflix putting a dent in premium cable subscriptions?

More: Betabeat, Gigaom, Engadget, The Verge, Electronista and WebProNews

Michael Mace / Mobile Opportunity:

After Nest acquisition, Google looks more like a conglomerate than a unified product company — Google the Conglomerate: After Nest, No Industry is Safe — I've spent many hours trying to puzzle out Google's product plans. What's the logic behind Google Drive, how does Motorola fit in a software company, and on and on (link).

More: Monday Note. Tweets: @cdixon and @cdixon

Luke Edwards / Pocket-lint:

Samsung Galaxy S5 new UI leaks again looking like an attractive Google Now — Samsung's refreshed UI looks almost certain now. Yet more photos have leaked online at the same time as the Galaxy S5 rumour mill gets up to speed. — We're expecting to see the new Samsung UI unveiled …

More: Engadget, BGR, Phandroid, AndroidOS.in, Business Insider, 9to5Google, Inquirer, Android and Me, IntoMobile, The Verge, Android Beat and The Next Web. Tweets: @evleaks

Laura He / MarketWatch:

Weibo user count declined 9% to 281M in 2013 amidst mobile messaging growth, speech crackdown — China's Twitter is bleeding users — While Facebook FB struggles with declining traffic among U.S. teens, China's most popular social-media channel — a group of Twitter-like microblog services …

More: Digital Spy, Sky News, NTD TV, Daily Dot and TheStreet.com

Ginny Marvin / Search Engine Land:

Google Remarketing Ads Found To Violate Canadian Privacy Law; To Revamp Ad Review System By June — Google has agreed to several concessions after an investigation by Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner found Google in violation of Canada's privacy rights for the use of sensitive health history in remarketing campaigns.

More: priv.gc.ca, priv.gc.ca, Globe and Mail, The Register, Bloomberg BNA, WebProNews, Globe and Mail, Techvibes Global News, Tech Times, Toronto Star, advent.es and MarketingVox News & Trends

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