Why Bitcoin Matters  —  Editor's note: Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, has invested just under $50 million in Bitcoin-related start-ups.  The firm is actively searching for more Bitcoin-based investment opportunities.  He does not personally own more than a de minimis amount of Bitcoin.

Amazon considering online live TV service, has approached at least three media conglomerates seeking rights to distribute their channels  —  Amazon Considering Online Pay-TV Service  —  Live TV Channels Would Compete With Cable, Satellite  —  Amazon.com Inc. has approached big entertainment companies …

Google and Apple shuttles will pay to use San Francisco's public bus stops  —  The shuttle buses that transport workers for huge tech firms like Google, Facebook, and Apple between San Francisco and Silicon Valley every day have come under heavy fire lately, but today a vote was passed unanimously …

Pinterest CEO Lays Out Growth Plan, Sees Revenue in 2014 … In less than four years, Pinterest Inc. Chief Executive Ben Silbermann has expanded his quirky site for online scrapbooking into a social-media tool used by one-fifth of online adults in the U.S.  —  For his next act …

Today my startup failed  —  No soft landing, no happy ending—we simply failed.  —  It's been a long four year journey, full of highs and lows.  I am simultaneously incredibly proud, and incredibly disappointed.  —  I'm incredibly proud of an amazing team and all that they have accomplished.

CONFIRMED: Man Interrogated By FBI For Wearing Prescription Google Glass At The Movies  —  A man who went to the movies with his wife in Columbus, Ohio, was subjected to a terrifying hour-long interrogation by the FBI because employees at the AMC theater saw him wearing Google Glass.

U.S. court finds Samsung to infringe one Apple patent, declares one Samsung patent invalid  —  In a summary judgment order entered late on Tuesday (January 21, 2014), Judge Lucy Koh, the federal judge presiding over two Apple v. Samsung patent cases in the Northern District of California …

Developer activates Apple's upcoming iOS in the Car system, shows different interface  —  Ahead of Apple's launch of iOS in the Car later this year, developer Steven Troughton-Smith has seemingly activated the feature inside what we presume is the iOS Simulator. iOS in the Car allows an iOS 7 user …

Russian Spy Nodes Caught Targeting Anonymous Facebook Users  —  Somewhere in Russia an eavesdropper is operating a network of wiretapped nodes at the edge of the Tor anonymity network.  And he's particularly interested in what you're doing on Facebook.  —  That's the conclusion of two researchers …

Hitachi hard drives used by Backblaze have remarkably low failure rates versus Seagate, WD  —  What Hard Drive Should I Buy?  —  My last two blog posts were about expected drive lifetimes and drive reliability.  These posts were an outgrowth of the careful work that we've done at Backblaze …

Yale's crackdown on student Web site creates another headache for administration  —  “I hope I don't get kicked out of Yale for this,” wrote Yale student Sean Haufler in a blog post explaining why he had created the Chrome extension Banned Bluebook.  —  Haufler made the extension in response …

Docker Raises $15M For Its Open-Source Platform That Helps Developers Build Apps In The Cloud  —  The shift to scale out architectures and an app-centric culture has turned out well for Docker and its lightweight open-source “container” technology designed for developers to quickly move code to the cloud.

Snail mail scanning service Outbox is shutting down after less than a year  —  Outbox is Shutting Down—A Note of Gratitude  —  Dear loyal customers and Outbox supporters:  —  We announce today that we are ending the mail service, shutting down the Outbox brand, and focusing our team and resources on a totally new product.

IBM's Q4 mixed, hardware unit tanks  —  Summary: IBM's challenge: Its new businesses aren't growing fast enough to offset struggling units such as the hardware division.  —  IBM's fourth quarter results were a mixed bag as the company's earnings were better than expected, but revenue missed estimates as hardware sales tanked.

Mobile gaming company Kabam doubles 2013 revenue to $360M, is “seriously considering” IPO  —  Social Game Maker Kabam Continues Growth  —  Mobile videogame maker Kabam said it tallied more than $360 million in gross revenue in 2013, doubling results from the prior year …

Snapchat Makes You “Find The Ghosts” To Keep Hackers From Stealing Your Phone Number  —  Snapchat now verifies new users aren't robots by making them choose its ghost mascot within images.  It's an attempt to keep out hackers who could steal phone numbers by exploiting a leaked database of details on 4.6 million accounts.

UK regulator approves ‘earth stations’ to bring faster Internet to planes, trains, ships and coaches  —  The UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom has today cleared plans for airlines and other transport operators to use satellite-based ‘earth stations’ to deliver broadband speeds up to 10 times faster …

Yahoo Acquires Mobile Marketing Startup Sparq  —  Mobile marketing company Sparq announced on its site today that it has been acquired by Yahoo.  The company did not disclose the purchase price.  —  Yahoo declined to illustrate the deal's financial details.  Sparq's team will be joining Yahoo's Sunnyvale campus.

Showtime, HBO, Starz blast NPD study that says they lost subscribers  —  Thanks to “Homeland” and other shows, Showtime has added 1 million subscribers a year in six of the last seven years, a spokesperson says.  —  Pay-TV channels HBO, Showtime and Starz are blasting a much-ballyhooed study …

T-Mobile Will Now Give You A Free Checking Account, Complete With 42,000 No-Fee ATMs  —  T-Mobile isn't just content being your wireless carrier.  It now wants to manage your checking account, too.  —  The company announced today Mobile Money, a free checking account service available to anyone with a T-Mobile phone number.