Techmeme: Lucrative Role as Middleman Puts Amazon in Tough Spot (Wall Street Journal)

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January 23, 2014, 11:25 AM

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Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Independent review board says NSA phone data program is illegal and should end — An independent executive branch board has concluded that the National Security Agency's long-running program to collect billions of Americans' phone records is illegal and should end.

More: The Switch, Ars Technica, Engadget, Boing Boing, The Verge and Mashable

Tweets: @ggreenwald, @jasonleopold, @amadooooo, @astepanovich, @trevortimm, @jasonleopold and @joanneleon

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End — WASHINGTON — An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency's program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.

More: SlashGear, Techdirt and CNET

Tweets: @wearpants, @arusbridger, @rsingel, @declanm and @ncardozo

Adario Strange / Mashable:

Apple Promises to Fix iOS 7 ‘White Screen of Death’ — Since Apple released iOS 7, its completely revamped operating system for the iPhone, reviews have been mixed but mostly positive. However, a glitch that has quietly plagued iPhone users — the “white/black screen of death,” …

More: 9to5Mac, Examiner, Digital Trends, SiliconANGLE, ReadWrite, TheStreet.com, VentureBeat, ZDNet, Phones Review, blog.chron.com, TechSpot, Inquirer, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, Wired.co.uk, Apple Gazette, TUAW, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacNN, MobileSyrup.com, PhoneArena, TechnoBuffalo, BGR, iPhone Hacks, iMore, Gotta Be Mobile, Business Insider, Pocket-lint, iClarified, SlashGear, Cult of Mac, Gigaom, App Advice, CNET, The Verge, MacRumors and Re/code. Tweets: @chartier. Thanks:@film_girl

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

AOL Buys Personalization Startup Gravity for $90 Million in Cash — In a bid to add another publishing and advertising tool to its offerings, AOL has acquired personalization startup Gravity for about $90 million in cash. — As part of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter …

More: Business Wire, Digits, Re/code, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Gigaom, The Next Web, Mashable, New York Times, BGR India, Gravity, Business Insider, WebProNews, Softpedia News and PE Hub Blog

Tweets: @davidhornik, @bgarlinghouse and @luke_beatty

See also Mediagazer

Bloomberg:

Lenovo to Buy IBM Server Unit For $2.3 Billion Amid PC Slump — Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's largest maker of personal computers, will buy International Business Machines Corp.'s server business for $2.3 billion. — The deal price includes about $2 billion of cash and the rest in Lenovo stock …

More: IBM, DealBook, CNBC, ZDNet, The Verge, The Next Web, Gigaom, InfoWorld, Re/code, Wall Street Journal, WebProNews, CNET, ZDNet and Gigaom Research

Tweets: @ciscoservergeek, @qthrul and @edmondlococo

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Nokia Says Lumia & Other Phone Sales Declined In Q4 As It Prepares To Sell Division To Microsoft — In what is likely to be Nokia's last quarterly earnings before it hands off its mobile phone making business to Microsoft, the Finnish mobile maker has reported lower sales of Lumia devices in its Q4.

More: The Verge, The Next Web, GeekWire, BGR, Gigaom, Inquirer, BetaNews, PC World, Guardian, InfoWorld, Re/code, FierceWireless, Nokia, Gotta Be Mobile, CNET, Softpedia News, Engadget, Electronista, Bloomberg, Reuters, Silicon Republic and My Nokia Blog. Thanks:@riptari

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

eBay CEO Donahoe gives Icahn e-commerce tutorial over PayPal plan — Summary: eBay CEO John Donahoe: Why in an era of big data and e-commerce innovation would you separate eBay, PayPal and their network effects? — eBay CEO John Donahoe elaborated on why PayPal should remain part …

More: The Register, CNET and Softpedia News. Tweets: @levie

Reuters:

EBay dismisses Icahn proposal to spin off Paypal

More: ebay inc, eBay Inc., The Official PayPal, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, ITworld.com, CNBC, BBC and Gigaom

Tweets: @pierre and @pkafka

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

Google Glass User Detained By Feds Talks About Ordeal — While some businesses are banning the high-tech wearable device Google Glass, a theatre owner in Columbus, Ohio, saw enough of a threat to call the Department of Homeland Security. The manager called in unnamed Homeland Security agents …

More: Business Insider, TechNewsWorld, PC & Tech Authority and Guardian

Roberto Baldwin / Wired:

Tivo Lays Off Most of Its Design Team as It Transitions to the Cloud — Update: Tivo says it will continue to use third-party designers for hardware going forward. The article has been updated to reflect this fact. — Tivo has been bullish lately about releasing new software products beyond its core DVR boxes.

More: PC Magazine, TIME, The Verge, TechSpot, Business Insider, Ars Technica, Pocket-lint, Gigaom, Engadget, SlashGear, Electronista and ParisLemon. Thanks:@strngwys. See also Mediagazer

Steven Hickson / Steves Computer Vision Blog:

Hacking Snapchat's people verification in less than 100 lines — I woke up this morning and saw this article detailing Snapchat's new people verification system. You may have seen it but if not I will summarize it for you. They basically have you choose each image with the Snapchat ghost to prove you are a person.

More: Silicon Republic, Softpedia News, Business Insider, Mashable, Engadget, Electronista, Daily Dot and Digital Trends

Tweets: @bobpoekert, @lukew, @chriseng, @privacychoice, @film_girl and @carnage4life

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Huawei settles with Rockstar Consortium, will pay for Android's infringement of ex-Nortel patents — The Google-led group of Android device makers sued on Halloween 2013 over former Nortel patents fails to present a united front to the Rockstar Consortium, a patent holding firm jointly owned by Apple …

More: Engadget and CNET

Wall Street Journal:

Lucrative Role as Middleman Puts Amazon in Tough Spot — While Business Is Key to Growth, Conflicts Arise Over Counterfeit, Unsafe Products — Last spring, Amazon.com Inc. moved to end its relationship with one of its biggest third-party sellers, saying that company had offered products that were illegal or otherwise prohibited.

Tweets: @shiraovide and @wsj

Chris Kohler / Wired:

Instead of porting its games to other mobile platforms, Nintendo should run its own platform — Everything You're Thinking About Nintendo Is Totally Wrong — The entire internet has weighed in with what it believes is the answer to Nintendo's financial woes: Go mobile, immediately.

More: BGR. Tweets: @magicody

Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:

Protesters show up at the doorstep of Google self-driving car engineer — Protests against tech giants and their impact on the San Francisco Bay Area economy just got personal. — According to an anonymous submission on local news site Indybay, an unknown group of protesters targeted …

More: Business Insider, Android Beat, SFist, Los Angeles Times, PandoDaily, Veronica Belmont, Salon and Examiner

Tweets: @blakehounshell, @ryan and @jowens510

Jack Clark / The Register:

Amazon's lack of public involvement in open source may cause talent attrition, say insiders — Amazon's ‘schizophrenic’ open source selfishness scares off potential talent, say insiders — Moles blame Bezos for paltry code sharing — Exclusive Amazon is one of the most technically …

Tweets: @mappingbabel. Thanks:@mappingbabel

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

iPhone 5s Owners Gobbling “Unprecedented” Levels Of Data, Study Finds — Users of flagship smartphones such as Apple's iPhone 5s and Samsung's Galaxy S4 are continuing to suck down more data than their tablet-wielding counterparts, according to a large-scale survey of mobile data consumption …

More: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, BGR, CNET, ZDNet, AppleInsider, MacRumors, TUAW, MacDailyNews, SammyToday, iPhone Hacks, App Advice, iClarified, SlashGear, Electronista and iDownloadBlog.com

Marco Arment / Marco.org:

Apparently It's OK For iOS Apps To Ask For Your Apple ID And Password — Apple's currently featuring the Sunrise app in the App Store. — Upon first launch, Sunrise invites you to create an account, then asks you to add a calendar. The first option, “iCloud Calendar” …

More: Neven Mrgan, Softpedia News, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone Hacks, AppleInsider and Sunrise

Marco Arment / Marco.org:

Sunrise on why they ask for your Apple ID and password

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Judge: IP-Address Does Not Prove Copyright Infringement — Mass-BitTorrent lawsuits have been dragging on for years in the US, involving hundreds of thousands of alleged downloaders. — The copyright holders who start these cases generally provide nothing more than an IP address as evidence.

More: SlashGear, Business Insider, Motherboard and Techdirt

John Cook / GeekWire:

Early stakeholders in Scout Analytics claim venture capitalists engaged in ‘self dealing, corporate waste’ prior to $32M acquisition — Not everyone is happy about today's $32 million acquisition of Scout Analytics by ServiceSource. A group of series A preferred stockholders filed suit …

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Renew OnDemand Provider ServiceSource Acquires Scout Analytics For $32M

More: PE Hub Blog, Wall Street Journal, bizjournals and GeekWire

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Lively raises $2 million as live concert space heats up — Seattle-based digital music startup Lively has raised close to $2 million in new funding, according to an SEC filing. Lively offers artists an easy way to record their concerts, and then sell them to concert-goers and other fans immediately after the show.

More: hypebot and GeekWire

David de Jong / Bloomberg:

Sheryl Sandberg Becomes One of Youngest U.S. Billionaires — Sheryl Sandberg's fortune surpassed $1 billion today after Facebook Inc. (FB) closed at a record high. — The chief operating officer of the world's most popular social-networking service owns about 12.3 million shares of the Menlo Park …

More: WebProNews. Tweets: @daringfireball. Thanks:@sarahfrier

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

Prim: Anatomy of a folded startup — The YCombinator-backed laundry pick-up and delivery business barely lasted 7 months. One of its founders walks Fortune through the post-mortem. — FORTUNE - Can technology disrupt even the most mundane chores? — That's the question Yin Yin Wu …

Tweets: @steipete, @mikeisaac and @caseynewton. Thanks:@jpmanga

Shira Ovide / Digits:

The Holes in Microsoft's Data Protection Pledge — Microsoft says it can keep its customers' data from the prying eyes of U.S. spies and cops. But the company may not be able to honor its pledge. — Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said the company would allow its foreign customers …

More: Financial Times, Inquirer, WinBeta, ReadWrite, Gigaom, Lastest ITProPortal news, Engadget, SlashGear and The Verge

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