Techmeme
January 31, 2014, 12:15 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Microsoft's board preparing to make Satya Nadella CEO, may replace Gates as chairman  —  Microsoft Said to Be Preparing to Make Satya Nadella CEO  —  Microsoft Corp.'s board is preparing to make Satya Nadella, the company's enterprise and cloud chief, chief executive officer …
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Nest Team Will Become Google's Core Hardware Group  —  Google today sold Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion.  While many speculated that Google would release phones after it bought Motorola in 2011, it didn't happen — Motorola remained a partner like other Android OEMs.
Miguel Helft / Fortune:
Lenovo CEO on Apple, Samsung: ‘Our mission is to surpass them’  —  In an interview with Fortune, Yuanqing Yang says that his company seeks to replicate its ThinkPad success with Motorola.  —  FORTUNE — Fresh from signing a $2.91 billion deal with Larry Page to acquire Google's Motorola unit …
Wall Street Journal:
How Lenovo Built a Chinese Tech Giant  —  CEO Started Out Delivering PCs on Bicycles, Now ‘We Want to Be a Global Player’  —  Google sells handset business to Lenovo for nearly $3 billion.  Bryan Ma of IDC tells the WSJ's Aaron Back how Motorola phones will give Lenovo a shortcut into the competitive U.S. Market.
More: Bloomberg
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Twitter Acquires Over 900 IBM Patents Following Infringement Claim, Enters Cross-Licensing Agreement  —  Twitter announced today that it has acquired over 900 patents from IBM, and that it has entered into a cross-licensing agreement with the Internet services and software company.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft backpedals: Windows 8.1 update hides tile interface by default  —  Microsoft is once again planning to alter the way its Start Screen works in Windows 8.1 Update 1.  While the software giant originally released Windows 8.1 last year with an option to bypass the “Metro” interface at boot …
CBC News:
Snowden documents reveal Canadian spy agency used airport Wi-Fi to track passengers “for days after they left the terminal”  —  Canadian spy agency used airport Wi-Fi to track passengers for days after they left the terminal  —  Electronic snooping was part of a trial run for U.S. NSA and other foreign services
Mark DeCambre / Quartz:
Box has secretly filed for an IPO  —  Box, the online storage company, has secretly filed paperwork for an initial public offering, according to a source.  —  That means Box could start trading as a public company before its chief rival, Dropbox.  Both are among the most anticipated tech IPOs of this year.
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Zynga Buys NaturalMotion For $527M, Signaling A New Tack For The Gaming Giant  —  Zynga has long been famous (or infamous?) for its data-driven approach to game design.  The company never focused on building strong character IP, or intellectual property, in favor of releasing games that had been thoroughly funnel-tested.
Harry McCracken / TIME:
Yahoo to Donna Users: We're Dispensing With Your Indispensable App  —  Incredible Labs — the company behind smart-calendar app Donna — is being acquired by Yahoo.  The app is being shut down, and most of the folks who worked on it will join the Yahoo Mail team.
Michael Crider / Android Police:
Inq Mobile, Facebook-phone maker and app developer, quietly shuts down  —  UK-Based Inq Mobile Quietly Shuts Down, Remaining Apps Will Not Be Updated  —  The big news this week was Google selling off Motorola, but there's a smaller company that won't be getting a second chance.
Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:
Amazon considering $20 to $40 price hike for Prime service in US  —  Amazon today said it's “considering” raising the price of its $79 a year Prime service to customers in the US by another $20 to $40.  The possible increase, which has not been finalized, was announced during the company's fourth quarter earnings call with analysts.
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Apple details pressure-sensitive iPhone touchscreen in patent filing  —  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published an Apple patent describing a device with built-in pressure sensors that work in concert with touchscreen input to provide enhanced UI navigation.  —  Source: USPTO
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Nintendo offers a vague, confusing, unfocused vision for its future  —  The briefings Nintendo gives following its quarterly earnings results are usually relatively dry affairs, filled with charts of worldwide gaming hardware breakdowns and canned enthusiasm about upcoming game releases.

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Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch: