Techmeme: Telefónica lands exclusive deal to bring chat app Line to Firefox OS in Europe and Latin America (Jon Russell/The Next Web)

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February 4, 2014, 10:30 AM

Top News

Microsoft Corporation:

Microsoft Board Names Satya Nadella as CEO — Bill Gates steps up to new role as Technology Advisor; John Thompson assumes role as Chairman of Board of Directors. — Microsoft Corp. today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Satya Nadella as Chief Executive Officer and member …

Microsoft Corporation:

Satya Nadella email to employees on first day as CEO — Today is a very humbling day for me. It reminds me of my very first day at Microsoft, 22 years ago. Like you, I had a choice about where to come to work. I came here because I believed Microsoft was the best company in the world.

More: Microsoft Corporation, TechCrunch, SiliconBeat, VentureBeat, PC Magazine, CNET, The Switch, LiveSide.net, PC World, Engadget, Business Insider, ExtremeTech, Financial Post and GamesIndustry International

Tweets: @karaswisher, @toddbishop, @raheelk and @shiraovide

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft's new CEO is Satya Nadella — It's official: Microsoft's CEO search is over. Following recent reports, the software giant is appointing Satya Nadella as its new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer. 46-year-old Nadella will take over immediately, allowing Ballmer to retire early.

More: Re/code, ReadWrite, CNET, Telegraph, The Register, Marketing Land, DailyFinance.com, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, Forbes, Softpedia News and Polygon

Barb Darrow / Gigaom:

Nadella's the one: Microsoft names new CEO, Gates stays on board, Thompson is chairman — Well, it's finally over. After five months of cloak and dagger and dueling leaks, Microsoft has named Satya Nadella, its cloud chief, as its third-ever CEO, replacing long-time veteran Steve Ballmer.

More: GeekWire, Ars Technica, The Verge, Re/code, PC World, Bloomberg, Softpedia News, InfoWorld, BBC and Computerworld

Tweets: @anildash and @tim_stevens

Dan Rayburn / StreamingMediaBlog.com:

Apple Building Out Their Own CDN To Deliver Content To Consumers — Over the past year, there has been speculation of when or if Apple would build out their own content delivery network for the purpose of delivering content to consumers. To date, all of the CDN deployments done by Apple …

More: Wall Street Journal, Data Center Knowledge, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, ZDNet, iPhone in Canada Blog, Softpedia News, Geeky Gadgets, Techie News, The Next Web, App Advice and Pulse 2.0. Thanks:@danrayburn

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook celebrates 10-year anniversary with personalized ‘Look Back’ videos just for you — As Mark Zuckerberg reflects upon Facebook's first ten years as a company today, he's encouraging the community he built to do the same. Starting this morning, hundreds of millions of Facebook users …

Erica Klarreich / Wired:

Cryptography Breakthrough Could Make Software Unhackable — As a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996, Amit Sahai was fascinated by the strange notion of a “zero-knowledge” proof, a type of mathematical protocol for convincing someone that something …

Tweets: @glynmoody and @glynmoody

Bonnie Cha / Re/code:

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro, Tab Pro Series Coming to U.S. February 13 — Just in time for Valentine's Day, Samsung announced today that its Galaxy Note Pro and Galaxy Tab Pro tablets will be available starting Feb. 13 in the U.S. — First introduced at CES, there are four models in the series.

More: 9to5Google, Engadget, BGR, Computerworld, Electronista, Softpedia News, IntoMobile, AndroidGuys, The Next Web, Engadget and ZDNet

Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:

Dogecoin to allow annual inflation of 5 billion coins each year, forever — BitBurgers is one of the few businesses that accepts Dogecoin. — Cory Doctorow — For the last two months, developers and users of Dogecoin, the shiba-themed altcoin (alternative Bitcoin) …

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Telefónica lands exclusive deal to bring chat app Line to Firefox OS in Europe and Latin America — Mobile operator Telefónica has announced a partnership with Line, the messaging service from Japan with over 300 million registered users. The deal is Line's first with an overseas carrier …

More: TechCrunch, Re/code, Gigaom and Tech in Asia. Tweets: @angeljimenez

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Paper Now Available For iOS In The US, And It Could Be A Facebook Replacement — Facebook's new standalone app Paper is now available for download on iOS to everyone in the US, and it's more than just a content reader. Paper has messages, notifications, search, and a completely redesigned profile.

More: BBC, SiliconANGLE, New York Times, USA Today, blog.chron.com, Poynter, Cult of Mac, Softpedia News, Phones Review, Threadling, App Advice and the rajam report

Tweets: @tcarmody, @hamburger, @hamburger, @mikeisaac, @jwherrman and @facebook

Thanks:@jordanrcrook. See also Mediagazer

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

This just in: Paper is the best Facebook app ever

More: TechCrunch, TIME, VentureBeat and Wired. Tweets: @mulligan

Nick Bilton / NYT Bits:

Facebook proceeds with Paper launch after FiftyThree, makers of Paper drawing app requested a name change

More: FiftyThree, Telegraph, The Verge, NEWS.com.au, memeburn, Geeky Gadgets, Digits, TechCrunch, TUAW, Cult of Mac, Pocket-lint and Los Angeles Times. Tweets: @om

Jacob Kleinman / TechnoBuffalo:

AT&T Ends $450 Offer to Switch From T-Mobile — AT&T is no longer offering a full $450 in credit when you switch over from T-Mobile, a point T-Mobile CEO John Legere made on Twitter today. … TechnoBuffalo reached out to AT&T for an explanation and a spokesperson said that the offer …

More: Digits, Gigaom, DSLreports, CNET, AndroidGuys, Re/code, Electronista, GeekWire and Geeky Gadgets. Tweets: @johnlegere. See also Mediagazer

Brian Ashcraft / Kotaku:

Microsoft's Kinect Is Now Guarding the Korean Border — North Korea and South Korea are separated by the most heavily armed border on Earth. But rest easy, there's a new guard on the lookout: Kinect. — Self-taught South Korean programmer Jae Kwan Ko developed a Kinect-based software system …

More: GameSpot, Business Insider, Polygon, T3 News, The Verge, Geeky Gadgets, SlashGear, I4U News, Windows Phone Central, VG247, CNET, Softpedia News, Engadget and Geek.com

Martyn Williams / Computerworld:

North Korea goes OSX-like with new operating system — The latest version of the software dumps a Windows-like interface for a Mac-style desktop — If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, might the folks in Cupertino be pleased when they see the latest version of North Korea's home-grown operating system?

More: Network World, MacDailyNews, Electronista and Cult of Mac

Ben Gilbert / Engadget:

Grand Theft Auto 5 is the best-selling game of 2013 — Between a $1 billion debut and rave reviews, it's probably not a huge shock to you that Grand Theft Auto 5 was the best-selling game of 2013. Regardless, Rockstar Games' parent company Take-Two Interactive confirmed suspicions today in the company's financial earnings release.

More: VentureBeat, Inquirer, TechSpot, Pulse 2.0, Joystiq, IntoMobile, Business Insider, Digital Trends, destructoid and Re/code

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Apple's Latest Crackdown: Apps Pulling The Advertising Identifier, But Not Showing Ads, Are Being Rejected From App Store — This weekend, Apple began rejecting mobile applications from the App Store which retrieve the end user's IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers), but don't show any ads.

More: GitHub, SlashGear, Cult of Mac and Tapstream Blog. Tweets: @gamechangersf

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

YouTube reveals $1bn music payouts, but some labels still unhappy — Google's Video service may be ‘all-in on music’, but rightsholder unrest at its parent company persists — 'We've paid out to the music industry over the last several years over a billion dollars,' said YouTube's Tom Pickett.

More: SlashGear. Tweets: @ellenstrickland

Associated Press:

Google barge must move from island construction site in San Francisco Bay, state orders — A state agency says Google must move its mystery barge from a construction site on an island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay because the permits are not in order.

More: Re/code, SlashGear, CNET, Geeky Gadgets, The Verge, Engadget, Phandroid, GeekWire, 9to5Google and Digits

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

New bill would restore net neutrality pending FCC action — A new pair of bills have been introduced to the Senate and House to protect Net Neutrality after a circuit court ruling struck down the FCC's previous rules earlier this month. A permanent solution will ultimately come from the FCC …

More: The Switch, Congressman Henry Waxman, Ars Technica, InfoWorld, Business Insider, The Register, Techdirt and PandoDaily. See also Mediagazer

Nate Hoffelder / The Digital Reader:

Adobe to Require New Epub DRM in July, Expects to Abandon Existing Users — When Adobe announced their new DRM a couple weeks ago some said that we would soon see compatibility issues with older devices and apps as Adobe forced everyone to upgrade. — At that time I didn't think Adobe …

Tweets: @thesfreader and @fakebaldur. See also Mediagazer

Scott Knaster / Google Developers Blog:

Ready to cast: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK — Back in July we announced the developer preview of the Google Cast Software Development Kit (SDK), the underlying Chromecast technology that enables multi-screen experiences across mobile devices (phones, tablet, laptops) and large-screen displays.

More: Google Developers, ReadWrite, BGR, Gigaom, Digital Trends, Android Developers Blog, Ars Technica, Inquirer, Computerworld, iPhone, BetaNews, TeleRead, Techie News, TechCrunch and TechHive

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Get ready for tons of new Chromecast apps: Google releases Cast SDK

More: Betabeat, ReadWrite, Koushik Dutta, Geeky Gadgets, xda-developers, Engadget and Softpedia News

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