Techmeme: Mozilla launches Accounts, an improved Sync feature, and a customizable UI to Firefox Aurora (Ken Yeung/The Next Web)

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February 8, 2014, 6:55 AM

Top News

Daisuke Wakabayashi / Digits:

Apple's Tim Cook Discusses Emerging Markets and Plans for Cash — Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company's best days are still ahead. It's not a particularly unusual message coming from a CEO. But Apple is facing pointed questions that the iPhone's growth will slow and that the company's innovative run is coming to an end.

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

Three bitcoin traders charged with money-laundering in Florida after sting involving US Secret Service and local police — Florida Targets High-Dollar Bitcoin Exchangers — State authorities in Florida on Thursday announced criminal charges targeting three men who allegedly ran illegal …

More: Electronista, SlashGear, leg.state.fl.us, The Verge and CoinDesk

Maxim Lott / Fox News:

Russia bans bitcoins

More: TechCrunch, RT, BetaNews, Salon, The Register, Russia Beyond The Headlines, The Voice of Russia, News, HotHardware.com News, Wired, VentureBeat, USA Today and Hit & Run. Tweets: @dannysullivan

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Mozilla launches Accounts, an improved Sync feature, and a customizable UI to Firefox Aurora — Mozilla has announced several new features today designed to continue the Firefox browsing experience to any device you use. The company has announced that Accounts will be coming to the browser …

More: The Mozilla Blog, Future Releases, Engadget, Geeky Gadgets, The Register and TechCrunch

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Google must post news of privacy fine after French court refuses to suspend order — A French court on Friday refused Google's last-minute plea to suspend an order imposed by a privacy watchdog, meaning the search giant will have to post a notice on its homepage for a period of 48 hours informing users …

More: Reuters, Marketing Land and Engadget

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

From fashion to fitness: the experts behind Apple's wearable future — Apple has been developing a sensor-laden, fitness- and medical-focused wearable computer as indicated by several notable recent hires and information we have received from sources. — New Apple hires on both the senior executive …

More: MobileSyrup.com, ZDNet, Fortune and BGR. Thanks:@justinkahnmusic

Salvador Rodriguez / Los Angeles Times:

Hackers can use Snapchat to disable iPhones, researcher says — A cyber security researcher has discovered a vulnerability within the Snapchat mobile app that makes it possible for hackers to launch a denial-of-service attack that temporarily freezes a user's iPhone.

More: TechCrunch, BGR India, MacRumors, SlashGear, iDownloadBlog.com and The Next Web. Thanks:@sal19

Tom Warren / The Verge:

New Windows 8.1 Update 1 leak reveals boot-to-desktop and UI changes — A near-final version of Windows 8.1 Update 1 has leaked online today, revealing what appear to be final changes that Microsoft is making to its upcoming update. While Microsoft has been testing changes during the beta phase …

More: Softpedia News and Windows Phone Central

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

“Veep” for Geeks! Here's the Teaser for HBO's Upcoming “Silicon Valley.” — On April 6, HBO will debut a new half-hour comedy show that takes on the high-tech world, titled “Silicon Valley.” — It's a rainy Friday in winter, so let's all pick our heads up from our smartphones …

More: TechCrunch, The Verge and SlashGear

James Niccolai / Computerworld:

Judge rebukes Apple for invoking nationalist bias but denies Samsung a retrial — A U.S. judge has denied Samsung's request for a retrial in a patent dispute with Apple, but she also chastised Apple's lawyers for making the Korean firm's “foreignness” an issue in closing remarks to the jury.

More: FOSS Patents and Re/code

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Cisco to pay “patent troll” Innovatio only 3.2 cents per router in settlement — Wi-Fi “patent troll” will only get 3.2 cents per router from Cisco — Innovatio IP Ventures has become arguably the most infamous sender of patent demand letters in recent memory …

More: Cisco Blog, Electronic Frontier Foundation, PC World and Bloomberg

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

Alleged Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Pleads Not Guilty On All Charges — Last November, Ross Ulbricht's lawyer Joshua Dratel told reporters only hours after first meeting his client that he planned to show that Ulbricht is not the “Dread Pirate Roberts” who created the Silk Road anonymous drug site.

More: I4U News, PC World, CoinDesk, Associated Press, Reuters, The Daily Beast, NY Daily News, Bloomberg, Mashable and The Verge

Telis Demos / Wall Street Journal:

Programmatic ad tech plaform PubMatic planning IPO, aiming for a valuation of over $1B — Ad Platform PubMatic Working on IPO — PubMatic Inc., which automates the buying and selling of digital advertising space, has tapped bankers for a potential initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said.

More: Bloomberg

Siobhan Gorman / Wall Street Journal:

NSA struggles with cellphone coverage, collects only 20% or less of total US call data — NSA Collects 20% or Less of U.S. Call Data — Program Doesn't Cover Records for Most Cellphones — WASHINGTON—The National Security Agency's phone-data program, which has been at the center …

More: Washington Post, Engadget, Ars Technica, The Verge, VentureBeat, Techdirt and Gizmodo. Tweets: @gorman_siobhan

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

FISA Court Agrees To Changes That Limit NSA's Ability To Query Phone Records

More: Ars Technica, ODNI Newsroom Feed, IC ON THE RECORD, NationalJournal.com, SlashGear, Nextgov and McClatchy Washington Bureau

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