Techmeme: The NSA's Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program (The Intercept)

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February 10, 2014, 10:50 PM

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Wall Street Journal:

Nokia Prepares to Release Android Phone Ahead of Sale to Microsoft — Finnish Smartphone Maker Readies Device for Barcelona Exhibit — Nokia Corp. plans to release this month a smartphone that runs a version of Google Inc. 's Android mobile software, according to people familiar with the matter …

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

New Apple TV hardware references already appearing in iOS 7 builds — We reported last fall that a revamped Apple TV set-top-box is in the works, and then we learned earlier this year that the new box would likely be introduced in the first half of 2014. Sources said at the time that the new model …

More: NEWS.com.au, Apple Bitch, AppleInsider, iDownloadBlog.com, MacRumors, iMore, TechnoBuffalo, AppleTell, Touch Arcade, BGR, iPhone in Canada Blog and Business Insider

Reuters:

Chastened HTC turns to cheaper smartphones in search for profit — (Reuters) - Smarting from growing losses, Taiwanese phone maker HTC Corp says it will expand its range of cheaper products as it fixes off-target marketing for its premium smartphones. — The company that has long prided itself …

More: BGR, NYT Bits, TechCrunch, It's a Gadget, Android Central, Pocketables, I4U News, Guardian, PC Magazine, Ars Technica, Droid Life, 9to5Google, iPhone, Android and Me and MobileBurn.com

Jonathan S. Geller / BGR:

BlackBerry BBM boss gone as company looks to strengthen enterprise business — BGR has learned from multiple sources that Executive Vice President Andrew Bocking is no longer with the company. What is unconfirmed, however, is whether Bocking was fired or decided to leave on his own accord.

More: TechCrunch, The Register, CrackBerry.com, Re/code, TechnoBuffalo, PhoneArena and SlashGear

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

Barnes & Noble Fired Its Nook Hardware Engineering Staff — Barnes & Noble laid off its Nook hardware engineers, according to a source that tipped Business Insider. — The engineers were let go last Thursday, according to our source. This follows Barnes & Noble dismissing the VP of Hardware, Bill Saperstein in January.

More: VatorNews, eWeek, TechSpot, The Verge, GeekWire, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo, SlashGear, Ars Technica, Deadline.com, New York Times and Pocket-lint. See also Mediagazer

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

This blogger paid Facebook to promote his page. He got 80,000 bogus Likes instead. — If you manage a Facebook page for a company, interest or organization, then you know there are two main reasons Facebook Likes are important. One is pretty obvious: The number of Likes you receive …

More: YouTube, ITworld, AGBeat, BestTechie, Union Square Ventures, Tubefilter, The Daily Caller, memeburn and Mashable

Tweets: @pug, @teresangonzalez, @calebgarling, @counternotions and @narendra

SecureMac:

New Apple Mac Trojan Called OSX/CoinThief Discovered — SecureMac has discovered a new Trojan Horse called OSX/CoinThief.A, which targets Mac OS X and spies on web traffic to steal Bitcoins. This malware has been found in the wild, and there are multiple user reports of stolen Bitcoins.

More: The Mac Observer, ReadWrite, Cult of Mac, Inquirer, SecurityWeek, Electronista, iPhone in Canada Blog and Digital Trends. Tweets: @__apf__

Gavin Andresen / Bitcoin Foundation:

Contrary to Mt. Gox's Statement, Bitcoin is not at fault — The issues that Mt. Gox has been experiencing are due to an unfortunate interaction between Mt. Gox's implementation of their highly customized wallet software, their customer support procedures, and their unpreparedness …

More: The Register, TechCrunch, Blockchain.info Team Blog, The Coinbase Blog, InfoWorld, CoinDesk, Network World, SiliconANGLE, Nextgov and ExtremeTech

Nermin Hajdarbegovic / CoinDesk:

Price Drops as Mt. Gox Blames Bitcoin Flaw for Withdrawal Delays

More: MtGox, cryptocoinsnews, CNBC, joepie91's Ramblings, Business Insider, Business Insider, MoneyBeat, PandoDaily, Motherboard, CNNMoney.com, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, On Bitcoin, Mashable, InfoWorld, cryptocoinsnews, The Verge and Inquirer

Tweets: @ryantate, @oleganza and @bobmcmillan

Ryan Knutson / Wall Street Journal:

Sprint Rethinks Acquiring T-Mobile After Public Antitrust Opposition — Justice Department, FCC Officials Expressed Strong Opposition to a Deal — Sprint Corp. officials are regrouping to decide whether trying to acquire smaller rival T-Mobile US Inc. makes sense after antitrust officials …

More: eWeek, The Verge, Digital Trends, GeekWire, ZDNet, Tech Trader Daily, VentureBeat, BGR, CNET and App Advice. Tweets: @ldignan

Joe Palazzolo / Law Blog:

Apple Loses Bid to Shake Monitor But Doesn't Walk Away Empty-Handed — Apple Inc. will have to submit to a court-imposed monitor while the technology company challenges a ruling holding it liable for conspiring to raise the price of electronic books, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.

More: Fortune, iMore and Re/code. See also Mediagazer

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

Facebook Changed How The News Feed Works — And Huge Website Upworthy Suddenly Shrank In Half — In November, viral-content-for-a-cause site Upworthy posted insane traffic numbers, reaching almost 90 million people around the world, according to Quantcast. — Then, in December …

Tweets: @rafat, @jbrodkin, @cschweitz, @ibogost, @jayrosen_nyu and @dannysullivan. See also Mediagazer

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Microsoft beats Google by adding Bitcoin currency conversion to Bing — Microsoft today added Bitcoin currency conversion to Bing, which supports over 50 currencies in its index. Conversion is as simple as typing in “x btc to currency” or “x currency to btc.” The data is provided by digital wallet company Coinbase:

More: Search Blog, The Coinbase Blog, Re/code, CNET, LiveSino, Search Engine Land, Ubergizmo, WebProNews, CoinDesk, GeekWire, ITworld.com, WinBeta and The Verge

Melanie Hicken / CNNMoney.com:

Facebook's Zuckerberg tops list of America's 50 biggest donors — From Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to a “secret millionaire,” the country's 50 biggest donors were far more generous last year. — This crew donated a total of $7.7 billion in 2013, 4% more than in 2012, according to a new report from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Jeffrey Grubb / VentureBeat:

Twitch reaches 1M monthly broadcasters as its parent company adopts the Twitch name — The livestreaming company announced that it is changing its corporate name to better reflect the huge growth of its gaming business. While Twitch Interactive is now the umbrella name that the tech startup's …

More: The Official Twitch Blog, The Verge, onGamers, onGamers and Engadget

The Intercept:

The NSA's Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program — The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes - an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people.

More: Techdirt, The Next Web, Rational Irrationality, Computerworld, The Daily Caller and Gizmodo. Tweets: @kdnuggets. See also Mediagazer

Ed Bott / ZDNet:

HP to begin charging for firmware updates and service packs for servers — Summary: HP server customers are about to get an unwelcome surprise when they need to update firmware or apply a service pack. Effective later this month, those downloads, which often fix critical bugs …

More: Computerworld, eWeek and Inquirer. Tweets: @edbott

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft building an ‘Xbox Reading’ app for Windows 8 — Microsoft has already built Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps for Windows 8, but the next target is books. A recent Microsoft job listing, discovered by LiveSino, notes that the software giant is looking to hire a software design engineer to build …

More: PC World, Gizmodo, BestTechie, Good E-Reader, TechnoBuffalo, PhoneArena, WinBeta and WebProNews

Adam Satariano / Bloomberg:

Apple Wooed by Arizona as Obama Seeks U.S. Jobs Comeback — Arizona got snubbed by Apple Inc. in 2012 when the iPhone maker picked Texas to build a new operations hub. Scott Smith, the mayor of the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, was determined to keep history from repeating itself.

More: CNET, bizjournals, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacNN, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac, Macworld and Patently Apple. Tweets: @satariano

Agam Shah / PC World:

Intel aims to cut graphics power draw with research chip — Intel has designed a new integrated graphics core that the company claims can improve the battery life of smartphones, tablets and laptops. — Graphics can be power hungry and the new power-efficient core, when paired with a CPU …

More: Intel Labs and Computerworld. Tweets: @pcworld

Nellie Bowles / Re/code:

The 2,500-Person Tech Mixer That Was Not a Party — Andrew Vecchio, the co-founder and CEO of Startup and Tech Mixer, wanted to make it absolutely clear that his Friday night event — with 2,500 attendees, a bouncy blowup game of Twister, and a mechanical bull in downtown San Francisco's W Hotel — was not a party.

More: Valleywag. Tweets: @joshconstine, @mat, @iqpierce and @monkbent

Bloomberg:

Gilt Groupe Said to Choose Goldman to Manage Web Retailer's IPO — Gilt Groupe Inc., an online retailer of discounted luxury goods, picked Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to manage its initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the deal. — Timing for the IPO has still not been decided …

More: Re/code. Tweets: @delrey. Thanks:@sarahfrier

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