Techmeme: To avoid obsolescence, buy Apple's hardware, use Google's services, and buy Amazon's media (Farhad Manjoo/New York Times)

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February 13, 2014, 12:00 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:

Comcast Agrees to Buy Time Warner Cable for $45.2 Billion — Comcast Corp. agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc. for $45.2 billion, combining the two largest U.S. cable companies in an all-stock transaction. — Investors of New York-based Time Warner Cable will receive 2.875 new Comcast stock …

More: CNBC, Business Wire, CNBC, Reuters, The Verge, Examiner, Quartz, ReadWrite, GeekWire, The Verge, DealBook, Wall Street Journal, Currency, Business Insider, CNNMoney.com, Gigaom, ZDNet, Gizmodo, DealBook, BBC, Consumerist, TheStreet.com, Wall Street Journal, Digits, Digits, DSLreports, Gigaom, Los Angeles Times, The Tech Report, BuzzFeed, Re/code, The Next Web, GamePolitics blogs, Reuters, InfoWorld, SiliconANGLE, NPR, Engadget, Mashable, Guardian, The Huffington Post, USA Today, The Week, Electronista, NPR, VatorNews, TechEye, I4U News, TechnoBuffalo, Forbes, SlashGear, Pocket-lint, Engadget, Business Insider, Mashable, The Huffington Post, PC Magazine, Gawker, Gizmodo, AppleInsider and Boing Boing See also Mediagazer

Om Malik / Gigaom:

Comcast and Time Warner Cable: Forget TV, it is all about broadband — If it is allowed to gobble up its number two rival, Time Warner Cable, Philadelphia-based Comcast will become the largest broadband provider in the United States, and perhaps the largest outside China.

More: Business Insider, Gizmodo, Guardian and BestTechie

Tweets: @kevinctofel, @nytimesbits and @zseward

See also Mediagazer

Wall Street Journal:

Apple TV's scaled-back plans would rely on cable providers to acquire programming rights — Apple in Talks to Revamp Set-Top Box — Scaled-Back Plans Would Rely on Cable Providers to Acquire Programming Rights — Apple Inc. appears to be scaling back its lofty TV industry plans.

More: CNNMoney.com, Engadget, iLounge, iDownloadBlog.com, Ubergizmo, App Advice, 9to5Mac and MacRumors. Tweets: @wsjd. See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Here's What the New Apple TV Could Look Like (Hint: Check Your iPad)

More: I4U News. See also Mediagazer

Bloomberg:

Apple to unveil updated Apple TV set-top box by April, release for holidays amid Time Warner, other partner negotiations

More: Business Insider, The Register, SiliconANGLE, The Verge, iMore, InfoWorld, BGR, CNET, iPhone in Canada Blog, Gigaom, I4U News, TechSpot, ITworld.com, Cult of Mac, Softpedia News and ZDNet. Tweets: @boygenius. See also Mediagazer

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Rizvi Traverse to Lead $250 Million Investment in Jawbone at $3.3 Billion Valuation — Jawbone, the maker of innovative consumer electronic devices such as the activity-tracking Up wristband, is poised to complete a new $250 million round of funding that values the company at $3.3 billion …

More: TechCrunch, Venture Capital Dispatch, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, TechHive and Business Insider

Tweets: @danprimack and @ajs

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:

Google's requirements from Android device makers draw EU antitrust scrutiny — Android's ‘Open’ System Has Limits — To Get Access to Key Google Apps, Device Makers Abide by Company's Strict Terms — Google Inc. says its Android mobile operating system is “open.”

More: Ars Technica, BenEdelman.org, CNET, Inquirer, Digits, BGR, ZDNet, FierceWireless, MacDailyNews, AppleInsider, Android Beat and FOSS Patents

Mario Aguilar / Gizmodo:

NYC's Touchscreen Subway Maps Are Finally Here, and They're Amazing — New York subway riders first were promised futuristic touchscreen wayfinding maps a year ago. But the plan to install the futuristic infrastructure stalled as the design team took a step back to improve the hardware.

Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:

Apple set to discontinue legacy, non-Retina iPad 2 — After nearly three years on the market, Apple's second-generation iPad, which sports an A5 processor and non-Retina display, is now on the chopping block, and is expected to be discontinued in the near future, AppleInsider has learned.

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, TechnoBuffalo, Gotta Be Mobile, Softpedia News, Electronista and iLounge

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

To avoid obsolescence, buy Apple's hardware, use Google's services, and buy Amazon's media — How to Survive the Next Wave of Technology Extinction — Don't mock the beleaguered Nook owner. That could have been you. — Five years ago, when the nation's largest chain of bookstores released …

Tweets: @palafo, @theromit, @pkafka, @anildash, @jguynn, @dangillmor and @benbajarin

Sarah Silbert / Engadget:

Verizon's More Everything plan takes on T-Mobile with increased data, unlimited international messaging from the US — Yesterday Verizon hinted that something “More” was coming, and that's just what the carrier detailed this morning. Its new More Everything plans will replace current Share …

More: Re/code, VentureBeat, Phandroid, iMore, Gigaom, DSLreports, BGR, The Verge, CNET, Bloomberg, App Advice, AndroidGuys and Droid Life

Michael Gorman / Engadget:

LG's extra-large G Pro 2 packs a 4K video camera and knock code unlock feature — Looks like LG wants to get out ahead of all the smartphone news soon to come from Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, as the South Korean company has officially announced the G Pro 2.

Yoni Heisler / TUAW:

A look at Apple's R&D expenditures from 1995-2013 — For a company that makes as much money as Apple, you might be surprised to learn that it spends far less on Research and Development (R&D) than many of its competitors, including bigwigs like Google, Microsoft, and Samsung.

More: Beyond Search. Tweets: @hkanji and @pmarca. Thanks:@anderzole

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Meet Rise, The Diet App That Helped Me Lose 20 Pounds (And Keep It Off During The Holidays) — Dieting isn't easy. In fact, it's pretty damn hard. Most diet plans have strict guidelines that are difficult to stand by. Hiring a nutritionist can be effective, but the cost is generally out of reach for most people.

Tweets: @arainert, @parislemon and @johnolilly

Loek Essers / PC World:

Linking to a website doesn't infringe copyright, Europe's Court of Justice says — The owner of a website does not require authorization of the copyright holder to link to freely accessible copyright works on another site, even if Internet users get the impression that the work is appearing …

More: TorrentFreak, ZDNet, Digits and Marketing Pilgrim. See also Mediagazer

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Dropbox Hires Google's Woodside as Operating Chief — Company Veteran Was Motorola CEO Under Google — Dropbox Inc., the fast-growing online storage company, plans to name Google Inc. executive Dennis Woodside as its first chief operating officer, according to three people familiar with the matter.

More: TechCrunch, Fortune, 9to5Google, The Register, Digital Trends, Pocketnow, Geek.com, PE Hub Blog, The Verge, Gigaom, Mashable, AndroidGuys, Softpedia News, Engadget, Pulse 2.0, I4U News, SlashGear, CNET and Re/code

Tweets: @amir and @wsjd

Brian X. Chen / New York Times:

Apple says supplies of tantalum do not come from war zones, pushes other suppliers for conflict-free minerals — Apple Says Supplies Don't Come From War Zones — SAN FRANCISCO — Apple published on Thursday its supplier responsibility report, an annual audit of the contract workers …

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft finally fixes Skype's message sync problems — Microsoft started forcing Windows Live Messenger users over to Skype nearly a year ago, and it has been a painful experience. If you use Skype frequently for messaging then the missed messages, out-of-sync chats …

More: Skype Blogs, TechCrunch, ZDNet, CNET, Inquirer, The Next Web, Android Central and AndroidGuys. Tweets: @tomwarren

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

ISP lobby has already won limits on public broadband in 20 states — We must stop the proliferation of Internet! — South Park Studios — It's no secret that private Internet service providers hate when cities and towns decide to enter the telecommunications business themselves.

More: SlashGear

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Gary Vaynerchuk Launches New $25 Million Seed Fund — Gary Vaynerchuk, the well-known entrepreneur, is launching a $25 million seed fund, which is backed by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. — In an interview, Vaynerchuk said it was not a “pure investment play,” but will focus on operating …

More: Entrepreneur

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

BBM Update Adds Voice Calls, Channels, Dropbox And Location Sharing For iOS And Android Users — A new update to the BBM apps for iOS and Android add a laundry list of anticipated features to the messaging platform. BBM Voice makes its first appearance on the Android and iPhone clients …

More: Inside BlackBerry, Gigaom, Inquirer, Engadget, The Next Web, Softpedia News, Droid Life, iDownloadBlog.com, PhoneNews.com, Cult of Mac and BerryReview

Brooke Crothers / CNET:

Finally, here come the 64-bit Windows 8.1 tablets — At least one major PC maker is expected to show an Intel “Bay Trail” tablet running 64-bit Windows 8.1 at Mobile World Congress, according to a source familiar with upcoming plans for those tablets. — Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo …

More: Lastest ITProPortal news and Softpedia News

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Marc Andreessen: Tech Is Still Recovering From A Depression — Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and Goldman Sachs COO Gary Cohn sat down today at the Goldman Sachs conference in San Francisco, to talk about the thing investors always talk about: Tech.

Cecilia Kang / Washington Post:

Parents resume privacy fight vs. Facebook over use of children's images in ads — A group of parents, backed by child advocacy and privacy groups, plans to ask a federal appeals court Thursday to throw out a settlement with Facebook over its use of children's images in advertisements.

More: New York Times

Chitika:

Tablet Hourly Usage Study: iPad Dominates, Surface Users More Active During Working Hours — Microsoft has positioned its Surface tablets as devices more fit for work activities as compared to those from other manufacturers. The question remains though, are Surface tablets actually being used …

More: Forbes

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