Techmeme: Dominant Asian chat apps Line and WeChat form a credible threat to WhatsApp internationally (Jon Russell/The Next Web)

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February 23, 2014, 2:35 PM

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Joe Belfiore / Windows Phone Blog:

Scaling Windows Phone, evolving Windows 8 — A lot of you folks know me as “the Windows Phone guy.” Over the past five years I've been co-managing the Windows Phone product team on a mission to make Windows Phone a delightful and successful platform. Recently my job changed to focus …

More: WMPoweruser, BetaNews, AnandTech, PC World, Tech Trader Daily, CITEworld, GeekWire, SuperSite for Windows, Windows Phone Central, Pocketnow, ZDNet, TechnoBuffalo, WinBeta, Gotta Be Mobile, LiveSino, MobileSyrup.com, ReadWrite and Bloomberg. Tweets: @inafried. Thanks:@brandonleblanc

Roger Cheng / CNET:

Microsoft announces new Windows Phone partners, teases update to loosen hardware requirements, support software face buttons, dual-SIM, app install on SD — Next Windows Phone update will allow for more affordable devices — Microsoft wants Windows Phone to go global in an even bigger way.

More: CITEworld, The Verge, Electronista and Wpxbox

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft announces spring update for Windows 8.1 that will improve mouse and keyboard experience, enable lower cost hardware

More: Engadget, Re/code, Engadget, Associated Press, VentureBeat, IntoMobile, LiveSino, Phones Review, Softpedia News, UnleashThePhones, Neowin, TechCrunch, WinBeta, CNET, Pocket-lint, I4U News, ZDNet and TechSpot

Tweets: @mobilenewsmag, @saschasegan, @martyn_williams and @mrseb

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:

Windows Phone 8.1? With the size of these updates, it's more like Windows Phone 9

More: BetaNews and Inquirer

Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:

Microsoft, Qualcomm offer a Windows Phone design-in-a-box to handset makers

More: CNET, FierceWireless and WMPoweruser

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Facebook Messenger Coming To Windows Phone Platform Within “Weeks”

More: CNET, SlashGear, I4U News and Engadget

Richard Lai / Engadget:

Huawei announces TalkBand B1 smart watch with 1.4 inch flexible OLED display and removable earpiece — Huawei's first smartband has a pop-out earpiece for voice calls — Huawei hasn't exactly been keeping quiet about its very own wearable device, so today's announcement of its TalkBand B1 should be no surprise to anyone.

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, CNET, CNET, I4U News, The Next Web, TechRadar.com, SlashGear, IntoMobile, Pocket-lint, Liliputing, NDTV Gadgets, PhoneArena, AndroidHeadlines.com and Ubergizmo

Andrew Hoyle / CNET:

Huawei Ascend G6 has 4G LTE and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera (hands-on) — Huawei has a new phone to show off at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in the form of the Ascend G6. With a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, Huawei is hoping the Android phone will appeal …

More: PR Newswire, BGR, PC World, Tech Trader Daily, Inquirer, The Next Web, IntoMobile, Engadget, International Business Times, Pocket-lint, Wired.co.uk and Pocket-lint

Chris Hall / Pocket-lint:

Huawei E5786 is world's fastest MiFi, offering 300Mbps 4G LTE

More: CNET. Tweets: @huaweidevice

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Netflix and Comcast Solve Their Web Traffic Problem With a Long-Term Deal — Comcast and Netflix have hammered out a deal designed to remove a bottleneck slowing the video service's streams for the cable company's broadband customers. — The deal focuses on the intersection between …

More: Wall Street Journal, Comcast, CNET, TechCrunch, Gigaom, Engadget, Ars Technica, Gotta Be Mobile, SlashGear and PC Magazine

Tweets: @shaliniwsj, @jyarow, @jbrodkin, @pkafka, @pkafka and @pkafka

See also Mediagazer

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Facebook Price for Having No Phone OS? $19 Billion. A Must-Have Apps Play? Priceless. — Everyone in a room I was in today dropped their jaws in disbelief when I told them the news that Facebook had forked over $19 billion to buy the global mobile messaging service WhatsApp.

More: The Verge, New Yorker and Daring Fireball

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

Facebook's WhatsApp acquisition should atone for a prank Zuckerberg played on Sequoia in 2004

More: I4U News, Guardian and Forbes. Tweets: @chrisjhorn

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Dominant Asian chat apps Line and WeChat form a credible threat to WhatsApp internationally

More: Digits. Tweets: @jonrussell and @panzer

Yasha Levine / PandoDaily:

The problem with WhatsApp's privacy boasts: They're not true

Tweets: @nikcub

Brad Molen / Engadget:

Samsung Gear 2 smartwatches coming in April with Tizen OS and better battery life — Even in an industry known for evolving at an impossibly quick pace, it's rare for a product to be replaced in just five months. If you've read our review of Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch, however …

Roger Cheng / CNET:

Tizen signs up new allies, but still no real phone

More: Re/code, ZDNet and iMore

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Mozilla's Partners Launch New Firefox OS Phones As It Looks To Expand To New Markets In 2014 — Just ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Mozilla today announced a number of new Firefox OS smartphones from partners like ZTE, Huawei and Alcatel, as well as a $25 reference design from Spreadtrum.

More: Computerworld, ReadWrite, Engadget, The Verge, The Next Web, CNET, The Mozilla Blog, Engadget and The Mozilla Blog

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Mozilla Says New Chip Paves Way for $25 Smartphone

More: Ars Technica and The Mozilla Blog

Alex Colon / Gigaom:

HP unveils business-focused ElitePad and ProPad tablets, TX1 POS system — HP is showing off two new tablets, as well as a new point-of-sale retail system, ahead of Mobile World Congress. Both the ElitePad and ProPad tablets feature Microsoft's Windows 8.1 and 64-bit compatibility for a focus on business …

More: The Verge, Engadget, LAPTOP Magazine, LAPTOP Magazine, ZDNet, PC World and Engadget

Eric Franklin / CNET:

Lenovo tries again with the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ with improved specs, coming in April for $349 (hands-on) — CNET Editors' Take — The best thing about the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 and 10 were their impressively long-lasting batteries. As for performance and value, well let's …

More: PC World, The Verge, Engadget, Android Central, SlashGear and Android Community

Roger Cheng / CNET:

Google, LG working on smartwatch to be unveiled in June — BARCELONA, Spain—Google and LG are about to jump into the smartwatch game together. — Google is set to unveil plans for its smartwatch-centric operating system in March, likely in a blog post, according to a person familiar with its plans.

More: TechCrunch, Digital Trends, 9to5Google, Business Insider, Gizmorati, NDTV Gadgets, iDownloadBlog.com …, SlashGear, Pocket-lint, Droid Report, I4U News, Examiner and TechnoBuffalo. Tweets: @evleaks

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Opera Launches Its Max Data-Savings App For Android — About a week ago, Opera teased its new Max data-savings app for Android and allowed users to pre-register. Starting today, Opera will roll out Max to these pre-registered Android users in the U.S. on a first-come, first-served bases.

More: CNET and The Verge

Joseph Menn / Reuters:

Apple promises fix “very soon” for Macs with failed encryption — (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Saturday it would issue a software update “very soon” to cut off the ability of spies and hackers to grab email, financial information and other sensitive data from Mac computers.

More: Gizmodo, SiliconBeat, AppleInsider, ZDNet, iPhone Hacks, Softpedia News, Computerworld, iMore, SlashGear, The Register, PBS, MacRumors, The Register and Wired. Tweets: @grittygrease

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:

On the Timing of iOS's SSL Vulnerability and Apple's ‘Addition’ to the NSA's PRISM Program

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