Techmeme: Bebo's revival begins with the debut of Blab, its 1:1 ephemeral video messaging service (Ken Yeung/The Next Web)

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February 25, 2014, 12:05 AM

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Dan Seifert / The Verge:

Samsung refines winning formula with Galaxy S5, maintains distinct Galaxy software, plans April 11 launch alongside new Gear models — Samsung's Galaxy S5 is here with more power, more pixels, and a refined design — This year's flagship doesn't mess with a winning formula

More: NEWS.com.au, Digits, BGR, Engadget, Bloomberg, AnandTech, TechCrunch, Gigaom, Slate, CITEworld, Android Central, Business Insider, Re/code, BGR, Android Police, Electronista, ZDNet, I4U News, Wall Street Journal, IntoMobile, Delimiter, Softpedia News, CNET, ReadWrite, The Next Web and VentureBeat

Tweets: @joannastern, @vladsavov, @geekaleksa, @inafried, @inafried, @zacharye and @reckless

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Samsung's Dust- And Water Resistant Galaxy S5 Gets Official With Heart Rate Monitor, Fingerprint Scanner — The Samsung Galaxy S5 is here, and now we know everything about the 2014 flagship from the Korean smartphone maker. It's pushing into phablet territory with a 5.1-inch …

More: The Official PayPal, The Verge, I4U News, The Next Web, NEWS.com.au, ZDNet and IntoMobile

Samsung Mobile Press:

Samsung unveils Galaxy S5 to focus on what matters most to consumers — The company's 5th generation Galaxy S redefines how technology innovation enhances our lives — Barcelona, Spain, February 24, 2014 - Samsung Electronics today announced the fifth generation of the Galaxy S series …

More: 9to5Google, Rogers RedBoard, Geeky Gadgets, Samsung Tomorrow, It's a Gadget, AndroidGuys, GeekWire, DailyTech, BBC, I4U News, 9to5Mac, VentureBeat, AndroidPure, SammyToday and Phones Review

CNET:

Samsung Galaxy S5 has tepid design, but plenty of specs appeal (hands-on) — CNET Editors' Take — BARCELONA, Spain — Metal body design? Nope. Eye-wateringly crisp 2K+ display? Nuh-uh. Overhauled Android interface? Only a little. After all the rumors and hype …

More: Ars Technica, SlashGear, Forbes, MacDailyNews, Android and Me, Tech Trader Daily and Pocketnow

Bonnie Cha / Re/code:

Samsung Tries On Another Wearable With Fitness-Focused Gear Fit

More: Samsung Mobile Press, Engadget, The Verge, Business Insider, Engadget, SlashGear, TechCrunch, PC World, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Softpedia News, Gizmodo and The Verge

Brian X. Chen / NYT Bits:

Samsung Unveils Galaxy S5 and Gear Fit, With a Focus on Simplicity

More: TechCrunch

Vincent Nguyen / SlashGear:

Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo hands-on

Thanks:@robertnelson

The Coinbase Blog:

Joint Statement: Mt.Gox's violation of trust doesn't reflect the resilience of the greater Bitcoin industry — Joint Statement Regarding the Insolvency of Mt.Gox — The purpose of this document is to summarize a joint statement to the Bitcoin community regarding the insolvency of Mt.Gox.

Matt Vukas:

Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange goes offline, rumored to have lost 750,000 bitcoins worth $375M

More: Re/code, CNNMoney.com, The Two-Bit Idiot and newsBTC. Thanks:@mattvukas

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Facebook retires its troubled @facebook.com email service — Facebook is retiring its email service, and has begun notifying users that all email sent to their @facebook.com address will soon be forwarded to their primary email address on file. Facebook users can turn off the forwarding feature, which is on by default.

More: TechCrunch, ZDNet, AllFacebook, The Next Web, UnleashThePhones, Inside Facebook, TechSpot, Gigaom and SlashGear

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

WhatsApp Is Actually Worth More Than $19B, Says Facebook's Zuckerberg, And It Was Internet.org That Sealed The Deal — More than a few people were surprised when Facebook said it would pay $19 billion for messaging app startup WhatsApp, but today Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he believed it was actually worth more.

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Messaging Giant WhatsApp, With 465M Users, Will Add Voice Services In Q2 Of This Year — Today Jan Koum, the CEO of WhatsApp — acquired by Facebook last week for $19 billion — announced that the messaging giant is finally moving into voice — a move announced at MWC, the conference …

More: NYT Bits, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Apple Bitch, eWeek, Cult of Mac, ABC News, IntoMobile, CNET, ReadWrite, LAPTOP Magazine, Gotta Be Mobile and WinBeta

Tweets: @jonrussell and @benedictevans

Mike Isaac / Re/code:

Don't Expect Facebook's WhatsApp to Make Any Real Money for Years

More: Computerworld, AllFacebook and BetaKit

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Microsoft devices chief Julie Larson-Green takes on new role, will be replaced by Nokia's Stephen Elop — Julie Larson-Green, the former Windows executive who most recently led Microsoft hardware development as the top executive in the company's Devices and Studios Group …

More: TechCrunch, The Verge, VentureBeat, ZDNet, Digits, Engadget, Kotaku, VG247, GamesIndustry International, WinBeta and Polygon

Erin Griffith / Fortune:

Dropbox raises $350 million — Dropbox has another $350 million in the bank, and more may be on the way. — FORTUNE — Last month, reports surfaced that Dropbox had raised $250 million from Blackrock (BLK) in its final round of private funding before embarking on its highly-anticipated IPO.

More: VentureBeat, Re/code, 24/7 Wall St., VatorNews, Gigaom, ZDNet, TechCrunch, The Technology Chronicles, Digits and PandoDaily. Tweets: @danprimack

Glenn Greenwald / First Look Media:

How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations — A page from a GCHQ top secret document prepared by its secretive JTRIG unit — One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies …

Tweets: @maradydd, @evanchill, @onekade, @billmon1, @prisonplanet, @elilake, @a_greenberg, @evacide, @the_intercept, @sacca, @colvinius and @cmuratori

Zach Miners / PC World:

Gmail adding prominent ‘Unsubscribe’ option to marketing emails — Gmail users who get frustrated trying to find the “unsubscribe” link that's often buried in small type at the bottom of promotional emails may instead start seeing it before they even open the message.

More: Ars Technica, The Verge, 9to5Google, BGR, VentureBeat and Lifehacker

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

A look behind the curtain: how Netflix redesigned and rebuilt its television experience — The Onion joked recently that Netflix was going to introduce a new Browse Endlessly plan. For $5, it would offer consumers a way to scroll through its entire library without ever deciding on a single title.

Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:

Facebook Hires Ryan Seacrest's Digital Chief as Head of Entertainment Partnerships (Exclusive) — Sibyl Goldman tapped to lead Hollywood outreach efforts — Facebook has recruited Ryan Seacrest's digital guru for a new role leading an expanded effort to court Hollywood.

More: AllFacebook, SiliconBeat and Tubefilter. Tweets: @mikeisaac

Jeff Morganteen / CNBC:

Verizon CEO: We expect a deal with Netflix — Verizon CEO: I would expect deal with Netflix — Netflix has agreed to pay Comcast for faster broadband service. Lowell McAdam, Verizon Communications President & CEO, weighs in on the deal and discusses Google's fiber plans.

More: Engadget, Ars Technica, Reuters, CNET, The Verge, TechnoBuffalo, Re/code, Reuters, DSLreports and Mashable. Tweets: @jbrodkin. See also Mediagazer

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Bebo's revival begins with the debut of Blab, its 1:1 ephemeral video messaging service — In July 2013, entrepreneur Michael Birch spent $1 million to buy back Bebo, a company he founded and sold to AOL for $595 million. A couple of months later, Birch announced the rebirth of his creation through the use of a ‘ballsy’ video.

Tweets: @ryanlawler and @samfbiddle

Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Local newspapers and TV stations are building their own private ad exchange with Google — In 2006, 176 newspapers came together in a partnership with Yahoo to found The Newspaper Consortium. The idea, a simple one now, was an important step forward for the development and growth of ad networks.

More: DoubleClick Publisher Blog, Local Media Consortium, Mercury News and Marketing Land. See also Mediagazer

Jordan Golson / MacRumors:

ReSound LiNX Launches as World's First ‘Made for iPhone’ Hearing Aid — A new hearing aid launched today connects directly to iPhones and other iOS devices, allowing wearers to talk on the phone or listen to music, by GN ReSound, a Danish hearing aid manufacturer.

More: Business Wire, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Cult of Mac, iDownloadBlog.com …, Electronista, Breaking Apple News …, Macgasm and App Advice

Ian Delaney / Nokia Conversations:

Nokia announces X, X+, and XL low-cost Android phones “to appeal to new smartphone users” outside North America — Xtraordinarily xcellent: the Nokia X family — Today Nokia introduces a brand new family of smartphones, the Nokia X family, a range of handsets that combines Nokia design …

More: Technabob, POPSUGAR, Geek Beat Technology News, VentureBeat, TheStreet.com and Forbes

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Broadcom packs high-speed 5G Wi-Fi into a single chip for smartphones — Broadcom, the multibillion-dollar communications chip maker, wants to elbow its way into smartphones. And it is planning to do so by announcing the first advanced 5G Wi-Fi combination chips for smartphones.

More: Broadcom, The Register, PC World, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, NFC World and Electronista

Mike Isaac / Re/code:

LinkedIn Launches a Chinese-Language Site — But Government Censorship Looms — LinkedIn announced that it will launch a simplified Chinese language version of its site, making it easier for native Chinese speakers to use the social business network. — The company's services have previously …

More: LinkedIn Blog, TechCrunch, LinkedIn Pulse, ZDNet, Los Angeles Times, Quartz, The Technology Chronicles, Bloomberg, PandoDaily, The Next Web, Business Insider, NYT Bits and Mashable. Tweets: @dangillmor

Bloomberg:

SoftBank Said to Seek Stake in Naver's Line Mobile-Message Unit — SoftBank Corp. (9984) is seeking to buy a stake in Line Corp., the mobile-messaging service controlled by South Korea's Naver Corp., people with knowledge of the matter said. — Line has received at least one other offer …

More: Tech in Asia and Business Insider. Tweets: @jonrussell. Thanks:@mattlynley

Darlene Storm / Computerworld:

98% of mobile malware targets Android platform — If you consider all the hot new mobile products coming out of Mobile World Congress 2014, it's clear that the world as a whole is crazy about mobile devices. While it's no wonder that cyber crooks are also hot to follow the mobile trend …

More: Securelist and ZDNet

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