Techmeme: As Barnes & Noble Nook revenues slide 50%, the company says it's launching another tablet (Laura Hazard Owen/Gigaom)

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February 26, 2014, 1:45 PM

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Emily Flitter / Reuters:

US prosecutors investigating bitcoin businesses: source — (Reuters) - Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office is seeking information from businesses dealing in bitcoin on how some of them handled cyber-attacks that hamstrung several exchanges in recent weeks, a source familiar with the probe said on Wednesday.

More: Business Insider, PandoDaily, Engadget, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, The Verge, CNET, PC World, CoinDesk, SiliconANGLE, The Verge, Softpedia News, Electronista, Business Insider, Guardian and SiliconBeat

Andrea Peterson / The Switch:

Everything you need to know about the latest Bitcoin crisis — Kolin Burges, a Mt. Gox customer, protests outside the headquarters of Mt. Gox and its parent company, Tibanne Co., in Tokyo on Tuesday. (Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg) — The once-popular Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has gone dark.

More: ReadWrite, Bloomberg View and Mashable

Kazuhiko Tamaki / Reuters:

Japan authorities looking into closure of Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange

More: Wall Street Journal, SiliconBeat, TechCrunch, ReadWrite, CoinDesk, CNET, Slate, AVC, TechCrunch, Fortune and Forbes

Matt Warman / Telegraph:

Google did not bid for WhatsApp — Claims that Facebook outbid Google in its $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp are untrue, a top executive has said. — Google did not bid for WhatsApp, the company revealed yesterday. Suggestions that Facebook's $19bn purchase of the instant messaging service outbid …

More: 9to5Google, SiliconBeat, Engadget, The Next Web, iPhone in Canada Blog, AndroidHeadlines.com and SlashGear

Tweets: @mikeisaac and @amir

Marc Andreessen / Andreessen Horowitz:

The Future of the News Business: A Monumental Twitter Stream All in One Place — I am more bullish about the future of the news industry over the next 20 years than almost anyone I know. You are going to see it grow 10X to 100X from where it is today. That is my starting point for any discussion about the future of journalism.

More: Beyond Search. Tweets: @wennmachers, @cwarzel, @efeng, @irowan, @kvox, @francois_bougon, @mattmcalister, @edbott, @mathewi, @mims, @abrams, @jayrosen_nyu, @jaredbkeller, @hblodget, @nitashatiku, @georgedearing, @declanm, @samfbiddle, @bhorowitz, @noahr, @alexia and @erichippeau. See also Mediagazer

Wall Street Journal:

White House Weighs Four Options for Revamping NSA Phone Surveillance — Proposals Range From Running Program Through Phone Companies to Ditching It Altogether — WASHINGTON—Administration lawyers have presented the White House with four options for restructuring the National Security …

More: Techdirt, Engadget, Gizmodo, Gotta Be Mobile, CNET, TheHill, Softpedia News, The Verge, Electronista, Guardian and SlashGear

Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:

App ecosystems reinvent everything hateful about the software industry before the web blew it up — App-pocalypse Now — I'm getting pretty sick of being nagged to install your damn apps. — XKCD helpfully translates: — Yeah, there are smart app banners, which are marginally less annoying …

Tweets: @anildash, @noellejoyeuse, @saratpediredla, @heif, @emilybell, @edbott, @taylorbuley, @dalmaer, @mikeloukides, @dhh, @theromit and @timbray

Mat Smith / Engadget:

LINE takes on Skype and Hangouts with new, cheap, Call service — It's all about stickers, really. LINE means stickers, but as the company keeps telling us, its apps do so much more than that — and even more starting next month. The Japanese messaging service is launching …

More: PandoDaily, TechSpot, Tech in Asia, The Next Web and I4U News

Bloomberg:

Rolls-Royce Drone Ships Challenge $375 Billion Industry: Freight — In an age of aerial drones and driver-less cars, Rolls-Royce (RR/) Holdings Plc is designing unmanned cargo ships. — Rolls-Royce's Blue Ocean development team has set up a virtual-reality prototype at its office in Alesund …

More: Business Insider, SlashGear, TechSpot, The Verge, Gizmodo, CNET, TechCrunch and Stowe Boyd. Tweets: @peterwsinger

Associated Press:

Apple files appeal in e-book antitrust case — Apple asks federal appeals court to overturn finding in antitrust case, or award new trial — NEW YORK (AP) — Apple filed papers on Tuesday telling a federal appeals court in New York that a judge's finding it violated antitrust laws …

More: Ars Technica, Fortune, AppleInsider, CNET, Computerworld, iMore, Reuters, Breaking Apple News …, Cult of Mac, iPhone Hacks, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com …, iPhone in Canada Blog, Electronista and 9to5Mac

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

As Barnes & Noble Nook revenues slide 50%, the company says it's launching another tablet — Barnes & Noble is cutting jobs and revenues fell again in the third-quarter earnings report released Wednesday, with the Nook segment once again taking a particularly large hit …

More: Barnes & Noble, Inc., The Verge, CNET, VatorNews, GeekWire, Engadget, Computerworld, internetretailer.com, TechCrunch, WebProNews and SlashGear. See also Mediagazer

Jim Finkle / Reuters:

360 million newly stolen credentials on black market: cybersecurity firm — (Reuters) - A cybersecurity firm said on Tuesday that it uncovered stolen credentials from some 360 million accounts that are available for sale on cyber black markets, though it is unsure where they came from or what they can be used to access.

More: Ars Technica, CNET, PC World, theWHIR.com, Lastest ITProPortal news, BBC, 24/7 Wall St. and Softpedia News. Tweets: @bernadettebaum

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

OpenID Connect Identity Protocol Launches With Support From Google, Microsoft & Others — Signing users in to a mobile or web app isn't necessarily hard, but keeping their credentials safe is something that's often best left to specialists. The OpenID Foundation today announced the launch …

More: ZDNet, OpenID, Newsroom and Rude Baguette

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Apple to Arizona: Anti-gay bill puts Mesa sapphire plant at risk — It's not clear if Apple could do business in a state that sanctions discrimination against gays. — FORTUNE — Apple (AAPL) confirmed Monday that it has urged Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a bill that would allow business owners …

More: Examiner, iMore, Gigaom, nbcbayarea.com, NBC News, Computerworld, Arizona Capitol Times, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, Digits, TIME, BGR, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, CNET, Los Angeles Times, InvestorPlace, Gizmodo, Business Insider, SiliconBeat and CNN. Tweets: @lessien

Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:

David Fincher in Early Talks to Direct Steve Jobs Film for Sony (Exclusive) — Based on Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography, the film would reteam Fincher with “Social Network” writer Aaron Sorkin and producer Scott Rudin. — David Fincher already has tackled one Silicon Valley billionaire in Mark Zuckerberg.

More: AppleInsider, MacRumors, VentureBeat, MacNN and WebProNews

Billy Steele / Engadget:

MasterCard testing security feature that okays purchases based on phone location — Locking down those credit cards while globe trotting is always a chief concern. Today at Mobile World Congress, MasterCard and Syniverse announced a joint effort to ease the fears of travelers.

More: Cashless Pioneers Blog …, The Verge, We Live Security, Electronista, Digital Trends and CNET

Rip Empson / TechCrunch:

With Box, Yelp And Palantir On Board, Piazza Lands $8M From Khosla To Bring Recruiting To Its Social Q&A Platform For Students — As free online social tools now play a central role in how we communicate, interact and manage our interpersonal relationships, and as consumerization sweeps through …

More: PE Hub Blog

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Square acquires scheduling and appointment booking startup BookFresh, will keep products separate for now — Square today announced it has acquired BookFresh, a scheduling and appointment booking startup. Both companies are promising that for BookFresh customers, nothing will change …

More: The Corner, BookFresh, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Business Insider and PE Hub Blog

Ben Popper / The Verge:

Uber kept new drivers off the road to encourage surge pricing and increase fares — Limiting supply at riders' expense — Andrew Lane is a regular Uber customer with some fond memories of the service. Last year on President's Day he was the lucky rider selected for an “Ubercade” upgrade.

More: Gawker. Tweets: @zpower

Liam Spradlin / Android Police:

This Is An Early Prototype Of The Google Watch Made By Motorola Last Year [Update: One More Image] — A few days ago, we published a story about Google's possibly upcoming smartwatch. Current rumors suggest that the watch may be ready in time for Google I/O, and that it might be made by LG.

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

OpenX launches its mobile-first native ad exchange — OpenX Technologies is launching a mobile-focused native ad exchange today that it says will help app and game developers and publishers make a lot more money. — In an event at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, mobile monetization firm OpenX is unveiling Native O|

More: The Next Web, VatorNews, Marketing Pilgrim and MediaPost

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

EBay Leads Giant $133.7 Million Investment in Indian Shopping Site Snapdeal — EBay is leading a $133.7 million investment in online shopping website Snapdeal that could result in a buyout of what is viewed as the eBay of India. — EBay contributed a large majority of the total investment …

More: TechCrunch. Thanks:@delrey

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

NuoDB Raises $14.2M Round Led By Dassault Systèmes For Its Distributed Database Management System — NuoDB, a Cambridge, Mass.-based database company that specializes in distributed database management, today announced that it has raised a $14.2 million funding round led …

More: VentureBeat, Gigaom, VatorNews, PE Hub Blog and Xconomy

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