Techmeme: eBay Leads Giant $133.7 Million Investment in Indian Shopping Site Snapdeal (Jason Del Rey/Re/code)

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February 26, 2014, 5:30 PM

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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: Los Angeles Times, SiliconBeat, WebProNews, Lastest ITProPortal news, 9to5Google, Engadget, PandoDaily, AndroidHeadlines.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, SlashGear, Valleywag and The Next Web

Tweets: @amir and @mikeisaac

Emily Flitter / Reuters:

U.S. attorney subpoenaed Mt Gox, other 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: Engadget, Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Business Insider, New York Times, PandoDaily, The Verge, CoinDesk, CNET, Softpedia News, Mashable, Electronista, SiliconANGLE, The Verge, Guardian and Business Insider

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

Senator Calls For Bitcoin Ban In Letter To Financial Regulators

More: The Verge, Business Insider, Joe Manchin, CNET, The Switch, MarketWatch, Mashable, CoinDesk and newsBTC. Tweets: @kashhill

Andrea Peterson / The Switch:

Everything you need to know about the latest Bitcoin crisis

More: ReadWrite, Mashable and The Verge

Kazuhiko Tamaki / Reuters:

Japan authorities looking into closure of Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange

More: Wall Street Journal, The Technology Chronicles and SiliconBeat

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

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:

Obama Officials Seek to Hold NSA Phone Records Longer

More: NationalJournal.com and The Verge. Tweets: @devlinbarrett

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: PandoDaily, Business Insider, Gigaom and Valleywag. 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.

More: Pocket-lint, TechSpot, 9to5Google, SlashGear, Gigaom, Android Geeks, VentureBeat, AndroidPure, BGR, iDownloadBlog.com …, Android Beat, WebProNews, Gearburn, The Verge, TechHive, AnandTech, Android Central, 9to5Google and Engadget

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: Scripting News, Business Insider, TechPresident and Beyond Search

Tweets: @om, @cwarzel, @kvox, @mathewi, @jayrosen_nyu, @jaredbkeller, @nitashatiku, @samfbiddle, @bhorowitz, @erichippeau, @declanm, @irowan, @alexia, @efeng, @mattmcalister, @edbott, @hblodget, @noahr, @wennmachers, @francois_bougon, @mims, @abrams and @georgedearing

See also Mediagazer

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: Variety, The Verge, AppleInsider, iDownloadBlog.com …, MacRumors, VentureBeat, Business Insider, App Advice, bizjournals, WebProNews and MacNN

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: VatorNews, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, eBay Inc and MediaNama. Thanks:@delrey

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, @heif, @emilybell, @saratpediredla, @edbott, @taylorbuley, @dalmaer, @mikeloukides, @dhh, @theromit and @timbray

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: Digital Trends, Business Insider, Technabob, Geek.com, SlashGear, TechSpot, Stowe Boyd, The Verge, Gizmodo, CNET and TechCrunch. Tweets: @peterwsinger

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Google must remove all “Innocence of Muslims” videos from YouTube, appeals court rules — A California appeals court on Wednesday ordered Google to take down all copies of a controversial anti-Islamic movie, granting an injunction to an actress in the film who had filed a copyright claim after being subjected to global death threats.

More: Reuters, Techdirt, Mercury News and The Verge. See also Mediagazer

Sean Hollister / The Verge:

How Google is turning Mountain View into a company town — Welcome to Googletown — Here's how a city becomes company property — Some days it feels like Google is taking over the world. For the residents of Mountain View, California, that feeling is personal.

More: bizjournals. Tweets: @caseynewton, @mattlynley and @starfire2258. Thanks:@srikardr

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

“Google Now Launcher” hits Play Store, brings Google homescreen to GPE & Nexus devices — When KitKat launched, Google made the odd decision to make one of the headline features, a brand-new launcher, exclusive to the Nexus 5. The new launcher was actually a merging of the standard home screen with the Google Search app.

More: Engadget, BGR, Marketing Land, The Next Web, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, The Verge, Android - Google+, Android Central, Droid Life and IntoMobile. Tweets: @android

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Boeing's secret ‘Black’ spy phone will detect tampering, self-destruct if cracked open — Nearly two years after word leaked about Boeing's plans to build a secure Android phone, the aerospace giant and defense contractor has quietly filed documents with the FCC for what it's calling the “Black” phone.

More: Myce.com, Ars Technica, The Register, TechCrunch, Softpedia News and SlashGear. Thanks:@johnhcook

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: Ars Technica, Barnes & Noble, Inc., The Verge, Businessweek, Engadget, Computerworld, VatorNews, CNET, SlashGear, internetretailer.com and TechCrunch. See also Mediagazer

Bertel King, Jr / Android Police:

Google Announces Project Ara Developers' Conference, Taking Place Online Via Live Webstream April 15-16th — Remember Project Ara? We haven't heard much about it since Motorola revealed its existence back in October, exciting us with the real possibility that one day we will be able …

More: Google ATAP, The Verge, 9to5Google, TechCrunch and The Next Web. Tweets: @projectara

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: TechCrunch, PC Magazine, Tech in Asia, The Next Web, TechnoBuffalo, I4U News, PandoDaily and TechSpot

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

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Becomes A “Second Screen,” Teams Up With FOX To Offer Online Voting Tools For “American Idol” — Blippar Introduces Image Recognition And AR Advertising On Google Glass — So much for Twitter as the “second screen” and all its TV partnerships - Google announced this morning …

More: Inside Search, The Next Web, Search Engine Watch, Engadget, Electronista, BetaNews, Search Engine Land, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, WebProNews, MacNN and Infocult

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: OpenID, OpenID and ZDNet

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