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February 26, 2014, 5:55 PM

Top News

Matt Warman / Telegraph:

Google never offered to acquire WhatsApp, says SVP Sundar Pichai — 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.

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

Tweets: @sarahintampa, @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, New York Times, The Verge, Bloomberg, Business Insider, PandoDaily, CoinDesk, CNET, Mashable, Electronista, Softpedia News, 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, Techdirt, 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: Gizmodo, Techdirt, Gotta Be Mobile, TheHill, Engadget, Softpedia News, Electronista, The Verge, SlashGear and Guardian

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:

Obama Officials Seek to Hold NSA Phone Records Longer

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

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

Jason Green / Mercury News:

Mountain View: City Council inks deal with Google for new Wi-Fi network

More: 9to5Google and bizjournals

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, Gigaom, Android Geeks, VentureBeat, SlashGear, BGR, AndroidPure, iDownloadBlog.com …, WebProNews, Android Beat, Gearburn, TechHive, The Verge, AnandTech and Android Central

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 …, VentureBeat, MacRumors, Business Insider, App Advice, bizjournals, WebProNews and MacNN

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, @jaredbkeller, @nitashatiku, @samfbiddle, @erichippeau, @jayrosen_nyu, @bhorowitz, @declanm, @irowan, @alexia, @efeng, @mattmcalister, @edbott, @hblodget, @noahr, @wennmachers, @francois_bougon, @mims, @abrams and @georgedearing

See also Mediagazer

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

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 and Techdirt. See also Mediagazer

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

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 and @theromit

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, The Next Web, Marketing Land, 9to5Google, The Verge, TechCrunch, 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, Softpedia News, SlashGear and TechCrunch. 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, All, CNET, Engadget, VatorNews, 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, The Next Web, 9to5Google and TechCrunch. 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, The Next Web, Tech in Asia, 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: Ars Technica, PC World, BBC, Lastest ITProPortal news, CNET, theWHIR.com, 24/7 Wall St. 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, Search Engine Land, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, BetaNews, 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

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, GeekWire, CNET, Computerworld, AppleInsider, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, iPhone Hacks, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, Electronista, Cult of Mac, bizjournals, 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com …, Breaking Apple News … and MacRumors

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