Techmeme: Mountain View: City Council inks deal with Google for new Wi-Fi network (Jason Green/Mercury News)

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February 26, 2014, 9:50 PM

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

Tweets: @amir, @sarahintampa and @mikeisaac

Jason Green / Mercury News:

Mountain View: City Council inks deal with Google for new Wi-Fi network — Google is set to replace its frustrating to use Wi-Fi network in Mountain View with one that is smaller but more capable. — On Tuesday night, the Mountain View City Council enthusiastically approved a new five-year agreement …

More: dailywireless.org, 9to5Google and bizjournals

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: @mattlynley, @caseynewton and @starfire2258. Thanks:@srikardr

Harry McCracken / TIME:

Project Ara: Inside Google's Bold Gambit to Make Smartphones Modular — The two-year quest to create the ultimate customizable phone, inside and out. — On January 29, Google announced that it had agreed to sell Motorola, its phone-manufacturing business, to Chinese electronics giant Lenovo.

More: CNET, The Next Web, ZDNet, Electronista, Yahoo Tech and MobileSyrup.com

Tweets: @tim and @jordannovet

Thanks:@mariedomingo

Bertel King, Jr / Android Police:

Google Announces Project Ara Developers' Conference, Taking Place Online Via Live Webstream April 15-16th

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

Andy Greenberg / Forbes:

Senator Calls For Bitcoin Ban In Letter To Financial Regulators — Since Senator Charles Schumer first called on law enforcement nearly three years ago to shut down the Silk Road and cited the black market's use of Bitcoin for anonymous transactions, the cryptocurrency community has been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

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

Emily Flitter / Reuters:

U.S. attorney subpoenaed Mt Gox, other bitcoin businesses: source

Andrea Peterson / The Switch:

Everything you need to know about the latest Bitcoin crisis

More: Forbes, Mashable and Computerworld

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, Valleywag, Gigaom and socalTECH.com. 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.

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

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:

Obama Officials Seek to Hold NSA Phone Records Longer

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

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Apple Details Touch ID And The A7′s Secure Enclave In Updated iOS Security Document — Apple has shared some information around how Touch ID and its Secure Enclave keeps information private in an updated security document newly posted to its iPhone in Business microsite.

More: iMore, AppleInsider, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog and TechnoBuffalo

Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:

Apple retires Snow Leopard from support, leaves 1 in 5 Macs vulnerable to attacks — Twice now that Apple's bypassed Snow Leopard when it patched newer editions — Apple on Tuesday made it clear that it will no longer patch OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, when it again declined to offer …

More: Apple and InfoWorld

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, The Verge, CNET, Gizmodo, The Register, Ars Technica, Quartz, Softpedia News, AndroidSPIN, TechCrunch and SlashGear. Thanks:@johnhcook

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

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Hands-on with Samsung's Tizen OS: An impressively capable Android clone — The Tizen home screen. — BARCELONA, SPAIN—Samsung has such a large presence at Mobile World Congress that it doesn't just have one giant booth; there are also several smaller ones scattered around the show halls.

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: SiliconBeat, VatorNews, VentureBeat, eBay Inc, MediaNama, TechCrunch and Wall Street Journal. 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: Techdirt, New York Times and The Verge. See also Mediagazer

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

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

A Closer Look At Blackphone, The Android Smartphone That Simplifies Privacy — One of the more interesting devices here at Mobile World Congress is Blackphone: a pro-privacy handset being developed by Spanish startup Geeksphone, in partnership with U.S. security company Silent Circle using a …

Thanks:@riptari

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: The Next Web, Inside Search, Marketing Land, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, BetaNews, Search Engine Watch, WebProNews, Electronista, Search Engine Land, Engadget, Infocult and MacNN. See also Mediagazer

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, PandoDaily, TechSpot and I4U News

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., Ars Technica, The Verge, CNET, Gigaom Research, Businessweek, Computerworld, Electronista, SlashGear, VatorNews, internetretailer.com and TechCrunch. See also Mediagazer

CoinDesk:

Exclusive: State of Bitcoin 2014 Report Analyses Emerging Trends — Today CoinDesk is pleased to release its first ever ‘State of Bitcoin’ report. — This report is not intended to be another guide to answer the question ‘what is bitcoin?’, which we cover in detail elsewhere on our site.

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Trip Hawkins Raises $6.5 Million From Greylock for Learning Game Startup, If You Can — Well-known gaming entrepreneur Trip Hawkins has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding for “emotional learning” startup If You Can Company and announced the launch of a new Apple iPad game called If.

More: Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, New York Times, Inc.com, PE Hub Blog, Guardian, CNET and VentureBeat

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