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February 27, 2014, 9:22 AM
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Fred Wilson / AVC:
A Letter To Senator Manchin  —  Senator Joe Manchin wrote a public letter to financial regulators asking them to “take appropriate action to limit the abilities of this highly unstable currency.”  The letter in its entirety is here.  —  What follows is a letter from me to the Senator.
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.
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.
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: BGR.  Tweets: @r0h1n
David Kravets / Wired:
Feds Refuse to Release Public Comments on NSA Reform — Citing Privacy  —  The Obama administration has received 28 proposals from corporations with ideas for managing the NSA's massive database of U.S. phone call metadata.  But don't expect to see the proposals anytime soon.
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Facebook Messenger for Windows will shut down on March 3  —  Facebook today began prompting Facebook Messenger for Windows users with a message saying the app is shutting down next week.  Without much of an explanation, the company plans to kill off Windows support for Facebook Messenger on March 3.
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Marketing Chief Kathy Savitt's Star Rises at Yahoo  —  A management shake-up at Yahoo Inc. has conferred more power on Kathy Savitt, a marketing executive who has quickly risen to become one of Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's most prominent and trusted lieutenants.
More: bizjournals and GeekWire.  Tweets: @wsjd
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
The Fingerprint Scanner On The Samsung Galaxy S5 Will Be Accessible By Developers  —  Samsung's Galaxy S5 includes a fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button, and that hardware will be made available to third-party devs, the company announced today at a developer-focused event during MWC this year.
Guardian:
UK spy agency intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users  —  • Optic Nerve program collected Yahoo webcam images in bulk  —  • 1.8m users targeted by GCHQ in six-month period alone  —  • Yahoo: ‘A whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy'
Tweets: @ggreenwald and @ggreenwald.  Thanks:@zackwhittaker
Steven Perlberg / Business Insider:
Carl Icahn Goes After The eBay Board In A New Open Letter With 6 Facts  —  Carl Icahn is out with a new open letter to the shareholders of eBay.  —  There has been quite a back and forth between the activist investor and eBay's board, and the scrap continues today with Icahn laying out six “facts.”
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Hands-on with Samsung's Tizen OS: An impressively capable Android clone  —  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.
Tweets: @danieleran
Luke Baker / Reuters:
Europe invites Apple, Google to discuss ‘in-app’ purchases  —  (Reuters) - The European Commission announced plans on Thursday to tackle one of the scourges of the modern age - games on tablets and mobile phones that allow adults and children to rack up vast credit card bills by making “in-app” purchases.
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.
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 …
More: VentureBeat.  Thanks:@riptari
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Following developer requests, Google delays blocking extensions not in the Chrome Web Store until May 1  —  Google today announced it won't be blocking local Chrome for Windows extensions until May 1.  The timing change is being made after some developers requested more time to get their extensions in the Chrome Web Store.
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Integration complete: New Skype users can now sign up with a Microsoft account  —  In addition to including Microsoft account support in its Windows Phone app, Skype today also started letting new users signing up on Skype.com to register with a Microsoft account (in addition to a Facebook account).

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From Mediagazer

CNN:
Sources: Pete Hegseth pushed for two F-15 crew members rescued from Iran to join a 60 Minutes story; Bari Weiss lobbied Hegseth to give CBS exclusive access

Jack Dunn / Variety:
Leaked report: Paramount leaving California “would result in losses of 2,750 and 5,550 job-years”, and economic losses between $1.01B-$2.03B for the state

Lara Weber / States Newsroom:
Chris Fitzsimon, founder, CEO and publisher of States Newsroom, plans to retire in June 2027; the newsroom runs or partners with outlets in 50 state capitals

More News

Derrick Harris / Gigaom:
IBM is challenging developers to insert Watson into mobile apps
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
“Google Now Launcher” hits Play Store, brings Google homescreen to GPE & Nexus devices

Earlier Picks

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Becomes A “Second Screen,” Teams Up With FOX To Offer Online Voting Tools For “American Idol”
Liam Spradlin / Android Police:
This Is An Early Prototype Of The Google Watch Made By Motorola Last Year [Update: One More Image]
Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:
David Fincher in Early Talks to Direct Steve Jobs Film for Sony (Exclusive)
Matt Warman / Telegraph:
Google never offered to acquire WhatsApp, says SVP Sundar Pichai
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