Techmeme
March 4, 2014, 3:35 PM

Top News

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
iOS 7.1 to ship in time for next week's iTunes Festival, will be needed to stream event  —  iOS 7.1 and the iTunes Festival at SXSW  —  Apple's first iTunes Festival in the U.S. starts a week from today at SXSW in Austin.  Apple is going to stream the performances to iOS devices using an app …
TechCrunch:
Facebook in talks to buy Titan Aerospace for $60M, plans to use solar drone tech for providing internet access  —  Facebook In Talks To Acquire Drone Maker Titan Aerospace  —  Facebook, one of the primary backers of the Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring affordable Internet access …
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Intel buying health-tracking wristwatch maker Basis for around $100M  —  Basis Goes To Intel For Around $100M  —  With $96.7M In Funding, Powa Technologies Debuts PowaTag For Mobile And Audio-Triggered Commerce  —  Intel has won the Basis auction, we're hearing, at a price of around $100 million according to one source.
Matt Brian / Engadget:
Hands-on with Apple's CarPlay: when Siri met Ferrari (video)  —  Apple's in-car infotainment system has been a long time coming.  After it was announced at the company's annual WWDC conference in June last year, “iOS in the Car” flew under the radar, only to undergo a rebrand and launch publicly yesterday under a new moniker: CarPlay.
Nikkei:
Japan to regulate Bitcoin trades, impose taxes  —  TOKYO — The Japanese government will set rules for trading bitcoins, defining the virtual tender not as a currency but as a commodity akin to gold.  —  Gains from trading bitcoins on online exchanges, and purchases made with them will be subject to Japanese tax.
Robin Wauters / Tech.eu:
Belgian judge considers forcing ISPs to block Apple websites over ‘misleading’ product warranties  —  A Belgian magistrate is reportedly considering forcing ISPs to block Apple websites in the country, following a complaint about the company ‘misleading’ consumers on EU-wide product warranty …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer retiring after 18 years, to be replaced by VP of finance Luca Maestri  —  Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer retiring after 18 years  —  Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer will retire at the end of September, after 18 years at the company.
Alex Hern / Guardian:
Bitcoin bank Flexcoin closes after hackers steal 896 bitcoin worth £365,000, Poloniex loses 12.3% of reserves in separate hack  —  Bitcoin bank Flexcoin closes after hack attack  —  Bank admits it does not have resources to cover loss of 896 bitcoin worth £365,000 stolen in raid
Wall Street Journal:
DocuSign Raises $85 Million at $1.6 Billion Valuation  —  DocuSign, an electronic-signature software company, has raised $85 million from institutional investors, according to two people briefed on the matter.  The fundraising values the company at roughly $1.6 billion, another person briefed on the matter said.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget:
Roku's new Streaming Stick works with most TVs, drops price to $50  —  When Roku released its first Streaming Stick in late 2012, it was a tough sell.  It cost $99 (as much as the highest-end Roku box), only worked with TVs that were certified as “Roku Ready,” and it didn't even ship with a remote.
Reuters:
Ukraine hit by cyberattacks: head of Ukraine security service  —  (Reuters) - Ukraine's telecommunications system has come under attack, with equipment installed in Russian-controlled Crimea used to interfere with the mobile phones of members of parliament, the head of Ukraine's SBU security service said on Tuesday.
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Apple's voracious appetite for acquisitions outspent Google in 2013  —  Apple is quietly investing far more money to acquire talent, technology and production capacity than the market appears to realize, having liberally outspent even Google over the past year.  —  Apple's acquisition investments over the past quarter
Parmy Olson / Forbes:
Inside The Facebook-WhatsApp Megadeal: The Courtship, The Secret Meetings, The $19 Billion Poker Game  —  “Get together?”  —  The subject line of the e-mail was like every other come-on that hit Jan Koum's in-box in the spring of 2012.  He was pounded daily by investors who wanted a piece of his company, WhatsApp.
Tweets: @sarahfrier, @jonfortt and @sfiegermanThanks:@parmy
Mike Isaac / Re/code:
Twitter Snafu Triggers Mass Reset of User Passwords  —  If you're a Twitter user, you may have an email sitting in your inbox telling you to change your password right now.  —  You aren't alone.  —  A number of Twitter users received password reset request emails from the microblogging service …
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Microsoft launches Skype for Outlook.com worldwide, adds Safari for Mac support and HD video calling for PCs  —  Microsoft today launched Skype for Outlook.com worldwide, expanding the service that was previously only available to a select few countries.  At the same time …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Borro, The High-End Online Pawnshop, Raises $112M To Fill Its Finance Pool, Expand In U.S.  —  TechCrunch Meetup And Pitch-Off In Beirut Tonight  —  Borro, an online platform that lets people borrow cash and put up luxury watches, art and other fine goods as collateral …
More: Re/code and PE Hub Blog
Om Malik / Fast Company:
Today's tech companies must build what they can't buy or risk losing control of their fate  —  Masters of Their Own Destiny  —  Like clockwork, apple introduces an upgrade to its iconic iPhone each year.  Sometimes it's thinner or less curved, but much like a new Porsche, you can look at it and think nothing's changed.
Tweets: @om
Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Spotify hires Beats Music former head of product  —  The rivalry between Spotify and Beats Music, two key streaming music services, is deepening.  —  Spotify has hired Fredric Vinna, Beats Music's former head of product, engineering and design, according to a person familiar with the matter.
More: Engadget

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:35 PM ET, March 4, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks