Techmeme: Microsoft rolls out Xbox One March update with improvements to party chat, multiplayer, friends, and more (Emil Protalinski/The Next Web)

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March 5, 2014, 11:25 AM

Top News

Laurie Segall / CNNMoney.com:

CNN sells Zite to Flipboard, teams up to launch custom magazines for CNN shows, in deal valued at $60M — CNN sells Zite to Flipboard — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) CNN has sold its news reader app, Zite, to Flipboard, a social magazine application. As part of the deal, Flipboard has also teamed …

More: Inside Flipboard, Gigaom, CNET, ReadWrite, Zite's blog, iMore, Marketing Land, The Next Web, Re/code, VentureBeat, The Verge, Engadget, Business Insider, SlashGear, Cult of Mac, WebProNews and Poynter

Tweets: @mathewi, @om, @davidbauer, @mathewi and @antderosa

See also Mediagazer

TechCrunch:

Flipboard Is Buying Zite From CNN For $60M, After CNN Bought It For $20M Three Years Ago — This just in: Flipboard is buying Zite from CNN, which acquired the service three years ago for around $20 million. As part of the deal, it will integrate CNN content on to Flipboard, covering over 300 feeds.

More: LinkedIn Pulse and TechCrunch

Bloomberg:

Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Tony Bates and Microsoft's board all initially opposed Ballmer's plan for Nokia acquisition — Microsoft's Nadella Manages Legacy of Ballmer-Board Split — New Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella is seeking to reshape a company whose main businesses are losing steam …

More: CNET, Business Insider, Microsoft News and Bloomberg

Tweets: @bloombergnews, @manan, @edbott and @tomwarren

Mark Scott / New York Times:

Steven Ballmer Reflects on Missteps and Ponders the Future of Microsoft — OXFORD, England — A month after stepping down as Microsoft's chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer hasn't lost any of his energy. — In front of a packed crowd at the University of Oxford, Mr. Ballmer hooted …

More: Wall Street Journal, InfoWorld, ZDNet, Softpedia News, VentureBeat and CNET. Tweets: @pkedrosky

Alexei Oreskovic / Reuters:

Yahoo to stop user access of services with Facebook, Google IDs — (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will stop letting consumers access its various online services, including Fantasy Sports and photo-sharing site Flickr, by signing-in with their Facebook Inc or Google Inc credentials.

More: The Register, BetaNews, Computerworld, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, Quartz, Re/code, TechHive, Engadget, CNET, Marketing Land, SiliconANGLE, Inquirer, InfoWorld, IntoMobile, TechCrunch, bizjournals, Gizmodo UK, Ubergizmo, ZDNet, Android Community, The Next Web, Electronista, SlashGear, WebProNews and Android Central

Tweets: @mims, @amir and @lexnfx

Cam Bunton / TmoNews:

94% of T-Mobile Blackberry promo participants switched to other smartphones — 94% of BlackBerry trade-ins switched to other platforms during promo … Tomorrow, March 5th, the $200 trade-in for an old BlackBerry device offer is ending. We've already heard from T-Mobile's CMO …

More: Examiner, CNET, BGR, Re/code, TechCrunch, The Verge, TechnoBuffalo, MobileBurn.com, App Advice, Electronista and CrackBerry.com. Tweets: @dcseifert

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Google Capital Pours $50M Into Real Estate Marketplace Auction.com At A $1.2B Valuation — Fresh of its public debut last week, Google Capital is putting more money to work this week with the announcement of a $50 million investment in real estate marketplace Auction.com.

More: Gigaom, Domain Name Wire, VentureBeat, CNET, Wall Street Journal, GeekWire, Re/code and silicontap.com

Julia Angwin / New York Times:

In era of free services where we pay with our personal data, privacy is becoming a luxury good — Has Privacy Become a Luxury Good? — LAST year, I spent more than $2,200 and countless hours trying to protect my privacy. — Some of the items I bought — a $230 service that encrypted …

Tweets: @dataprivacyday, @_nomap and @juliaangwin

Robin Wauters / Tech.eu:

Because screw innovation: Uber already deemed illegal in Brussels, two (private) vehicles seized so far — The Brussels government really wants to make it impossible for Uber to operate in the city, even with a P2P ride-sharing service. Two private cars driven by UberPOP drivers were seized this morning.

Tweets: @lsrgt and @jowyang

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Pitching Security, FreedomPop to Offer Modified Galaxy S II With Encrypted Calling and Texting — With all the attention on the vulnerability of cellphone communications to snooping, a number of players are pitching more secure options. — They range from messaging app Wickr to Silent Circle …

More: TechCrunch, CNET, Android Community, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, The Next Web and SlashGear

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Critical crypto bug leaves Linux, hundreds of apps open to eavesdropping — Hundreds of open source packages, including the Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Debian distributions of Linux, are susceptible to attacks that circumvent the most widely used technology to prevent eavesdropping on the Internet …

More: The Switch, ITworld.com, OStatic blogs, The Register, Boing Boing and InfoWorld

Tweets: @virusbtn, @plip, @rootikitty, @auntysarah, @kiwinerd, @teamcymru, @jbrodkin, @sirsean and @vowe

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 …

More: AppleInsider, SiliconANGLE, I4U News, 9to5Mac, Inquirer, Gizmodo UK, PadGadget, Telegraph, CNET, Pocketnow, Gotta Be Mobile, Ubergizmo, MacDailyNews, TechnoBuffalo, GeekWire, Cult of Mac, MacRumors and Apple Bitch

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

Facebook Messenger arrives for Windows Phone sans voice features — Microsoft was clearly being cautious when it said Facebook Messenger would be available for Windows Phone within a few weeks of Mobile World Congress — it's already here, just over a week later.

More: The Windows Blog, PC World, CNET, LiveSide.net, AllFacebook, The Verge, Gigaom, Redmond Pie, TechCrunch, Mashable, WinBeta, e's Phoneblog, BetaNews, SlashGear, Pocketnow, Ubergizmo, The Next Web, UnleashThePhones and Phones Review

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Samsung devices with Kitkat update no longer showing dubiously high benchmark scores — Samsung's KitKat update seems to remove benchmark-boosting “shenanigans” — We examine the Android 4.4.2 update's effects on the Galaxy S4 and Note 3. — Behavior in Android 4.3

More: Gigaom, Sammy Hub, I4U News, Android and Me, Android Police, Engadget, Pocketnow and Softpedia News

Andrew Sinkov / Evernote Blog:

Evernote for Windows Gets Image Annotation and Faster Sync — Evernote for Windows gets two significant enhancements today. First, you can now annotate images inside of your notes. Second, you'll notice that sync is way faster. Let's take a look at both. — Get Evernote for Windows Desktop »

More: Softpedia News, The Next Web, Lifehacker, Engadget, VentureBeat and WinBeta

IDC:

IDC Expects PC Shipments to Fall by -6% in 2014 and Decline Through 2018 — Worldwide PC shipments fell by -9.8% in 2013, slightly better than a projected decline of -10.1%, but still the most severe contraction on record, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

More: TheStreet.com, eWeek, SiliconANGLE, Network World, Inc.com, TechCrunch, CNET, Bloomberg, The Register, Softpedia News, GeekWire, BGR, Reuters, Business Insider, The Tech Report, Wall Street Journal and ZDNet

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:

Weeks before expiration date, Windows XP still has 29% OS market share — In February we saw the usual small movements in the browser market. More significantly, however, we didn't see any significant movements in the operating system market. For the second month in a row …

More: Softpedia News, blog.chron.com, InfoWorld, The Register, SC Magazine, TechCrunch and BGR

Danny O'Brien / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Mexican Protest Site Censored by GoDaddy — with the U.S. Embassy's Help — The Mexican website 1dmx.org (mirror here), was set up in the wake of a set of controversial December 1st 2012 protests against the inauguration of the new President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto.

More: SlashGear. Tweets: @wikileaks and @danielnazer

Anne d'Innocenzio / Associated Press:

Target tech chief resigns as it overhauls security — Target says tech chief resigns as part of security overhaul following data breach — NEW YORK (AP) — Target Corp. Chief Information Officer Beth Jacob is resigning effective Wednesday as the retailer overhauls its information security …

More: ZDNet, TechCrunch, Reuters, CNBC, Wall Street Journal and Consumerist

Bloomberg:

Dish's plans for internet TV could cost $20-$30 a month, sources say — Dish Takes Lead in Race to Offer Streaming TV to Rival Cable — In the race to deliver television over the Internet, Charlie Ergen's Dish Network Corp. (DISH) is pulling ahead. — With a groundbreaking agreement yesterday …

More: SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, DSLreports, Gigaom, SlashGear and Re/code. Tweets: @waltbtig. See also Mediagazer

Matt McGee / Marketing Land:

Twitter shares first “impressions” metrics for Oscars: 3.3B tweets viewed worldwide in 12 hours — Twitter Moves Beyond The Tweet, Shares First “Impressions” Metrics For Oscars — As the race for second screen dominance continues, Twitter is changing how it reports its own TV-related reach.

More: The Twitter Blog, VentureBeat, AllTwitter, I4U News, Digital Trends, memeburn, Forbes, The Technology Chronicles and Mashable. See also Mediagazer

Alvin Wong / UnleashThePhones:

Video shows setup process for Cortana on leaked build of Windows Phone 8.1 — Exclusive: Cortana Voice Assistant on Windows Phone 8.1 [VIDEO] — Building on the videos showing off various brand-new features in the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update that we have brought you …

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

Comcast expands its low-cost internet program to 1.2M people — In hopes of making it's proposed merger with Time Warner Cable sweeter for regulators to swallow, Comcast is extending its low-cost broadband access program and announcing that 300,000 households have signed up.

More: The Switch, Comcast Voices Blog, CNET, New York Times, Light Reading, SlashGear, Computerworld, Comcast Press Releases, Re/code and The Verge

Tim Stevens / CNET:

2014's battle for dashboard supremacy: Apple's CarPlay vs. Google's OAA vs. MirrorLink — Cars have been getting smarter and smartphone connectivity is better than ever, but 2014 should be a quantum leap forward for smartphone connectivity. Join us as we look at the main contenders.

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

After initial rejection, Cryptocat finally launches on iOS — The encrypted chat app Cryptocat is launching today for iOS, after an initial rejection in December. Previously available as a desktop app and browser plugin, the program uses the OTR model to offer strong encryption and forward secrecy …

More: Cryptocat Blog, Help Net Security, Lifehacker, iDownloadBlog.com …, iPhone Hacks, MacRumors and App Advice

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