Techmeme: Are we in a bubble? Valuations of high growth tech companies will remain high as long as interest rates stay low (Fred Wilson/AVC)

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March 15, 2014, 4:30 PM

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Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Warner Brothers to “Veronica Mars” Backers: OK, OK — Use iTunes or Amazon if You Want — “Veronica Mars” was supposed to be a triumphant mix of Hollywood and crowd-sourcing: Fans of Kristen Bell's old TV show, aided by Kickstarter, helped fund a movie version, in conjunction with Warner Bros.

More: Flavorwire and Deadline.com

Moisés Chiullan / TechHive:

Why Veronica Mars embraced UltraViolet and angered fans — The campaign to revive Veronica Mars delivered a number of cool things—an enormous number of new Kickstarter users and, lest we forget, a full-length motion picture of a deeply loved TV series that arrived Friday.

More: Gigaom, Kickstarter, Engadget, iMore, The Wrap, Deadline.com, The Wrap, IGN, Hollywood Reporter, Boston Herald, The Kickstarter Blog and The Next Web. Thanks:@jsnell. See also Mediagazer

Nicholas Weaver / Wired:

How the NSA's QUANTUM internet attack system works — A Close Look at the NSA's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool — We already knew that the NSA has weaponized the internet, enabling it to “shoot” exploits at anyone it desires. A single web fetch, imitated by an identified target …

More: The Intercept, theWHIR.com and Nextgov

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Refinements, additions, and un-breaking stuff: iOS 7.1 reviewed — Time to update! iOS 7.1 is here, and it fixes a lot of iOS 7.0's biggest problems. — Aurich Lawson — There were about six months between the ouster of Scott Forstall from Apple in late October of 2012 and the unveiling of iOS 7.0 in June of 2013.

More: Gotta Be Mobile, Cult of Mac, MacNN, ZDNet, Phones Review, VentureBeat, BGR, Redmond Pie, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, Softpedia News and iLounge

Fred Wilson / AVC:

Are we in a bubble? Valuations of high growth tech companies will remain high as long as interest rates stay low — The Bubble Question — Everywhere I go, everywhere I speak, I get asked this question. Are we in a bubble? — I've been getting asked that question for at least four years now.

More: Trends. Tweets: @garrytan and @mikebutcher

Gautham Nagesh / Wall Street Journal:

US Commerce Department prepares to give up oversight of ICANN — U.S. Plans to Give Up Oversight of Web Domain Manager — Move Seen in Response to International Concern About Country's Control Over Internet Structure — The U.S. government is preparing to relinquish oversight of a key body …

Nicholas Carlson / Business Insider:

Motorola Had Plans For A Super-Powered Google Phone, But Larry Page Refused To Make It Happen — When Google bought Motorola for $12.5 billion in 2011, there was lots of talk that Google would revamp its Android division in the image of Apple. — Many people, including people at both companies …

More: The Information, TechHive and Ubergizmo

Jillian C. York / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Reporters Without Borders includes US and UK in its 2014 “Enemies of the Internet” index — A Short Guide to the Internet's Biggest Enemies — Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual “Enemies of the Internet” index this week—a ranking first launched in 2006 intended …

More: Poynter, The Switch, ANIMAL and The Connectivist. See also Mediagazer

Ben Gilbert / Engadget:

Oculus VR, EA, Avegant and others join to form ‘Immersive Technology Alliance’ — Well, this is certainly a motley crew: a variety of companies in the virtual reality space are teaming up to create the “Immersive Technology Alliance.” The group is an evolution of an earlier consortium …

More: PC World, computerandvideogames.com, Tom's Hardware Guide and VG247. Thanks:@realbengilbert

Juan Carlos Torres / Android Community:

Google Play Store update lets you require a password for every purchase — Google has just started rolling out an update to the Play Store app on Android that, among other things, now offers more fine-grained control when making purchases. This change could very well be related to the class action suit that the company is now facing.

More: Android Police, The Verge, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, TechnoBuffalo, BGR, Pocketnow, Gotta Be Mobile, Droid Life, PC Magazine, MobileSyrup.com, AndroidGuys, Electronista and Engadget

Suchitra Mohanty / Reuters:

India court rejects Nokia appeal over asset transfer to Microsoft — (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on Friday ordered Nokia to give a 35 billion rupees ($572.5 million) guarantee before it transfers one of its biggest mobile phone plants and other assets in the country to Microsoft Corp.

More: PhoneArena, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, TechnoBuffalo, International Business Times, Business Standard, The Economic Times, The Financial Express, thehindubusinessline.com, bgr.in, Quartz, India & World and bgr.in

Ed Christman / Billboard:

Rate Court Judge Rules Pandora Will Pay ASCAP 1.85% Annual Revenue — In what is being viewed as a defeat for songwriters, the ASCAP/Pandora rate court judge has decided that Pandora will pay the performance rights organization a rate of 1.85% of annual revenue.

More: New York Times, SlashGear, Associated Press and Bloomberg

Tweets: @rhettmiller and @edchristman

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