Techmeme: NSA system can record 100% of a foreign country's calls, store every conversation for 30 days (Washington Post)

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March 18, 2014, 8:15 PM

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Sundar Pichai / The Official Google Blog:

Google extends Android to wearables with Android Wear project, launches developer preview — Sharing what's up our sleeve: Android coming to wearables — Most of us are rarely without our smartphones in hand. These powerful supercomputers keep us connected to the world and the people we love.

More: Android Developers Blog, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, VatorNews, 9to5Google, The Next Web, eWeek, Inquirer, PC Magazine, Computerworld, BetaNews, ReadWrite, Slate, PC World, Patently Apple, EE Times, Android Police, Internet2Go, AndroidHeadlines.com, Guardian, Greenbot, Fox News, Wearable World News, Search Engine Watch, Business Insider, Phones Review, VentureBeat, Digital Trends, CITEworld, IntoMobile, BBC, Phandroid, TechnoBuffalo, AndroidGuys, iPhone Hacks, Business Insider, memeburn, TheStreet.com, Xperia Blog, Gotta Be Mobile, Pocketnow, Wearable Tech Insider, HotHardware.com News, Electronista, MobileBurn.com, DailyTech, I4U News, MobileSyrup.com, Technology Personalized, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada Blog and Laughing Squid

Tweets: @carlfranzen, @laughingstoic, @tomwarren, @zpower, @panzer, @llsethj and @tim_stevens

Lior Ron / The Official Motorola Blog:

Motorola teases Moto 360 wristwatch powered by Android Wear, launching this summer — Moto 360: It's Time. — It's time for a watch that looks and feels great and gives you the information you need, when you need it. — It's time for Moto 360, a truly modern timepiece, designed by Motorola, powered by Android Wear.

Brad Molen / Engadget:

LG G Watch to launch next quarter with Android Wear — Over the last two years, LG has established a storied history of collaboration with Google. The two companies have worked together on three devices (two Nexus smartphones and a Google Play edition tablet) and today we're hearing about the fourth — a smartwatch.

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Google Announces Android Wear, Its Plan for the Smartwatch and Beyond

More: The Verge, Android and Me, AppleInsider and Gizmodo UK

Washington Post:

NSA system can record 100% of a foreign country's calls, store every conversation for 30 days — NSA surveillance program reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls — The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” …

More: ZDNet, BGR, PandoDaily, TechSpot, Gizmodo UK, Guardian, Techdirt, Gizmodo and GamePolitics blogs

Tweets: @declanm and @jesselynradack

See also Mediagazer

CNBC:

Apple CEO Tim Cook: New book on company is ‘nonsense’ — Apple's course after Steve Jobs — Yukari Kane, author of “Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs,” discusses her book where she recounts the final years of Steve Jobs at Apple and focuses on the state of the company under its current CEO Tim Cook.

More: Re/code, iMore, 9to5Mac, New York Times, 9to5Mac, CNET, BGR, AppleInsider, Forbes, TechCrunch, The Verge, iMore, TIME, Macworld, iDownloadBlog.com, The Register and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @inafried and @jowens510

Seth Weintraub / 9to5Google:

Google plans to kill Google Voice in coming months, integrate features into Hangouts — We've heard that Google Voice is getting dragged to the trash can and most of its functionality will be incorporated into G+ Hangouts apps on both Android and iOS. This has already happened to an extent …

More: DSLreports, PC World, Phandroid, TechSpot, TechCrunch, Phones Review, Pocketnow, Softpedia News, MobileBurn.com, Gizmodo UK, Droid Life and iDownloadBlog.com

Tweets: @dannysullivan and @arrington

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Apple Says Lower-Cost iPhone 5c Should Help It in Growing Mid-Tier Market — Apple said its move to add a lower-cost iPhone 5c in some countries is designed to help the company take advantage of a booming market for mid-range smartphones. — The company on Tuesday started selling …

More: AppleInsider, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, iPhone Hacks, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac and InvestorPlace

Mike Beasley / 9to5Mac:

Apple introduces 8 GB iPhone 5c in five markets to help boost disappointing sales — Update: Apple has now added the 8 GB 5c to its European online stores. In the UK, the device is priced at £429 unlocked — a difference of £40 between it and the 16 GB model.

More: Inquirer, Engadget, AppleTell, The Verge, Android Central, Bloomberg, Softpedia News, Mercury News, Examiner, Macworld, Gigaom and iMore. Thanks:@zachorybenton

David Pakman / Re/code:

Dilemma for music streaming services: labels demand twice what listeners are willing to pay — The Price of Music — Will the recorded music industry ever grow again? Since 1999, the industry has been in rapid decline as CDs became unbundled into downloaded singles.

More: Guardian. Tweets: @aweissman, @jyarow and @pkafka

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Streaming Subscriptions Are Now a Billion-Dollar Business, but Music Sales Stall

More: Music Ally, Reuters, Billboard, Bloomberg, Guardian and Telegraph

Tweets: @nathanchubbard and @adamlipman1

Tom Simonite / MIT Technology Review:

Facebook's AI research group reports major improvement in face recognition software DeepFace — Facebook Creates Software That Matches Faces Almost as Well as You Do — Facebook's new AI research group reports a major improvement in face-processing software.

More: Facebook, Forbes, Slate, TechCrunch, Daily Dot, CNET, AllFacebook, DailyTech, The Verge, Gizmodo UK, Graham Cluley, Gigaom, ZDNet and Business Insider. Thanks:@_trendspotter

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Viacom and Google settle 7-year-old YouTube copyright lawsuit, sources say no money changed hands — It's Over! Viacom and Google Settle YouTube Lawsuit — Viacom, which been suing Google over alleged copyright violations at its YouTube unit since 2007, has settled out of court, the two companies announced today.

More: Reuters, eWeek, Computerworld, Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, CNET, Variety, Gigaom, TechSpot, Businessweek, Plagiarism Today, Engadget, Gigaom Research, SiliconBeat, The Verge and The Technology Chronicles. See also Mediagazer

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Sam Altman, Y Combinator's new president, profiled as always-on advisor and forceful dealmaker — Y Combinator's New Head Startup Whisperer Sam Altman Is Quite a Talker — It's not crazy for Sam Altman's phone bill to rack up 6,000 talking minutes in a month. He talks a lot, to a lot of people.

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Pandora raises One price to $4.99 per month for new subscribers and scraps annual option, blames royalty rates — Pandora today announced changes to its Pandora One subscription plan, which charges users to listen without advertising. The company is keeping the same pricing …

More: Pandora Blog, TechCrunch, CNET and Bloomberg

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Sonos introduces universal search across music services in new mobile controller app — Five years after launching its first iOS app, internet-connected speaker maker Sonos is finally getting ready to give its mobile experience a complete overhaul. The new controller app features …

More: The Sonos Blog, Wall Street Journal, TUAW, Engadget, Geeky Gadgets, The Next Web, Daring Fireball and Android Community

Tom Conrad / Pandora Blog:

Pandora CTO Tom Conrad stepping aside, transitioning to advisory role — On a personal note... Back in the early days of Pandora, I was frequently the person who would post to our blog with news about the latest product enhancements and company milestones.

More: Pandora, TechCrunch, Re/code, VentureBeat, 24/7 Wall St. and Wall Street Journal. See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Vimeo Buys Video-Making App Cameo, a Few Months After Its Debut — Vimeo has bought Cameo, a video-making app that launched last fall. It's the second time in the last year that IAC's video site has acquired a video app. — Cameo is supposed to offer easy-to-use video-editing software …

More: The Next Web. Thanks:@srikardr. See also Mediagazer

Jordan Novet / VentureBeat:

Cloudera snatches a massive $160M to lead the business of big data — Image Credit: Ervins Strauhmanis/Flickr — Wowzers. Bloomberg's report about big data company Cloudera raising big money was no joke. — Today, Cloudera announced a heavy-duty $160 million round of funding.

More: Marketwired, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, SiliconANGLE, Gigaom and bizjournals

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Oracle Q3 Results Fall Short Again — Shares of business software giant Oracle fell by more than four percent in after-hours trading after the company reported third-quarter earnings that were worse than what analysts had expected. — Oracle reported per-share earnings of 68 cents on revenue of $9.3 billion.

More: Marketwired, ZDNet, Mercury News, Tech Trader Daily, Business Insider, USA Today, MarketWatch, Reuters, CNBC and ValueWalk

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Firefox 28 arrives with VP9 video decoding, Web notifications on OS X, HTML5 video and audio volume controls — Mozilla today officially launched Firefox 28 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Additions include VP9 video decoding, Web notifications on OS X, and volume controls for HTML5 video and audio.

More: TechCrunch, Naked Security, 9to5Mac, Softpedia News, CNET and ExtremeTech

Philippa Warr / Wired.co.uk:

Microsoft ‘developing’ virtual reality hardware for Xbox — Xbox is thought to be developing virtual reality hardware of its own according to a source of the Wall Street Journal. — Apparently virtual reality tech is being developed alongside augmented reality devices in relation to the Xbox.

More: Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica, destructoid, VG247, Joystiq and Ubergizmo

Leena Rao / TechCrunch:

Former Googler's AltSchool Raises $33M From Founders Fund And A16Z To Reimagine Primary Education — AltSchool, a new startup aiming to transform K-8 education and schools, has raised $33 million in Series A financing led by Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz, with follow-on investment …

More: Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, Mercury News and PE Hub Blog

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Xbox One launching in 26 new countries in September — Microsoft's Xbox One console was originally supposed to launch in 21 countries in November, but the company delayed the launch for eight European markets at the time citing localization issues. Today, Microsoft is revealing that its Xbox …

More: Xbox Live's Major Nelson, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, SuperSite for Windows, BGR, Siliconera, Geek.com, TechSpot, WebProNews, CNET, Softpedia News, GeekWire, Gotta Be Mobile and The Next Web

Selena Larson / ReadWrite:

Foursquare CEO: How We'll Tell You Where To Eat And What To Order — Dennis Crowley's vision for Foursquare extends way beyond the check-in. — The cofounder and CEO of Foursquare envisions a future where our mobile devices learn our behavior and provide suggestions for events …

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