Techmeme: Pebble sold 400,000 smartwatches last year, on track to double revenues in 2014 (JP Mangalindan/Fortune)

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March 20, 2014, 5:55 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:

Airbnb In Advanced Talks to Raise Funding at a $10 Billion Valuation — Private-Equity Firm TPG Likely to Lead Funding Round for the Online Home-Rental Marketplace — Airbnb Inc. is in advanced talks to raise funds that would value the online home-rental marketplace at more than $10 billion …

Reed Hastings / Netflix US & Canada Blog:

Internet Tolls And The Case For Strong Net Neutrality — The Internet is improving lives everywhere - democratizing access to ideas, services and goods. To ensure the Internet remains humanity's most important platform for progress, net neutrality must be defended and strengthened.

More: The Verge, The Next Web, Engadget and DSLreports

Tweets: @haroldfeld and @oti

See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Netflix Says It Really Didn't Want to Cut that Traffic Deal with Comcast

Tweets: @gnagesh

Lorraine Luk / Wall Street Journal:

China Mobile Added About 1 Million New iPhone Users in February — HONG KONG— China Mobile Ltd added about one million new iPhone users last month after it started offering the popular smartphone in mid-January, Chief Executive Li Yue said Thursday. — The comment came hours …

More: Reuters, 9to5Mac, Tech Trader Daily, MacRumors, Bloomberg, Examiner, AppleTell, Gigaom, AppleInsider, Fortune, TheStreet.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, PC World, BGR, iDownloadBlog.com, App Advice, Tech in Asia, Business Insider and iMore. Tweets: @scottthurm

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Gmail now always uses an HTTPS connection and encrypts all messages moving internally on Google's servers — Google today announced it has made security improvements to Gmail to further protect users' emails from snooping. Gmail now always uses an encrypted HTTPS connection when you check or send email …

More: The Official Google Blog, Gmail Blog, PC Magazine, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, ZDNet, The Switch, InfoWorld, GeekWire, Computerworld, BetaNews, ParisLemon, Engadget, BGR, The Verge and 9to5Google

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

FireChat For iOS Is A Hyperlocal Anonymous Chat Network That Doesn't Need An Internet Connection — We all know that chat apps are pretty hot right now and there are plenty of companies hoping for a WhatsApp-like exit. For the most part, all of those apps are pretty similar, but FireChat …

More: Gigaom, BGR, The Verge, TUAW, MacNN, TechSpot, Softpedia News, iPhone and Mobile Marketing Watch. Tweets: @niallharbison

James Niccolai / PC World:

HP plans 3D printer announcement for June — Hewlett-Packard claims to have solved the two biggest problems with today's 3D printers and will make its first big technology announcement in that area in June, CEO Meg Whitman said Wednesday. — There's a lot of “buzz and hype” around 3D printing …

More: 3DPrint.com, Reuters, TechCrunch, Tech Trader Daily, Gigaom, Electronista, Engadget, I4U News, SlashGear and SiliconBeat

Cade Metz / Wired:

Facebook migrates to, open-sources Hack, a language resembling PHP with gradual typing — Facebook Introduces ‘Hack,’ the Programming Language Of the Future — Facebook engineers Bryan O'Sullivan, Julien Verlaguet, and Alok Menghrajani spent the last few years building a programming language unlike any other.

More: Facebook Code, PC Magazine, Forbes, Gigaom, InfoWorld, ReadWrite and AllFacebook

Tweets: @bos31337 and @bobmcmillan

JP Mangalindan / Fortune:

Pebble sold 400,000 smartwatches last year, on track to double revenues in 2014 — CEO Eric Migicovsky walks Fortune through the smartwatch maker's successful first year. — FORTUNE - If Pebble is the smartwatch category's David, surely Google is its Goliath.

More: The Verge, MacRumors, Android Central, Android Community, App Advice and AmongTech. Tweets: @benwood. Thanks:@jpmanga

PC World:

Microsoft's DirectX 12 to boost gaming on PCs, mobile devices — San Francisco—Meet the next generation of gaming graphics. DirectX 12 is faster, lighter-weight, and more predictable said Anuj Gosalia, Development Manager for Graphics at Microsoft, at the Game Developers Conference on Thursday …

More: MSDN Blogs, NVIDIA, ZDNet, The Verge, Computerworld, VentureBeat, Polygon, computerandvideogames.com, VG247, WCCFtech, Ubergizmo, SlashGear and The Tech Report

Julio Ojeda-Zapata / TwinCities.com:

Minneapolis' FirstTech, Apple retailing pioneer, is closing — When Apple first began selling its pioneering personal computers in the late 1970s, its first batch of machines went to Team Electronics in the Twin Cities. — Team Electronics eventually morphed into FirstTech …

More: 9to5Mac, CNET, Engadget, InvestorPlace, Apple Gazette, Cult of Mac, SlashGear, AppleInsider, TUAW, MacNN and The Loop

Katherine Rosman / Wall Street Journal:

Fitbit Now Faces a Class-Action Suit in Rash Fallout — A month after Fitbit issued a recall of its fitness-tracking bracelet following complaints of blisters and rashes, the startup now faces its first lawsuit. — The suit, filed on Monday in the Superior Court of California in the County of San Diego …

More: TechCrunch, Computerworld, PC World, Re/code, Wearable World News, USA Today, Electronista, TechnoBuffalo, Gigaom, Business Insider, App Advice, Ubergizmo, Digital Trends, Consumerist and CNET. Tweets: @chetansharma

Ben Woods / The Next Web:

Layar now wants to augment your reality with its Google Glass app — Augmented reality and wearable technology go hand-in-hand, so it's with not too much surprise that we've just learnt that Layar's augmented reality app is now available to download for Google Glass.

More: Layar, TechHive, 9to5Google, Gigaom, Glass Almanac, Wired, SlashGear, Engadget and I4U News

Vindu Goel / New York Times:

Twitter's new video hosting platform lets mobile users play clips with a single tap — Twitter Rolls Out Easier, Faster Video Playback — Over the past year, Twitter has worked closely with television networks and other professional video creators to upload and promote thousands …

More: The Next Web, ReadWrite, ReelSEO Video Marketing and Marketing Pilgrim. Tweets: @stevekovach. See also Mediagazer

Tom Cheredar / VentureBeat:

Ad platform Rubicon Project sets $108M IPO — Advertising platform Rubicon Project has announced terms for an initial public offering today that will have the company seeking to raise $108 million. — Rubicon Project operates an automated digital ad exchange that allows you to both buy and sell ads.

More: NASDAQ.com, StreetInsider.com and SeekingAlpha.com

Mike Isaac / Re/code:

As Messaging Wars Escalate, Social App Tango Raises $280 Million — Social startup Tango announced Thursday that it had raised a massive $280 million Series D round of venture funding, the latest significant move among a handful of high-profile apps all vying to own the mobile messaging space.

More: tango.me, PandoDaily, Quartz, Business Insider, SiliconANGLE, GeekTime, PE Hub Blog, The Next Web, Fortune, Reuters, TechNode, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Business Insider, Engadget, Gigaom, New York Times and silicontap.com

Tweets: @shaunrein, @pkafka, @jonrussell, @benedictevans and @monkbent

eMarketer:

Driven by Facebook and Google, Mobile Ad Market Soars 105% in 2013 — Mobile ad spending on pace to reach $31.45 billion this year — Last year, global mobile ad spending increased 105.0% to total $17.96 billion, according to new figures from eMarketer. In 2014, mobile is on pace …

More: Marketing Land, Wall Street Journal, TechSpot, Business Insider, SocialTimes, Marketing Pilgrim, AllTwitter, TechCrunch, Business Insider, AdExchanger, Mashable, SeekingAlpha.com, CNET, FierceMobileIT News, VatorNews and WebProNews. Tweets: @emarketer

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Seagate CEO Luczo departs from the Microsoft board — Summary: Musical chairs among Microsoft's board members continues, with Seagate's CEO departing the board. — The Microsoft board musical chairs are continuing, with Seagate Chairman and CEO Stephen Luczo announcing on March 20 …

More: GeekWire, PR Newswire, Bloomberg and Reuters

John Kell / Wall Street Journal:

Symantec Fires CEO Steve Bennett — Symantec Corp. has fired President and Chief Executive Steve Bennett, the second time the software company has dumped its top executive in less than two years. — Symantec, which produces Norton antivirus software, among other products …

More: Symantec, ZDNet, Tech Trader Daily, Re/code, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and NASDAQ.com

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