Techmeme
March 20, 2014, 10:40 AM

Top News

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.
Parmy Olson / Forbes:
Exclusive: Alibaba Sinks $215 Million Into Messaging App Tango, Valuing It At More Than $1 Billion  —  China's Alibaba is the latest Internet giant to make a bet on the messaging space, and it's a big one.  The company is spending $250 million for a minority stake in the messaging and free-calling app Tango, the startup revealed today.
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 …
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 …
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 …
Levi Pulkkinen / Seattle PI:
Ex-Microsoft employee charged with passing journalist trade secrets  —  Prosecutors: Angry worker sent blogger Windows 8 code, internal documents  —  Workers removing the products from the stage after the Microsoft Windows 8 and Surface event in New York, Oct. 25, 2012.
Stephanie M. Lee / The Technology Chronicles:
Augmedix raises $3.2 million to bring Google Glass into doctor's office  —  Augmedix, one of several start-ups developing ways to use Google Glass in health care, said Wednesday it has raised $3.2 million in venture capital funding.  —  The announcement comes on an especially busy …
Andrew Allemann / Domain Name Wire:
US won't give up NTIA's oversight of ICANN to any government-led alternative  —  NTIA: U.S. won't abandon its role in the internet until it's satisfied with the alternative  —  Strickling makes it clear that IANA contract won't be transitioned until it is happy with the alternative.
Nathan Kirsch / Legit Reviews:
Intel Desktop Roadmap Update - Devil's Canyon, Broadwell, Haswell-E  —  Lisa Graff, Vice President and General Manager Desktop Client Platforms Group, gave a small group of journalists at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco an update on the future of Intel's desktop and enthusiast platforms.
Martin Beck / Marketing Land:
Google Search Can Now Take Photos, Videos, On Your Android Phone  —  So you want to take a quick photo or video with your Android phone?  It just got a bit easier, at least for those who like to tell their phone what to do.  —  Google updated its Android Search app today …
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Official: Court's sign-off for queries on Americans' data would be impractical  —  A senior government lawyer said Wednesday that the high volume of searches that the National Security Agency makes of a database that holds Americans' and foreigners' communications would make court approval for queries involving Americans impractical.
Jeremy Kirk / PC World:
Linux worm diversifies to mine cryptocurrencies  —  A Linux worm that targets routers and set-top boxes is now looking for full-fledged computers to use its new feature, a cryptocurrency mining function, according to Symantec.  —  Symantec spotted the worm, which it calls Darlloz, in November.
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 …
Joseph Marks / Nextgov:
White House Releases Climate Data Set, Challenges Developers to Use It  —  The Obama administration opened up a trove of climate change data on Wednesday as part of its larger drive to open up government data.  —  The data housed at Data.gov/climate will be contributed by NASA …
Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:
Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior Joins Box's Board  —  Box, the enterprise-focused cloud storage and platform company, named Cisco Systems' CTO and chief strategy officer Padmasree Warrior to its board of directors, taking another step toward an IPO that's expected before the summer.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Want More Privacy In Your App?  Wickr Resells Its Encryption, Self-Destructing Tech To Other Apps  —  Wickr, one of the wave of messaging apps built on the idea of private, encrypted and self-destructing data, has vowed never to make money off its users — with its app remaining free …

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