Techmeme: Exclusive: Mozilla CEO Eich says gay-marriage firestorm could hurt Firefox (Q&A) (Stephen Shankland/CNET)

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April 2, 2014, 12:00 PM

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Yuichiro Kanematsu / Nikkei:

Report: Apple in talks to buy 55% stake in Renesas SP display chip design unit for $479M — Apple looking to buy Japanese chipmaker — SILICON VALLEY — Apple is in talks with Japan's Renesas Electronics to take over a unit that designs chips for smartphone displays …

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Microsoft unveils Windows Phone 8.1 with personal assistant Cortana, Action Center, customizable lockscreens — At its Build 2014 conference today, Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 8.1. Among the new features is a personal digital assistant named Cortana, a new Action Center …

More: The Verge, LAPTOP Magazine, Engadget, TechCrunch, BGR and Windows Phone Central

Tweets: @thurrott, @tim_stevens, @willsmith and @tim_stevens

The Verge:

Live from Microsoft's Build 2014 keynote — In San Francisco, at 8:30AM PT on Wednesday, April 2nd, Microsoft will kick off its Build developer conference for 2014. Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella is expected to take the stage and unveil Windows Phone 8.1, a big update to Microsoft's mobile OS.

More: TechCrunch, Marketing Land, BGR, The Verge, CNET, Re/code, Gigaom, Ars Technica, Windows Phone Central, WinBeta and Engadget. Tweets: @microsoft

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget:

Amazon launches Fire TV, an Android-powered streaming and gaming set-top box for $99 — We've been waiting for it for quite sometime, but now Amazon is finally ready to make its play for the living room. Fire TV is not a barebones device like the Chromecast, it's a powerful Android-driven platform …

More: The Verge, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Business Insider, ReadWrite, GeekWire, TechCrunch, BGR, Wall Street Journal, Polygon and CNET

Tweets: @nottechmeme, @zacharye, @mattlynley and @bradstone

See also Mediagazer

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Amazon's FireTV set top box is also a gaming console

More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, Engadget and MacRumors

Tweets: @stephentotilo and @jasonschreier

Terrence O'Brien / Engadget:

Spotify's new design is cleaner, darker and puts the focus on content — If you're using Spotify on the web, desktop or iOS you should notice a pretty massive change starting today. (The new look should be coming to Android “near future.") The company is launching its most dramatic overhaul since its launch in 2008.

More: BetaNews, The Next Web, TechCrunch, PC Magazine, Guardian, Spotify Press, TechHive, Electronista, The Verge, Geek News Central, Softpedia News, iPhone, Geeky Gadgets, CNET, iDownloadBlog.com, MacRumors, Gizmodo, NEWS.com.au, App Advice, Inquirer and Pocketnow. Tweets: @zseward. See also Mediagazer

Charles Arthur / Guardian:

Wearables: one-third of consumers abandoning devices — Hundreds of Galaxy Gear smartwatches are listed on eBay barely six months after launch. Why isn't the wearable tech market taking off? — The advert was blunt: a second-hand Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch for sale, priced at “£100 ONO”.

More: Fox News, 9to5Mac, Venture Chronicles, Gigaom Research and BGR. Tweets: @kevinpauldowney

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Box wants to let businesses control cloud encryption keys “this year” — Box CEO Aaron Levie told Ars last September that the cloud storage company is trying to build a service that would let customers store data in Box data centers but would keep encryption keys in-house.

More: ZDNet

Lisa Eadicicco / Business Insider:

Apple Is Suing Samsung For $2 Billion Over These 5 iPhone Features — Apple is back in U.S. court with Samsung this week, suing the Korean software maker for $2 billion. — The last time the two companies met in the U.S. was in 2012. Apple won a $1 billion judgment Samsung is currently appealing.

More: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, BGR, Bloomberg and Redmond Pie

Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:

Apple lays out its new case against Samsung, says 50 patents could have been at stake

More: MacRumors, FOSS Patents, Computerworld, New York Times, The Register, Bloomberg, TechEye, Electronista, TechnoBuffalo, The Mac Observer, 9to5Mac, CNET, Associated Press, Pocketnow and Reuters

Tweets: @daiwaka, @tim and @tim

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Samsung: Apple's Patent Claims Are “Gross Exaggeration”

More: The Verge, Re/code, Tech Trader Daily, BGR, 9to5Mac, DailyTech, SamMobile, InvestorPlace, bizjournals, Electronista, Business Insider, Digital Trends, Phandroid, Mercury News and AppleInsider. Tweets: @tim

Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Will Now Allow Returns Using Lockers — Amazon.com has quietly rolled out a new service to let customers return unwanted merchandise using large metal lockers it has installed for deliveries in garages, convenience and grocery stores in major metropolitan areas.

More: GeekWire, Geeky Gadgets, Geek.com, Gizmodo, SlashGear and Engadget

Tom Hals / Reuters:

Judge orders Mt Gox CEO to U.S. for questions on failed bitcoin exchange — (Reuters) - The chief executive of Japan's Mt. Gox, once the world's leading bitcoin exchange, was ordered to the United States to answer questions related to its U.S. bankruptcy case, filed after the company lost $400 million of customers' digital currency.

More: The Technology Chronicles, InfoWorld, CoinDesk, TechSpot, CryptoCoinsNews, Softpedia News, Bloomberg and The Register

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

Google Takes Wi-Fi Snooping Scandal to the Supreme Court — The biggest U.S. internet wiretapping program outside the NSA may be headed to the Supreme Court. — Google is asking the high court to rule on the legality of the company's past sniffing of unencrypted Wi-Fi traffic …

More: DSLreports, Marketing Land, Fox News, PandoDaily, The Verge, The Switch, Ars Technica, bizjournals, TechEye and Android Central

Ben Woods / The Next Web:

Nest's smart Thermostat is now available to buy in the UK, priced from £179 — Nest, the company looking to reinvent dull-but-worthy household items such as the smoke detector, has announced that its Nest Thermostat is now finally available to buy in the UK.

More: Nest, The Verge, iMore, BGR, Inquirer, Geeky Gadgets, SlashGear, Engadget, Electronista, BBC, New York Times, Cult of Mac, TechCrunch, Android Central, Telegraph, App Advice and TechWeekEurope UK

Agam Shah / PC World:

Newton is the first MIPS-based mini-computer for wearables — A Chinese company has released a computer about the size of an SD card that can run a full version of Android and should make it easier to build wearable devices. — Called the Newton, the computer was developed …

More: Imagination Blog, Engadget, Forbes, LinuxGizmos and DailyTech

Will Connors / Wall Street Journal:

BlackBerry Ends Licensing Agreement With T-Mobile — Blackberry Says Strategies Are Not Complementary — TORONTO— BlackBerry Ltd. said late Tuesday that it is ending its licensing agreement with T-Mobile Inc. when it expires later this month, a surprise move that comes two months …

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Apple patent describes bayonet mounts for interchangeable lenses on iPhone-like devices — Apple may use bayonet mounts for interchangeable iPhone camera lenses — Apple is investigating the use of bayonet lens mounts — one of the most common lens attachment mechanisms used in modern photography …

More: LAPTOP Magazine, SoyaCincau and Pocketnow

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Exclusive: Mozilla CEO Eich says gay-marriage firestorm could hurt Firefox (Q&A) — Brendan Eich's 2008 donation to an anti-gay-marriage cause now dogs his new CEO job. In his first interview about it, he resists calls to resign or recant, but argues inclusiveness makes Mozilla's world-spanning community possible.

More: VatorNews, VentureBeat, Business Insider, Nelson's Weblog, SiliconBeat, The Verge and Re/code

Tweets: @mikeisaac, @mattbraga, @karaswisher, @mikeisaac, @stshank, @binarybits and @caseynewton

Simon Khalaf / The Flurry Blog:

Average US consumer spends 2 hours and 42 minutes per day on mobile devices, 86% of time spent in apps, 14% on web — Apps Solidify Leadership Six Years into the Mobile Revolution — Last year, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the mobile revolution, Flurry issed its five-year report on the mobile industry.

More: Mobile Marketing Watch, Forbes, Business Insider, the Econsultancy blog, Tnooz, Tech.pinions, SocialTimes, textually.org, Guardian, AdExchanger, Ubergizmo and TechSpot

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:

Samsung rolls out smart home service in Korea and US to let you control appliances with an app — Samsung took the wraps off its Smart Home service at CES in January this year, and today it is rolling out the service in Korea and the US. More countries will be added throughout the year.

More: Samsung Tomorrow, SlashGear, Android Central, I4U News, Smartwatch Fans, Phandroid and SamMobile

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