Techmeme
April 2, 2014, 8:25 AM

Top News

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 …
Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:
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.
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.
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: BGRTweets: @kevinpauldowney
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 …
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.
Harry McCracken / TIME:
How Gmail Happened: The Inside Story of Its Launch 10 Years Ago Today … It All Began With Search … Gmail's creator, Paul Buchheit, at his desk at Google in 1999  —  Courtesy Paul Buchheit … What Does Google Email Look Like? … Going Public
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.
Matt Brian / Engadget:
Google to focus on portrait shots and effects with improved camera app  —  We know that Google has been looking to bring more advanced photo features to Android for a while, but it may soon be ready to show off what it's been working on.  Sources aware of Google's plans have confirmed to us …
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.
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
Mozilla CEO: Gay-marriage firestorm could hurt Firefox cause (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.
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 …
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.
Jonathan Krim / Wall Street Journal:
The Chamber of Commerce Comes to Silicon Valley  —  Powerful Lobby Group Tries to Win Over Startups, VCs  —  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among the most powerful business lobbying organizations in Washington, is planning a second outpost in Silicon Valley in an effort to broaden its membership and clout.

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More News

Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Spencer Ackerman / Guardian:

Earlier Picks

Mat Smith / Engadget: