Techmeme: Content creators are skeptical of Yahoo's plans to produce high-quality television (David Carr/New York Times)

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April 14, 2014, 9:05 AM

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Tom Warren / The Verge:

Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview now available to download — Windows Phone 8.1 now available to download — After 18 months since the last major Windows Phone update, Microsoft is finally releasing Windows Phone 8.1 to developers today. The software maker detailed the update …

More: Engadget, The Next Web, TechCrunch, BetaNews, Softpedia News, Softpedia News, I4U News, Geeky Gadgets, Softpedia News and Technology Personalized. Tweets: @joebelfiore

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:

Windows Phone 8.1 review: a magnificent smartphone platform — It's a 0.1 update that feels like a 2.0 update. — For the growing number of Windows Phone users, Windows Phone 8 was a frustrating release. The major difference between Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 was invisible to end users …

More: The Verge, ZDNet, ReadWrite, Re/code, Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Pocketnow, Neowin, TIME, SuperSite for Windows, WMPoweruser, CNET, Windows Phone Central, Mashable and SlashGear. Tweets: @arstechnica

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

FRED WILSON Q&A: The Legendary Investor Talks Retirement, Tumblr's Exit, And Getting Over A Tough Year — It took Fred Wilson 10 years to become what he calls a “half-way decent” venture capitalist. It took him 20 to become a startup legend. — Lately, rumors have swirled that the Zynga …

More: Re/code and VentureBeat. Tweets: @cdixon, @alexisohanian, @naval, @rsarver, @jeff, @om, @fredwilson, @tuurdemeester, @hblodget, @delrey and @hunterwalk

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Early internal document reveals Android was initially designed without touchscreen support — Here's What Android Looked Like Before the iPhone — One of the more interesting documents that came to light during the Apple-Samsung document last week was an early internal Google document …

More: BGR, Guardian, AppleInsider, Computerworld, Gizmodo, Engadget and The Verge

Tweets: @stroughtonsmith and @stroughtonsmith

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Free of the desire to do the right thing, highest-paid CEO Larry Ellison does what he wants — Still No. 1, and Doing What He Wants — It is good to be the king. It is even better to be Larry Ellison. — Most of us spend much of our lives thinking that we should do the right thing …

Tweets: @darlin, @nickbilton, @obrien, @timbray, @caseynewton, @poornimagupta and @vkopytoff

Nick Bilton / New York Times:

Graphene: the strong, thin, flexible conductor that could change the electronics industry — Bend It, Charge It, Dunk It: Graphene, the Material of Tomorrow — I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. — No, fans of “The Graduate,” the word isn't “plastics.” — It's “graphene.”

Tweets: @orlaithross, @incrediblyrich, @houghhough and @cdixon

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

Dell Chromebook 11 review: solid build quality and 10 hour battery life for under $300 — Dell Chromebook 11 review — There's a new king in Chromebook town — Chromebooks are the simplest computers you can buy today, but they've proven a tricky formula for manufacturers to get right.

More: Gigaom. Tweets: @carlfranzen, @louisgray, @dcseifert, @starfire2258 and @mims

Steve Marquess / Speeds and Feeds:

OpenSSL Software Foundation president: we need support from companies and governments for a team of 6+ full-time workers — Of Money, Responsibility, and Pride — Fate has made me the “money guy” for OpenSSL so I'm going to talk about that for a bit. — As has been well reported …

More: Rev2.org and Globe and Mail. Tweets: @thegrugq, @dblevins, @matthew_d_green and @dangillmor

New York Times:

How and why startups like Lyft and Quora are increasingly taking big late-stage investments — Rich Start-Ups Go Back for Another Helping — Quora, a question-and-answer website, didn't need to raise money. It had barely touched $60 million in venture capital that it accepted just two years ago.

Tweets: @bijans, @mikeyang and @dgelles

Washington Post:

Google, once disdainful of lobbying, now a master of Washington influence — In May 2012, the law school at George Mason University hosted a forum billed as a “vibrant discussion” about Internet search competition. Many of the major players in the field were there — regulators …

More: VentureBeat and The Verge. Tweets: @rakeshlobster, @wadhwa, @mattdpearce and @randfish

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

As phone designs homogenize, some manufacturers experiment with unused rear space — Phones Go Back To The Future — I'm no fan of LG's rear smartphone control keys — but turns out the company had its finger on the pulse of looming hardware disruption when it ushered in those backside smartphone controls last summer, with the G2.

David Carr / New York Times:

Content creators are skeptical of Yahoo's plans to produce high-quality television — Yahoo Rolls the Dice on TV — Yahoo, a company that seems like a permanent adolescent in search of an identity, is about to try a new persona: high-quality television programmer.

More: Forbes. Tweets: @carr2n, @pkafka, @jswatz, @katierosman, @jayrosen_nyu, @dangillmor, @pkafka, @ravisomaiya, @mathewi, @antderosa, @mhelft and @hblodget. See also Mediagazer

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