Techmeme
April 18, 2014, 12:50 PM

Top News

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
UberX adds $1 ‘Safe Rides Fee’ for passengers, reinstates 20% commission fee for drivers  —  UberX customers, take note: Your rides are about to cost a little more.  In an email sent to UberX Seattle drivers, the company notes a new “Safe Rides Fee,” that takes effect today.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
App Search Engine Quixey Acquires Competing Service Kite.io  —  Mobile app search engine Quixey, backed by $75 million from Alibaba, Innovation Endeavors, Translink Capital and others, has put some of those dollars to use by acquiring a smaller, competing app search startup, San Francisco-based Kite.io.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Ubuntu 14.04 will power “first commercially available Ubuntu tablets”  —  From May 2013, a tablet running an early version of Ubuntu Touch.  —  Andrew Cunningham  —  Canonical today is releasing Ubuntu 14.04, a Long Term Support (LTS) edition for desktops and servers and an update to the versions of Ubuntu for phones and tablets.
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Samsung hints that Milk Music will ‘soon’ include ads, and offer a $3.99/month premium service  —  When Samsung introduced its first Internet radio service Milk Music in March, one of the things that stood out was that it was available free and without ads.  That may change soon, according to information disclosed by Samsung today.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google Analytics Now Lets You Track Web And App Data In A Single View  —  Here is a small but important update to Google Analytics: Developers can now create a single reporting view that includes both web and app data.  Google says this will help businesses that have multiple digital touchpoints …
Robin Wauters / Tech.eu:
Tech exits in Europe Q1 2014: 49 total, Germany and Israel lead, 43.7% of acquirers from US  —  Everything you've always wanted to know about tech exits in Europe: Tech.eu M&A report - Q1 2014  —  In early March, I stopped to take note of the flurry of (admittedly mostly small-sized) …
Thanks:@tech_eu
Jonathan Kizer / 9to5Google:
Try before you buy: Google launches home try-on program for Glass  —  Google is allowing potential Explorers to try Glass before they shell out the $1,500 to actually buy the device, according to a Reddit user by the name of clide.  He posted various images of a home try-on kit …
Josh Ong / The Next Web:
Microsoft's Xbox One passes 5M units sold to retailers, but Titanfall boost not enough to beat Sony  —  Microsoft today announced that it has sold over 5 million Xbox One consoles to retailers around the globe, but sales of the system have still lagged behind rival Sony's PlayStation 4.
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Instacart Could Raise A Big New Round Of Funding Valuing It At $400 Million  —  On-demand grocery startup Instacart is fielding term sheets for a big new round of funding, according to sources.  We've heard the new financing could be led by a non-VC investor, and according to one source it would value the company at up to $400 million.
More: Re/code.  Tweets: @danprimack.  Thanks:@loyalelectron
Martyn Williams / PC World:
Exclusive: Google's Project Loon tests move to LTE band in Nevada  —  Google has expanded its Project Loon tests to the Nevada desert and, for the first time, into licensed radio spectrum.  —  Google declined to comment on the secret trials, but a local official confirmed they are related to Project Loon …

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