Techmeme: Amazon's phone requires tilt gestures to navigate apps and menus, can capture notes with OCR (Zach Epstein/BGR)

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April 22, 2014, 4:25 PM

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Zach Epstein / BGR:

Amazon's phone requires tilt gestures to navigate apps and menus, can capture notes with OCR — EXCLUSIVE — BGR reveals everything you could possibly want to know about Amazon's smartphone! — An exclusive in-depth look at the unique software that will power Amazon's upcoming smartphones

Walt Mossberg / Re/code:

Apple is like a movie studio: blockbuster franchise products followed by sequels — Why Apple Is Like a Movie Studio — Steve Jobs has been dead for about two and a half years now, and it's hard not to notice that the regular parade of game-changing Apple products for which he was famous seems to have disappeared with him.

More: The Register, 9to5Mac, LIVEdigitally, TechnoBuffalo, Macworld and BGR

Tweets: @johnpaczkowski, @monkbent and @bajarin

David Pierce / The Verge:

Lytro's new Illum light-field camera targets professional photographers, costs $1599 — Lytro changed photography. Now can it get anyone to care? — An exclusive look at the company's new Illum camera — “Okay, can I take it out of the box now?” — Lytro product director Colvin Pitts wants …

More: Engadget, TIME, AppleInsider, Wired, Re/code, Macworld, CNET, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Fortune, Laughing Squid, GeekWire, VentureBeat, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Electronista, TechSpot, Mashable, Imaging Insider, Gizmodo, Wall Street Journal, blogs.ft.com, Softpedia News, USA Today, PC Pro and Co.Design

Tweets: @mattbuchanan, @jasonrosenthal and @joshuatopolsky

David Bellona / The Twitter Blog:

Twitter makes new web profiles available to all users — Your new web profile is here — Today, the new web profile experience is rolling out to all users around the world. — Get the new profile now. If you need some creative inspiration for your new header image, select one of the custom headers from our library.

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Re/code, WebProNews, VentureBreak, Gizmodo, SlashGear and Wall Street Journal

Dan DeSilva / 9to5Mac:

Apple Stores launch in-store iPad trade-in program on Earth Day — In its continued full-court Earth Day press, Apple is expanding its Reuse & Recycling program to help responsibly recycle more devices and get current generation devices into the hands of more customers.

More: 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Telegraph, iPhone Hacks, PadGadget, iPhone in Canada Blog, Electronista and iLounge. Tweets: @jordankahn. Thanks:@apollozac

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Weebly raises $35M from Tencent and Sequoia Capital at a valuation of $455M — Weebly Valued at $455 Million Amid Website-Building Boom — Weebly has been valued at $455 million in a new round of funding from investors eager to cash in on a recent boom in website-creation services.

More: TechCrunch, Re/code and silicontap.com

Tweets: @stevenlevy and @paulg

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

As WhatsApp Hits 500 Million Users, CEO Jan Koum Preaches Focus — While waiting to hear whether European regulators will clear its $19 billion acquisition by Facebook, the mobile messaging app maker WhatsApp hit a big milestone yesterday: It has 500 million active monthly users.

More: WhatsApp Blog, The Next Web, The Verge, Business Insider, USA Today, TIME, Android Police, Ubergizmo, WebProNews, Mashable, iPhone in Canada Blog and bgr.in

Tweets: @jennydeluxe, @teroterotero and @benedictevans

Adam Satariano / Bloomberg:

Study: households spent 10% less at Amazon in states where online sales tax introduced — Amazon Sales Take a Hit in States With Online Tax — Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is taking a hit in states that are collecting an online sales tax. — In one of the first efforts to quantify the impact …

More: Marketing Land, The Daily Caller, SlashGear, Business Insider, USA Today and WebProNews. Tweets: @bloombergnews. See also Mediagazer

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft's new, new Windows cadence: Once a year is not enough — Summary: What comes after Windows 8.1 Update? Sources say a second update is on its way, and that Microsoft's unified OS group is picking up the delivery pace. — Just a year ago, Microsoft officials were crowing about Windows' much improved delivery cadence.

More: Computerworld, LiveSide.net, BetaNews, PC Pro, Windows Phone Central, Neowin, InfoWorld, WinBeta and Gotta Be Mobile

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

AT&T creates $500M joint venture for a Netflix-style TV service — AT&T, the nation's second largest broadband provider and wireless company, is getting into the streaming business with a $500 million joint venture created to acquire, invest in and launch a Netflix-style video streaming service.

More: AT&T, Re/code, Variety, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, Engadget, BGR, CNET, VentureBeat, TorrentFreak, Bloomberg, The Verge, Plagiarism Today, socalTECH.com, Mashable and dailywireless.org. Tweets: @bfeld. See also Mediagazer

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

Cisco, Netgear router patch for backdoor vulnerability merely hides it, does not fix it — Easter egg: DSL router patch merely hides backdoor instead of closing it — Just what you wanted for Easter: a re-gifted backdoor from Christmas. — First, DSL router owners got an unwelcome Christmas present.

More: Computerworld, Geek.com, Electronista and TechEye. Tweets: @fkarlitschek

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Durov, Out For Good From VK.com, Plans A Mobile Social Network Outside Russia — In the drawn-out game of will-he, won't-he, Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte.com, Russia's top social network with over 100 million users, is now out for good from the company with an unceremonial dismissal conveyed via a newswire report.

More: The Moscow Times, Ars Technica, BBC, TechPresident, The Daily Caller, Daily Dot, Bloomberg View and Softpedia News. Tweets: @vpkivimaki

Miriam Elder / BuzzFeed:

CEO Of “Russian Facebook” Says He Was Fired And That The Social Network Is Now In The Hands Of Putin Allies

More: The Verge, Business Insider, RT, Lastest ITProPortal news, Phys.org, The Province, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Salon

Mark Hearn / 9to5Google:

Nest Thermostat now available from Google Play — Yesterday, Google's newly acquired thermostat system made an appearance on a Play Store support page. This led many to believe that the search giant would soon offer its smart climate controller at its online marketplace, alongside its other in-house products.

More: TechCrunch, PC Magazine, Ars Technica, Android Police, BGR, Droid Life, The Verge, Android Central and Gizmodo

Re/code:

The Supreme Court Loves the Cloud. It's Not Sure About Aereo. — All of those arguments about Aereo's case and its impact on the future of cloud computing? — It turns out the Supreme Court was listening. — As attorneys for the Web TV service and the TV networks who are suing it argued …

More: CNNMoney.com, New York Times, Gigaom, SiliconBeat, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Reuters, Electronista, Guardian, The Wrap, CNET, NationalJournal.com, Gigaom Research and Deadline.com

Tweets: @acedtect and @adrjeffries

See also Mediagazer

Cassandra Khaw / The Verge:

LG's G Watch is always-on and water resistant — LG revealed more information about the upcoming G Watch on its new website. The smartwatch will come in two colors: stealth black and champagne gold. On top of having what is being described as an always-on screen, the G Watch will purportedly be both water and dust resistant.

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

Verizon's data breach report: Point-of-sale, Web app attacks take center stage — Summary: Hotels, retailers and restaurants really need to lock down their point-of-sale systems, but don't have to sweat Web app attacks as much as financial services companies do.

More: ABC News, Re/code, Fortune, The Register, PC World, SecurityWeek, Softpedia News, SiliconANGLE, Inquirer, Bloomberg, We Live Security, Reuters and Wall Street Journal

BBC:

Reddit removes r/Technology from high-exposure “default subreddits” list after censorship row — Reddit downgrades technology community after censorship — Technology is no longer listed at the top of new Reddit members' screens — Social news site Reddit has downgraded the status of its …

More: PC Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Daily Dot, memeburn, Engadget, Network World, Mashable, NEWS.com.au, Lastest ITProPortal news and Boing Boing

Tweets: @anjiecast and @rj_gallagher

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google To Offer Targeted Mobile App Install Ads In Search And YouTube; Expands App Deep Linking To AdWords — Google is announcing today its plans to offer targeted app install ads on mobile search and YouTube, following moves made by other tech industry companies, including Facebook and more recently Yahoo and Twitter.

More: Inside AdWords, Search Engine Land, Inside AdWords, Marketing Land, VentureBeat, Search Engine Watch, The Next Web, Forbes, 9to5Google and Mashable

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Apple Opens OS X Beta Testing To All Users With New Seed Program — Before today, you needed a developer account to help test Apple's upcoming software releases before they hit the general user population. You didn't need to actually develop anything, but it would still cost you $99 per year to partake …

More: The Loop

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

Exclusive: YouTube Product Head Shishir Mehrotra Likely to Depart — Moving to Advisory Role — Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube's head of product and a longtime Google exec, is likely to depart the company, and has moved to an advisory role at the premium online video powerhouse.

Tweets: @hunterwalk

Matt Burns / TechCrunch:

Aol Mail Hacked With Spoofed Accounts Sending Spam — It's not just you. Aol Mail was hacked affecting an untold amount of accounts that were seemingly spoofed. The Twitter hashtag #aolhacked is filled with first-hand accounts of spam being sent from either the hacked email account …

More: AOL Help, Computerworld, Associated Press, TechSpot, Gigaom, Los Angeles Times and Brian Alvey. Thanks:@brianalvey

Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:

Danny Boyle in Talks to Direct Steve Jobs Movie, Leonardo DiCaprio Eyed to Star (Exclusive) — Danny Boyle, left, and Leonardo DiCaprio — “The Beach” director is said to want to reteam with DiCaprio on the Aaron Sorkin-penned biopic of the iconic Apple co-founder.

More: PC Magazine, SiliconBeat, Gawker, Digital Trends, Softpedia News, Cult of Mac, TechSpot, Gizmodo, SlashGear, MacNN, WebProNews, MacRumors and TUAW

William Launder / Wall Street Journal:

Discovery Is Selling HowStuffWorks.com for $45 Million, About 20% What it Paid for the Site in 2007 — For Discovery Communications Inc., the website HowStuffWorks.com proved to be one investment in digital media that didn't work. — Discovery said Monday it would sell the site …

More: GeekWire, ABC News, Variety, VentureBeat, Bloomberg and bizjournals

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