Techmeme: Twitter's problem: the initial idea was so great that they never needed to learn their market (Ben Thompson/stratechery)

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May 4, 2014, 2:00 PM

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Will Oremus / Slate:

Twitter isn't dying: active users and timeline views don't capture the platform's vast reach — Twitter Is Not Dying — Well, that's it folks: Twitter is dead. It had a good flight. A short flight, but a noisy one. Sadly, it is now headed the way of Flappy Bird.

More: The Atlantic Online, Vox, TIME, ReadWrite and BuzzFeed

Tweets: @lorenb, @meryn, @hornokplease, @mikeisaac, @eric_andersen and @digiphile

Thanks:@anprtweets. See also Mediagazer

Ben Thompson / stratechery:

Twitter's problem: the initial idea was so great that they never needed to learn their market — Twitter's Marketing Problem — Twitter's unconventional path is well-documented at this point. From failed podcasting company to playground sketch (actually, probably not) …

More: Trends. Tweets: @simonowens, @carnage4life, @joshelman, @lorenb, @hershberg, @norrisnode and @monkbent

Fred Wilson / AVC:

Square and Box are trapped by their high valuations, burn rates, and a disappearing IPO market — The Valuation Trap — There is a long article on Square and Box in TechCrunch this weekend. I am not sold on the arguments the author makes about the commodity nature of both products.

Tweets: @bhorowitz and @dannycrichton

Danny Crichton / TechCrunch:

With IPO Hopes Fading, Square And Box Face Reality Of Commodity Products — Square and Box would seem to be the very epitome of every startup founder's dream of reaching the pinnacle of entrepreneurial success. Take a kernel of an idea and turn it into a massive, multi-billion-dollar company that publicly debuts in an IPO.

Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:

Updated Google Drive app now requires separate Docs and Sheets apps to edit files — Google Drive App Updated To v1.3 - Now Requires New Docs And Sheets Apps For Editing Capability [APK Download] — Google is sneaking one more update in this week, and it's an odd one.

More: The Verge, 9to5Google, Engadget, Gotta Be Mobile and iPhone in Canada Blog

Kim Zetter / Wired:

Cops who use Vigilant's vehicle tracking system must agree to secrecy TOS — Cops Must Swear Silence to Access Vehicle Tracking System — It's no secret that police departments around the country are deploying automated license plate readers to build massive databases to identify the location of vehicles.

More: Techdirt and Ars Technica. Tweets: @ashk4n

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

Alibaba I.P.O. May Unleash Global Fight Over Users — The largest technology stock offering in history is looming, but few in Silicon Valley seem to care. — The initial public offering expected soon in the United States by Alibaba Group Holding, China's largest e-commerce company …

Tweets: @hkanji and @jonrussell

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

PayPal's Strategy Exec: I Quit Before Twitter Tirade — Rakesh “Rocky” Agrawal, the PayPal strategy exec who unleashed on a couple of coworkers in a late-night Twitter rant earlier this weekend, said in a tweet on Sunday morning that he had resigned from the payments giant before his tirade.

More: Valleywag, TechCrunch, Re/code, Business Insider, CNET, Reuters and Re/code

Tweets: @paypal, @rakeshlobster, @rakeshlobster, @rakeshlobster, @alex, @mikeisaac, @ryan, @edbott and @joshconstine

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Jury Finds Samsung Phones Infringe on Several Apple Patents, Awards $119.6 Million — A federal jury ruled Friday that Samsung infringed on at least one of the patents that Apple had sued over in its latest patent case. — The jury found all accused Samsung phones infringed on the first patent at issue …

More: Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica, CNET, Softpedia News, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Associated Press, TUAW, Engadget, Greenbot, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, Fortune, TechnoBuffalo, 9to5Mac, CNET, Android Police, Daring Fireball, MacRumors, Electronista, I4U News, New York Times, App Advice, Wall Street Journal, The Register, Reuters, Reuters, The Droid Guy, Techdirt, MacNN, Android Authority, NEWS.com.au, Guardian, Gotta Be Mobile, Computerworld, Mercury News, The Mac Observer, Phandroid, iPhone Hacks, VentureBeat, The Next Web, ZDNet, AppleInsider, Associated Press, iMore, MobileSyrup.com, TechnoBuffalo, Gizmodo UK, NPR, BGR, Redmond Pie and Gigaom

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Apple wins $119 million in patent damages from Samsung, wanted $2.2 billion: mixed verdict

More: Re/code, USA Today, SlashGear, SamMobile, SammyToday, Forbes and AppleInsider

Tweets: @jchengwsj and @fosspatents

Lynn La / CNET News:

Apple v. Samsung 2014 infringed devices scorecard

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac and Tech Trader Daily. Thanks:@jenguevin

James Galbraith / Macworld:

2014 MacBook Air benchmarks: new processors perform better, flash storage is slower compared to 2013 models — Lab tested: New 2014 MacBook Air benchmarks — Apple on Tuesday released a minor update to its MacBook Air line of laptops. The changes included a subtle 100MHz increase …

More: AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacRumors, iMore and MacNN

Wall Street Journal:

Turkey's Erdogan: One of the World's Most Determined Internet Censors — Some Worry Prime Minister's Tactics Could Become a Template for Other Countries — ISTANBUL—Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rode around Google Inc. headquarters last spring in the company's self-driving car …

More: CircleID. Tweets: @joewsj, @mrjohncrowley, @internetpartynz and @evacide. Thanks:@jeffjohnroberts. See also Mediagazer

Jim Edwards / Business Insider:

Google swiftly denied alleged leak that claimed AdSense was stealing money from publishers — Google Is Enraged By A Fake Conspiracy Theory That It Is Stealing Money From Publishers — Perhaps the most startling “news” to have emerged about Google this week was a deliciously detailed …

More: Pastebin, Pastebin, The Next Web, Valleywag, TechCrunch and Search Engine Roundtable

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