Techmeme: 8tracks releases major iOS overhaul as it prepares to take on music streaming's biggest players (Owen Williams/The Next Web)

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May 9, 2014, 5:05 AM

Top News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple in final talks to acquire Beats for $3.2b, deal could be announced next week — According to the Financial Times, Apple is in late-stage talks with Beats to acquire the music streaming and headphone maker for a deal worth $3.2 billion. The deal could be announced as soon as next week, according to the report.

More: Financial Times, New York Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Verge, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Fast Company, Telegraph, Business Insider, San Francisco Chronicle, memeburn, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, Engadget, Gear Live, The Register, Gigaom, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Re/code, Fortune, Digital Music News, NEWS.com.au, BGR, Business Insider, Wired, GeekWire, CNET News, Business Insider Australia, Patently Apple, Macworld, Mashable, Mercury News, Electronista, The Mac Observer, ReadWrite, Vox, Quartz, Guardian, iDownloadBlog.com, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, Mashable, The Next Web, iMore and The Technology Chronicles

Tweets: @edgecliffe, @pkafka, @hunterwalk, @ihnatko, @tcarmody, @ourielohayon, @tcarmody, @mattgarrahan, @bryce, @edgecliffe, @derekjandersen, @carlquintanilla, @om, @evelynrusli, @edgecliffe, @markgurman, @parislemon, @startupljackson and @patriotssb49

Thanks:@swb1192. See also Mediagazer

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

Beats' CEO Jimmy Iovine in talks to join Apple as Tim Cook's “special adviser” on creative matters — Beats Electronics boss Jimmy Iovine is in talks to join Apple — Beats Electronics boss and veteran music industry executive Jimmy Iovine is in talks to join Apple as a …

More: App Advice, AppleInsider, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, BuzzFeed and MacRumors. See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Why Apple Is Betting Big on Beats: Hardware for Now, Streaming for Later — Apple is set to make the biggest purchase in its history: A $3 billion-plus deal for Beats, the company that sells high-end headphones and recently launched a streaming music service.

More: USA Today, Daring Fireball, TheStreet.com, App Advice, TechCrunch and Fortune

Tweets: @pkafka, @pkafka, @mgrooves, @chamath, @chamath, @alyssaoursler and @chris_ciaccia

See also Mediagazer

Om Malik:

On Streaming: Apple, Beats & Spotify — In response to the rumors that Apple was buying Beats Audio for $3.2 billion, I sent out these three tweets. — Someone wrote that Apple will get design help from Beats Audio. LOL. Beats design is done by an outside agency, started by ex-Apple peeps.

More: Gigaom Research. Tweets: @ia, @jab, @jasperjonathan, @om and @ow

Harry McCracken / TIME:

My First 7 Questions About This Apple-Beats Deal (Which, By the Way, I'm Not Assuming Is Happening)

More: Forbes, Digital Trends and opptrends

Mark Josephson / bitly blog:

Bitly accounts compromised; change API key, reset password, and reconnect social accounts — Urgent Security Update Regarding Your Bitly Account — We have reason to believe that Bitly account credentials have been compromised. We have no indication at this time that any accounts have been accessed without permission.

More: VatorNews, CNET News, The Next Web, The Register, iMore, SlashGear and Neowin

Michael Gold / Reuters:

Apple launching 4.7" iPhone 6 in August and larger model in September, claims Taiwanese report — Apple to unveil iPhone 6 in August, earlier than expected -report — Apple Inc will unveil the next incarnation of its popular iPhone series in August, one month earlier than industry watchers …

More: MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, Geeky Gadgets, Phones Review, Pocketnow and iPhone in Canada Blog

Graham Spencer / MacStories:

Mapping The International Availability of Entertainment Services — It is 2014 and we live in a rapidly globalizing world. Unfortunately, that is not always apparent from the technology press, which focuses primarily on developments in the US. That is not meant as a slight against others …

Thanks:@greyham

David Gelles / New York Times:

Omnicom-Publicis $35B mega-merger called off due to internal differences and regulatory issues — Ad Agency Giants Said to Call Off $35 Billion Merger — Omnicom Group and Publicis have called off their $35 billion merger, bringing a premature end to a deal that would have created …

More: Wall Street Journal and Wall Street Journal. See also Mediagazer

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Comcast is the one who should pay for network connections, Cogent claims — Internet backbone operator Cogent has long expressed its displeasure with Comcast's demands for payment in exchange for accepting Netflix video and other traffic.Comcast has argued that the data Netflix sends …

More: Computerworld, Re/code, ABC News and Gigaom. Tweets: @binarybits. See also Mediagazer

Ben Popper / The Verge:

50 leading tech investors tells the FCC a pay-to-play internet would kill startups

More: The Slow Hunch, Techdirt, Businessweek, AllFacebook, Washington Post, The Next Web and Union Square Ventures

Tweets: @pakman, @om and @hunterwalk

See also Mediagazer

Adam Lashinsky / Fortune:

Reporter offered pre-IPO shares by Arista Networks, considers it another sign of a tech bubble — Yes, we're in a tech bubble. Here's how I know it — When tech startups are willing to offer almost anyone — even a journalist — shares ahead of an I.P.O., a burst isn't terribly far behind.

More: Business Insider and Valleywag. Tweets: @abrams, @qthrul, @danprimack, @jonrussell, @pkafka, @karaswisher, @jessicalessin, @pkafka and @startupljackson. See also Mediagazer

Brad Molen / Engadget:

OnePlus One review: A $300 phone that looks, feels, and acts like a premium device — OnePlus One review: a $300 smartphone has never looked so good — Look at your phone. If you can honestly admit that you love every single thing about it, I have good news: You can stop reading this review …

Tweets: @ac_hu

Gavin O'Malley / MediaPost:

Facebook Rolls Out Audience Insights, Expands Targeting Capabilities — Appealing to audience-obsessed advertisers, Facebook just expanded its ability to target users based on their demographic traits, geography, and purchase history. — Unveiled on Thursday, the new Audience Insights service …

More: Facebook, The Next Web, Seeking Alpha, StreetInsider.com, VentureBeat, Marketing Pilgrim, AllFacebook and Marketing Land

Jonathan Berger / The Box Blog:

Box Notes for lightweight editing leaves beta, rolls out now, available to all by early June — Box Notes is Here! — It's a big day for Box and the Box Notes team! Today we're starting to roll out Box Notes to all users, and we expect it to be live for everyone by early June.

More: PC World and VentureBeat

Hugh Langley / TechRadar:

Project Morpheus was built into PS4 from the start - we just didn't know it — EXCLUSIVE It's all part of the plan … Sony caused a lot of fuss when it confirmed that there would be no way of turning off the DualShock 4's light bar (the tyranny!), but do you want to know why it was really on there?

More: TechnoBuffalo, CraveOnline, Ubergizmo, Mashable, Forbes, TechSpot, Kotaku, VG247, Engadget, Gamasutra and destructoid

Robert Graham / Errata Security:

300k servers vulnerable to Heartbleed one month later — It's been a month since the Heartbleed bug was announced, so I thought I'd rescan the Internet (port 443) to see how many systems remain vulnerable. Whereas my previous scan a month ago found 600,000 vulnerable systems …

More: Gizmodo, Vivaldi.net, The Register, The Verge, Ars Technica and Electronista. Tweets: @virusbtn

Owen Williams / The Next Web:

8tracks releases major iOS overhaul as it prepares to take on music streaming's biggest players — The music wars are at a fever pitch, with Spotify, Google, Rdio, Pandora and the other big players in a full out war to win over users to their streaming services.

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat and hypebot

Ina Fried / Re/code:

ZTE Starts Selling $99 Firefox OS Phone in the U.S., Via eBay — While Firefox OS remains targeted at first-time smartphone buyers overseas, China's ZTE said Thursday it will start selling a model in the U.S. via eBay. — The ZTE Open C is listed for the “Buy It Now” price of $99.99.

More: Daring Fireball, CNET News, Electronista and BetaNews

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Former NSA Chief Defends Stockpiling Software Flaws for Spying — The NSA has never said much about the open secret that it collects and sometimes even pays for information about hackable bugs in commonly used software. But in a rare statement following his retirement last month …

More: The Intercept, Australian Financial Review, Wall Street Journal, CNET News, Techdirt, Threatpost and Reuters. Tweets: @dangillmor

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:

Goodbye to Katie Cotton, the Queen of Evil Tech PR — After 18 years of spin, Katie Cotton, Apple's magnetically ruthless vice president of worldwide corporate communications, has left her job, and tributes from the tech press are pouring in. What no one will admit is that we were all afraid of her.

More: NBC Bay Area, The Register, Mobile Marketing Watch and Fortune

Tweets: @kobunheat, @dangillmor, @jeffjohnroberts, @edbott, @jniccolai, @calebgarling, @nealunger, @mattdpearce, @moneyries and @mattdpearce

See also Mediagazer

Dan Lyons / Inbound Hub:

Apple's Katie Cotton and the art of anti-PR

More: Daring Fireball. Tweets: @mattrosoff, @jyarow and @tcarmody

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:

Snapchat settles with FTC over misleading marketing, address book collection, security breach; no monetary penalty imposed — Snapchat Reaches Settlement With Federal Trade Commission — The disappearing act of messages on Snapchat, the mobile messaging service, has not been as foolproof as the company promised.

More: Federal Trade Commission, Snapchat, Re/code, CNET News, TechCrunch, The Verge, Politico, Computerworld, Salon, TUAW, Washington Post, Associated Press, Business Insider, Valleywag and NPR

Tweets: @reckless, @nytimesbits, @reckless and @gaberivera

Amir Efrati / The Information:

Comcast Plots Big Push in Web Video Ads — As debate over Comcast's control of Internet and TV in American households plays out in front of regulators reviewing its bid for Time Warner Cable, the cable industry leader is quietly planning a major foray into the Web advertising business.

Tweets: @ericnewcomer and @amir

Amin Lakhani / MSDN Blogs:

New in IE11 for Windows Phone: synced browsing data across devices, in-line video playback, more — What's new in Internet Explorer 11 for Windows Phone — You may have been hearing bits and pieces of news about IE11 on Windows Phone 8.1, and we're excited to share the full scoop on user experience improvements with you today!

More: eWeek, Softpedia News, BetaNews, WinBeta, Neowin, WMPoweruser and The Windows Blog

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