Techmeme
May 16, 2014, 5:00 PM

Top News

Joseph Menn / Reuters:
Bitcoin Foundation hit by resignations over new director  —  (Reuters) - As the most prominent trade group pushing adoption of the electronic currency Bitcoin begins its annual conference on Friday, it is being roiled by controversy.  —  At least 10 members of the nonprofit Bitcoin Foundation …
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 to be rebranded as “Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5” for two weeks  —  Samsung rebranding Heathrow's busiest hub to ‘Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5’  —  Two weeks of S5 overload for British fliers  —  Samsung's marketing juggernaut is reaching …
David Ruddock / Android Police:
Google Now Bill Reminder Integration Rolling Out Now  —  As predicted back in March based on an APK teardown, Google Now has received bill reminder integration via your Gmail account.  The level of detail for some billers seems fairly basic at the moment: Google Now identifies emails …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Google acquires Quest Visual, maker of Word Lens app, will integrate it into Google Translate  —  Google acquires Word Lens app recently featured in Apple's iPhone ad “Powerful”  —  Google just bought the company behind a smartphone app called Worl Lens that visually translates text …
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Airbnb Experiments With ‘Experiences,’ Offering Everything From Bike Tours To Home-Cooked Meals  —  Traditionally, we've come to know Airbnb as a place where guests find accommodations in unique spaces, and as a platform for hosts to make extra money by opening their homes up to strangers.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Marketing Exec Ivy Ross Is The New Head Of Google Glass  —  Some significant HR changes at Google Glass we're hearing.  First off is the departure of lead electrical engineer Adrian Wong, to competing facecomputer Oculus.  Second off is the bringing on of Art.com's Chief Marketing Officer Ivy Ross to head the division.
Liz Gannes / Re/code:
Baidu Hires Coursera Founder Andrew Ng to Start Massive Research Lab  —  Chinese search giant Baidu has hired Andrew Ng, the noted artificial intelligence researcher and co-founder of online education startup Coursera, to be its chief scientist, as it kicks off a new Baidu Research initiative …
Chris Burns / SlashGear:
Yelp is down, it's not just you  —  Believe it or not, Yelp is down for the count.  Starting in at around 11AM Central Time today, May 16th, 2014, Yelp's website and connected services appear to have been cut down.  At this time it would appear that all Yelp servers are down, including Yelp dot com, Yelp dot CA, and others.
Jungah Lee / Bloomberg:
Samsung, Apple and Google amassing arsenals of patents related to graphene, an ideal material for bendable touchscreens  —  Samsung-Apple Smartphone Battleground Is Single Atom Thick  —  The main battleground between Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. in the global smartphone market …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google Maps Adds Elevation Profiles To Bike Routes To Help You Avoid Those Steep Hills  —  Google Maps now features elevation profiles for bike routes.  —  Google added biking directions to Google Maps and specialized maps that highlight bike routes a few years ago.
More: Gizmodo and 9to5Google
Jason Del Rey / Re/code:
Diapers.com Founder Could Raise $50 Million or More for New Startup  —  Marc Lore is plotting his next thing.  —  Less than a year after the former CEO of Diapers.com parent company, Quidsi, left Amazon along with his co-founder Vinit Bharara, he has spoken with investors about raising funds …
Lauren Orsini / ReadWrite:
Pinterest Raises A $200 Million Warchest To Do Battle With Google  —  Pinterest has raised $200 million from investors in a deal that values the company at $5 billion, a source close to the company told ReadWrite.  (Update: The company is now confirming its financing.)
Patrick Hoge / San Francisco Business Times:
Zendesk stock soars 49 percent on first trading day  —  Zendesk stock leaped 49 percent ong Thursday as the San Francisco-based cloud-based customer service software provider debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ZEN), to close at $13.43 per share, up $4.43, after pricing at $9 the previous night.

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Casey Newton / The Verge:

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