Techmeme: Apple Renews Rights to Liquidmetal Technologies' Alloys for Consumer Products (Jordan Golson/MacRumors)

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May 21, 2014, 11:05 PM

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Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Adds Shazam-Style Audio Recognition To Help You Automatically Tag Posts With TV Shows And Songs — Facebook has a new weapon in the battle against Twitter to host lucrative conversations about media. A Shazam-esque opt-in feature coming to the iOS and Android status composer …

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

While working for the NSA, Snowden led a “Crypto Party” to teach 20 neighbors about encryption — Snowden's First Move Against the NSA Was a Party in Hawaii — It was December 11, 2012, and in a small art space behind a furniture store in Honolulu, NSA contractor Edward Snowden …

More: Techdirt, Washington Post and Boing Boing

Tweets: @ggreenwald, @bostonboomer, @bobmcmillan, @hellojaffe and @revmagdalen

Thanks:@emilydreyfuss

Associated Press:

Recall announced for all 440k Nest smoke detectors due to previously-disclosed safety issue with wave-to-dismiss feature — Nest recalling 440,000 smoke alarms for safety risk — NEW YORK — Nest Labs is recalling 440,000 smoke alarms to fix a feature that could prevent the alarm from sounding immediately.

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple confirms WWDC 2014 keynote to be held Monday, June 2nd at 10 AM PT; new hardware likely — This morning, Apple revealed the schedule for next month's Worldwide Developers Conference. To start things off, an Apple keynote will be held from 10AM to 12PM on Monday, June 2nd at Moscone West.

More: MacRumors, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Redmond Pie, PC Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Gotta Be Mobile, Pocketnow, AppleTell, Ubergizmo, Mashable, TechnoBuffalo, Macworld, Softpedia News, Business Insider, iPhone Hacks, BGR and The Register. Thanks:@apollozac

Matt Haughey / Medium:

Google probably considers MetaFilter a haven for comment spam, despite best-in-industry moderation — On the Future of MetaFilter — Peak ads, MetaFilter's Google Problems, and the need to scale back. — MetaFilter is the little weblog that could, established in 1999 as one of the first community blogs.

More: Slate and Silicon Florist. Tweets: @qthrul, @hmason, @jacobian, @ahow, @somebitslinks, @mathowie, @dangillmor, @timhwang, @grimmelm and @mathowie. Thanks:@turoczy

Ben Gilbert / Engadget:

Oculus VR and Palmer Luckey being sued by CTO's former employer (update) — Oculus VR and co-founder Palmer Luckey are being sued by Zenimax Media and id Software, the former employer of Oculus VR chief technical officer John Carmack. The suit claims that John Carmack, while employed by id Software …

More: The Verge, Washington Post, New York Times, Business Wire, VentureBeat, SlashGear, TechCrunch, Turnstyle and Electronista. Tweets: @patrickklepek

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

BlackBerry launches Project Ion to join the internet of things — BlackBerry is launching a series of projects called Project Ion for the internet of things with the idea of using its experience in building secure, connected devices to connect sensors, cars and anything else in a secure fashion to a cloud back end.

More: PC World, InfoWorld, Marketwired, CITEworld, SlashGear and TechCrunch

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Google Plans Low-Cost, High Quality Wi-Fi Networks For Small- And Medium-Sized Businesses, Report Says — Google is apparently planning to offers subsidized, commercial-grade Wi-Fi hardware to small and medium-sized businesses, The Information reports, alongside software to help greatly improve …

More: The Information, VentureBeat, BGR, Android and Me, 9to5Google, Gigaom and Pocketnow

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

eBay Advises Users To Change Passwords Following Cyberattack, “Large Number” Of Users Affected — Following an odd blog post which appeared overnight and then was quickly taken down which alerted eBay users to reset their passwords, eBay has now published its official statement informing …

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Fab to Cut Another 80 to 90 Jobs, a Third of Global Staff — E-commerce company Fab is announcing another round of job cuts tomorrow, laying off between 80 and 90 employees to trim costs as it shifts resources to focus more on designing and developing products under its own brand name.

More: BuzzFeed, CNET News, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Gawker and Business Insider. Tweets: @daniellesacks

Noorhan Barakat / Gulf News:

Dubai police to use Google Glass to fine traffic violators and track wanted vehicles — Dubai Police to use Google Glass — Device can be used to fine motorists and track wanted vehicles, says senior official — Dubai: Dubai Police will soon use Google Glass to issue fines to errant motorists …

More: The Verge, VentureBeat, Glass Almanac, Wearable World News, InvestorPlace, Digital Trends and BGR

Major Nelson / Xbox Wire:

External Storage, Real Names and More Coming with Xbox One System Update in June — With the next system update coming in June, we're thrilled to announce two of your most-requested features will be here soon: external storage support and real names for identifying your friends.

Joshua Brustein / Businessweek:

Spotify reaches 10M paid subscribers, launches in Brazil next week, still isn't profitable — Streams of Tears: Why Spotify Can't Make Money — Daniel Ek has devoted most of his waking moments over the past few years to evangelizing about the glories of streaming music. He's well suited to the task.

More: Spotify Blog, Wall Street Journal, BGR, Business Insider, CNET, Telegraph, MacNN, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Ubergizmo, Neowin, 9to5Mac, Mashable, Softpedia News, WebProNews and Engadget. See also Mediagazer

Nathan Donato-Weinstein / bizjournals:

WhatsApp to grow footprint eightfold with new office in downtown Mountain View — WhatsApp, Facebook Inc.'s $19 billion baby, just signed a major long-term lease in downtown Mountain View that will expand its footprint 700 percent — hinting at the five-year-old instant messaging company's ambitions.

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @cwarzel and @davemcclure

Dan Rayburn / StreamingMediaBlog.com:

Chart Shows Which Content Owners Have Direct Interconnect Deals With ISPs — With all the confusion in the media around the topic of interconnects, I thought it would be helpful to show exactly which content owners have done direct interconnects with ISPs. While some members of the media …

More: Ars Technica, Business Insider, Electronista and Mashable

Jordan Golson / MacRumors:

Apple Renews Rights to Liquidmetal Technologies' Alloys for Consumer Products — Apple has renewed exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal Technologies' metal alloys in consumer electronics items, according to a filing with the SEC. — The rights were originally purchased back in 2010, to run through February 2014.

More: Electronista, 9to5Mac and iMore

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Patent reform dies in Senate as Leahy pulls plug on key bill — A closely watched patent reform bill failed on Wednesday as Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced that he lacked the bipartisan support to push the bill forward.

More: Patrick Leahy, The Hill, CNET News, Vox, Reuters, GeekWire, The Verge, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Wired, Re/code, Ars Technica, PandoDaily, SiliconBeat, Computerworld and NationalJournal.com

Tweets: @rsingel and @jeffjohnroberts

Loek Essers / Computerworld:

Google plans international acquisitions worth up to $30B, it tells SEC — Google passed on a potential acquisition of a non-U.S. company worth up to $5 billion, it said — Google plans to spend $20 billion to $30 billion of its of its accumulated international profits to fund potential acquisitions …

More: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, ZDNet and Forbes. Tweets: @jank0

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:

SEC filing says Google could serve ads to thermostats, cars, refrigerators, and other devices; Google says language does not reflect its product roadmap

Jillian D'Onfro / Business Insider:

Yelp will start letting users upload 3-12 second videos in early June — Yelp Is Adding A New Video Feature To Its Reviews — Yelp is adding a new video feature to its app that will let users upload short clips in the same way that they would upload photos.

Andrew Webster / The Verge:

HBO shows are now streaming on Amazon Instant Video — ‘True Blood,’ ‘Six Feet Under,’ and more — As promised, a number of HBO shows are now available to stream through Amazon Prime Instant Video. Starting today, you'll be able to stream the complete run of older shows like The Sopranos …

More: Amazon.com, TechCrunch, TechnoBuffalo, Engadget, Phandroid, Washington Post, GeekWire, CNET and WebProNews. See also Mediagazer

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Simon & Schuster adds its books to ebook subscription sites Scribd and Oyster — Ebook subscription sites are still young — both Oyster and the reinvented Scribd, which offer users unlimited access to a library of ebooks for under $10 a month, just launched last fall.

More: The Next Web, The Shatzkin Files, App Advice, CNET, GalleyCat, Wall Street Journal and PC Magazine. Thanks:@2blyndsey

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:

Wealth Management Startup FutureAdvisor Raises $15.5 Million — Looking to bring top-flight wealth management services to the middle class, FutureAdvisor has raised $15.5 million in fresh capital. — The round was led by new investor Canvas with participation from the company's previous investors including Sequoia Capital.

More: Wall Street Journal and VatorNews

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

SmartThings Updates Mobile App And Developer Tools In Its Bid To Power The ‘Internet Of Things’ — There's a growing number of “smart” connected devices available around the home these days — including everything from smart light bulbs to smart locks to smart refrigerators and washing machines.

More: CNET, Engadget, Business Insider, The Next Web and Gigaom. Thanks:@brewpr

Lauren Hockenson / Gigaom:

Anonymous app Secret launches on Android and expands worldwide — International users will no longer have to wait to get their hands on buzzy anonymous confession app Secret, as the company announced Wednesday that the app is now available to download worldwide on both iOS and Android.

More: The Verge, TechHive, Android Authority, BetaKit, Mercury News, CNET News, Re/code, The Next Web, 9to5Google, TechCrunch and Guardian

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