Techmeme
June 11, 2014, 11:05 AM

Top News

Bonnie Cha / Re/code:
SwiftKey Ditches Paid App, Goes Free With Launch of New Themes Store  —  SwiftKey, the popular predictive keyboard for Android, is going free today — and not just for a limited time.  —  The change is part of an update rolling out to the app now, which also includes the launch …
Lisa Fleisher / Wall Street Journal:
Taxi Drivers Plan Big Protests in Europe Against Uber  —  Planned Demonstrations in London, Madrid, France, Berlin Highlight Challenges Facing Uber and Its Peers  —  LONDON—Taxi drivers planned to turn a handful of European city centers into giant parking lots Wednesday …
Electronista:
Evernote, Feedly servers affected, hit with denial of service attacks  —  Evernote recovers from multi-hour DDoS attack, Feedly continues to suffer  —  Two prominent web properties have come under fire from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in the last 24 hours.
Deepa Seetharaman / Reuters:
Exclusive: Amazon.com plans local services marketplace this year - sources  —  (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc later this year plans to launch a marketplace for local services, a broad term that encompasses anything from babysitters to handymen to birthday clowns, beginning with a single market, several people familiar with the matter said.
Liz Gannes / Re/code:
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Lowercase Capital Is Raising A New $25M Fund, Led By Matt Mazzeo  —  Lowercase Capital is raising another $25 million, we're hearing.  This is notable for a couple of reasons: Due to its Uber investment, Lowercase Capital's very first fund — a modest $8.5 million raised in 2010 …
Tweets: @badboyboyce and @sir
Caitlin McGarry / TechHive:
New social network Fatdoor uses robots to connect neighbors (yes, really)  —  Fatdoor is the kind of neighborhood social network that would work perfectly in a small, tech-friendly town like Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley.  Founder Raj Abhyanker envisions a day when neighbors …
Phil Milford / Bloomberg:
Facebook, Zuckerberg Sued Over Directors' Compensation  —  Facebook Inc. (FB:US) and Chairman Mark Zuckerberg's program of letting company directors set their own pay, capped at stock currently worth $145 million per person, wastes corporate assets, an investor said in a lawsuit.
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Index Ventures Raises New $550M Early-Stage Fund For Europe, The US And Israel  —  Index Ventures has announced a new early-stage, €400 million ($550 million) fund aimed at tech startups in Europe, US and Israel.  This is its seventh early-stage fund and part of a total €3 billion …
Dara Kerr / CNET News:
FAA approves first commercial use of drones over land  —  BP energy corporation and drone maker AeroVironment are given the OK to fly an unmanned Puma aircraft over Alaska to survey pipelines, roads, and equipment.  —  AeroVironment's Puma drone being hand-launched in Alaska.  —  AeroVironment
Katy Stech / Wall Street Journal:
CoinLab Agrees to Support Mt. Gox's U.S. Bankruptcy Efforts  —  Move Marks Change of Course for CoinLab, Which Won't Oppose Bankruptcy Protection for Mt. Gox  —  Bitcoin company CoinLab Inc. has thrown its support behind Japanese bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox's U.S. bankruptcy case …
More: newsBTC and CoinDesk
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Lady Gaga's Backplane Pivots To Let You Build And Monetize Your Own Social Network  —  Why should Facebook or Ning earn the money if you bring the audience?  Backplane wants to put that cash in your pocket.  That's why it's pivoting from building social networks for big brands and celebrities …
More: hypebot.  Tweets: @mcmichelsen
Sam Gustin / Motherboard:
The FCC Was Hacked After John Oliver Called for Net Neutrality Trolls  —  When HBO host John Oliver called for Internet trolls to deluge the Federal Communications Commission with comments about net neutrality, he may not have expected for the FCC's site to get shut down.
More: Engadget and The Verge.  Tweets: @digiphile
Dan Frakes / Macworld:
Longtime Apple-accessory distributor Dr. Bott files for bankruptcy  —  Online retailer and distributor Dr. Bott, a fixture in the Apple-accessory market since the late 1990s, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in its home state of Oregon, according to public records and information provided to Macworld.
RTÉ:
European Commission to investigate Irish tax arrangements with Apple  —  Ireland has been accused of creating a system that allowed Apple to sidestep large tax payments worldwide  —  The European Commission is to open a formal investigation into Apple's tax arrangements with Ireland.

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More News

Liz Stinson / Wired:

Earlier Picks

Jen Yamato / Deadline.com:
Ann-Christine Diaz / AdAge: