Techmeme
June 17, 2014, 6:50 PM

Top News

Thomas Gryta / Wall Street Journal:
AT&T to Exclusively Carry Amazon Smartphone  —  Amazon Expected to Unveil its Phone on Wednesday in Seattle  —  AT&T Inc. will be the exclusive carrier for Amazon.com Inc. 's new smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the plans.
Brad Stone / Businessweek:
Amazon's Lab126 has been working on a 3D smartphone since 2009  —  Inside the Secretive R&D Lab Behind the Amazon Phone  —  Disclosure: Brad Stone is author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.  The book is published by Little, Brown & Co., a division of the Hachette Book Group …
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
YouTube to block indie labels who don't sign up to new music service  —  Starting internal tests of subscription service but faces accusation of ‘catastrophic error of judgement’  —  YouTube has confirmed that it will begin blocking videos from independent labels that have not signed …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook's Slingshot Challenges Snapchat With ‘Reply To Unlock’  —  Facebook wants to break the “1% Rule” of Internet culture that says a tiny fraction of users create the content for everyone else.  So after a momentary leak last week, today Facebook officially launches Slingshot for iOS …
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Facebook Slingshot is much more than a Snapchat clone  —  A new kind of network that feels more like a feed than a messenger  —  At first, Facebook's new ephemeral messaging app, Slingshot, feels like yet another Snapchat clone.  The free app, available now for iPhone and Android …
Bloomberg:
Oracle close to buying hospitality-industry software provider Micros Systems for more than $5B  —  Oracle Said to Near Deal to Buy Micros Systems  —  Oracle Corp. (ORCL) is nearing a deal to buy hospitality-industry software provider Micros Systems Inc. (MCRS) for more than $5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
Democrats unveil legislation forcing the FCC to ban Internet fast lanes  —  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. gesturing during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)  —  Democratic lawmakers will unveil a piece …
Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg:
Apple Settles E-Books Pricing Case With States, Consumers  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) reached a settlement with U.S. states and consumers seeking damages over the company's fixing of electronic book prices, avoiding a trial in which it faced as much as $840 million in claims.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Following A Drop In Completed Jobs, Errands Marketplace TaskRabbit Shakes Up Its Business Model  —  Errands marketplace TaskRabbit is shaking things up today with a change to its business model.  The company says it's shifting away from the auction model where contractors bid for tasks posted by end users …
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Adobe delivers strong Q2 with 2.3 million Creative Cloud subscriptions  —  Summary: The creative software maker managed to beat estimates with growth fueled by accelerated cloud-subscription adoption.  —  Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen  —  Adobe reported its fiscal second quarter earnings Tuesday after the bell.
Sara M. Watson / The Atlantic Online:
Why customized ads are so creepy, even when they miss their target  —  Why customized ads are so creepy, even when they miss their target  —  “What is it about my data that suggests I might be a good fit for an anorexia study?”  That's the question my friend Jean asked me after she saw …
More: Stowe Boyd
Ely L. / Yelp Official Blog:
Hold the Phone!  Now You Can Message Business Owners Directly Through Yelp  —  With more than 57 million local reviews contributed across 27 countries, there's already a boatload of info people can gather through Yelp on any local business they're thinking about trying.
J.M. Berger / The Atlantic Online:
How ISIS, the militant group that recently seized Iraq's second-largest city, games Twitter  —  How ISIS Games Twitter  —  The advance of an army used to be marked by war drums.  Now it's marked by volleys of tweets.  —  The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Sunni militant group …
More: CNN, SocialTimes and TechPresident.  Tweets: @intelwire

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