Techmeme: Apple's smartwatch to launch as early as October with 2.5" screen, wireless charging, pulse sensor, sources say (Michael Gold/Reuters)

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June 19, 2014, 8:10 PM

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Michael Gold / Reuters:

Apple's smartwatch to launch as early as October with 2.5" screen, wireless charging, pulse sensor, sources say — Taiwan's Quanta to start mass production of Apple's smartwatch in July: source — (Reuters) - Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc will start mass production of Apple Inc's first smartwatch in July …

More: MacRumors, The Register, The Verge, 9to5Mac, Forbes, CNET, Mercury News, Macworld, BGR, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Gigaom, Fortune, iMore, AppleInsider, Gizmodo, BGR, The Mac Observer, Gigaom Research, everythingiCafe, MacRumors, Pocketnow, SlashGear, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, TechnoBuffalo, Neowin, Ubergizmo, App Advice, Patently Apple, Mashable and Electronista

Tweets: @markgurman and @daiwaka

Baljeet Singh / The Twitter Blog:

Twitter acquires SnappyTV, the service for clipping, editing, and sharing video clips from live broadcasts — SnappyTV is joining the flock — One of the best ways to follow events as they unfold is through real-time videos on Twitter. As we continue to invest in video …

Joshua Ho / AnandTech:

iOS 8 exposes almost every manual camera control possible, allows third-party apps access to all — Manual Camera Controls in iOS 8 — For the longest time, iOS had almost no camera controls at all. There would be a toggle for HDR, a toggle to switch to the front-facing camera, and a toggle to switch to video recording mode.

More: Daring Fireball, BGR, Gigaom, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacDailyNews, TechnoBuffalo, Pocketnow, MacRumors, Geeky Gadgets and MacNN

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Significant enhancements coming to AppleCare+, Apple IDs, iOS support — Apple's vice president of AppleCare and technical support initiatives, Tara Bunch, held a Town Hall meeting for for AppleCare employees earlier this week, according to several employees in attendance who asked to remain anonymous.

More: MacNN, TechnoBuffalo, App Advice, iDownloadBlog.com and iLounge

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

Why Did Amazon Make a Phone? A Conversation With Jeff Bezos — Shortly after he introduced the new Fire phone on Wednesday, I spoke with Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive, about the device and Amazon's goals in the smartphone business. — Here is an edited transcript of our discussion.

More: Boing Boing. Tweets: @b_fung, @jyarow, @jyarow and @stevekovach

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

Smartphone users are unlikely to switch to Amazon's Fire phone, which lacks many popular apps

More: Re/code, New York Times and stratechery

Tweets: @geoffreyfowler, @miriamgottfried, @tomgara, @mp3michael, @joshconstine and @mims

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Fire Phone compared with iPhone 5S, Galaxy 5S, One, Moto X, and Lumia Icon: unique software running on average hardware

More: Computerworld, TheStreet.com, eWeek, Polygon, Marketing Pilgrim and ZDNet

Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:

The Nokia team Microsoft didn't buy has made an Android launcher — But is it better than what's out there? — Nokia's involvement with Google's Android can only be described as one big “what if.” Ahead of Microsoft's deal to buy it, Nokia was testing Android phones …

More: BGR, Engadget, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, Ireland's Technology Blog, Android Authority, Android Beat, Pocket-lint, The Next Web, Pocketnow, Pocketnow, Phandroid, Android Central, SlashGear, TechCrunch and Electronista

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Supreme Court rules software patents that cover ‘abstract ideas’ are invalid — Software patents aren't dead, but they just took a blow. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that a series of banking patents didn't cover a concrete software process but an abstract idea …

More: New York Times, Gigaom, Ars Technica, Vox, CNET, SCOTUSblog, GeekWire, The Register, NationalJournal.com, Consumerist, Re/code, Washington Post, InfoWorld, The Hill, Fortune, Associated Press, Engadget, Patently-O and GamePolitics blogs

Tweets: @b_fung, @jeffjohnroberts and @spolsky

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

LinkedIn Launches Its First Standalone Job Search App, Privacy Guaranteed — LinkedIn says that today 40% of its 300 million users access the site on mobile devices, so its bid to tap into the wave of users accessing the site via smartphones and tablets continues apace …

More: Official LinkedIn Blog, iMore, Gigaom, PC World, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, Geeky Gadgets, CNET, ZDNet, App Advice, WebProNews, iPhone Hacks, VentureBeat, PC Magazine and SeekingAlpha.com

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Maps ‘City Tours’ feature hidden in iOS 8 betas, works like a guided Flyover video — Although deeper changes to Maps are in the works, Apple did announce a new City Tours feature for iOS 8 discreetly on one of the keynote slides. This feature is not normally available in the current iOS 8 betas …

More: MacRumors, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, App Advice, iPhone Hacks, PadGadget, Redmond Pie, AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog, Gotta Be Mobile, TechnoBuffalo, Geeky Gadgets, Business Insider, TUAW and MacNN. Tweets: @markgurman

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

Mozilla to Develop Comments Platform for New York Times and Washington Post — The New York Times and The Washington Post announced on Thursday that they had teamed up with Mozilla to develop a new platform that will allow them to better manage their readers' online comments and contributions.

More: Gigaom, Poynter, The Verge and OStatic blogs

See also Mediagazer

John Cook / GeekWire:

Google buys Alpental, a startup focused on 5G technologies and led by former Clearwire researchers — Google just quietly bought this stealthy Seattle startup led by ex-Clearwire researchers — Sometimes startups attract corporate attention after releasing cutting-edge products, or nailing down key customers.

More: Wall Street Journal, 9to5Google and BGR. Thanks:@toddbishop

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Sources say Box hopes to complete IPO by July-August; contrary to rumors, has ruled out sale — Box Revives IPO Plans as Cloud Shares Recover — Timing is everything. And cloud storage company Box could not have picked a worse time to go public. — The March 24 public disclosure …

More: TechCrunch and SiliconBeat

Christie Smythe / Bloomberg:

NY AG: iPhone's activation lock reduces phone thefts; Android and Windows Phone to also have kill switches — Android, Windows Phone Will Have Kill Switches, N.Y. Says — Google Inc. (GOOGL) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will incorporate a “kill switch” into the next versions …

Joon Ian Wong / CoinDesk:

US Marshals Service leaks list of participants in the auction of 30,000 Silk Road bitcoins — CONFIRMED: List of Possible Silk Road Bitcoin Bidders Leaked by US Marshals — UPDATE (22:25 BST): Updated with comment from Lynzey Donahue, a U.S. Marshals spokeswoman.

More: CNET, Ars Technica, The Verge, TechCrunch, Federal Computer Week, ITProPortal, Gigaom and BBC. Thanks:@jeremybonney

Yuliya Chernova / Wall Street Journal:

Early-Stage VC Greycroft Closes $200M Growth Fund — Greycroft Partners, a New York firm that saw its early investments in Maker Studios, Buddy Media, Huffington Post and Braintree Payments Solutions turn into large payouts, has now closed on its first growth fund at $200 million.

More: PE Hub Blog, VentureBeat and TechCrunch. Tweets: @scottmaustin

Simon Khalaf / Flurry:

Fitness app usage up 62% in past six months from 49% in 2013, 87% faster than total app market growth — Health and Fitness Apps Finally Take Off, Fueled by Fitness Fanatics — Over the past six years, we have seen mobile and its apps disrupt and transform many industries.

More: ITworld.com, PandoDaily, TechCrunch and Guardian. Thanks:@flurrymobile

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Microsoft bucks its own history , embraces “openness” in push for Azure adoption — It's not often you write “Microsoft” and"open" in the same sentence but, well, these are special times. The company is straining to make its Azure cloud service a bona fide rival to Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services …

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Google Acquires mDialog To Improve DoubleClick's Video Advertising — Google today announced that it has acquired video advertising company mDialog. — In a post on Google+, the company said that it will “work with the mDialog team to incorporate their technology and expertise …

More: DoubleClick Digital Marketing, CNET, 9to5Google, The Next Web, Marketing Land and Multichannel News

Josh Ong / The Next Web:

Intel's new messaging app Pocket Avatars uses the camera to find cartoon avatars matching your mood — Intel releases Pocket Avatars, a chat app that maps your facial expressions onto silly characters — When you think of Intel, you normally think of PC chips, but the company …

More: VentureBeat, Engadget, CNET, Reuters, PC Magazine, Network World, Gigaom and Wall Street Journal

Brad Sams / Neowin:

Microsoft provides roadmap for Office 365 and a new ‘First Release’ program — Microsoft's move to turn Office into a subscription-based service is working out well for the company. With millions of consumers and businesses now using the platform, Microsoft has to be clear …

More: Office Blogs, The Register, Computerworld, ZDNet, PC World, InfoWorld and WinBeta

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