Techmeme: EU Begins Questioning Facebook Rivals Over WhatsApp Deal (Wall Street Journal)

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July 9, 2014, 5:20 PM

Top News

First Look Media:

NSA and FBI covertly monitored emails of several Muslim-Americans, including a political candidate and civil rights activists — Meet the Muslim-American Leaders the FBI and NSA Have Been Spying On — The National Security Agency and FBI have covertly monitored the emails of prominent Muslim-Americans …

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Google, Canon, Dropbox and Others Pool Patents to Ward Off Trolls — A coalition of technology companies large and small has created a sort of arms-control treaty to prevent future abuses of their intellectual property. — Among Google, Canon, SAP, Newegg, Dropbox and Asana, there are nearly 300,000 patent assets on the line.

More: Engadget, Bloomberg, 9to5Google, ZDNet and SlashGear

Tony Romm / Politico:

Apple noted to the FTC in January that Google Play also allowed kids to make unauthorized in-app purchases — Apps and kids: Google may be next in FTC crosshairs — Apple leaped into action after the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on iPhone and iPad apps that let kids spend their parents' money without permission.

More: CNET, SiliconBeat, Gigaom, MacRumors, InvestorPlace, AppleInsider, MobileBurn.com, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac and Electronista. Tweets: @tonyromm. Thanks:@ericengleman

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Googler (And Former DARPA Director) Regina Dugan Joins Zynga's Board Of Directors — Zynga is announcing a new addition to its board of directors — Regina E. Dugan, vice president of engineering and head of the Advanced Technology and Projects group at Google.

More: Re/code, New York Times, CNET, The Verge, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:

High school interns hired by Silicon Valley's tech giants can make more than US average income — Silicon Valley's Talent Grab Spawns High-School Interns — Facebook Inc. (FB) rolled out the red carpet for Michael Sayman when the social network hired him for a job that started last month …

More: TechSpot, BetaBoston, Daily Dot, Valleywag, Business Insider, The Technology Chronicles and The Register

Tweets: @adamdangelo, @cdixon, @mark_beech and @sarahfrier

Guardian:

DARPA finances research on social media platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Kickstarter, others to understand how ideas spread and how to influence them — US military studied how to influence Twitter users in Darpa-funded research — The activities of users of Twitter and other social media services …

More: SiliconBeat, The Next Web, Wired.co.uk, Electronista, PC World, Mashable, VentureBeat and Engadget

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Dish tells FCC to block Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal — Satellite broadcaster Dish Network wants the government to block Comcast Corp.'s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable. In meetings with top Federal Communications Commission officials earlier this week, Dish said a combination …

More: Re/code, Reuters, BGR, DSLreports, MarketWatch, Bloomberg and Broadcasting & Cable

Tweets: @amir and @jbflint

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Google Adds Android Smartphone And Tablet Screen Mirroring To Chromecast — Google has released a feature for Chromecast announced at Google I/O this year - Android device screen mirroring. The update today brings the much-desired feature to all Chromecast-capable devices and makes Google Cast …

More: Google Chrome Blog, CNET, Gizmodo, Engadget, The Next Web, 9to5Google, Gigaom, Electronista, Mashable, Geek.com, TechHive and Phandroid

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:

Google Cloud now offering 2TB of free storage for a year to compete with Amazon and Microsoft — With Google Offer, Cloud Storage Gets Closer to Free — Google Wednesday fired another shot in the price wars for cloud-computing services, offering businesses more free storage in an effort …

More: eWeek and 9to5Google

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

PayPal Makes Good On Its Braintree Acquisition With Launch Of New Developer Tools, The Braintree v.zero SDK — Payments gateway Braintree is making its first significant product announcement since its acquisition by PayPal last year, with the launch of a jointly developed Braintree SDK (software development kit) for developers.

More: Blogtree, VatorNews, VentureBeat, ReadWrite, PandoDaily, Gigaom and The Next Web. Tweets: @mdudas

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

White House pulls plug on controversial Patent Office nominee after tech sector backlash — The Obama Administration has changed its mind over a plan to name pharmaceutical executive Phil Johnson as head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to multiple sources.

Tweets: @iam_magazine, @xor and @jeffjohnroberts

Simon Khalaf / Flurry Insights:

Users of Xiaomi devices in China spent 7% more time in apps than iPhone users in January — Xiaomi Brings Apple's Magic to China's Young Business Professionals (...and to Android) — Over the past 5 years, Apple and Google have maintained a healthy duopoly in the smartphone market.

More: The Next Web, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, Tnooz, Business Insider and CNET

Tweets: @rolfewinkler and @sammywalrusiv

BBC:

Apple suffers Siri patent case defeat in China — Apple has failed in its attempt to get a Chinese company's voice-recognition patent ruled invalid. — The verdict threatens Apple's ability to offer its voice-controlled virtual assistant, Siri, in the country.

More: Reuters, Wall Street Journal, The Register, Xinhua News Agency, MacRumors, Tech Times, Forbes, 9to5Mac, Electronista, Cult of Mac, SlashGear, Fortune and ZDNet

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft readies three new Office 365 plans for small and mid-size businesses — Summary: Microsoft is introducing three new Office 365 plans for small and midsize business users this October. Here's what's coming. — One of the primary markets where Microsoft goes head-to-head with Google …

More: Office Blogs, Computerworld, TechCrunch, theWHIR.com, WebProNews and WinBeta

Wall Street Journal:

EU Begins Questioning Facebook Rivals Over WhatsApp Deal — Formal Review Could Be Test Case For Competition Law Application in Social Media — European Union antitrust officials have started questioning rival firms about Facebook Inc. 's proposed $19 billion acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp …

Richard Nieva / CNET:

Google Glass creator: Glass not only answer to life after smartphones — Babak Parviz, a Google X director who led development of the product, talks about the beginnings of Glass, and where he hopes it will go. — SAN FRANCISCO — It seems like everyone's got an opinion on Google Glass …

More: TechCrunch, 9to5Google, Business Insider and WebProNews

David Shamah / The Times of Israel:

“Red Alert: Israel” app now using Yo to deliver rocket attack alerts — Red Alert app offers a Yo! update on missile attacks — A mobile platform developed by two Israeli volunteers spreads the word on Israeli communities in danger- in real time

More: The Verge, The Independent, Fast Company, Valleywag and ABC News. See also Mediagazer

Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:

Adidas wants to put a personal trainer on your wrist with the Fit Smart — Nike might be planning to abandon its Fuelband hardware, but Adidas is taking the opposite path with the introduction of its new Fit Smart fitness tracking device. It's a wrist-worn tracker that looks similar …

More: Gigaom, New York Times, Electronista, Pocket-lint, Pocket-lint, Pocket-lint, Engadget and Wearables Arena

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:

LG's new KizON wristband is a wearable for kids that lets parents track their location — LG is going all out to make its presence felt in the wearables space — after its Android Wear-based G Watch went on sale across the world yesterday, it has unveiled today a new wearable device for kids, the KizON wristband.

More: LG Newsroom, 9to5Google, IntoMobile, SlashGear, Wearable World News, HotHardware.com News, Mobile Magazine, Ausdroid, GSMArena Blog, TechHive, Electronista, CNET and Re/code

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

137 Ventures Raises $137M Second Fund To Offer Early Liquidity To Startup Execs — Secondary investment firm 137 Ventures is announcing that it has raised a $137 million new fund. (That number has to be intentional, right?) — When the firm was founded in 2010, it was pitched as an alternative …

More: Wall Street Journal, bizjournals and Reuters

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Texas lawyer sues Tor for providing tools used by revenge porn site — Encryption service Tor has been caught up in a Texas revenge porn lawsuit. Yesterday, attorney Jason Lee Van Dyke linked to a lawsuit filing against Pink Meth, a nude photos site accessible only to users of the encryption software.

More: Techdirt, PandoDaily and Daily Dot

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

A profile of ex-Googler Morgan Marquis-Boire, now director of security at First Look Media — The Ex-Google Hacker Taking on the World's Spy Agencies — During his last six years working as an elite security researcher for Google, the hacker known as Morgan Mayhem spent his nights …

More: TechPresident

Don Clark / Wall Street Journal:

IBM Pledges $3 Billion for Semiconductor Research — Computer Giant's Research Will Seek to Tackle Obstacles to Shrinking Circuitry, Develop Alternative Materials — International Business Machines Corp. on Wednesday pledged to spend $3 billion over five years on semiconductor research …

More: Re/code

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

ServiceNow to Acquire Israel's Neebula for $100 Million — ServiceNow, the cloud software company that helps other companies automate their corporate IT environments, will pay $100 million in cash to acquire Neebula, an Israeli startup. — Neebula's speciality is a system for discovering …

More: VentureBeat and RTTNews

Stan Higgins / CoinDesk:

Bitcoin Foundation Hires Firm to Lobby Congress on Cryptocurrencies — The Bitcoin Foundation has stepped up its US lobbying efforts by hiring Washington, DC-based firm Thorsen French Advocacy. — The announcement from the Foundation represents perhaps the most high-profile bitcoin lobbying effort to date.

More: Bitcoin Foundation, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, cryptocrimson.com, CryptoCoinsNews and NEWSBTC

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / ZDNet:

Quarterly tablet PC shipments to fall for the first time ever — Summary: For the past several years, tablet PCs and smartphones have been the primary growth driver in the smart device category, but that cash cow might be running dry. — Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

More: iMore and The Next Web

Mark Spoonauer / LAPTOP Magazine:

Sony Nabs Verizon As Partner, Xperia Z2 First Exclusive — With its very light and waterproof design, the Sony Xperia Z2 is one of the best iPad Air alternatives, but most people don't know it exists. Verizon hopes to change that by offering an exclusive version of the tablet with 4G LTE …

More: Verizon Wireless Promotions, TechCrunch, CNET, Gigaom, GadgeTell, BGR and IntoMobile. Thanks:@mspoonauer

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