Techmeme
July 16, 2014, 5:55 PM

Top News

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:
Amazon is testing “Kindle Unlimited,” an ebook subscription service for $9.99/month  —  Amazon is testing an ebook and audiobook subscription service called “Kindle Unlimited” that offers “unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just $9.99 a month.”
Reuters:
Apple agrees conditionally to a $450M settlement in e-book price-fixing case; $400M could go to consumers  —  Apple agrees to conditional $450 million e-books antitrust accord  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc has agreed to pay $450 million to resolve U.S. state and consumer claims …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
In IBM and Apple's wake, what will team Android do?  —  Summary: The biggest challenge for team Android is that Google and Samsung, two partners with enterprise ambitions, will have to herd cats to reach corporations to counter Apple and IBM.  —  Google, Samsung and team Android may have to form …
New York Times:
Time Warner rejected $80B takeover bid by Murdoch's 21st Century Fox last month, no longer in discussions  —  Rupert Murdoch Said to Have Made Offer for Time Warner  —  Twenty-First Century Fox, the media empire run by Rupert Murdoch, made an $80 billion takeover bid in recent weeks …
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Airbnb unveils its new identity, launches redesigned mobile app and website  —  Airbnb unveiled a complete brand and product redesign today at an exclusive event for top hosts and guests.  —  Airbnb calls its new logo a “multi-state moving identity,” and a “3D modular symbol” that's …
Mark Harris / Guardian:
FBI warns driverless cars could be used as ‘lethal weapons’  —  Internal report sees benefits for road safety, but warns that autonomy will create greater potential for criminal ‘multitasking’  —  The FBI believes that the driverless car is a “game changing” vehicle could revolutionise high …
Benjamin Wallace / New York Magazine:
Kara Swisher Is Silicon Valley's Most Feared and Well-Liked Journalist.  How Does That Work?  —  The combination of access and toughness has made her a preeminent arbiter of status.  —  The technology journalist Kara Swisher likes to call herself Sherlock Homo, but on a spring evening in Austin …
Ben Woods / The Next Web:
BlackBerry Assistant officially introduced as part of BlackBerry 10.3, Siri et al likely not worried  —  Canadian handset maker BlackBerry has officially introduced its virtual assistant for the BlackBerry 10.3 OS, and it's called simply ‘BlackBerry Assistant’.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google Starts Selling Its Aerial Imagery To Maps For Business Users  —  Google Maps for Business is a service for enterprises and government organizations that need to visualize their assets on a map.  Today, the company has announced that customers can now purchase Google's aerial imagery directly …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Jawbone's new Up app makes healthy eating a whole lot easier  —  Jawbone finally gets food tracking right  —  Jawbone's Up bracelet has become perhaps the industry's most versatile fitness tracker, thanks to powerful sleep and activity monitoring.  For its next act, Jawbone is turning …
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Samsung In Talks To Scoop Up SmartThings For Around $200 Million  —  Google has Nest, Apple has HomeKit and Samsung has...SmartThings, we're hearing.  The deal was completed for around $200 million dollars, though it might have been less according to one source.  —  (Update: The deal is not done yet, says another.)

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Earlier Picks

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: