Techmeme: BBM for Windows Phone now live for beta testers (Lance Whitney/CNET)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News Contact Editors

July 18, 2014, 11:20 PM

Top News

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Netflix tests private viewing mode to hide your B-movie binges — Select Netflix members are getting a chance to hide viewing of embarrassing titles from logs, recommendations and Facebook friends. — We've all been down that road: You decide to watch some roadhouse B-movie fare on Netflix …

More: Engadget, SlashGear, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Mashable, Phandroid, The Verge and TIME

Steve Dent / Engadget:

Google won't call games with in-app purchases free anymore (updated) — The European Commission has said that while Google addressed its concerns around games with in-app purchasing, Apple has yet to offer a strategy. Following hordes of complaints by outraged parents …

More: EU Press Room, CNET, AppleInsider, Guardian, 9to5Mac, BGR, iMore, The Verge, 9to5Google, Ubergizmo, WinBeta, Phandroid, gameinformer.com, VentureBeat, MobileBurn.com, TechSpot, TechOne3, Tech Times, PandoDaily, SlashGear, iPhone Hacks, Inquirer, Gigaom, Droid Life, TechCrunch and iLounge

Dave Lee / BBC:

EU criticizes Apple for not offering “concrete and immediate solutions” to address in-app payment issues, says Google already taking steps

More: Daily Dot, PadGadget, Softpedia News, Digital Trends, Pocketnow, CIO.com, Gamasutra, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, MacNN and destructoid

Lenovo Newsroom:

Lenovo will continue selling 8" and 10" Windows tablets in the US, new models coming this holiday — Clarification on Lenovo Statement on Sales of Small Screen Windows-Based Tablets — We will continue to bring new Windows devices to market across different screen sizes …

Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:

Yahoo Search Share Falls Below 10 Percent For “All-Time Low” — We're on the cusp of new comScore U.S. search market share data for June. According to financial analyst notes, releasing the numbers early, desktop search declined for the fifth consecutive month after a period of growth in mid-2013.

More: TheDomains.com, Business Insider, WebProNews and Design & Trend

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Dell starts accepting Bitcoin for online purchases from consumers and small businesses in the US — Dell today announced it has started accepting Bitcoin for all items available on Dell.com (including Alienware products). The company says it is “piloting” the digital currency for consumer …

More: Dell Community, The Coinbase Blog, WinBeta, TechCrunch, SlashGear, Computerworld, Engadget, TechSpot, SiliconANGLE, TechnoBuffalo, NEWSBTC, CoinDesk, Los Angeles Times, CNET, Electronista and internetretailer.com

Tweets: @michaeldell and @markgurman

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Internal memo: Microsoft to cut off all ‘external staff’ after 18 months, imposing mandatory 6-month break — An internal Microsoft memo, distributed earlier today, imposes new restrictions on the company's use of “external staff” — including a new limit on people who work on projects for Microsoft through vendors.

Tweets: @hkanji. Thanks:@taylor_soper

Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:

Yo raises a $1.5M seed round at a $5-10M valuation from Betaworks, Pete Cashmore, Tencent founders, others — An App That Just Says ‘Yo’ Has Raised $1.5 Million At A $5-10 Million Valuation — Simple notification app Yo has raised a $1.5 million seed round at a $5-10 million valuation, the company tells Business Insider.

More: TechCrunch, betaworks, Mashable, PandoDaily, New York Times and The Next Web

Tweets: @ivanthek, @howardlindzon, @levie, @dtunkelang, @marshallk, @borthwick, @finansakrobat, @howells, @mikeisaac, @fmanjoo, @kevinroose, @paulrobertlloyd and @fromedome

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:

Google gives an early look at completely new Chrome OS experience dubbed Project Athena — Google's François Beaufort shared a screenshot today of a completely redesigned user experience for Chrome OS that he says the Chromium OS team is currently experimenting with.

More: Franç, Engadget, Ars Technica, LAPTOP Magazine, Gigaom, The Next Web, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, SlashGear and Android Authority

Sam Altman / Y Combinator Posthaven:

Y Combinator adds partners including Alexis Ohanian, makes Dalton Caldwell full-time partner — Welcome Scott, Dalton, Adora, Brett, Nicole, Alexis, and Qasar — We have a bunch of new additions to the YC team to announce. — Scott Bell is joining the YC software team.

More: ReadWrite, Re/code and TechCrunch

Tweets: @alexisohanian and @ilikevests

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Xbox One August update to add new activity feed, mobile purchases, low battery notification, 3D Blu-ray, more — Microsoft today detailed what gamers can expect in the next Xbox One update, which is expected to arrive in August. There are eight additions and changes the company has highlighted …

Jared Newman / PC World:

Chrome's been eating your laptop's battery for years, but Google promises to fix it — Google is just now responding to a bug in Chrome for Windows that may have been sapping users' batteries for years. — Chrome's battery drain problem was brought to wider attention by Forbes contributor Ian Morris …

More: The Register, Ars Technica, Engadget, BGR, PC Magazine, Computerworld, TechSpot, InvestorPlace, Windows Phone Central, WinBeta, Softpedia News, Ubergizmo, Web Browser, The Verge, TechnoBuffalo, Geek.com and Redmond Pie. Tweets: @eugene_roserie

Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:

Twitter will soon give you access to your entire DM history via the iOS and Android apps — With more and more people using Twitter's DM (Direct Messages) feature as a chat service, the company is working to upgrade the experience. … Access to your entire history is a great way to keep track …

More: 9to5Google, Engadget and iPhone Hacks

Tweets: @support, @support, @dcseifert and @caseynewton

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:

SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work — Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.

Zoho:

How WCAG compliance makes modern workplaces more accessible — A workplace's approach to inclusivity starts with its everyday tools. Some of them can create barriers that inadvertently shut people out.

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

WebBrain:

WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser — Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox. Use local models or your preferred AI provider. Get started free.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Machine Gods:

Jensen Huang's Nvidiotic Spy Scandal + Can Dems Pass AI Regulation?

The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.

Subscribe to Machine Gods.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Encore: Chuck Klosterman on Why Football Owns TV (and Why It Won't Forever)

Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.

Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.

Invest Like the Best:

Zach Reitano - Building Ro and Why Healthcare Should Be 50% of GDP

The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.

Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.

Sources:

Amazon AWS CEO: AI boom is just getting started

Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.

Subscribe to Sources.

Cheeky Pint:

Nik Storonsky: The most uncompromising banking CEO

Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.

Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.

Big Technology Podcast:

Jensen and The Honeypot

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.

Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:20 PM ET, July 18, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.