Techmeme: Microsoft China placed under official investigation as offices in four cities raided (South China Morning Post)

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July 28, 2014, 6:50 PM

Top News

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Apple to Buy Radio App Swell for $30 Million — Apple is close to buying the Pandora-for-talk-radio app Swell, according to multiple sources. — The deal is worth about $30 million, these sources say. — Swell had raised $7.2 million from investors including DFJ, Google Ventures and InterWest Partners.

Mitchell Baker / The Mozilla Blog:

Interim Mozilla CEO Chris Beard appointed as permanent CEO — Chris Beard Named CEO of Mozilla — I am pleased to announce that Chris Beard has been appointed CEO of Mozilla Corp. The Mozilla board has reviewed many internal and external candidates - and no one we met was a better fit.

More: ZDNet, Computerworld, Re/code, CNET, PC Magazine, Ars Technica, The Register, Engadget, TechSpot, Liliputing, WebProNews and Web Browser

Tweets: @mozilla, @cbeard and @lsblakk

Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:

Zillow to Acquire Trulia for $3.5 Billion — For much of the last nine years, Zillow and Trulia have competed in the online real estate listings market they helped create. — But after a speedy six-week courtship, the two are set to combine forces. — Zillow agreed on Monday to buy Trulia …

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Forces Users Worldwide To Download Messenger For Mobile Chat — Over the next few days, Facebook will stop allowing messaging in its main iPhone and Android apps, and force all their users around the world to download its standalone Messenger app. Facebook first started forcing users …

More: The Next Web, The Verge, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac and MacRumors. Tweets: @joshconstine

South China Morning Post:

Microsoft China placed under official investigation as offices in four cities raided — Government investigators have been sent to the company's offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu — The mainland's business authorities are investigating the offices of Microsoft Corp, the US technology giant has confirmed.

More: ZDNet, Wall Street Journal, PC Magazine, Reuters, New York Times, Re/code, Gigaom, TechnoBuffalo, PC Advisor, CNET, Neowin, GamePolitics blogs, Business Insider, Windows Phone Central, theWHIR.com, GeekWire and The Next Web

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft pits Siri against Cortana in new Windows Phone 8.1 ad — Microsoft is focusing on Apple's Siri digital assistant in one of the first Windows Phone 8.1 commercials. It's another return to the Mac vs. PC war, as Microsoft choses to mock Siri in an effort to showcase Cortana for the first time.

More: Gigaom, BGR, MacRumors, BetaNews, Business Insider, Tech Times, Pocketnow, Gotta Be Mobile, Softpedia News, SuperSite for Windows, TechCrunch, CNET, 9to5Mac, App Advice, Inquirer, PhoneArena, The Next Web and GeekWire. Tweets: @dannysullivan

Craig Karmin / Wall Street Journal:

Most Hilton locations worldwide will let customers unlock rooms with their smartphones by 2017 — Hilton Books Upgraded Technology — Hotel Guests Will Be Able to Use Smartphones as Keys or to Choose Rooms at Properties World-Wide — Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is placing …

More: Hilton, AppleInsider, TUAW, TechSpot, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, Softpedia News, MacDailyNews, Android Central, The Verge, iPhone in Canada Blog, iMore, Forrester Blogs and App Advice

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Instagram's Forthcoming Photo Messaging App Bolt Could Face Legal Trouble — The developer behind the mobile voice app Bolt is none too pleased with Instagram's decision to launch what appears to be a new mobile messaging app by the same name. Bolt, a new app from Instagram, is expected out this week, we're hearing.

More: Bolt, The Technology Chronicles, Inside Facebook, Mashable, VentureBeat, Pocketnow, Tech Trader Daily and Business Insider. Tweets: @joshconstine

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

AT&T, Verizon offer HBO with basic cable and internet for $40-50; still no cable-free option — Why HBO and Pay TV Still Aren't Getting Divorced — Reminder: You still can't get HBO without paying for other TV channels, too. — But you can still get a cheapish package that includes HBO …

More: Bloomberg, VentureBeat and Deadline.com

See also Mediagazer

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Fitbit is the first fitness band to support Windows Phone — At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year it was clear Microsoft had a problem: exciting new hardware like Pebble, Nest, and various fitness bands were not fully supported on Windows. Companies appeared …

More: PC World, The Next Web, Engadget, The Windows Blog, SuperSite for Windows, Pocketnow, SlashGear and WMPoweruser

Lee Fang / VICE:

The Judges Approving the NSA's Surveillance Requests Keep Buying Verizon Stock — Drawing of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court at an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) event in Germany last year. Photo via Flickr user mlcastle, original drawing by Lindsay Young

More: Ars Technica, Engadget, Re/code, Electronista, The Verge and Softpedia News

Dan Palmer / CoinDesk:

Blockchain Returns to Apple iOS with New Bitcoin Wallet — Following Apple's controversial removal of iOS bitcoin apps in January, the first of the big-name wallets relaunches on the App Store today. — Blockchain, which already provides hugely popular wallets for both desktop computers …

More: Gigaom, MacRumors, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, MacNN, BuzzFeed, cryptocrimson.com, The Next Web, CNNMoney.com, NEWSBTC, Business Insider, TUAW and NEWSBTC

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

NPR One Delivers A Curated Public Radio Stream For The Smartphone Era — Radio is an increasingly perplexing mode of content delivery as we gain access to more and better streaming services with on-demand programming. But the serendipity of radio is still appealing, the ability to turn …

More: Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Gadget Review, Laughing Squid, AllAccess.com, Nieman Journalism Lab, Engadget and iMore

See also Mediagazer

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

OkCupid admits that it experiments on users, just like Facebook — Defending Facebook's experiments, OkCupid admits to some of its own — Facebook received a lot of backlash when news came out that it had manipulated users' news feeds in order to experiment on them, and today OkCupid …

More: OkTrends, The Register, PC Magazine, Engadget, ReadWrite, The Technology Chronicles, Business Insider, CNNMoney.com, BuzzFeed, kottke.org, Fast Company and Gizmodo

Tweets: @benadida, @zeynep, @sarahfrier, @dangillmor, @ashk4n, @xor, @tomkrazit and @kashhill

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Amazon Fire Phone Costs $205 To Build, Teardown Shows — The components used to assemble the Amazon Fire phone cost a combined $205, a teardown analysis by the research firm IHS shows. — In a report due to be released Tuesday and seen by Re/code, the research firm details the phone's internal components and their cost.

More: 9to5Google, TechnoBuffalo, ZDNet, Gizmodo and TechCrunch

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

It's Business Time: Airbnb Targets Work Travelers With Concur Partnership — Global hospitality startup Airbnb has spent the last six years trying to get consumers comfortable with the idea of staying in someone else's home when traveling. Now the company is trying to make headway in the enterprise …

More: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TechHive, GeekWire, The Airbnb Blog, VentureBeat, Engadget, ZDNet, CNET, The Next Web, Fortune and Tnooz. Tweets: @marcmccabe

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