Techmeme
July 28, 2014, 11:50 AM

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.
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 …
Builtvisible:
A history of the undersea cables that carry much of the world's international internet traffic  —  Messages in the Deep - The Remarkable Story of the Underwater Internet  —  In October of 1971, in the midst of the Cold War, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Halibut entered heavily guarded Russian waters in the Sea of Okhotsk.
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Amazon apparently set to launch Square-competitor in August as it develops biometric payment solutions  —  Amazon could be preparing to launch its own mobile credit card reading hardware in the coming weeks, according to internal Staples documents hinting at such a launch that we've obtained.
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Ultrapak external battery packs can grab a full charge for a standard smartphone in 15 minutes  —  How to Charge Your Phone in 15 Minutes  —  Say you've got 15 minutes in an airport between flights and your phone is nearly dead.  What do you do?  —  In the past, you had two choices.
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
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Europe approves Apple's $3 billion takeover of Beats  —  Apple is official a step closer to owning Beats, as the $3 billion merger has just been cleared by European regulators.  The EU commission ruled that the merger “did not raise concerns because the combined (headphone) market share of Apple and Beats Electronics is low.”
Ben Woods / The Next Web:
Amazon launches a portal dedicated to customizing and selling 3D-printed products  —  Amazon has introduced a new portal on its site that is designed to bring together and highlight 3D-printed products for sale on the platform.  —  The company said that the marketplace is home to more than …
Ben Gilbert / Engadget:
The battle for virtual reality: Google, Samsung, Sony and Oculus VR  —  Back in June, Google revealed Cardboard: an open-source attempt at mobile virtual reality.  Heck, even the “hardware” is open source —here are instructions to make your own, right now!  —  But the concept is more than a low-tech solution to mobile VR.

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Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI's Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the "Artificial State" + Train of Thought
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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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.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Nick Bostrom: Worries About AI Existential Risk Just Became More Concrete
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Training Data:
Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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