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July 29, 2014, 1:50 AM

Top News

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: Computerworld, AllFacebook, The Verge, The Next Web, Phandroid, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Google, TruTowerTruTower, App Advice, Business Insider, AppleInsider, MacRumors, iMore, The Mac Observer, Android Central and myfox8.com

Tweets: @joshconstine and @harrymccracken

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

Hackers Plundered Israeli Defense Firms that Built ‘Iron Dome’ Missile Defense System — Three Israeli defense contractors responsible for building the “Iron Dome” missile shield currently protecting Israel from a barrage of rocket attacks were compromised by hackers and robbed of huge quantities …

More: The Register, RT, Nextgov and Business Insider. Tweets: @joshconstine

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, CIO.com, Liliputing, TechSpot, The Register, Digital Trends, Re/code, Ars Technica, WebProNews, PC Magazine, Engadget, The Hill and Web Browser

Tweets: @lsblakk, @mozilla and @cbeard

John Cook / GeekWire:

Rhapsody tops 2 million paid subscribers, expands music service overseas with mobile deals — Rhapsody — one of the pioneers in the online music arena — said today that it has topped two million paying subscribers for its Rhapsody and Napster music services.

More: The Next Web, CNET, TechCrunch, ABC News, Gigaom, Re/code, Engadget, Los Angeles Times and New York Times

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

Yelp for iPhone now lets you add 12-second videos to your reviews, Android to follow soon — While the move isn't exactly surprising, Yelp has announced that it is now opening its mobile apps to user-generated videos to help create more engaging, visual reviews.

More: Yelp Official Blog, Digital Trends, AppleInsider, CNET, Business Insider, MacRumors, 9to5Google, WebProNews, 9to5Mac and App Advice

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

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

Apple drops cross-appeal, forever accepts denial of injunction in first Samsung case — While a global, comprehensive settlement of the patent spat between Apple and Samsung has not materialized yet, the dispute continues to lose steam every month, and noticeably so.

More: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, The Register, Electronista, MacDailyNews and iPhone in Canada Blog

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, BGR, Deadline.com and VentureBeat

See also Mediagazer

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Twitter Won't Unveil New Growth Metrics for Q2 Earnings — Twitter reports its Q2 earnings tomorrow afternoon, which means investors will be judging whether Dick Costolo has fixed his growth problem. — One thing they won't see or hear about, though, will be a new set of metrics from Twitter describing the company's reach scale.

Kif Leswing / Gigaom:

TouchPico lets you project an Android screen onto any wall, control it with a stylus — Here's a novel way to control Android on a projector — A new Indiegogo is selling a Android-equipped pico projector which integrates an infrared pen to approximate a touch interface.

More: Gizmodo and TechCrunch

Wall Street Journal:

Most Hilton locations worldwide will let customers unlock rooms with their smartphones by 2017 — A New Room Key at the Hilton: Your Smartphone — Hilton is placing a $550 million bet that hotel guests increasingly will use smartphones to choose rooms, check in and even unlock doors.

More: Hilton, AppleInsider, The Verge, Gizmodo, TechSpot, TUAW, Android Authority, BGR, SlashGear, Forrester Blogs, Softpedia News, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacDailyNews, Gizmodo UK, 9to5Google, Android Central, iMore, App Advice, iPhone Hacks and GSMArena Blog. Tweets: @globalbta

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Windows comes to Raspberry Pi-style board in Microsoft/Intel project — Sharks Cove. — Microsoft — Even Microsoft wants a piece of the development board market made famous by Arduino and Raspberry Pi. — Microsoft has teamed up with Intel and hardware maker CircuitCo to design the $300 …

More: The Register, MSDN Blogs and Microsoft News

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, Computerworld, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reuters, Gigaom, Neowin, CNET, DailyTech, TIME, TechnoBuffalo, Business Insider, PC Magazine, GeekWire, theWHIR.com, GamePolitics blogs, The Next Web and Windows Phone Central

Quentyn Kennemer / Phandroid:

LG launches new Android tablet/netbook hybrid with 4GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and an Intel Core i5 — Add one more to the list of ridiculous Android tablets. LG has revealed a variant of their Tab Book, a netbook/tablet hybrid that folds down into a tablet while you're on the go and slides …

More: 9to5Google, Android Police, NDTV Gadgets, MobileBurn.com, TechRadar.com, Digital Trends, AndroidHeadlines.com, Phones Review, Ubergizmo, Android Authority, Android Community and Liliputing

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

A/B Testing Service Leanplum Raises $4.8M Series A Round, Adds Marketing Automation Tools — Leanplum, an A/B testing service for iOS and Android apps, today announced that it has raised a $4.8 million Series A round from Shasta Ventures. Previously, the company had raised an $825,000 angel round …

More: Wall Street Journal, silicontap.com, VentureBeat, Gigaom, VatorNews and Pocket Gamer.biz

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: Windows Phone, The Windows Blog, Wpxbox, SuperSite for Windows, Pocketnow, PC World, Engadget and The Next Web. Tweets: @incanus77

Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:

Zillow to Buy Trulia for $3.5 Billion in All-Stock Deal — 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.

More: Associated Press, GeekWire, Bloomberg, VatorNews, VentureBeat, Gigaom, Businessweek, Washington Post, ReadWrite, LOCAL ONLINER, TechSpot, Slate, TheStreet.com, The Verge, Mashable, Xconomy, Marketing Land, CNET, WebProNews, and Fortune. Tweets: @owenthomas

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: NPR, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, 9to5Mac, Mashable, App Advice, Laughing Squid, Engadget, AllAccess.com, Gadget Review, iMore, niemanlab.org, VentureBeat and 9to5Google. Tweets: @theromit

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Bolt, Instagram's photo-messaging app expected to launch this week, may face legal challenge over name — 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 …

More: Mashable, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, Pocketnow, TruTowerTruTower, The Technology Chronicles, Inside Facebook and VentureBeat

Tweets: @techcrunch and @joshconstine

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