Techmeme: Microsoft adds another feature to Cortana, Foursquare data now serves up recommendations (Brad Sams/Neowin)

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July 29, 2014, 11:55 AM

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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 …

Richard Padilla / MacRumors:

Apple Launches Retina MacBook Pros with Faster Haswell Processors, More RAM Standard — As indicated over the weekend and yesterday, Apple today launched refreshed 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros.The new notebooks feature faster versions of Intel's Haswell processors …

More: Apple, PC Magazine, Business Insider, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, Computerworld, BGR, ZDNet, Re/code, Gigaom, USA Today, Macworld, AppleInsider, LAPTOP Magazine, TIME, AnandTech, The Next Web, TechnoBuffalo, BetaNews, MacStories, Electronista, The Verge, MacNN, iMore, Inquirer, Engadget, Gearburn, SlashGear, AppleInsider, Gizmodo, TechCrunch and TUAW. Tweets: @joannastern

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft is about to launch a selfie phone and a new ‘high-end’ Windows Phone — Microsoft is planning to launch two new Windows Phone 8.1 devices shortly. Sources familiar with the company's plans tell The Verge that Microsoft devices chief Stephen Elop revealed both handsets during an internal company meeting this week.

More: Engadget, Inquirer, BGR, Gizmodo, Neowin, Softpedia News, SlashGear, Windows Phone Central, WMPoweruser, Electronista and PC World

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft pits Siri against Cortana in new Windows Phone 8.1 ad

More: PC World, ZDNet, TIME, Softpedia News, Tech Times, AppleInsider, Pocketnow and Gigaom. Tweets: @dannysullivan

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Fitbit is the first fitness band to support Windows Phone

More: USA Today, Windows Phone, The Windows Blog, ITProPortal, Wpxbox, Ubergizmo, GSMArena Blog and PC World. Tweets: @incanus77

Andy / TorrentFreak:

UK police start placing anti-piracy warning ads on copyright-infringing websites — Police Begin Placing Warning Adverts on ‘Pirate’ Sites — For a year, City of London Police have been working with the music and movie industries on initiatives to cut down on the consumption of pirated content online.

More: BBC, Ars Technica, Engadget, CNET, TechCrunch, Inquirer, Softpedia News, Gigaom, Wired.co.uk, Neowin, PC Pro and The Next Web

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Flipkart raises $1 billion to strengthen its bid to own India's e-commerce space — It's turning into quite a year for Flipkart. Today the e-commerce company from India has confirmed the much-reported rumor that it has raised $1 billion in fresh investment, as it eyes new verticals …

More: New York Times, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Economic Times, Wall Street Journal, Quartz, DNA India, NDTV Profit, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Hindu Business Line, BGR India and MediaNama. Tweets: @flipkart

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

BlackBerry acquires mobile security firm SecuSmart, an anti-eavesdropping provider — BlackBerry acquires Secusmart, ups voice security ante — Summary: BlackBerry's acquisition of German software firm Secusmart is aimed at securing voice and data and putting better mobile security in every president and chancellor's hand.

More: VentureBeat, Gigaom, Inquirer, TechCrunch, Marketwired, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Tweets: @ldignan

Brad Sams / Neowin:

Microsoft adds another feature to Cortana, Foursquare data now serves up recommendations — Earlier this year, Microsoft invested 15 million dollars into Foursquare and the fruits of that investment are starting to pay off as the data is now being integrated into Cortana.

More: The Next Web, WinBeta, The Verge, Softpedia News and Engadget

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Uber Gets Down To Business With New Travel Expense Tools And Concur Integration — On-demand ride-hailing service Uber has spent four years building a perfect transportation alternative to taxis and black car services in cities around the world. But until today it's just been focused on consumer travel.

More: NPR, The Next Web, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @teroojanpera. Thanks:@ryanlawler

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Android crypto blunder exposes users to highly privileged malware — A slide from next week's Black Hat talk titled Android Fake ID vulnerability. — Bluebox Security — The majority of devices running Google's Android operating system are susceptible to hacks that allow malicious apps …

More: Gizmodo, Guardian, eWeek, InfoWorld, Bluebox Security, AppleInsider, Gigaom, Electronista and Financial Times. Thanks:@accretivegrowth

Jared Sinclair:

“Unread” app sales show how hard it is for indie developers to earn a living from paid-up-front apps — A Candid Look at Unread's First Year — To my knowledge, indie developers don't publish the kind of numbers that you'll find in this post.

More: Marco.org, Benjamin Mayo, tyler.io and inessential.com

Tweets: @cdixon and @cdixon

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: Guardian, The Register, Softpedia News, Washington Post, The Hacker News, Wired.co.uk, RT, Nextgov, Gizmodo and Business Insider. Tweets: @joshconstine

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:

This Is What Tech's Ugly Gender Problem Really Looks Like — Shortly after Kathryn Tucker started Red Rover, an app that showcases local events for kids, she pitched the idea to an angel investor at a New York tech event. But it didn't go over well. When she finished her pitch, the investor said he didn't invest in women.

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @cindygallop, @sarahfrier, @danshapiro, @taralach, @jenna, @collision and @tonyromm

Karissa Bell / Mashable:

LinkedIn Redesigns Mobile Profiles to Put Relationships Into Context — LinkedIn's flagship app has gotten a major overhaul. — The company rolled out an update to its app Tuesday morning, unveiling completely redesigned user profiles that focus on adding contextual information.

More: Official LinkedIn Blog, ReadWrite, Business Insider, CNET, App Advice, The Next Web and memeburn. Tweets: @dbreger

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: MSDN Blogs, PC World, Inquirer, Engadget, Electronista, WinBeta, ITProPortal, SlashGear, PC Pro, Gizmodo, bit-tech.net, The Register, Softpedia News, Microsoft News and Wired.co.uk

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.

More: Guardian, PandoDaily, Wall Street Journal and Marketing Land

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:

Enterprise Investments Surge To Over $5.4 Billion — After years of backing headline-grabbing consumer internet deals, it seems that venture capitalists are paying more attention (and more money) to the seemingly staid and stodgy enterprise technology companies (the businesses that sell technology to make businesses work better).

Tweets: @qthrul

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, Engadget, Guardian, TechCrunch, Softpedia News, Music Ally, CNET, Tech Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Associated Press, Gigaom and Re/code

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, USA Today, Digital Trends, TechSpot, iDownloadBlog.com, Neowin, AppleInsider, CNET, Wired.co.uk, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, SmallBusiness.com, App Advice, WebProNews, MacRumors and 9to5Google

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