Techmeme: Virgin Mobile intros customizable prepaid smartphone plans with options for unlimited data on certain services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest (Ryan Knutson/Wall Street Journal)

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July 31, 2014, 7:25 AM

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Chris Duckett / ZDNet:

Samsung mobile profit down by a third in 2Q 2014 — Summary: A decline in profitability of Samsung's IT and mobile communications division has pulled overall profit for the Korean conglomerate lower. — Chris Duckett — Samsung has announced an overall 15 percent fall in operating profit …

More: Samsung Tomorrow, Digital Trends, ABC News, The Verge, The Next Web, Re/code, Inquirer, Fortune, Engadget, Bloomberg, PC World, ITProPortal, Telegraph, BBC, Ars Technica and Electronista. Tweets: @asymco

Min-Jeong Lee / Wall Street Journal:

Samsung VP: two new smartphones coming within six months, one with a “large screen”, the other with “new materials” — Samsung to Launch New Smartphones as Profit Falls — One Model Will Have a Large Screen While the Other Will Be Built Using New Materials

More: SamMobile, Forbes and The Verge

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Internet.Org's App With Free Access To Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, Local Info Launches In Zambia — 85% of the 5 billion people without Internet simply can't afford data plans. So Facebook's accessibility initiative Internet.org today launches its Android and web app for the developing world …

More: Facebook Newsroom, Re/code, Gizmodo, PC World, Guardian, The Verge, Mercury News, BBC, Wall Street Journal, The Next Web, Softpedia News, Mark Zuckerberg, Wired.co.uk, Bloomberg, Techzim, Emirates 24/7, Wired and Webrazzi

Tweets: @joshconstine and @thomasbcn

Thanks:@joshconstine

Walt Mossberg / Re/code:

Exclusive Interview: Best Buy CEO Says Tablet Sales Are “Crashing,” Hope for PCs — Re/code has landed in Minneapolis to talk to the folks at Best Buy — the last standing nationwide big-box, bricks-and-mortar consumer electronics retailer, with over 1,000 main stores and hundreds of smaller mobile device stores.

More: Softpedia News, ITProPortal, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, Digital Trends, Electronista, TechSpot, TechnoBuffalo, Good E-Reader, PC World and BGR

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Heads rolling at Beats as Apple eliminating redundant positions, Ian Rogers & Trent Reznor to stay on — As Apple's acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music nears completion this financial quarter, the Cupertino and Santa Monica, California-based companies have begun work …

More: Bloomberg, Digital Trends, ZDNet, iMore, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac, Ubergizmo, Boing Boing, VentureBeat, InvestorPlace, TechnoBuffalo, iPhone in Canada Blog, Business Insider, Electronista and App Advice

Tweets: @9to5mac and @monkbent

See also Mediagazer

Reuters:

European regulators training sights on Google's mobile software — (Reuters) - European regulators are preparing what could be a stern challenge to Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) (GOOG.O) mobile software business in the coming months after a nearly four-year investigation into the company's Web …

More: ZDNet, TechCrunch, 9to5Google and CNET

Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:

64-Bit Chrome for Windows, Now in Beta — 2 months after the Dev/Canary channels, the 64-bit version of Chrome for Windows is now available in the beta channel. It's still limited to Windows 7 and Windows 8+ and you obviously need a 64-bit operating system.

More: Google Chrome Releases, 9to5Google, TechSpot, Ubergizmo, Web Browser, PC World and Android Central

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

1Password debuts extension for third party apps on iOS 8 — The popular password and security management app 1Password has already previewed its iOS 8 extension and Touch ID support for unlocking and accessing its content outside of its iOS app, and today AgileBits has announced …

More: Agile Blog, GitHub, The Register, PC Pro, Engadget, The Verge, App Advice, iMore, Redmond Pie, TechCrunch, MacNN, Macgasm, Softpedia News, iPhone in Canada Blog and SyrupCast

Ryan Knutson / Wall Street Journal:

Virgin Mobile intros customizable prepaid smartphone plans with options for unlimited data on certain services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest — Sprint Will Sell a $12 Wireless Plan that Only Connects to Facebook or Twitter — For about $12, Sprint will soon let subscribers buy …

More: Gigaom, AVC, Sprint, Electronista, TechHive, Light Reading, Gizmodo, Mashable and TIME

Tweets: @dannysullivan, @wolfpuptk, @wsj, @chimeracoder, @iansteadman and @qthrul

Josh Ong / The Next Web:

Google releases the source code for its I/O 2014 app as a template for developers — Google today published the source code for its I/O 2014 app in hopes of teaching developers some of its best practices for Android apps. — While you may have used the I/O 2014 app to plan your schedule at the conference …

More: Android Developers Blog, 9to5Google and Android Central

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

NomadPlus Transforms an Apple Charger Into a Portable Battery — Nomad, the company behind the pocket-sized NomadKey iPhone cable, today debuted the NomadPlus, a product that transforms an Apple charger into a portable battery pack. — While there are hundreds of different portable battery options …

More: Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, iPhone in Canada Blog, SlashGear, GadgeTell and Ubergizmo

Agam Shah / PC World:

AMD announces dev kit with 64-bit ARM-based server chips for $2,999; paves way for x86 coexistence — AMD's new 64-bit ARM board points way to x86 coexistence — Advanced Micro Devices is moving closer to a motherboard design that will accept both x86 and ARM chips with the shipment of its first 64-bit ARM board.

More: Red Hat News & Press Release, AMD, Softpedia News, The Register, News & Product Reviews …, Liliputing, The Tech Report and ZDNet

Carolyn Said / San Francisco Chronicle:

Medical marijuana delivery service Eaze launches in SF, hoping to be the “Uber of pot” — Medical marijuana users link to delivery services with Eaze — Deliveries will be free for patients, with driver fees and Eaze paid by dispensaries in exchange for gaining new business.

More: NDTV Gadgets, SFWeekly, Chinatopix, Betabeat, Business Wire, San Francisco magazine, bizjournals and Mashable. Tweets: @csaid

Brooke Crothers / CNET:

DisplayMate: Surface Pro 3 has one of the best, most accurate displays available on any mobile platform and OS — Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 wins plaudits for display, says researcher — Microsoft's newest 12-inch tablet has one of the best displays of any tablet out there, according to DisplayMate Technologies.

More: DisplayMate, PC World, Maximum PC, Ubergizmo, WinBeta, Windows Phone Central, Gizmodo, Forbes and ZDNet

Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:

Samsung's Milk Music Update Adds $3.99 Premium Subscription Option — Samsung pitched Milk Music this spring as a totally free music service exclusive to its devices, but slipped in at the end that it might not be free forever. You can still stream tunes for free without ads …

More: The Verge, Engadget, The Next Web and Android Central

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

Popcorn Time Adds Apple TV Support, iOS App Coming Soon — The Popcorn Time phenomenon is one of the biggest piracy stories of the year thus far. — The software became an instant hit by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming in an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.

More: Business Insider, BGR, iPhone in Canada Blog, Softpedia News and Cult of Mac. See also Mediagazer

David Pierce / The Verge:

Lytro Illum review: an expensive, flawed, buggy glimpse of the future of photography — Lytro Illum review: this is the camera of the future — It's almost time to forget everything you ever knew about photography — Ten minutes into using the Lytro Illum, I'm throwing out everything I've ever learned about photography.

More: The Verge, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Next Web

Bloomberg:

Snapchat Said in Funding Talks With Alibaba at $10 Billion — Snapchat Inc., the company that makes a mobile application for disappearing photo messages, is in talks with investors including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) for a round of financing that may value the company at $10 billion, people with knowledge of the situation said.

Maria Kiselyova / Reuters:

Russia wants access to Apple and SAP source code to see if their products are used for spying — Russia wants Apple, SAP to cooperate against foreign spying — (Reuters) - Russia has proposed that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and SAP (SAPG.DE) hand the government access to their source code …

More: Ubergizmo, Neowin, Softpedia News, Redmond Pie, The Moscow Times, AppleInsider, Engadget, ITAR-TASS and iLounge

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Yelp Swings To Profitability In Strong Q2 With $88.8M In Revenue, EPS Of $0.04 — Today after the bell Yelp reported its second-quarter financial performance, including revenue of $88.79 million, and a profit of $0.04 per share. The company had net income of $2.7 million in the period, up from a $878,000 loss in the year-ago quarter.

More: Yelp, Business Insider, Marketing Land, ScreenwerkScreenwerk, Re/code, WebProNews, TheStreet.com, 24/7 Wall St., Tech Trader Daily and Fortune

Biz Carson / Gigaom:

BitPay cuts transaction fees on starter plan, making bitcoin payment processing free (and unlimited) for merchants — The Atlanta-based payment processor plans to announce today that it's dropped the 1 percent transaction fee on all starter plans. — The financial barrier to bitcoin processing just got obliterated.

More: The BitPay Blog, Finextra Research news, bizjournals, CoinDesk and NEWSBTC. Tweets: @startupljackson

Elliot Njus / Oregonian:

Portland legalizes Airbnb-style short-term rentals — Portland will start issuing permits for its first legal short-term rental operations in private homes as soon as September. — The Portland City Council on Wednesday gave its OK for Portlanders to rent out one or two bedrooms in their home …

More: The Airbnb Public Policy Blog, Forest Grove News Times and Associated Press

Sam Gustin / Motherboard:

FCC Chairman: Verizon Uses a ‘Disturbing’ Loophole to Throttle Unlimited Data — Federal Communication Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is “deeply troubled” about Verizon Wireless's recently-announced plan to begin slowing down data speeds for some customers, he wrote in a strongly-worded letter to the company's CEO on Wednesday.

More: Verizon Wireless, Re/code, Ars Technica, Mashable, Associated Press, The Verge, Tech Times, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, MediaPost, Bloomberg, Consumerist, PhoneDog, Droid Life, Washington Post, 9to5Mac, TechHive, TechnoBuffalo and WebProNews

Tweets: @dannysullivan and @howardlindzon

Thanks:@samgustin

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