Techmeme: Facebook bans incentivizing users to Like Pages, gives developers until November 5 to update apps (Emil Protalinski/The Next Web)

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August 8, 2014, 11:30 AM

Top News

Reuters:

China refutes claim of government ban on Apple purchases — (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) products such as laptops and tablets are not banned from Chinese government procurement lists, according to the country's chief procurement center, refuting a report claiming Apple was blacklisted on national security concerns.

More: MacRumors, VentureBeat, iMore and 9to5Mac

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Facebook bans incentivizing users to Like Pages, gives developers until November 5 to update apps — In addition to releasing Graph API version 2.1 today, Facebook also announced two important changes to its Platform Policies under games and proper use. Developers have 90 days (until November 5, 2014) to comply with the new rules.

More: Inquirer, Softpedia News, Electronista, Gizmodo, Facebook Developers, WebProNews and Ubergizmo. Thanks:@epro

Eric Johnson / Re/code:

Exclusive: Twitter-Mining News App SmartNews Raises $36 Million from Atomico and Gree — Japanese newsreading app SmartNews has raised $36 million in new funding, in a round led by growth-stage investment firm Atomico and mobile-social gaming company Gree. — The app is available on both iOS …

More: VentureBeat and Tech in Asia

Mat Honan / Wired:

Stewart Butterfield set out to build a game and failed; instead, he created Flickr and Slack — The Most Fascinating Profile You'll Ever Read About a Guy and His Boring Startup — Stewart is hungry. He's munching on potatoes smothered in chicken fat drippings, sitting by a long metal table …

More: StrictlyVC, kottke.org, Business Insider and Business Insider

Tweets: @kentgoldman, @stewart, @smc90, @fmanjoo, @joemfbrown, @pkedrosky, @stevekovach, @mims, @mattrosoff, @pmarca, @kevinroose, @caseynewton, @panzer, @waxpancake, @anildash and @om

Thanks:@nethistorypod

Joel Stein / Businessweek:

Silicon Valley Tech Entrepreneurs: Behind the Stereotype — Sam Altman sits behind his desk with his knees pulled up to his chest, eating dried apricots. He's 29, but even the most laissez-faire bartender would card him. His hand is forever grabbing his hair while he thinks, making it stick up in Einsteinian tufts.

More: Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Sam Altman, New York Magazine, Gigaom, Silicon Valley Watcher and Business Insider

Tweets: @sama, @om, @qthrul, @stevesi, @arrington, @liberationtech, @mikeisaac, @paulg, @joshuatopolsky, @eringriffith and @sama

David Pierce / The Verge:

The NFL Now app is a treasure trove of video for football fans — A few weeks before the 2014 season starts, the NFL has launched a new video network called NFL Now. First announced in January, it's made to bring the huge troves of football video into one place: highlights, interviews …

More: Engadget, 9to5Mac, CNET, Android Police, The Next Web, AppleInsider and Gizmodo. Thanks:@d_ghiglieri

Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:

U.S. patent office rejects Apple's autocomplete patent claim Samsung was found to infringe — Apple has just given up its thermonuclear ambitions and practically agreed with Google's 2011 statement that “bad software patent litigation is a wasteful war that no one can win”, but even in the U.S. …

More: 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, CNET, MacDailyNews, Tech2, Fast Company, AppleInsider and Electronista

Shara Tibken / CNET:

Samsung, Barnes & Noble to hold Nook event Aug. 20 — The presentation will detail the companies' efforts in tablets, including their first device — the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook — which they discussed in June. — Samsung and Barnes & Noble's Nook business sent an invite for an event later this month.

More: GadgeTell, GSMArena Blog, ITProPortal, SamMobile, Electronista, VentureBeat, Ubergizmo, US News, 9to5Google and Android Central

David Corbin / Tech in Asia:

Line announces $100M fund just for mobile games, acquires 10% stake in Gumi — The smartphone gaming market is a fickle beast. Hit games once elevated the revenues of DeNA (TYO:2432) and Gree (TYO:3632) to the stratosphere but neither gaming giant has truly conquered the international market.

More: The Next Web, Bloomberg, Reuters, LINE Corporation and Gamasutra

The Coinbase Blog:

Wikimedia Foundation Receives More Than $140,000 in Bitcoin Donations in First Week — Since it was founded in 2001, Wikipedia has provided tremendous value to the world by making it easy and free for anyone with an Internet connection to consume information.

More: CoinDesk, WebProNews and TechCrunch

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:

Brazil's Movile Raises $55 Million To Bring Universal Delivery Services To Latin America — The experiment with e-commerce and delivery services that's taking hold in the U.S. actually may see more traction in emerging markets, where big retailers had struggled because of infrastructure and logistics issues.

More: VentureBeat, PE Hub Blog and Re/code. Thanks:@deaconlf

Tom Dotan / The Information:

Facebook in Talks with Hollywood on ‘Oculus Experiences’ — The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset's first target market might have been video games—an obvious area of interest for new parent company Facebook. But it may soon go Hollywood too. — In recent weeks, Facebook representatives …

More: USA Today, Softpedia News, ITProPortal, Engadget and The Next Web

Tweets: @amir, @nichcarlson, @cityofthetown and @petersontee

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