Techmeme: The NFL Now app is a treasure trove of video for football fans (David Pierce/The Verge)

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August 8, 2014, 9:35 AM

Top News

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: Sam Altman, Gigaom, Silicon Valley Watcher and Business Insider

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

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: iMore and 9to5Mac

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

Thanks:@nethistorypod

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: Gizmodo 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: Tech in Asia

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. See also Mediagazer

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, MacDailyNews, CNET, Tech2, Fast Company, AppleInsider and Electronista

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, ITProPortal, Engadget and The Next Web

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

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: ITProPortal, SamMobile, VentureBeat, Ubergizmo, US News, 9to5Google and Android Central

Louis Gray / Google Developers Blog:

Google Fit Preview SDK now available — At Google I/O we announced Google Fit: an open platform for developers to more easily build fitness apps. Today we're making a preview SDK available to developers so that you can start to build. — Google Fit provides a single set of APIs for apps …

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

VSCO releases Cam 3.0 for Android, bringing it on par with iPhone app with access to VSCO Grid — Android's best photography app now lets you follow your friends — VSCO Cam 3.0 for Android gains proper support for the VSCO Grid, performance improvements

More: The Next Web, Softpedia News, VSCO and Digital Trends

Reed Hastings / Facebook:

Netflix passed HBO in subscriber revenue last quarter, still behind on profits — Minor milestone: last quarter we passed HBO is subscriber revenue ($1.146B vs $1.141B). They still kick our ass in profits and Emmy's, but we are making progress. HBO rocks, and we are honored to be in the same league.

More: VentureBeat, Re/code, TechSpot, Washington Post, Ars Technica, Wired, GamePolitics blogs, ZDNet, Daily Dot, Business Insider, TechHive, Mashable, DSLreports, WebProNews, Quartz and Softpedia News

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

GOP posts a petition supporting Uber, wants your contact info — Hey, Uber! Republicans have your back. — Like Uber? So does the Republican National Committee! — So much so that it has posted a a petition in support of the app-based ridesharing service on its Web site.

More: The Daily Beast, Politico, Salon, The Wire, News & Views …, TIME, Chicago Business, Wall Street Journal, AdAge, The Hill, TechCrunch, Nextgov and Daily Dot

Paul Carsten / Reuters:

China to force real-name registrations on public accounts of instant messaging apps; blocks KakaoTalk and Line — China imposes new restrictions on instant messaging tools: Xinhua — (Reuters) - China will force real-name registrations on users of instant messaging tools …

More: Xinhua News Agency, Associated Press, The Next Web, Tech Times, BBC, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CIO.com, Variety and The Next Web

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