Techmeme: Amazon introduces its $10 mobile card reader, Local Register, and undercuts Square and PayPal transaction fees (Daniel Cooper/Engadget)

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August 13, 2014, 12:35 PM

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James Bamford / Wired:

Edward Snowden is extensively interviewed in Moscow by NSA whistleblower James Bamford — Edward Snowden: The Untold Story — I am staying at the Hotel Metropol, a whimsical sand-colored monument to pre-revolutionary art nouveau. Built during the time of Czar Nicholas II …

More: Ars Technica, The Verge, Wired, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, NEWS.com.au, Gigaom, Washington Post, Engadget, Gizmodo, TIME, Hit & Run, Guardian, BuzzFeed, Nextgov, netzpolitik.org, Softpedia News, TechPresident, TODAY, Globe and Mail and The Awl

Tweets: @ggreenwald, @ggreenwald, @jayrosen_nyu, @joemfbrown, @zeynep, @jtes, @runasand, @glynmoody and @a_greenberg

Thanks:@srikardr

Kim Zetter / Wired:

NSA developing “MonsterMind” system to autonomously block and retaliate against cyberattacks — Meet MonsterMind, the NSA Bot That Could Wage Cyberwar Autonomously — Edward Snowden has made us painfully aware of the government's sweeping surveillance programs over the last year.

More: The Verge and Engadget. Thanks:@emilydreyfuss

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Snowden: I Left the NSA Clues, But They Couldn't Find Them — If the NSA still doesn't know the full extent of the greatest leak of secrets in its history, it's not because of Edward Snowden's attempts to cover his tracks. On the contrary, the NSA's most prolific whistleblower now claims …

Dustin Volz / National Journal:

Snowden: The NSA Caused a Massive Internet Blackout in Syria — The National Security Agency inadvertently brought Syria's Internet to a screeching halt nationwide in 2012 after a failed attempt to hack into the war-torn country's communications data, according to a new claim by Edward Snowden.

Daniel Cooper / Engadget:

Amazon introduces its $10 mobile card reader, Local Register, and undercuts Square and PayPal transaction fees — Amazon undercuts Square and PayPal with its own mobile card reader — Square's grand plan to democratize credit card payments has inspired a clutch of imitators, the latest of which is Amazon.

More: YouTube, Business Wire, Computerworld, Gigaom, Bloomberg, GeekWire, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, New York Times, VentureBeat, TechHive, CNET, Wired, Gotta Be Mobile, Guardian, US News, The Next Web, Android Central, Reuters, Gizmodo, Electronista, The Verge, MacRumors, WebProNews and Gizmodo UK

Tweets: @harper, @monkbent, @jyarow and @counternotions

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Amazon Goes After Square in the Way It Knows Best: Pricing — Amazon unveiled its long-awaited credit card reader on Wednesday, pitting it against Square and other companies in the battle to provide small businesses with an easier and cheaper way to accept credit card and debit card purchases.

Victor H. / PhoneArena:

Samsung launches Galaxy Alpha, 4.7 inch, metal frame, octa-core, $689 off-contract, arrives September — Samsung Galaxy Alpha is now official: metal-made and the thinnest Galaxy yet — After months of endless leaks, rumors and speculations, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha has finally gone official.

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:

WeChat climbs to 438 million monthly active users, closing in on WhatsApp's 500 million — Tencent published its earnings today for the second quarter of 2014, revealing a new milestone for its WeChat messaging app: it has risen to 438 million monthly active users, up from 396 million the previous quarter.

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Alibaba Strikes Deal to Boost Windfall From Potential Alipay IPO

More: TheStreet.com, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and New York Times

Eva Dou / Wall Street Journal:

Boosted by WeChat, Tencent's Net Profit Rises 59%

More: Re/code, Tech in Asia and Bloomberg

Jim Cowie / Renesys:

Internet Touches Half Million Routes: Outages Possible Next Week — There was minor consternation in Internet engineering circles today, as the number of IPv4 networks worldwide briefly touched another magic “power of 2″ size limit. As it turns out, 512K (524,288 to be exact …

More: ZDNet, BGPmon, SiliconANGLE, Nux!, ExtremeTech, Business Insider, The Register, ITProPortal and Xenophilia

Tweets: @dakami, @howiegoing and @renesys

Chris Ziegler / The Verge:

Samsung may unveil VR headset at September 3 event; image shows similarities to Google's Cardboard — This is Samsung's VR headset — Samsung will be showing its rumored virtual reality headset at its upcoming product event in early September, The Verge has learned, where the company widely expected to announce the Galaxy Note 4.

Roy Goldenberg / Globes Online:

Taxi hailing app co GetTaxi raises $150m — The company will expand services to European cities beyond its existing operations in London, Moscow and St. Petersburg. — Taxi hailing app company GetTaxi has raised $150 million in a huge financing round. The company has yet to name …

More: VentureBeat, PE Hub Blog, Bloomberg, Mashable and Tech.eu

Ina Fried / Re/code:

HTC builds separate business unit to make software for more than just HTC phones, launching Zoe video app for Android this week — HTC Builds Software Business Amid Tough Phone Market — Despite building some of the sexiest smartphones this side of Apple, HTC's hardware and financial challenges have been well documented.

Elyse Betters / Pocket-lint:

Polaroid Cube is a tiny camera that records 1080p video and is ultra rugged — Polaroid has launched a new camera that can fit into your pocket and shoot full 1080p HD video. It can even withstand a tumble and some water. Originally unveiled at CES 2014, the new Polaroid Cube measures less …

More: Engadget, Mashable, NBC News, Geek.com, Business Insider, Tom's Guide and Electronista

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

Instagram appoints Facebook's James Quarles as Global Head of Business and Brand Development — Instagram Hires New Ad Chief — Instagram is ready to make some money. — Facebook Regional Director James Quarles has been tapped as Instagram's new Global Head of Business and Brand Development, according to a Facebook spokesperson.

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Lookout Lands $150M To Bring Mobile Security Product To Enterprise — Lookout, a mobile security product that to this point has been mostly geared towards consumers, announced today they had snagged $150M in Series F funding to begin focusing on enterprise customers.

More: Re/code, Gigaom, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, New York Times, CNET, Fortune, FierceMobileIT News and SecurityWeek

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Shift Is Developing A Debit Card That Lets You Spend Digital Currency, Loyalty Points And Regular Money — In the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in the world, 100 people are testing out a debit card that lets them pay with bitcoin and ripple, and, in the future, regular money and loyalty points.

More: Engadget, CoinDesk, Electronista and Y Combinator Posthaven

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Uber integrates turn-by-turn navigation for drivers, lets riders select destination pre-pickup — Uber Adds Turn-By-Turn Directions To Its Driver App — There's no doubt that Uber has made many of our lives more convenient, by enabling passengers to hail a ride via mobile app.

More: Uber Blog, 9to5Google, The Next Web, iMore and GadgeTell

Sonja Hegman Andras / AllFacebook:

Facebook Engineers Kill iOS Bug, Reduce Crash Rate by 50% — Facebook engineers have solved a long-term mobile bugging issue in iOS, reducing its crash rate by more than 50 percent. According to the company's engineering blog, one of mobile's top crashes was in the Apple Core Data system.

More: Facebook Code, Cult of Mac, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, ITProPortal, App Advice, Gizmodo UK, Mashable and Wired

Sebastian Anthony / ExtremeTech:

Reversible USB Type-C connector finalized: Devices, cables, and adapters coming soon — The USB Promoter Group has announced that the greatest invention in the known universe — the reversible Type-C USB connector — is finally ready for mass production. The USB Implementers Forum …

More: Engadget, Ars Technica, Business Wire, Gigaom, PC World, Gearburn, Geek.com, Gizmodo UK, Techgage, iClarified, Android Central, WinBeta, Cult of Mac, 9to5Google and Liliputing

Tweets: @whatthebit, @stevesi, @rauschma and @olebegemann

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Messaging company Line's new photo app is dedicated to taking the perfect selfie — Japanese messaging giant Line is pushing hard to associate itself with the selfie. It introduced a selfie-stickers app (!), has polled Europeans on their “selfie addiction,” and now is taking things further …

More: LINE official blog, Chinatopix and TechCrunch

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple Stores to start offering iPhones via carrier financing on Aug. 20th — A significant number of Apple Stores in the United States will likely begin offering iPhone sales via the latest carrier financing programs later this month, according to several sources.

More: Gigaom, MacDailyNews, Gotta Be Mobile, blog.chron.com, MacNN and SlashGear

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

US online retailer Newegg is now selling in India, Singapore and 4 other countries — Online US electronics retailer Newegg has expanded its footprint in Europe and moved into Asia, after launching localized sites in India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Singapore.

More: Newegg, Techgoondu, CNET, NDTV Gadgets, socalTECH.com and MediaNama

Sapna Maheshwari / BuzzFeed:

Hukkster's closure could have been prevented with a deal between Winklevoss and debtholders — Exclusive: A Standoff Between The Winklevoss Twins And Debtholders Killed Hukkster — Hukkster, the discount-tracking app backed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, was dying but managed to find a savior in Marc Lore's Jet.com.

More: Valleywag

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Opens Classroom, Its Learning Management Tool, To All Teachers — Back in May, Google announced the limited preview of Classroom, a tool that aims to make it easier for teachers to stay in touch with their students and to give them assignments and feedback.

More: EdSurge, Computerworld, Tech Times, ZDNet, Hack Education, Ubergizmo, Google Enterprise Blog, The Register, Engadget, PC Tech Magazine, thejournal.com, Android Police, 9to5Google and The Next Web

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