Techmeme: SoftBank picks Sharp as partner for low-cost smartphones, will launch Aquos Crystal on Sprint (Mayumi Negishi/Wall Street Journal)

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August 18, 2014, 7:30 PM

Top News

Amir Efrati / The Information:

Google is working to overhaul Web services so it can legally offer them to kids; new features include dashboard for parents, child-safe YouTube, more — Google Seeks New Customers: Kids — Google has been working to overhaul its Web services so it can legally allow children to use them …

More: Wall Street Journal, CNET, Gigaom, Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, Electronista, The Verge, Engadget, EdSurge, The Hill, 9to5Google, Android Authority and AndroidHeadlines.com. Tweets: @theinformation

Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:

Hello, HP Stream 14: A $199 Windows laptop aimed squarely at the Chromebook market — Microsoft isn't taking the low-cost Chromebook threat lightly. Instead it's working with partners to create $199 to $249 Windows laptops and it has enlisted HP's help with the HP Stream 14.

Aliya Sternstein / Nextgov:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it was targeted and hacked by suspected foreign powers — Exclusive: Nuke Regulator Hacked by Suspected Foreign Powers — Nuclear Regulatory Commission computers within the past three years were successfully hacked by foreigners twice …

More: The Verge, Engadget and Daily Dot. Tweets: @markrussinovich

Ben Popper / The Verge:

Nextdoor now adopted by one in four neighborhoods in the US — The anti-Facebook: one in four American neighborhoods are now using this private social network — Neighborhood gossip and community policing thrive on Nextdoor — It was early in the morning when the flooding hit The Knolls …

Tweets: @brandee, @greylockvc, @jessgitner, @joshelman, @amcafee and @nextdoor

Eli Hodapp / Touch Arcade:

Exclusive Hands On With ‘Flappy Bird’ Creator Dong Nguyen's Next Game: ‘Swing Copters’ — Looking back on the Flappy Bird phenomenon, and the onslaught of games developer Dong Nguyen inspired with his brutally difficult single-tap gameplay, it's clear what made it so hard to put down.

Liam Spradlin / Android Police:

Google to launch “YouTube Music Key” a $10/month, ad-free subscription service with offline support — Exclusive: This Is YouTube Music Key, Google's Upcoming Subscription Service With Offline Support, Background Audio, No Ads, Free Play Music Key — Google has big plans for both YouTube and Google Play Music.

More: Gizmodo, Engadget, 9to5Google, The Verge, TechHive, The Next Web, Droid Life, MobileSyrup.com and Android Central

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

The team behind webOS TV jumps to Pebble to design the next generation of smartwatches — Pebble is dead-serious about competing in the face of Android Wear and whatever Apple is presumably working on. To that end, the company has just announced that it has hired Itai Vonshak as head …

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, Gigaom, TechnoBuffalo, Engadget, bizjournals and Connectedly

Todd Wasserman / Mashable:

Tumblr Partner Will Now Scan Photos for Clues About Brand Affiliation — Every day, users post about 130 million photos on Tumblr. Starting this week, the Yahoo-owned media brand will start to parse all those images for clues to users' brand affiliations.

More: VentureBeat, Engadget, The Verge, The Drum, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Adrants, SlashGear and Pocket-lint

David Gelles / New York Times:

Tech M&A deals increasingly conducted by corporate development teams with less input from investment banks — In Silicon Valley, Mergers Must Meet the Toothbrush Test — MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — When deciding whether Google should spend millions or even billions of dollars in acquiring a new company …

More: Quartz and Business Insider. Tweets: @erigonatti, @owlese, @reformedbroker, @sobendito, @epicureandeal, @jeffrey_cane and @nytimesbusiness

Mayumi Negishi / Wall Street Journal:

SoftBank picks Sharp as partner for low-cost smartphones, will launch Aquos Crystal on Sprint — SoftBank Picks Sharp as Partner for Low-Cost Smartphones — SoftBank Hopes Aquos Crystal Will Help Differentiate It and Sprint From Rivals — TOKYO— SoftBank Corp. and its U.S. unit …

Alastair Sharp / Reuters:

BlackBerry creates new unit for potential high-growth assets like QNX, Project Ion, cryptographic applications, 44K strong patent portfolio, more — BlackBerry creates new unit for potential high-growth assets — (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd said on Monday it has created a new unit to house …

More: BlackBerry Press Room, CNET, Wall Street Journal, Ubergizmo, Huffington Post Canada, InfotechLead.com, MobileSyrup.com, TheStreet.com and ZDNet

Carole Cadwalladr / Guardian:

Kim Dotcom: from playboy entrepreneur to political firebrand — He was the flamboyant founder of the popular Megaupload site. But when the US got New Zealand police to arrest him on charges of internet piracy, Kim Dotcom began a remarkable fightback — There are no hot-tubs. No super-yachts.

Tweets: @markamesexiled and @hkanji

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