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September 15, 2014, 3:30 PM

Top News

Owen Hill / Mojang:

Mojang's founders Markus “Notch” Persson, Carl Manneh, and Jakob Porsér to leave the company after Microsoft acquisition — Yes, we're being bought by Microsoft — Yes, the deal is real. Mojang is being bought by Microsoft. — It was reassuring to see how many of …

Markus Persson / notch.net:

Markus “Notch” Persson on selling and leaving Mojang: “It's not about the money. It's about my sanity.” — I'm leaving Mojang — September 15th, 2014 I don't see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it's fun, and because I love games and I love to program …

Microsoft Corporation:

Microsoft buys Minecraft maker Mojang for $2.5B — Minecraft to join Microsoft — Iconic cross-platform franchise to become part of Microsoft Studios. — Microsoft Corp. today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Mojang, the celebrated Stockholm-based game developer, and the company's iconic “Minecraft” franchise.

More: Slate, Gigaom, ReadWrite, PC World, eWeek, Ars Technica, LiveSide.net, StrictlyVC, VatorNews, ZDNet, Guardian, Engadget, The Register, Associated Press, Quartz, TechCrunch, GeekWire, Tech Trader Daily, TUAW, Inquirer, Business Insider, WinBeta, Softpedia News, Techie Buzz, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, CNET, Bloomberg, Kotaku, iDownloadBlog.com, Gizmodo, Reuters, GeekWire, The Tech Report and Electronista

Tweets: @pkafka, @edbott and @dinabass

Phil Spencer / Xbox Wire:

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer: we will “grow the Minecraft community and nurture the franchise”, continue to make the game available on all existing platforms — Minecraft to Join Microsoft — By Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox — Today is an incredibly exciting day for our team …

More: SiliconBeat, Gizmodo, GeekWire, BetaNews, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, CNNMoney.com, DailyTech, Wired, TIME, Gotta Be Mobile, Gigaom, SuperSite for Windows, Softpedia News, WinBeta and Blue's News

Tweets: @satyanadella and @thurrott

Ben Thompson / stratechery:

Minecraft fits into Nadella's new vision for Microsoft, but the Xbox business creates conflict

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

Microsoft buys Mojang, Minecraft: Five reasons it makes strategic sense

More: Guardian

Apple:

Apple Announces Record Pre-orders for iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus Top Four Million in First 24 Hours — Available in More Than 20 Additional Countries on Friday, September 26 — Apple® today announced a record number of first day pre-orders of iPhone® 6 and iPhone 6 Plus …

Leo Kelion / BBC:

Google launches Android One smartphones for around $105 in India, supports seven local languages and offline YouTube playback — Android One smartphones released in India by three companies — The three new smartphones feature the Android One branding on their backs

Wall Street Journal:

Bill Gurley says Silicon Valley is taking on the most risk since 1999, will see high-profile failures in the next year or two — Venture Capitalist Sounds Alarm on Startup Investing — Silicon Valley Has Taken on Too Much Risk, Gurley Says — Silicon Valley is a risk-driven place.

More: Re/code, SiliconBeat, Valleywag and Business Insider

Tweets: @caseynewton, @kgimvalley and @bgurley

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Apple makes it easier to delete the new U2 album from iTunes libraries — Responds to controversy around ‘Songs of Innocence’ being pushed to people's devices with new web removal tool — Apple has responded to criticism of its deal to give away U2's new album to iTunes users by making …

More: Official Apple Support, Re/code, 9to5Mac, BBC, TechCrunch, iMore, Macworld, The Verge, Gigaom, AppleInsider, The Next Web, Business Insider, MacRumors, GeekWire, iLounge, Bloomberg and Valleywag

Brett King / Finextra:

Apple Pay cements NFC as the industry standard, accelerates the shift toward ubiquitous mobile payments — Africa, ApplePay and the iPhone 6: Resistance is futile — If you've followed my bullish ramblings on mobile payments here at Finextra, you'll know that talk of the coming ubiquitousness …

More: Tech-Thoughts

The Hill:

With Apple Pay, Apple could be regulated like a financial institution

More: Credit Slips

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Apple Pay's in-app checkout option competes directly with PayPal, could pose a greater threat if Apple offers checkout button for mobile web

More: PandoDaily

Christina Farr / Reuters:

Stanford, Duke University hospitals to launch HealthKit trials with diabetics, other patients — Exclusive: Two Apple medical trials shed light on how HealthKit will work — (Reuters) - Two prominent U.S. hospitals are preparing to launch trials with diabetics and chronic disease patients …

More: Macworld, Engadget, MacRumors, SlashGear, iMore, Tech Times, CNET, ZDNet, Patently Apple, MacDailyNews, AppleInsider and iPhone in Canada Blog. Tweets: @grantabt

WikiLeaks:

WikiLeaks releases copies of FinFisher malware governments reportedly use to spy on journalists, political dissidents, and others — SpyFiles 4 — Today, 15 September 2014, WikiLeaks releases previously unseen copies of weaponised German surveillance malware used by intelligence agencies around …

More: The Next Web, Engadget, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, CNET, The Register, SecurityWeek, RT, The Online Citizen and SlashGear. See also Mediagazer

Vlad Savov / The Verge:

Panasonic puts a 1-inch sensor and a Leica lens on new CM1 smartphone — Seeking to set a new benchmark for the cameraphone category — Panasonic has made the biggest news of Photokina so far with the announcement of its new Lumix CM1 Android smartphone.

Ina Fried / Re/code:

T-Mobile to Upgrade iPhone “Test-Drive” Units to iOS 8, With iPhone 6 Coming — T-Mobile, which has been letting potential customers try out an iPhone 5s for free, says it wants to incorporate Apple's latest technology into its program. — The carrier told Re/code that it will start upgrading …

More: eWeek, MacRumors, Gotta Be Mobile, iDownloadBlog.com and App Advice

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Ride-sharing service Sidecar raises $15M as it prepares for national expansion, adds Richard Branson as investor — Sidecar raises $15M to build 'world's largest transportation marketplace' as Richard Branson hops on as investor — Sidecar may not make quite as many headlines as Uber or Lyft …

More: Re/code, TechCrunch, Sidecar and The Technology Chronicles. Thanks:@belril

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