Techmeme: Samwer Brothers' Rocket Internet sets price range for its IPO in Germany, will raise up to $1.8B at a valuation of about $8B, begins trading October 9 (Bloomberg)

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September 23, 2014, 4:15 PM

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Kelly Hodgkins / MacRumors:

Some iPhone 6 Plus Owners Accidentally Bending Their iPhones in Pockets — As highlighted in a few reports shared in the MacRumors forums, a small but growing number of iPhone 6 Plus owners have reportedly bent their phones after carrying the devices in their pockets just days after launch.

More: BuzzFeed, Geek.com, iMore, BGR, Daring Fireball, Business Insider, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Mashable, DISPLAYBLOG, iLounge, Cult of Mac, MacDailyNews, TUAW and Electronista

Tweets: @cdharrison, @davechensky, @panzer, @mattbuchanan, @apollozac, @panzer and @samfbiddle

Nathan Olivarez-Giles / Wall Street Journal:

SquareTrade breakability tests show iPhone 6/6 Plus are the most durable iPhones yet

More: squaretrade.com, Macworld, ZDNet, Gizmodo, ExtremeTech, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Inquirer, Telegraph, ABC News, BGR, CNET, Yahoo Tech, VentureBeat, iPhone in Canada Blog, PC Magazine, App Advice and The Register

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Say hello to Talko: Ray Ozzie's startup wants to reinvent the phone call, starting with an iPhone app — What has Ray Ozzie been focusing on since leaving his position as Microsoft's chief software architect? Here's the answer. A new app and online service called Talko …

More: The Verge, Re/code, Re/code, Fortune, Medium, New York Times, Disruptive Telephony, Wired, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Gigaom, Medium, The Register, Engadget and The Next Web

Tweets: @ev, @rozzie, @erickschonfeld, @fmanjoo and @toddbishop

Thanks:@johnhcook

Steven Levy / Medium:

Former Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie wants to make phone calls more like collaborative documents with Talko — Brave New Phone Call — Ray Ozzie's new app Talko hopes to give people their voices back — I. … It's not an abstract subject for the 58-year entrepreneur.

More: Laughing Squid, Fast Company, CNET and Boing Boing

Tweets: @monkbent, @tcarmody and @jonrussell

Thanks:@sarablask

Ryan Smith / AnandTech:

Apple's A8 SoC: GX6450 4-core GPU, enhanced Cyclone CPU cores, 4MB L3 Cache — Chipworks Disassembles Apple's A8 SoC: GX6450, 4MB L3 Cache & More — One of the more enjoyable rituals with Apple's annual iPhone launch is the decapping, deconstruction, and photographing of the processor die at the heart of Apple's newest SoC.

More: BGR and DailyTech

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

iPhone 6 costs an estimated $200 to $247 in parts and labor to build, 6 Plus $216 to $263; profit margins 69-70%; Samsung supplies 40% of A8 chips — Teardown Shows Apple's iPhone 6 Cost at Least $200 to Build — Apple spends $200 to $247 in parts and labor to build an iPhone 6 …

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, AppleInsider, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, PhoneArena, SlashGear, TechnoBuffalo, Mashable, App Advice, Quartz and Digital Trends

Tweets: @ryan, @johnpaczkowski and @benedictevans

Electronista:

UPS Store expands 3D printing services to nearly 100 locations — In-store 3D printing facilities offered in more markets — Delivery company UPS is making its 3D printing service more widely available at its stores across the United States. After an initial test with six markets …

More: UPS, CNNMoney.com, ZDNet, 3DPrint.com, PC World, Engadget, SlashGear, Seeking Alpha, Ubergizmo, Mashable, Gizmodo and WebProNews

Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:

FTC sues Bitcoin miner maker Butterfly Labs, alleging fraudulent and deceptive practices — Feds say Bitcoin miner maker Butterfly Labs ran “systematic deception” [Updated] — Sonny Vleisides (right), is Butterfly Labs' co-founder and largest shareholder.

More: Federal Trade Commission, Gigaom, Data Center Knowledge, The Verge, Valleywag, Electronista, TechSpot, CoinDesk and NEWSBTC. Tweets: @bobmcmillan

Chris Martin / PC Advisor:

Samsung exits laptop market in Europe “for now” after decline in PC market — Exclusive: Samsung exits laptop market including Chromebooks — Following in the path of Sony and its Vaio PCs, Samsung has decided to exit the laptop market stopping sales of Ativ Windows …

More: The Verge, 9to5Google, CNET, PC World, The Next Web, Gigaom, Ubergizmo, Android and Me, Neowin, Pocket-lint, Windows Phone Central and Android Central

Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:

Radius Raises $54.7 Million to Improve Sales Leads Using Big Data … Marketing automation software, which delivers sales prospects to customers, has generated some big companies-last year, Marketo Inc. went public and has a market cap of $1.26 billion, and HubSpot Inc. filed in August to raise up to $100 million in an IPO.

More: Re/code, TechCrunch, Business Wire, PE Hub Blog, and VentureBeat

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

Home Depot's former security architect was convicted of sabotaging his ex-employer's network — Home Depot's former security architect had history of techno-sabotage — “We sell hammers” was the justification Home Depot managers gave for cheaping out on security to IT employees. — WestportWiki

More: PandoDaily. Tweets: @casio_juarez

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Google X Founder Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role As Google VP And Fellow — Sebastian Thrun has left the building — the Google X building, that is. The founder of search giant Google's factory to develop and build “moonshot” technologies, who launched the company's driverless car project …

Carl Franzen / The Verge:

California autonomous vehicle regulations go into effect; Google wins 25 car permits, Audi and Mercedes-Benz get two each — Google's self-driving cars are now allowed on all roads in California — Google won 25 DMV permits for testing autonomous vehicles; Audi and Mercedes each received two

More: Reuters, Washington Examiner, T4 Magazine, Daily Titan, dmv.ca.gov and TechnoBuffalo

Bloomberg:

Samwer Brothers' Rocket Internet sets price range for its IPO in Germany, will raise up to $1.8B at a valuation of about $8B, begins trading October 9 — Samwer Brothers' Rocket Internet Kicks Off German IPO — Rocket Internet AG, the technology investor known for replicating businesses …

More: Re/code, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times and Reuters

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Currents For iOS Now Called Google Play Newsstand Following Big Redesign — Google Currents, Google's magazine-like news reading iOS app and a competitor to Flipboard, is rolling out a redesign and a handful of new features, including a way to subscribe to topics you're interested in …

More: 9to5Google, Engadget, The Verge, iMore and The Next Web

Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:

Microsoft announces $59.95 Wireless Display Adapter for streaming Miracast devices to your TV — Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter connects your Miracast devices to HDTVs — The first 10 to 15 minutes of any presentation usually involves trying to figure out which cable connects to the TV.

More: Microsoft Store, Android Police, PC World, Engadget, GeekWire, BetaNews, ZDNet, The Tech Report and WinBeta

iClarified:

Apple Announces iOS 8 Adoption Has Already Reached 46% — Apple has announced that iOS 8 adoption has already reached 46%. First spotted by iClarified, Apple quietly revealed the statistic on its App Store Distribution page. — The company says iOS 8 adoption reached 46% on September 21, 2014.

More: AppleInsider, TechCrunch, Macworld, Business Insider, MacRumors, Inquirer, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, Shelly Palmer, Ubergizmo, 9to5Mac, The Verge, BGR, WebProNews, ITProPortal, The Next Web and iMore

Ellen Huet / Forbes:

Eduardo Saverin Leads $14 Million Funding Round For Silvercar, An Audi Airport Rental Startup — Billionaire Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has found a new place to focus his entrepreneurial energies: airport car rentals. Audis, specifically. — Saverin led a $14 million Series B round …

More: TechCrunch, Mashable and Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @bupbin

Zach Rodgers / AdExchanger:

Millennial Media To Buy Nexage, Mobile SSP And Exchange, For $108M — Millennial Media needed a good story around programmatic, and now it has one. — The publicly-traded mobile ad tech platform has signed an agreement to buy mobile exchange player Nexage for $107.5 million in cash and stock.

More: Business Insider and Xconomy

Chad Bray / New York Times:

Philips plans to split into 2 companies: one focused on health care and tech, one on lighting — Philips to Split Into Two Companies as Part of Overhaul — LONDON — Philips, the Dutch electronics giant, said on Tuesday that it planned to split itself into two companies …

More: Philips, Gigaom, Bloomberg, BBC, CNBC, Reuters, Forbes, Business Insider, Fortune and Wall Street Journal

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Branch Metrics Raises $3 Million From NEA For More Intelligent Deep Links That Make Apps Work Like The Web — Palo Alto-based Branch Metrics has just raised $3 million from NEA and others to address a series of challenges affecting the mobile app ecosystem today.

More: AdExchanger, PE Hub Blog, VentureBeat and silicontap.com

John Brownlee / Co.Design:

iPod Mastermind Tony Fadell On The Death Of The iPod: “You Can't Get Too Nostalgic” — After 13 years, the iPod Classic is dead. Google's Tony Fadell tells us what killed the iPod, and why we shouldn't be bummed about it. — What does it feel like to lose your design child?

More: Business Insider, MacNN, TechnoBuffalo, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, 9to5Mac, Ubergizmo, MacRumors and ReadWrite

Tweets: @jyarow and @alipasha

Cromwell Schubarth / bizjournals:

Aussie startup Invoice2Go raises $35M led by Accel, moves to Palo Alto — Aussie startup moves to Palo Alto, hires ex-eHarmony CEO and raises $35M — Australian mobile B2B startup Invoice2Go's first venture round is a big one, in more ways than one. — The 10-year-old Sydney company founded …

More: Re/code, TechCrunch, Forbes and VentureBeat. Thanks:@svbizcrom

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

Rackspace knocks out patent troll that claimed monopoly on rotating smartphone displays — A troll called called Rotatable claimed a patent monopoly on the use of rotating mobile screen displays. Rackspace won a victory for everyone by destroying its patent.

More: The Official Rackspace Blog, SlashGear, theWHIR.com, The Register and Android Police. Tweets: @mattcutts

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:

Google Structured Snippets Officially Live In Search Results — Earlier this month, we caught Google testing a form of knowledge graph data within the search results snippet. This feature is now officially being confirmed by Google on the Google Research Blog.

More: Google Research Blog, PC Magazine, The Verge, Marketing Pilgrim, WebProNews, Engadget, Search Engine Roundtable, SEO by the Sea, 9to5Google, WebProNews and The Next Web

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