Techmeme: Yelp, TripAdvisor, others, launch “Focus on the User” campaign against Google search results (Greg Sterling/Search Engine Land)

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October 2, 2014, 10:30 AM

Top News

iClarified:

iPhone 6+ with 802.11ac shows substantial speed improvements over iPhone 5s's 802.11n — iPhone Wi-Fi Speed Test: 802.11ac iPhone 6 Plus vs. 802.11n iPhone 5s [Video] — We've posted a new video test comparing the Wi-Fi speeds of the 802.11ac iPhone 6 Plus versus the 802.11n iPhone 5s.

More: MacRumors, Patently Apple, TUAW and CNET

Ian Kar / Bank Innovation:

Sources: Apple Pay to be included in iOS 8.1, scheduled to be released October 20 — Apple Pay to Be Included in iOS 8.1, Sources Confirm — Based on multiple sources close to Apple, Bank Innovation has learned that iOS 8.1 will include Apple Pay, and the current expected timetable for the public release is schedule for October 20.

More: Telegraph, 9to5Mac, The VAR Guy, bgr.in, Ubergizmo, Pocketnow, TechnoBuffalo, VentureBreak, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, Business Insider and App Advice

Tweets: @kimzetter and @counternotions

Sébastien Page / iDownloadBlog.com:

Apple launches tool to check Activation Lock status; lets you see if an iPhone/iPad is stolen — Apple releases tool to check the Activation Lock status of iOS devices — Apple recently released a tool that lets anyone check the Activation Lock status of iOS devices.

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Google threatened with $100M lawsuit for failure to remove nude images of hacked celebrities — Celebrities Threaten “Despicable” Google for “Facilitating” Hacked Nude Photos — In a letter that rips Google for acting “like the NFL” and turning a blind eye, a lawyer representing celebrities warns of consequences

More: Emily Smith, Guardian, Hollywood Reporter, Gigaom, BGR, Business Insider, Electronista, Marketing Pilgrim and TIME. See also Mediagazer

Dave Maass / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Local police in US giving families free ComputerCop keylogging software in “Internet Safety” initiative — ComputerCOP: The Dubious ‘Internet Safety Software’ That Hundreds of Police Agencies Have Distributed to Families — ComputerCOP in Maricopa County, Arizona

More: Wired, Washington Post, Engadget, Help Net Security, CNET, Techdirt, Ars Technica and ReadWrite

Paul Graham:

Startups are very counterintuitive, and you can't always trust your instincts — Before the Startup — (This essay is derived from a guest lecture in Sam Altman's startup class at Stanford. It's intended for college students, but much of it is applicable to potential founders at other ages.)

More: Beyond Search and AVC. Tweets: @farzad_md, @psturrock, @chr1sa, @ericries, @tomiogeron, @flyosity, @pejmannozad, @dtunkelang, @cdixon, @cdixon, @sea, @stevecheney, @foundersatwork, @mirrorobin and @robwalling

Ellen Huet / Forbes:

After a hammer attack on a rider, some lawyers believe Uber could be liable, despite its ToS — Uber Rider Might Lose An Eye From Driver's Hammer Attack. Could Uber Be Held Liable? — Roberto Chicas, a 35-year-old San Francisco bartender, climbed into an UberX car around 2 a.m. last week and expected to get home safely.

More: Washington Post and Valleywag. Tweets: @ellenhuet, @xor, @kashhill and @ellenhuet

Mark Hearn / 9to5Google:

Google's Sundar Pichai: Drive at 240m active users, Chromebooks approaching 50% US EDU market (Video) — During its Atmosphere Live event, Google's Sundar Pichai announced that the company's Drive cloud storage platform has over 240 million active users, up 190 from million since June.

More: The Next Web. Thanks:@jordankahn

Barb Darrow / Gigaom:

Your move, AWS and Microsoft: Google's cutting basic cloud compute prices 10 percent

More: InfoWorld, cloudcomputing-news.net, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, WebProNews, Forbes, ZDNet, VentureBeat and GeekWire

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Marc Newson says his role at Apple is only part-time for a specific project — In an interview with dezeen.com, designer and new Apple employee Marc Newson spoke about his latest project with Heineken while providing a little bit more insight into his new role at Apple.

More: Dezeen, MacRumors, TechnoBuffalo, Business Insider, iMore, MacNN, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac, Business Insider, App Advice and AppleInsider. Tweets: @markgurman

Tim Moynihan / Wired:

Windows 10: A step back for the interface but a leap forward in strategy — Ambitious Windows 10 Is an Attack Disguised as a Retreat — From the early looks of Windows 10, it's a long-overdue concession to the fact that Windows users prefer the way things used to be.

More: Blogging Windows, Gigaom, The Verge, Tech Times, MSDN Blogs, TechCrunch, WebProNews, Geek.com, Shelly Palmer, destructoid, WinBeta, MobileSyrup.com, Business Insider, Digital Trends, Windows For Your Business, Laughing Squid and InfoWorld

Tweets: @wired and @stevecla

Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:

Yelp, TripAdvisor, others, launch “Focus on the User” campaign against Google search results — Focus On User Group Uses Google Algorithm To Attack Map Pack — Yesterday a new anti-Google consortium called “Focus on the User” launched a website that cleverly uses Google's own words …

More: Techdirt, Business Insider, Re/code, Financial Times, 9to5Google and CNET. Tweets: @sengineland. Thanks:@jeremys

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Angry Birds maker Rovio lays off 130 staff and tries to ‘reignite growth’ — Layoffs affect 16% of Finnish firm's workforce as it focuses on its games, media and consumer products businesses — Angry Birds still has 200m active players, but its growth has been slower than expected

More: Rovio, PandoDaily, CNET, iMore, Telegraph, TechCrunch, Reuters, BBC, Bloomberg, PC World, VentureBeat, Pocket Gamer.biz, Tech.eu, Cult of Mac, The Next Web, Gigaom, Wall Street Journal and ArcticStartup

Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:

At the 11th hour, Verizon decides to cancel its controversial throttling plans — Verizon's “network optimization” policy would have restricted speeds for its heaviest unlimited data users when the LTE network was congested. But Big Red is now nixing the controversial plan.

More: The Verge, Re/code, CNET, Ars Technica, Phandroid, ReadWrite, Android Central, Ubergizmo, Electronista, AppleInsider, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, DailyTech, SlashGear, Android Police and BGR

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Kickstarter Founder's Next Project Will Crowdfund Nonprofits With a Dollar a Day — Perry Chen, co-founder and former CEO of the seminal crowdfunding site Kickstarter, has dreamed up another way to mobilize people to make something happen. — His new project, Dollar a Day …

More: Gigaom, Shelly Palmer, TechCrunch, Crowdfund Insider, Digital Trends, Boing Boing, Laughing Squid, Yahoo Tech and PSFK. Tweets: @bryce

Jacob Siegal / BGR:

Verizon and Sprint follow AT&T's lead with new double data offers — Over the weekend, AT&T announced a data plan promotion which would allow customers to sign up for double the data at the same price as their current plans. Not to be outdone, both Verizon and Sprint announced their own promotions …

More: Verizon Wireless Promotions, DSLreports, Sprint, The Verge, Re/code, TechnoBuffalo, PhoneNews.com, Electronista, Phandroid, DailyTech, Android and Me, Android Police, Gotta Be Mobile, AndroidGuys, MacRumors and PhoneNews.com

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Firespotter Labs Becomes Switch, Providing A Cloud-Based Phone System For Google Apps — Unified communications has long been touted as the future, but being able to provide access to all of one's calls and messages on multiple devices is an idea that has just barely come to fruition.

More: Wall Street Journal, AndroidHeadlines.com, PFhub.com, VoIP Watch, Bloomberg and VentureBeat

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