Techmeme
October 7, 2014, 8:55 PM

Top News

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook working on stand-alone mobile app that will allow anonymous discussion; release expected in coming weeks  —  Facebook Readies App Allowing Anonymity  —  Facebook has long attempted to be the place where, above all else, you try to be yourself.  —  Soon, Facebook will allow you to be yourself, but under a different name.
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Twitter sues U.S. government over limits on ability to disclose surveillance orders  —  Twitter, the world's largest microblogging platform, on Tuesday sued the U.S. government, alleging that the Justice Department's restrictions on what the company can say publicly about the government's …
Kurt Wagner / Re/code:
New Google+ Head David Besbris: We're Here for the Long Haul (Q&A)  —  Google+ isn't dying anytime soon, says Google's new head of social media David Besbris.  —  Of course, you'd expect the person in charge of the social network to say so, despite the fact that it's hard to ignore the chatter …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Opens Its Mobile Ad “Audience Network” To All Advertisers And Apps  —  After announcing its mobile ad network at f8 in April, Facebook today officially launched “Audience Network” and started letting any advertiser buy and any third-party app host ads powered by its targeting data.
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
AAA study: hands-free Siri more distracting while driving than other voice-control systems  —  AAA says Apple's Siri causes potentially dangerous driver distractions  —  According to a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, hands- and eyes-free infotainment and smartphone control systems …
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
Adobe's e-book reader sends your reading logs back to Adobe—in plain text [Updated]  —  Adobe even logs what you read in Digital Editions' instruction manual.  —  Adobe's Digital Editions e-book and PDF reader—an application used by thousands of libraries to give patrons access …
Neil Hughes / AppleInsider:
Latest Apple TV update enables remote access relay for HomeKit connected accessories  —  The center of a connected smart home could soon be the Apple TV, as Apple's latest beta software officially brings HomeKit support to its $99 streaming set-top box.  —  As first discovered by AppleInsider …
Devindra Hardawar / VentureBeat:
The year of Watson continues: IBM announces a slew of new partners, public cloud integration, & more  —  Above: IBM's Watson headquarters in Manhattan  —  NEW YORK — IBM's Watson supercomputer is on a roll.  —  More than a month after opening up Watson's cognitive computing capabilities to researchers …
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Plastc, a card to digitally replace other payment cards, is up for $155 pre-order, ships in summer 2015  —  Plastc wants to replace your entire wallet with a single card  —  How much technology can you fit into a 0.8-millimeter-thick credit card?  —  Last November, Coin offered a first taste of what was possible.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
iOS 8 Adoption Stagnates Just Two and a Half Weeks After Launch  —  After almost three weeks of availability, Apple's iOS 8 operating system is now installed on 47 percent of devices, according to new numbers posted on Apple's App Store support page for developers.
Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:
Google rolls out local News & Weather app for iOS  —  Google just introduced a new app for iOS that displays local news and weather.  It's like the nightly local news except on your iPhone or iPad.  —  The News & Weather app for iOS is “your comprehensive and personalized view of headline stories …
Walt Mossberg / Re/code:
Kano Lets Kids Build Their Own Computers and Learn to Code  —  If you ask a typical 10-year-old today what's inside her computer, or how the software is created, she's likely to be baffled.  Today's sleek notebooks and desktops, and the apps they run, are a far cry from the crude models …
More: Gigaom, Lifehacker and The Verge.  Thanks:@brewpr
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
BloomNation, A Marketplace For Local Florists, Raises $5.6 Million Series A  —  BloomNation, a Santa Monica-based startup offering florists and floral designers a platform for running their business online, as well as a marketplace that connects florists and consumers, has now closed on $5.55 million in Series A funding.
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Microsoft's Project Spark game creator comes to Xbox One and PC  —  If you enjoy the creative part of building games but not so much the coding, Microsoft's Project Spark is now available for Xbox One and PC (Windows 8.1 only).  That marks the end of a six month beta period that saw …
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
Microsoft, others agree to legally non-binding pledge to protect the data of K-12 students  —  Microsoft and Other Firms Pledge to Protect Student Data  —  A week after California enacted a landmark law restricting the ways education technology companies can use the information they collect …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Lays Off 400 Employees In India  —  Just ahead of its Q3 earnings, Yahoo is laying people off in its international business.  Specifically, it is downsizing its software development center in Bangalore, India.  We understand that 400 people, mainly working in product engineering, have been affected.

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Loek Essers / PC World: