Techmeme
October 30, 2014, 5:15 PM

Top News

Tim Cook / Businessweek:
Tim Cook publicly acknowledges he's gay, says giving up his personal privacy is worthwhile if he can help someone who is struggling  —  Tim Cook: “I'm Proud to be Gay”  —  Throughout my professional life, I've tried to maintain a basic level of privacy.  I come from humble roots, and I don't seek to draw attention to myself.
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Thank you, Tim Cook  —  Why we're not “moving on” from the Apple CEO's big statement today  —  In a way, what Tim Cook said today felt inevitable.  At least since 2008, when Owen Thomas asked the question in Gawker, a steady accretion of reporting has suggested Apple's chief executive is gay.
Garett Sloane / Adweek:
Instagram's Video Ads Are Finally Live, and Here Are 4 From Major Brands  —  Disney, Activision and Banana Republic among early buyers  —  After six months of testing, Instagram's video ads are officially here.  —  Instagram, owned by Facebook has deals to show 15-second autoplay spots from Disney …
Todd Holmdahl / The Official Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft Health announced: a platform that works with Jawbone UP, RunKeeper, and more; app available for Windows Phone, Android, iOS  —  Introducing Microsoft Health  —  Today we're announcing a new platform called Microsoft Health.  Within health and fitness, there is rapid innovation …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Microsoft Band announced: wearable tracks health, shows emails and tweets; available for $199 in US today  —  Microsoft's health revolution is here, starting with a $199 fitness tracker  —  Microsoft Health, the Microsoft Band, and a plan to unite the world  —  Microsoft's fitness tracking ambitions are not small.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple No Longer Rejecting Calculator Widgets From The App Store  —  The maker of a popular iOS app and widget, PCalc, which took advantage of iOS 8's support for Notification Center Widgets, was recently told by Apple that his handy app would be pulled from the App Store due to the fact that …
Dave McNary / Variety:
Seth Rogen Set as Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs Biopic  —  Seth Rogen has been set to star as Steve Wozniak opposite Christian Bale in Sony's Steve Jobs biopic.  —  Variety reported on Oct. 15 that Bale was in talks to star in “Jobs,” Sony's biopic about the late Apple co-founder.
Steve Dent / Engadget:
LG slims smartphone bezels to a virtually non-existent 0.7mm  —  You might talk about how much you hate large bezels, but LG is actually doing something about it.  It just unveiled a 5.3-inch, 1080p LCD display with 0.7mm bezels, less than the width of a credit card.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
IDC: Tablet shipments grew 11.5% in Q3 2014, but leaders Apple, Samsung, and Asus all lost market share  —  The tablet market continues to grow, albeit not as quickly as before.  Q4 2013 saw 53.8 million units ship worldwide, up 11.5 percent from 47.6 million the same quarter last year.
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
uBeam Nabs $10 Million In Funding From Upfront Ventures To Make Wireless Charging A Reality  —  Wireless power seems like one of those things everyone always dreams about.  I mean, how great would it be to have your phone just charge while it's sitting in your pocket with no need to plug it in?
Shandra Martinez / MLive.com:
Regional grocery chain Meijer will continue to provide both Apple Pay and CurrentC services  —  Why Meijer isn't ditching Apple Pay like other retailers  —  With the wave of an iPhone 6 or the yet-to-be-released Apple Watch, you can buy groceries or fill up your gas tank at Meijer using Apple Pay.
Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:
Capriza, which enables anyone to convert desktop business applications for use on mobile, raises $27M Series C  —  Capriza Raises $27 Million to Bring Unwieldy Business Apps to Mobile  —  Taking old and unwieldy business applications and making them usable on mobile devices has been pursued …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Groupon Q3 Beats The Street On Sales Of $757.1M, EPS Of $0.03  —  Still pushing hard on its strategy to be more than just a site for daily deals, today the e-commerce powerhouse Groupon reported its quarterly earnings.  It reported revenues of $757.1 million on non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.03 …
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Kamcord gameplay recording platform gets into mobile gaming competitions starting with SEGA  —  Kamcord, the mobile gameplay recording platform that offers developers an easy way to implement cross-platform gameplay recording and sharing features, is today announcing its next big push in mobile gaming: competitions.
Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:
Smule's karaoke app update now lets you make music videos with friends  —  Karaoke is experiencing a rise in popularity.  As a society, we've seen that singing in public, both on TV and YouTube, isn't as weird as our parents led us to believe.  In fact, it could lead to to fame and riches.
More: VentureBeat and 9to5Mac
Jason Schreier / Kotaku:
YouTube Finally Supports 60FPS, And It Looks Awesome  —  Earlier this year, YouTube announced plans to support videos running at 60 frames-per-second—plans that would make a huge difference for footage of video games.  Today, the video network has finally started rolling out the new service …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Homejoy Officially Moves Beyond Cleaning With Launch Of Handyman Services In The Bay Area  —  In its first big move beyond home cleaning, Homejoy is adding carpet cleaning and general handyman services to its offerings in the Bay Area.  —  Co-founder and CEO Adora Cheung …
More: BuzzFeedTweets: @paulg and @rsarver
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Lenovo announces 13" Yoga Tablet 2 with Windows, available November, prices start at $699.99  —  Lenovo adds a 13-inch Windows tablet to the Yoga mix  —  Not content with launching five Yoga-branded tablets earlier this month, Lenovo has added a sixth device to its range.
Chris Ziegler / The Verge:
Taiwanese smart energy startup Gogoro, led by former HTC exec, is close to raising $150M, promises product unveil at CES  —  Mysterious smart energy company raises $150 million, led by ex-HTC executive  —  Horace Luke, Gogoro's CEO.  —  Taiwanese firm Gogoro came out of stealth mode this morning …
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Crowdsourced Design Marketplace Minted Raises $38M More, Adds Fabrics And Home Decor  —  E-commerce design startup Minted has big ambitions for its crowdsourced marketplace of designs, with plans to launch in a whole new product category as well as give its artists a platform for creating new storefronts.

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