Techmeme: Amazon testing deliveries through Flywheel taxi hailing app in San Francisco and Los Angeles (Alissa Walker/Gizmodo)

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November 5, 2014, 7:40 PM

Top News

Evelyn Kim / Google LatLong:

Google Maps for iOS and Android revamped with Material Design, restaurant booking through OpenTable, Uber ride estimates — Google Maps: Your best accessory this season — Bold colors and textures are in—and Google Maps is on trend, with a slick new style to make traveling with Maps even easier.

Kara Swisher / Vanity Fair:

Behind Travis Kalanick's fighting instinct, how Andreessen Horowitz missed the boat on Uber's Series B, and how Kalanick attempted to hamper Lyft's fundraising — Man and Uber Man — Uber, Travis Kalanick's smartphone-based car service, has been valued at $18.2 billion, but its C.E.O. still spends a lot of his time on the warpath.

More: bizjournals, Business Insider, Mashable and BRYCE DOT VC

Tweets: @ellenhuet, @katgleason, @dmac1, @chirag_mehta, @kaylatausche, @msquinn and @mikeisaac

Rachel Barton / Google Drive Blog:

Google launches Chrome extension letting you open files from Google Drive with desktop apps like Adobe Reader or Photoshop — Launch desktop applications from Google Drive in Chrome — Browsers are pretty amazing things. Before, if you wanted to do any serious computing, you'd have to install software onto your computer.

More: VentureBeat, 9to5Google, PC World, Android Central, Engadget, PC Magazine, SlashGear, Lifehacker, 9to5Mac, AndroidHeadlines.com, TechCrunch, BetaNews, The Next Web, Electronista and WebProNews

Jemima Kiss / Guardian:

Former NSA lawyer: encrypting user data led to Blackberry's demise, cautions Apple and Google — Former NSA lawyer: the cyberwar is between tech firms and the US government — Stewart Baker said that Apple and Google could be restricting their business in markets like China and Russia by encrypting user data

More: Slate, Techdirt, ZDNet, PadGadget, TechSpot and SiliconBeat

Tweets: @brianhonan, @glynmoody, @matthew_d_green, @p1bc, @paulbernaluk and @declanm

Dan Ackerman / CNET:

Dell announces refreshed Venue 11 Pro 7000 tablet with fanless Core M processor — Dell adds Core M to the Venue 11 Pro tablet — Dell has a new version of its Venue 11 Pro 7000 tablet, making the switch from Intel's Atom line of low-power CPUs to the just-launched Core M.

More: Engadget, The Register, PC World, VentureBeat, PC World, SlashGear, The Verge and Gigaom

Megan Geuss / Ars Technica:

Google Wallet weekly transactions and new users signups increase thanks to Apple Pay launch — Google Wallet use grows after Apple Pay launch — NFC-based mobile payments have had a boost in recent months, possibly thanks to the launch of Apple Pay, which was announced in September.

More: The Verge, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Digital Trends, iMore, PC World, BGR, ITProPortal, Gotta Be Mobile, FierceWireless, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacDailyNews, Gigaom, 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, O'Grady's PowerPage, App Advice, Forbes and Gizmodo. Tweets: @mikeisaac

Reuters:

Axel Springer, Germany's top publisher, grants Google license to index its news stories despite “Google Tax”, citing 80% drop in Google News traffic — Germany's top publisher bows to Google in news licensing row — (Reuters) - Germany's biggest news publisher Axel Springer …

More: Gigaom, The Digital Reader, 9to5Google, Techdirt, The Verge and Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @dannysullivan. See also Mediagazer

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Lyft Accuses Former COO Of Stealing Confidential Documents Before Joining Uber — On-demand rides startup Lyft is taking its former COO Travis VanderZanden to court for breach of his confidentiality agreement and fiduciary duty weeks after the executive joined arch-rival Uber.

More: Wall Street Journal

Amy Schatz / Re/code:

Winners and Losers for Silicon Valley in Tuesday's Election — While the big story Tuesday night was the Republican wave that gives control of the Senate back to the GOP in January, there were plenty of smaller races that are of interest to the tech community. — One Race a Democrat Was Sure to Win

More: SiliconBeat, Gigaom and Washington Post

Rachel Lerman / Puget Sound Business Journal:

Zillow grows revenue 66% to a record $88.6M; posts $16M loss, up from $1.2M last year due to Trulia acquisition — Zillow grows revenue 66 percent to a record $88.6 million — Zillow reported record third quarter revenue of $88.6 million Wednesday, a 66 percent increase from last year.

More: GeekWire and Zillow, Inc.

Alissa Walker / Gizmodo:

Amazon testing deliveries through Flywheel taxi hailing app in San Francisco and Los Angeles — Your Next Amazon Prime Delivery Might Arrive By... Taxi? — Forget drones, Amazon has been experimenting with a far more innovative method of providing same-day delivery to its customers.

More: Wall Street Journal, VatorNews, Engadget and Marketing Pilgrim

John McDermott / Digiday:

Snapchat in talks with CNN, Comedy Central, Vice, more about serving articles, audio, and video in new “Discover” area of app — Snapchat is in partnership talks with BuzzFeed, Time, others — Snapchat is in negotiations with Comedy Central, Spotify and Vice for the upcoming launch …

More: Tubefilter, Mashable, The Daily Dot, SocialTimes, Business Insider and Wall Street Journal. See also Mediagazer

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Nest offering free thermostat with 2-year contract in Ireland, part of a new sales strategy the company plans to roll out to other countries — Nest's new sales tack: Free thermostats — A deal with Electric Ireland opens a new channel for the Google-owned company's networked thermostats.

More: PandoDaily, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, Gigaom, 9to5Google and Ars Technica

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

EFF asks for the right to revive “abandoned” online games — While playing the original versions of classic games on aging original hardware can sometimes be difficult, it's at least typically possible. That's not the case for many online games, which are functionally inoperable once …

More: Slate, The Digital Reader, HotHardware.com News, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Boing Boing, SiliconANGLE, Techdirt, The Tech Report, bit-tech.net, Electronista and Massively. Tweets: @laurensx

Rachel King / ZDNet:

Qualcomm misses Q4 earnings, revenue targets with weak outlook — Summary: As a result, Qualcomm shares began to tumble by four percent in after-hours trading. — Tech earnings have been missing targets left and right this quarter, and Qualcomm didn't help curb that trend with its fiscal fourth quarter report on Wednesday.

More: Re/code and Reuters

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