Techmeme: Music competition app Chosen, founded by ex-Beats Music CEO, raises $5M led by DCM, expected to launch Q1 2015 (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

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November 5, 2014, 12:50 PM

Top News

Kara Swisher / Vanity Fair:

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's battles with the taxi industry, regulators, and sometimes, customers — 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: Business Insider and Mashable. Tweets: @kaylatausche, @msquinn, @danprimack and @mikeisaac

Husain Sumra / MacRumors:

Apple Watch Pricing to Reportedly Start at $500 for Stainless Steel, $4,000 for Gold — French Apple website iGen.fr is reporting [Google Translate] that pricing for the stainless steel Apple Watch may start at $500, while the gold Apple Watches' pricing could start between $4,000 and $5,000. iGen …

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

In Europe, Spotify Royalties Overtake iTunes Earnings By 13% — Spotify may be smarting from the removal of Taylor Swift's music catalogue from its platform, and Taylor Swift may not care, since she is riding a sales blockbuster in the form of her new album 1989, but it turns out that in the bigger picture …

More: Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, iMore, AppleInsider, Neowin, VatorNews, 9to5Mac, TechnoBuffalo, iDownloadBlog.com, Cult of Mac and hypebot

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: Techdirt, ZDNet and SiliconBeat

Tweets: @glynmoody, @glynmoody and @declanm

Robert Lemos / Ars Technica:

EFF finds that only 6 of 39 messaging apps guarantee basic secure communications — Security scorecard finds messaging apps need more development — Only six out of 39 messaging applications have the features needed to guarantee the security of communications sent over the Internet …

More: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, BetaNews, TUAW, Help Net Security, Neowin, Geek.com, PC World, GeekWire, WebProNews, The Hill and Financial Times

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: SiliconANGLE, Boing Boing, The Tech Report, Techdirt, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, bit-tech.net, Electronista and Massively

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Swype keyboard for iOS adds 16 new languages, auto Emoji suggestions, more — Swype iOS 8 keyboard now available in 20+ languages, adds new layouts & auto Emoji suggestions — Nuance announced an update for its Swype keyboard for iOS 8 today that introduces support for a long list …

More: Business Wire, CNET, PC Magazine, MacNN, iMore and Engadget

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, 9to5Mac and The Next Web

Lauren Goode / Re/code:

Jawbone launches $50 Move clip-on fitness tracker, preorder today, ships Nov 7; $180 Up3 wristband tracker with heart-rate sensor, ships within weeks — Jawbone Joins Pre-Holiday Wearable Race, With $50 Up Move and a New Up3 Wristband — Get ready for yet another activity-tracking device.

Nitasha Tiku / Valleywag:

Uber and Its Shady Partners Are Pushing Drivers into Subprime Loans — The subprime lending market that plunged America into the Great Recession is back and as unscrupulous as ever. Instead of mortgages, this time a bubble has formed around auto loans, and reliably ruthless Uber is in the thick of it.

More: Computerworld, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Business Insider

Tweets: @adrjeffries, @ellenhuet, @backlon, @counternotions and @mims

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Sonos adds multi-account support for streaming services to its internet-connected speakers — Sonos adds multi-account support to its connected loudspeakers — Sonos wants to make sure that your kids questionable taste in music doesn't ruin your Spotify recommendations.

More: Zatz Not Funny!, The Sonos Blog, The Next Web, Pocket-lint, TechRadar.com, SlashGear, MobileSyrup.com, Android Police, Digital Spy, Geek Beat, AndroidGuys and Connectedly

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Music competition app Chosen, founded by ex-Beats Music CEO, raises $5M led by DCM, expected to launch Q1 2015 — Ex-Beats Music CEO's New App “Chosen” Is A Mobile-First American Idol — Sing, yodel, or shred guitar into your phone, and get famous. That's the idea behind performance …

Tweets: @joshconstine

Andrea Shalal / Reuters:

Raytheon aqcuires surveillance and cybersecurity company Blackbird Technologies for $420M — Raytheon acquires cyber firm for $420 million — Raytheon Co announced on Wednesday that it has acquired privately held Blackbird Technologies, which provides cybersecurity …

More: Wall Street Journal, bizjournals, Raytheon and Fox Business

Vlad Savov / The Verge:

LG G Watch R Review: voice commands too limited, circular display chops Google Now cards, software and hardware need refinement — LG G Watch R review — Watches are functionally boring. Their primary task of displaying the time has been figured out for centuries …

More: Wearable Tech Insider, Engadget and Gizmodo Australia. Tweets: @reckless

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Viddy, Once Touted As ‘The Instagram For Video’, Will Shut Down On December 15 — Remember Viddy? The one-time red hot mobile video app is closing down. That's according to Fullscreen, the company that bought it for $20 million — a snip of its peak valuation — earlier this year.

More: viddy blog, App Advice and socalTECH.com. See also Mediagazer

Electronista:

AT&T Next 24 plan allows customers to extend device payments over 30 months starting Nov. 9 — AT&T adds longer payment period option to Next installment plans — AT&T Next 24 has 30 monthly payments, upgrades from month 24 — AT&T is giving its customers a third option to acquire …

More: AT&T Newsroom, PC World, TechSpot, Cult of Mac, iMore, Geek Beat, MacRumors, Digital Trends, Droid Life, TechnoBuffalo, AndroidGuys, App Advice, 9to5Mac, Phandroid, 9to5Google and iDownloadBlog.com

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