Techmeme
December 4, 2014, 12:30 PM

Top News

Travis Kalanick / Uber Blog:
Uber raises $1.2B, looks to invest in the Asia Pacific region; acknowledges shortcomings in company's culture  —  The Ride Ahead  —  2014 has been a year of tremendous growth for Uber.  It was just a year ago that Uber was operating in 60 cities and 21 countries - today we are in over 250 cities in 50 countries.
Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:
Operation AURORAGOLD: How the NSA hacks cellphone networks worldwide and spies on GSMA  —  How the NSA Hacks Cellphone Networks Worldwide  —  In March 2011, two weeks before the Western intervention in Libya, a secret message was delivered to the National Security Agency.
Jeff Elder / Wall Street Journal:
Lawyers say Apple deleted music from rival services on users' iPods between 2007-2009  —  Apple Deleted Rivals' Songs from Users' iPods  —  Apple deleted music that some iPod owners had downloaded from competing music services from 2007 to 2009 without telling users, attorneys …
Jason Del Rey / Re/code:
Amazon Unveils Its Own Diapers and Baby Wipes Called Amazon Elements  —  For years, Amazon naysayers have warned that the e-commerce giant's ambition would drive it to compete ever more directly with the merchants who sell goods on Amazon's popular online marketplace.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft sells its 17.6% stake in Nook back to Barnes & Noble for $62M and 2.7M shares  —  Microsoft sells its stake in Nook back to Barnes & Noble  —  Microsoft and Barnes & Noble unveiled a “strategic partnership” back in April 2012 which involved the software maker investing $300 million …
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
Google's Inbox team promises cross-browser support, unified inbox, and more in Reddit AMA  —  Google's Inbox team promises cross-browser support and a host of other features soon  —  Google's new Inbox interface for its longstanding Gmail service is an intriguing, futuristic …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Kantar: Apple On Track For ‘Record Quarter’ As iPhone 6 Sales Bump Up Its Market Share Vs. Android  —  Apple has been seeing its smartphone market share erode over the last several years as its simple-and-small line up of iPhones competed against model after model of low-priced, big-screened, fancy-featured Android-based handsets.
Zoran Basich / Wall Street Journal:
Early Oculus Backer Formation 8 Raises $500 Million to Connect Dots Between Asia, U.S.  —  Formation 8 has closed its second fund at $500 million, a quick turnaround for a young venture firm whose successful early bet on virtual-reality company Oculus VR Inc. created plenty of demand from institutional investors.
Marcus Wohlsen / Wired:
Starbucks launches Mobile Order & Pay in Portland, will roll out program nationwide in 2015  —  Starbucks Schools Silicon Valley (Again) With Launch of iPhone Ordering  —  Starting on Wednesday, if you open up the Starbucks iPhone app in Portland, Oregon, you'll see a new tab that reads “order.”
Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:
Verizon starts killing off 3G networks to make room for LTE  —  Verizon has already launched two distinct LTE networks since it first turned on 4G in 2010, but now it's started paving the way for the third.  Unlike the first two, however, this new network won't tap virgin airwaves.
Goldie Blumenstyk / New York Times:
Colleges increasingly mining attendance records and other data to predict students at risk of dropping out  —  Blowing Off Class?  We Know  —  THE stuff some colleges know right now about their students, thanks to data-mining of their digital footprints, boggles the mind.  It may even seem a bit creepy.

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More News

Tim Moynihan / Wired:

Earlier Picks

New York Times:
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Marco della Cava / USA Today: