Techmeme: Operation AURORAGOLD: How the NSA hacks cellphone networks worldwide and spies on the GSM Association, which includes Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Facebook, others (Ryan Gallagher/The Intercept)

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December 4, 2014, 4:25 PM

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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.

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Uber confirms $40B valuation; $1.2B round of funding could swell to $1.8B — Uber Announces $1.2 Billion Raise, Confirms $40 Billion Valuation — Quick on the heels of a filing this morning, Uber announced it has raised $1.2 billion in a new round of funding.

More: Fortune, Fortune, BuzzFeed, Business Insider and Seeking Alpha

Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:

Operation AURORAGOLD: How the NSA hacks cellphone networks worldwide and spies on the GSM Association, which includes Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Facebook, others — How the NSA Hacks Cellphone Networks Worldwide — In March 2011, two weeks before the Western intervention in Libya …

More: Engadget, Digital Trends, Business Insider, Inquirer, SiliconBeat, TechSpot, Mashable, Gizmodo, CNET, The Verge, Gigaom, PandoDaily, The Hill and Gizmodo UK

Tweets: @the_intercept, @the_intercept, @prism_nsa, @ggreenwald, @matthew_d_green, @rj_gallagher, @e3i5, @the_intercept and @the_intercept

Lev Grossman / TIME:

Inside Mark Zuckerberg's plan to wire the world and put every single human being online — Exclusive: Inside Facebook's Plan to Wire the World — Chandauli is a tiny town in rural India about a four-hour drive southwest of New Delhi. India's a big country, and there are several Chandaulis.

More: AllFacebook, Business Insider and WebProNews

Tweets: @om, @sampjacobs and @time

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:

Google to raise commissions for resellers of Google Apps for Work in a push to woo larger organizations — Google Makes Move on Microsoft's Turf in Workplace — Gmail Operator to Offer Bigger Fees to Resellers Amid Push to Challenge Outlook Owner — Google Inc. plans to boost …

More: TechCrunch, Microsoft News, Bloomberg, SmallBusiness.com, TheStreet.com, 9to5Google and Seeking Alpha

Murali Sitaram / Official Google for Work Blog:

Google launches the Google for Work and Education Partner Program, consolidating existing programs across Apps, Chrome, Cloud Platform, Maps and Search — Introducing the Google for Work & Education Partner Program — Posted by Murali Sitaram, Director of Global Partnerships & Strategic Alliances, Google for Work

More: ZDNet, InfoWorld, Business Insider and WebProNews. Tweets: @alistairmbarr

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.

More: Amazon.com, CNET, Network World, PC World, Forbes, Engadget, ABC News, GeekWire, USA Today, Wired, WebProNews, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, The Next Web, The Awl, Gizmodo and internetretailer.com. Tweets: @garyvee

Sherrel Wheeler Stewart / Reuters:

Tim Cook agrees to lend his name to Alabama LGBT anti-discrimination bill after initial resistance from Apple — Alabama anti-discrimination bill to be named after Apple's Tim Cook — (Reuters) - An anti-discrimination bill championed by Alabama's only openly gay lawmaker will bear …

More: ABC News, MacRumors, al.com, 9to5Mac, PadGadget, BuzzFeed, iPhone in Canada Blog, BetaNews, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, App Advice and iMore. Tweets: @caseynewton

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 …

More: Barnes & Noble, Inc., Gigaom, New York Times, Ars Technica, Associated Press, PC Magazine, Reuters, TechCrunch, CNET, GeekWire, Windows Phone Central, VentureBeat, ZDNet and internetretailer.com. See also Mediagazer

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 …

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 …

More: Google Operating System, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Electronista, ABC News, PC World, Gigaom, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Android Police and TechnoBuffalo

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Four Months After Acquisition, Square Launches iOS App For Food Delivery Service Caviar — Over the summer, Square purchased food delivery startup Caviar. Today, it's making ordering on the service even easier with the launch of a mobile app. — Square announced the acquisition …

More: AppleInsider, Caviar Blog, MacRumors, The Verge, VentureBeat, Engadget, The Next Web and iMore

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Google+ now lets you pin posts on profiles and pages — Google today added a new feature to Google+: pinned posts. You can now choose to pin one of your posts to the top of your profile or page. — As you'd expect, a pinned post is shown above all your other posts when someone visits your profile or page.

More: Dennis Troper, 9to5Google, 9to5Google, Android Central, Phandroid, WebProNews and Search Engine Roundtable

Jordan Novet / VentureBeat:

Docker announces Docker Hub Enterprise to manage companies' apps behind the firewall, and a suite of orchestration services for admins — Docker debuts on-premises software for storing companies' apps in containers — At its user conference in Amsterdam today, the executives of hot startup Docker …

More: eWeek, The Register, Docker Blog, Docker Blog, CITEworld, Docker Blog, Talkin' Cloud and TechCrunch

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Cybersecurity firm ThreatStream raises a $22M Series B round led by General Catalyst Partners — ThreatStream Grabs $22M To Help Fight Cybersecurity Threats — ThreatStream, a cybersecurity firm based in Redwood City, CA, announced $22M in Series B funding today to continue their efforts …

More: VentureBeat, Gigaom, PE Hub Blog, SecurityWeek and silicontap.com

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.

More: Bloomberg, New York Times, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Reuters and PE Hub Blog

Benedict Evans:

Questions about mobile: What happens to Android OEMs? Will more players attempt to fork Android? In what layer will aggregation and discovery sit? More — New questions in mobile — Seven years into the smartphone world, it seems like it's time to change the questions.

More: Wired. Tweets: @benedictevans, @antderosa, @cdixon and @mdudas

Emily Steel / New York Times:

Dish, consumer groups, more unite to launch Stop Mega Comcast coalition to advocate against $45B TWC merger — Coalition Opposes Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger — A group of companies, public interest groups and labor unions have joined forces to urge regulators to reject Comcast's …

More: BGR, Tech Times, TechPresident, Re/code, Electronista, The Wrap, Multichannel News, Politico and Advanced Television. See also Mediagazer

Todd Shields / Bloomberg:

FCC resumes AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/TWC merger reviews, suggesting decisions may come in March

More: Broadcasting & Cable and Reuters

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