Techmeme: Swedish Police Raid The Pirate Bay, Site Offline (Andy/TorrentFreak)

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December 10, 2014, 8:05 AM

Top News

Erin Griffith / Fortune:

HBO launching web-only service in April 2015, will outsource streaming tech to MLB Advanced Media — Exclusive: HBO to outsource streaming technology in blow to ‘backstabbing’ CTO — In a major strategic shift, HBO will license the technology underpinning the standalone streaming service it plans to offer in 2015.

More: Re/code, Digital Trends, TechnoBuffalo, SiliconANGLE, Android Authority, Electronista, GeekWire, The Verge, Tubefilter, Inside TV, CNET, Gigaom, Mobile Geeks, Mashable, Pocket-lint, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Engadget, Cult of Mac, Seeking Alpha, BGR, WebProNews, DSLreports and Forbes

Tweets: @nikcub, @pkafka, @cityofthetown and @karlbode

See also Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:

HBO's CTO Otto Berkes, co-creator of Xbox, resigns after HBO outsources the tech for its planned streaming service — HBO CTO Otto Berkes Resigns, as Network Enlists MLB to Build OTT Platform — HBO chief technology officer Otto Berkes is leaving the premium cable network …

More: Fortune, The Verge, Pocket-lint and Ars Technica. See also Mediagazer

Andy / TorrentFreak:

Swedish Police Raid The Pirate Bay, Site Offline — For many years The Pirate Bay has been sailing by the seat of its pants so any downtime is met with concern from its millions of users. — This morning, for the first time in months, The Pirate Bay disappeared offline.

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Hangouts For Android Gets Smarter, Adds Video Filters And More — Google's Hangouts app for Android is getting a major update today, as the company's VP of Product for Google+ Bradley Horowitz announced at the LeWeb conference in Paris this morning. Some of these new features …

More: Rhett Robinson, 9to5Google, The Next Web, The Verge, VentureBeat, Android Beat and SlashGear

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Uber's Background Checks for Drivers Come Under Scrutiny — Uber champions its “industry-leading standards” for vetting its drivers. On its website, it describes its background checks as “often more rigorous” than those in the traditional taxi industry. — But in statehouses across the country …

More: Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNET, SocialTimes and Gigaom. Tweets: @nehanotes

Jeremy C. Owens / SiliconValley News:

SF and LA district attorneys sue Uber, claim it makes false and misleading statements; settle with Lyft for $500k

More: Los Angeles Times, Re/code, San Francisco Examiner …, SFWeekly, bizjournals, Engadget, Business Insider and GeekWire

Tweets: @lizgannes, @georgegascon and @mikeisaac

Owen Williams / The Next Web:

Locked Apple ID accounts with two-factor authentication enabled require recovery keys, not just password and trusted device details, to be reactivated — The dark side of Apple's two-factor authentication — Earlier this week, a strange message popped up on my Mac that I thought nothing of.

More: iDownloadBlog.com, Lifehacker, TUAW, BGR, MacDailyNews, iPhone, 9to5Mac, Ubergizmo, MacRumors and iPhone in Canada Blog

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

Confirmed: Bose speakers returning to Apple Stores after removal earlier this year — It looks like Apple will indeed be cashing in on Bose speakers and headphones sales in time for the remainder of the holiday shopping season. Yesterday rumors surfaced that Apple was readying its retail stores …

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada Blog, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, App Advice, The Verge, Engadget, Gigaom and iMore

Jason Pontin / MIT Technology Review:

Interview with Shanley Kane, whose Model View Culture publication offers a feminist critique of Silicon Valley — Shanley Kane of Model View Culture Challenges a “Corrupt” Silicon Valley — Shanley Kane challenges the assumptions and practices of the tech industry.

More: BREITBART.COM. Tweets: @pmarca, @nero, @lauralockesf, @grimmelm, @andrewthesmart, @glennf, @caseyjohnston, @arkmashton, @glennf, @techreview, @jason_pontin, @ginatrapani, @anildash, @roidrage and @nero

Greg Gardner / Cromulent Labs:

Behind Apple's rejection of Launcher, and why it may never return to the app store — Launcher Followup and Thoughts on the App Store Review System — Since I still receive a few emails every week asking me if Launcher is ever coming back to the App Store, I figured it would make sense …

More: Marco.org, Business Insider, TUAW and MacRumors. Tweets: @thenewlou

Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:

Blackphone launching world's first privacy-focused app store — Firm says new software store will allow users to increase Blackphone's functionality while protecting data and communications — Privacy-first smartphone company Blackphone is launching its own app store for users concerned about privacy and security.

More: PR Newswire, SiliconANGLE, PandoDaily, PC World, Electronista, TechnoBuffalo, eWeek, The Register, TechCrunch, Digital Trends and CNET

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Microsoft COO Kevin Turner on Windows: “We've got to monetize it differently” — Big changes ahead for Windows: 'We've got to monetize it differently,' says Microsoft exec — Microsoft Windows has made headway in the market for low-end laptops and tablets this year by reducing …

More: SiliconANGLE, BGR, Ars Technica, PC Pro, SuperSite for Windows, ExtremeTech, Business Insider, Network World, The Tech Report, WinBeta and Neowin

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

T-Mobile launches $100 two-line family plan with unlimited data — New plan undercuts AT&T and Verizon by a wide margin — T-Mobile today announced a new two-line family plan option that provides unlimited talk, text, and data services for $100 per month. Additional lines (up to eight more) can be added for $40 per month.

More: T-Mobile Newsroom, Wall Street Journal, CNET, MacRumors, Bloomberg, USA Today, Re/code, Android Police, 9to5Mac, Engadget, GeekWire, Gigaom, PhoneDog.com, BGR, Droid Life, Windows Phone Central and TmoNews

Tweets: @inafried and @johnlegere

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Glassdoor: Google dethrones Twitter as the best tech company to work for in the U.S., also tops new U.K. list — Career website Glassdoor today released its seventh annual Employees' Choice Awards, a list of the 50 best companies to work for in the coming year.

More: GeekWire, SiliconBeat and ZDNet

Cade Metz / Wired:

Inside Facebook's one-year-old Artificial Intelligence Research lab, led by Yann LeCun — Facebook Envisions A.I. That Keeps You From Uploading Embarrassing Pics — Let's say you're out drinking with your buddies, things get out of hand, you pull out your smartphone …

More: The Daily Dot, NEWS.com.au, BGR, Business Insider and Tech Times. Tweets: @sarahfrier

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Restaurant Reservation Service Reserve Launches In San Francisco — Reserve, a mobile app that makes it easy to find reservations at top restaurants, announced today that it's now available in San Francisco. — The service, which launched in October, came out of Expa, the “startup studio” …

More: Reserve, Associated Press, PandoDaily and The Next Web

Stephen Shankland / CNET:

Sir Tim Berners-Lee: Europe's right to be forgotten rule is dangerous for history and free speech — Web founder: Europe's ‘right to be forgotten’ rule is dangerous — Tim Berners-Lee believes thinks scrubbing false information off the Web is fine, but the truth should be preserved for reasons of free speech and history.

More: ARC

Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:

Intel introduces its own Internet of Things platform — In addition to entering the wearable market, Intel is also going full in on the Internet of Things. — The silicon-producing company announced its own IoT platform and reference design today with a focus on getting items …

More: Intel Newsroom, VentureBeat, The Verge, SlashGear, Reuters, PCMag UK cpus-components …, Bloomberg and Forbes. Tweets: @sub8u

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Didi Dache, One Of China's Two Dominant Taxi App Firms, Closes $700M Series D Round — Another large sum of money is going in Asia's taxi app space following SoftBank's $250 million investment in GrabTaxi and Uber's latest Asia-focused $1.2 billion raise. Today, Didi Dache …

More: TechNode, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Mashable and Tech in Asia

Kellex / Droid Life:

Google Mobile Results Now 100-150 Milliseconds Faster in Chrome for Android — According to Ilya Grigorik, a developer advocate at Google, when you tap on a Google Search result after performing a mobile search, the page will now load 100-150 milliseconds faster in Chrome for Android.

More: Ilya Grigorik, VentureBeat, gHacks Technology News, Phandroid, Android Central and Gigaom

Blair Hanley Frank / GeekWire:

Amazon-owned Twitch buys eSports agency GoodGame — Steve Ballmer isn't the only tech CEO with a major interest in a competitive sports franchise anymore. Thanks to a new acquisition, Jeff Bezos now has a stake in two of the leading eSports teams. Twitch announced today that it has acquired GoodGame …

More: The Next Web, The Official Twitch Blog, VentureBeat, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Variety. Tweets: @joshconstine. See also Mediagazer

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