Techmeme: Wakie, the free ‘social alarm clock’ that replaces your alarm clock with a phone call from a stranger, is now available on iOS (Steve O'Hear/TechCrunch)

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December 11, 2014, 9:20 AM

Top News

Re/code:

Sources: Sony Pictures using AWS to execute denial-of-service attack on sites where its stolen data is available — Sony Pictures Tries to Disrupt Downloads of its Stolen Files — Sony Pictures Entertainment is fighting back. — The studio behind the Spider-Man franchise and …

More: Washington Post, BGR, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, Business Insider, AfterDawn.com, The Verge, CNET, Ubergizmo, Geeky Gadgets, The Next Web, SiliconANGLE and Engadget

Tweets: @mikeisaac, @csoghoian, @dangillmor, @kevinmitnick, @csoghoian, @fmanjoo, @eastdakota and @llsethj

See also Mediagazer

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Spotify Now Converts What Friends Listen To Into A “Top Tracks In Your Network” Playlist — Now you can listen to Spotify like you read the Facebook News Feed. Spotify's new “Top Tracks In Your Network” is a personalized, constantly updated playlist based on what the people you follow are listening to.

More: The Next Web, VentureBeat, Engadget, The Verge, App Advice and Ubergizmo. Tweets: @joshconstine. See also Mediagazer

William Petroski / Des Moines Register:

Iowa to allow drivers to use new mobile app as official driver's license in 2015 — Iowa to launch smartphone driver's license — Iowans will soon be able to use a mobile app on their smartphones as their official driver's license issued by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

More: BetaNews, SiliconANGLE, Mashable, Digital Trends, Tech Times and ExtremeTech

Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:

Google News to shut down in Spain Dec. 16 in response to recently passed Spanish copyright law — Strict New “Copyright Law” Forces End Of Google News In Spain — Google has decided to shut down Google News in Spain. This drastic step will occur next week (December 16) …

Neeraj Saxena / Times of India:

Xiaomi banned from selling, importing phones in India: Report — NEW DELHI: Delhi high court has put paid to Xiaomi's surging sales juggernaut in India. At least for now. Hearing a case filed by Ericsson India against Xiaomi, the court on Monday passed an ex parte order forbidding …

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:

Xbox, Windows Store now accepting Bitcoin payments — You can now use Bitcoin to add funds to your Microsoft account. — Microsoft has added Bitcoin support to Microsoft accounts. Bitcoin funds can be added to accounts to enable digital purchases from the Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox Games, Xbox Music, and Xbox Video stores.

Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:

Wakie, the free ‘social alarm clock’ that replaces your alarm clock with a phone call from a stranger, is now available on iOS — Wakie, The Social Alarm Clock That Lets You Wake Up Strangers, Finally Arrives On iOS — “Hey there, I'm just calling to wake you up,” I said a little awkwardly.

More: TechSpot, Latin Post, MTV and iDigitalTimes.com

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

Q&A with Jack Dorsey on Square's past year and its future after the company hits record $100M in sales in a single day — Are All Payments Becoming Invisible? A Conversation With Square's Jack Dorsey — Square, the company famous for its tiny mobile credit-card reader …

More: VentureBeat, Wired, Quartz and Business Insider

Tweets: @jimprosser and @mikeisaac

Kyle Alspach / BostInno:

Confirmed: Backupify Has Been Acquired by Datto in Cloud Backup Consolidation — New England may have a new tech heavyweight in-the-making with the acquisition of Cambridge's Backupify by Norwalk, Conn.-based Datto, which will form a company with more than 400 employees and revenue potentially nearing the nine-digits for this year.

More: Forbes, TechCrunch and Xconomy. Thanks:@kylealspach

Robert Hackett / Fortune:

Cybersecurity firm Area 1 Security, founded by ex-NSA employees, raises $8M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins — Can three ex-NSA snoops stop the worst hacks before they start? — An e-mail arrives in your inbox: relevant, knowingly addressed to you, hardly suspicious.

More: PE Hub Blog, eWeek and SecurityWeek

Joshua Brustein / Businessweek:

Jawbone discounts its fitness trackers for corporate customers with UP for Groups — Your Boss Would Like You to Wear a Jawbone Fitness Tracker — Jawbone wants to become a part of the workday. The company's new service, UP for Groups, will sell discounted fitness trackers …

More: The Jawbone Blog, SlashGear, Connectedly and Engadget

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

eBay CEO Likely to Leave Board and Join PayPal's When Companies Split — EBay CEO John Donahoe will likely depart eBay's board of directors when the company spins off payment subsidiary PayPal next year, according to two people who have discussed the topic with him.

More: ParisLemon

Jillian D'Onfro / Business Insider:

eBay considering plan to cut up to 3k employees, or 10% of its total workforce, in its core marketplace division early next year

More: Wall Street Journal, TheStreet.com, Tech Trader Daily, VentureBeat, CNET, The Register, GeekWire, TIME and Seeking Alpha. Tweets: @mikeisaac

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Apple debuts cellular LTE-equipped iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 in China — Apple on Wednesday announced cellular-capable iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 models will be available in China later this week, offering support for region-specific wireless networks used by major telecoms like the world-leader China Mobile.

More: Apple, BGR, The Next Web, VentureBeat, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, App Advice, Patently Apple, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo, iMore, 9to5Mac and SlashGear. Tweets: @applespotlight. Thanks:@mikeycampbell81

Holly Ormseth / Facebook Media:

Facebook releases new tools for publishers to offer greater automation and better targeting, improves Insights, fixes referrer data bug for iOS — New Tools and Insights for Publishers — Over the past few months, we've listened to publishers around the world to better understand …

More: Marketing Land, Re/code, Jon Loomer Digital, AllFacebook, The Next Web and Mashable

Tweets: @problogger and @kelseyproud

See also Mediagazer

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

YouTube For Android Gets Offline Playback... But In India, Indonesia And Philippines Only — Here's something neat. Google has introduced offline video playback for YouTube mobile users. That's an exciting feature but there's bad news for most TechCrunch readers: it's only available …

More: Google Asia Pacific Blog, Official Google India Blog, Tech in Asia, Android Beat, Digital Inspiration …, MediaNama, 9to5Google, Technology Personalized, memeburn and Trakin' the india …

Mike Beasley / 9to5Google:

Google begins notifying users of $19 million settlement with FTC over in-app purchases — Google has started notifying users of its Play Store about a $19 million settlement it reached with the FTC in September. The company is being required to pay out refunds for in-app purchases …

More: Engadget, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Inquirer, Android Authority, Phandroid, Geeky Gadgets, Android Central, AfterDawn.com, TechRadar.com, Geeky Gadgets, eWeek, Yahoo Tech, Geek.com and Ubergizmo

Mike Beasley / 9to5Google:

Google announces custom gender option for Google+ profile pages coming this week — Google has announced a new update to the profile editor on Google+ which introduces a new “custom” gender option. Rather than take the Facebook approach and present a long list of options, however …

More: Rachael Bennett, Android Central, The Verge, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, The Register and TechTree.com

Rachel King / ZDNet:

Box's S-1 update shows $57M revenue in Q3 2014, up from $33.6M Q3 2013; losses $45.4M, down from $51.4M same quarter last year — Box's S-1 update: Revenue climbed toward Q3 2014, losses less severe — Summary:Since the S-1 landed in early 2014, the enterprise cloud company has deflected analysis …

More: bizjournals, Re/code, VentureBeat, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal

Rachel King / ZDNet:

Cloud collaboration startup Huddle raises another $51 million — Summary:Huddle plans to keep growing its geographical footprint in the United States and Europe while doubling the size of its product team. — The enterprise cloud storage market continues to be a stacked horse race.

More: TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, PE Hub Blog and Xconomy

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Social Address Book Connect Raises $10.3M As It Expands Into Messaging, International Markets — Connect, a social address book and friend finder application that launched earlier this year, has raised $10.3 million in new funding as the company prepares to expand into messaging …

More: Re/code, VentureBeat, Gigaom, Mashable, Virtual-Strategy Magazine and Reuters

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

United Airlines to deploy 23,000 iPhone 6 Plus units to flight attendants for payments, manuals, and more — United Airlines buys iPhone 6 Plus for all its flight attendants to handle payments, manuals & more — United Airlines announced today that its more than 23,000 flight attendants …

More: United Continental Holdings …, BetaNews, AppleInsider, Business Insider, Engadget, SlashGear, TUAW and FOX2now.com. Tweets: @fmanjoo

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Korean E-commerce Leader Coupang Raises $300M Led By BlackRock — Seoul-based Coupang, an online retailer, announced today that it has raised an impressive $300 million in new funding led by BlackRock Private Equity Partners, with participation from Wellington Management Company, LLP …

More: Tech in Asia, PandoDaily and VentureBeat. Thanks:@catherineshu

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Netflix wants its app on cable providers' set-top boxes, may be nearing a deal with AT&T — Netflix wants to hook up with your cable company in 2015 — Netflix's new strategy to take on cable involves becoming best friends with cable: The video streaming service has been working hard …

More: DSLreports

Bertel King, Jr / Android Police:

Google publishes new “Live Channels for Android TV” app on Play Store, but it doesn't work yet — Google Publishes ‘Live Channels For Android TV’ App Into The Play Store, But So Far Not Much Is On — While it's possible to create a TV platform that doesn't deal with live channels …

More: Android Authority, The Verge, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, SlashGear and TechCrunch

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