Techmeme: Google News to shut down in Spain Dec. 16 in response to recently passed Spanish copyright law (Greg Sterling/Search Engine Land)

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December 11, 2014, 4:30 AM

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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 and is the result …

More: Google Europe Blog, The Verge, Reuters, Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET, PC Advisor, Guardian, memeburn, Electronic Frontier Foundation, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, MacNN, VentureBeat, Ubergizmo, The Next Web and The Spain Report. Tweets: @dannysullivan. See also Mediagazer

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: The Verge, SiliconANGLE, CNET, The Next Web and Engadget

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

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: Mashable, Digital Trends, Tech Times, ExtremeTech, Network World and PCMag UK

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.

More: CoinDesk, Engadget, The Verge, The Next Web, TechCrunch, GeekWire, VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE, Techie Buzz, Windows Phone Central, NEWSBTC, WinBeta and CoinTelegraph.Com News

Jere Suikkila / HERE Three Sixty:

Nokia's HERE maps app now available for free on Google Play; iOS version coming in early 2015 — HERE for Android now available for free on Google Play — More than a million of you have already taken HERE for Android beta for a spin, with the most active downloaders coming from Germany and the USA.

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: Latin Post, MTV, iDigitalTimes.com and Pocket-lint

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, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo, iMore, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, MacRumors and App Advice. Tweets: @applespotlight. Thanks:@mikeycampbell81

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.

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, VentureBeat, The Register, TIME, Seeking Alpha, GeekWire and CNET. Tweets: @mikeisaac

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, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Re/code, ZDNet and Gigaom

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

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, TechCrunch, The Register, TechTree.com, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo and Engadget

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

Tweets: @problogger and @kelseyproud

See also Mediagazer

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: AppleInsider, Business Insider, newsroom.unitedconti …, Engadget, SlashGear, TUAW and FOX2now.com. Tweets: @fmanjoo

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 …

More: Spicy IP, TechCrunch, MediaNama, India Today, The Next Web, Tech in Asia, Android Central, The Register and Digital Trends

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Instagram surpasses Twitter with 300M monthly users, plans to launch verified badges soon — Instagram Hits 300 Million Monthly Users To Surpass Twitter, Keeps It Real With Verified Badges — It's no fad. Just nine months after hitting 200 million users, Instagram now says 300 million people use …

More: Wired, Instagram Blog, Adweek, Re/code, PC Magazine, Fortune, New York Times, Adotas, SiliconANGLE, TechSpot, Re/code, TechnoBuffalo, Engadget, Marketing Pilgrim, Computerworld, Cult of Mac, Macworld, AllTwitter, Inc.com, Gigaom, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Daring Fireball, Bloggers Blog and Marketing Land

Tweets: @kurtwagner8, @jyarow, @mikeisaac and @noah_weiss

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

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Google introduces support for Watch Faces on Android Wear with developer APIs and a new Play Store section offering dozens of designs at launch — Android Wear Gets Official Third-Party Watchface Support — Google is making good on a promise it made previously to the Android Wear community today …

Alex Wawro / Gamasutra:

Kabam shifts focus to mobile, sells off social games to RockYou — Free-to-play game company Kabam is abandoning social games in favor of the lucrative mobile market at the same time that RockYou is trying to buy up unwanted social games, so it's not so surprising that Kabam just sold …

More: corporate.kabam.com and Pocket Gamer.biz

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

Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:

Sidecar Follows The Competition, Starts Charging A $1 “RideSafe” Fee — Last year, Uber introduced a “Safe Rides” fee that added a $1 charge to uberX fares. This fee, they said, was meant to help them cover the cost of background checks, vehicle screenings, and “the development of safety features.”

More: GeekWire

Facebook:

Facebook bringing Trending Topics to mobile, organizes topic stories in sections for news coverage, posts from people nearby, and more — Updates to Trending — People gather on Facebook to talk about what's happening in the world. In January, we introduced Trending to help people discover timely …

More: TechnoBuffalo, Inside Facebook, Tech Times, Re/code, Marketing Land, Engadget, ReadWrite, GeekWire, Droid Life, The Daily Dot, Ubergizmo and TechCrunch. See also Mediagazer

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: Phandroid, Android Central, TechRadar.com, AfterDawn.com, eWeek, Geeky Gadgets, Yahoo Tech, Geek.com, Ubergizmo, Droid Life and PandoDaily

Paresh Dave / Los Angeles Times:

Slacker Radio enlists Tyler Oakley, other YouTube stars as station DJs — YouTube stars who've been diversifying by acting in films, authoring books and selling clothing now have a new occupation to try out. — Pandora competitor Slacker Radio plans soon to invite any social-media star …

More: Gigaom, VentureBeat, PandoDaily, Tubefilter, AllAccess.com, Billboard, hypebot, iMore and The Next Web. See also Mediagazer

Apple:

Apple and IBM launch first wave of ten IBM MobileFirst iOS apps for enterprises — Apple and IBM Deliver First Wave of IBM MobileFirst for iOS Apps — Big Data Analytics and Security Capabilities Arrive on iPhone & iPad — Apple® and IBM today deliver the first wave of IBM MobileFirst …

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