Techmeme: Netflix wants its app on cable providers' set-top boxes, may be nearing a deal with AT&T (Janko Roettgers/Gigaom)

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December 11, 2014, 12:45 AM

Top News

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, CNET, PC World, 9to5Google, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Guardian, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Associated Press, The Next Web, Ubergizmo, Electronista 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: SiliconANGLE, The Next Web and Engadget

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

See also Mediagazer

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.

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

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 …

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: Tech Trader Daily

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

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: MTV, iDigitalTimes.com, Latin Post, Pocket-lint, The Next Web and App Advice

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

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

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

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

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, Marketing Land, AllFacebook, The Next Web and Mashable

Tweets: @problogger and @kelseyproud

See also Mediagazer

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

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 …

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

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

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

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, iMore, Tubefilter, Billboard, AllAccess.com, hypebot and The Next Web. 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, Ubergizmo, TechRadar.com, Geek.com, Yahoo Tech, AfterDawn.com, eWeek, Geeky Gadgets, Droid Life and PandoDaily

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, FOX2now.com and TUAW. Tweets: @fmanjoo

Bastian Lehmann / Postmates:

Postmates officially launches API to let developers integrate local delivery into service, announces 1M deliveries to date — Powering On-Demand Logistics — OVERVIEW — Today we're excited to announce the launch of our Postmates API, featuring an initial group of six partners.

More: VentureBeat, TechCrunch and The Next Web. Thanks:@mattnagelmv

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft begins integrating Bing search into Office — Summary:Microsoft's ‘Bingification’ of applications officially has begun with its integration of Bing search into Word Online. — Microsoft is beginning to integrate its Bing search technology into Office, starting with Word Online, company officials announced on December 10.

More: Search Blog, SuperSite for Windows, GeekWire, BetaNews, PC World, WinBeta and Windows Phone Central. Tweets: @maryjofoley

Nicole Lee / Engadget:

Google introduces Cardboard SDKs for Android and Unity, dedicates a page for Cardboard apps in the Play Store, refines building specifications — Google's road to virtual reality begins with Cardboard — When I first saw Google's Cardboard VR contraption earlier this year, I laughed.

More: Google Developers Blog, The Verge, TechnoBuffalo, PhoneDog.com, TechCrunch, Pocketnow, 9to5Google and Android Police

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

Jonathan Vanian / Gigaom:

Avi Networks, fresh with $33M, aims to virtualize the network — Networking startup Avi Networks is ready to explain just how it virtualizes networking gear so that enterprises don't have to rely on legacy equipment. The startup is also announcing that it has raised $33 million in venture capital since being founded in 2012.

More: StrictlyVC, Wall Street Journal and Forbes

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