Techmeme: Microsoft's Azure Is Starting to Close the Gap With Amazon's Cloud Service (Dina Bass/Businessweek)

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December 15, 2014, 12:00 PM

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Bryan Steele / Skype Blogs:

Skype Translator preview goes live with English and Spanish language support — Skype Translator Preview - An Exciting Journey to a New Chapter in Communication — For more than a decade, Skype has been breaking down geographical barriers to make every day audio and video communications possible.

More: TechCrunch, Skype Blogs, Engadget, GeekWire, SuperSite for Windows, ZDNet, BetaNews, The Verge, The Next Web, VentureBeat, The Tech Portal, gHacks Technology News, Neowin, Mashable, Windows Phone Central and The Fire Hose

Tweets: @stevenguggs, @whatthebit, @sissi_kaizerin and @mhoye

Thanks:@reckel

Alex Heath / Cult of Mac:

Workflow lets you easily chain together and automate hundreds of actions across iOS apps — Workflow pushes the limits of how powerful iOS can be — A new app called Workflow aims to close the divide between the power of OS X and the convenience of iOS.

More: MacStories, TechCrunch, The Verge, AppleInsider, App Advice, MacStories, Seth Clifford, TodaysiPhone.com, SlashGear, MacRumors, The Next Web, iMore, TUAW, Business Insider, The Mac Observer, 9to5Mac and BGR

Tweets: @arix, @benbajarin, @viticci, @charlesarthur, @producthunt and @jasonfried

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Sony hackers offer to withhold posting emails from specific employees if they write in and ask — Sony Hackers Offer to Withhold Stolen Data From Promised Leak — A group claiming responsibility for the devastating hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment on Sunday offered …

Laura Lorenzetti / Fortune:

SurveyMonkey is worth $2 billion after new $250 million fundraising round — SurveyMonkey, the online survey platform, raised $250 million in equity financing, making the company worth close to $2 billion. — The funding will help the company pursue future acquisition purchases …

More: Wall Street Journal, bizjournals and PE Hub Blog

Gerry Shih / Reuters:

Xiaomi made $56 million profit in 2013: filing — (Reuters) - China's Xiaomi Technology Ltd Co [XTC.UL] made a profit of 347.48 million yuan ($56.15 million) on 26.58 billion yuan ($4.30 billion) in revenue in 2013, Chinese securities filings dated Monday show.

More: Gigaom, BGR, New York Times, The Register, Patently Apple, SlashGear, Tech in Asia, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews, Android Central and The Tech Portal. Tweets: @zacharye

Matthew Bennett / The Spain Report:

Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association Now Asks Government To Help Stop Google News Closure — NEWS: AEDE announces it wants the Spanish government and EU competition authorities to stop Google closing Google News: “to protect the rights of citizens and businesses”.

More: TechCrunch, TechSpot, 9to5Google, Search Engine Land, Wall Street Journal, SlashGear, Hit & Run, WebProNews, Neowin, Wired.co.uk, Techdirt, Business Insider, The Register, Engadget, Washington Post, The Digital Reader and Electronista. Tweets: @declanm

Dina Bass / Businessweek:

Microsoft's Azure Is Starting to Close the Gap With Amazon's Cloud Service — Last year software maker K2.com stopped relying on Amazon.com (AMZN) for its cloud services and turned to Microsoft (MSFT) instead. K2 Chief Executive Officer Adriaan van Wyk says he's happy with the choice—most of the time.

Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Google:

T-Mobile teases a new uncarrier deal livestreaming tomorrow as it claims 50% faster LTE in NY — T-Mobile has announced that it will be unveiling its latest contract-free deal in a livestreamed ‘fireside chat’ tomorrow, Un-carrier 8.0. … The company hasn't hinted at any of the details, but we'll of course let you know ...

More: T-Mobile Newsroom, T-Mobile Newsroom, iMore, BGR, iMore, IntoMobile, iDownloadBlog.com, TmoNews and SlashGear

Chine Labbe / Reuters:

France says UberPop to be banned as irate taxi drivers stall traffic — (Reuters) - The UberPop transport service will be banned in France from Jan. 1 to avoid unfair competition, the interior ministry said on Monday as taxi drivers impeded morning traffic into Paris in a one-day protest against the U.S.-based online cab-hailing firm.

More: New York Times, Telegraph, BBC, SiliconANGLE, TIME, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, TechCrunch, The Next Web, VentureBeat and Globe and Mail

Robin Wauters / Tech.eu:

European long-distance ridesharing platform Carpooling arrives in the United States, partners with Uber — Munich, Germany-based Carpooling, previously known as Carpooling.com, is launching in the United States after having inked a deal with increasingly controversial ride-booking service Uber.

More: TechCrunch, PR Newswire, The Next Web, Macworld and Webrazzi

Brian Ries / Mashable:

Uber introduces surge pricing during Sydney hostage siege, then backtracks, offers free rides, refunds — Uber intros surge pricing during Sydney hostage siege, then backtracks after user outcry — This post was updated at 10:45 p.m. ET to include an updated statement from Uber

More: Uber Blog, Guardian, CNET, The Verge, NPR, Gawker, The Daily Dot, TechCrunch, BBC, Sydney Morning Herald, New York Times, ABC, The Next Web, Tech Times, VatorNews, NEWS.com.au, SiliconANGLE, Ars Technica and New York Magazine

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Nokia's Here Will Power Maps For Baidu Outside China To Cater To China's ‘Globetrotters’ — Search giant Baidu has made no secret of its ambitions to expand its business outside of China by way of mobile services. Now it's struck a deal with Nokia that could help it with that by serving domestic users abroad.

More: Tech in Asia, ZDNet, Nokia, BetaNews, PC Magazine, Light Reading, Gigaom and VentureBeat

Donna Tam / CNET:

This holiday season, more individuals are reselling toys in high demand on Amazon — That $119 ‘Frozen’ playset sells for $250 on Amazon. Let it go? — The art of retail artbridge — buying products from brick-and mortar stores and selling them online for a higher price — is alive and well.

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