Techmeme
December 17, 2014, 7:10 AM

Top News

Sam Biddle / Valleywag:
Sony hack confirms Snapchat turned down over $3B from Facebook last year, based on emails between Sony Ent. CEO Michael Lynton and Malcolm Gladwell  —  Confirmed: Snapchat Turned Down More Than $3 Billion Last Year  —  One of last year's great moments in undeserved ego was Snapchat rejecting billions …
Tim Higgins / Bloomberg:
Apple Stops Online Sales in Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) has halted online sales in Russia due to “extreme” ruble fluctuations, the company said.  —  “Our online store in Russia is currently unavailable while we review pricing,” Alan Hely, a spokesman for the Cupertino …
Andrew Binstock / Dr. Dobb's:
Dr. Dobb's to stop producing content at year end due to decline in ad revenue despite 10M+ page views this year  —  Farewell, Dr. Dobb's  —  This year, our website will deliver almost 10.3 million page views, which is an unprecedented number for Dr. Dobb's.  It's up from 9 million last year and 8 million three years ago.
Ben Thompson / stratechery:
Wearables, Bitcoin or messaging may underpin the next consumer computing epoch, after the PC, internet, and mobile  —  The State of Consumer Technology at the End of 2014  —  While the modern computing era in many respects began with the IBM System/360 mainframe and further expanded with the minicomputer …
Tweets: @tuckershouse
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Starts Auto-Enhancing Photos Because Algorithms Are Better At Filters Than You  —  We're not ace photographers, but we all take photos.  Most could use a little help with light and shadow.  So rather than making you manually filter them, Facebook tells me it will now auto-enhance …
Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:
Jury finds Apple not guilty of harming consumers in iTunes DRM case  —  Apple cleared in potential $1 billion court case  —  An eight-person jury has decided that Apple is not on the hook for what could have been more than $1 billion in a trial centering on extra security measures …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Google Takes Play Music's Songza-Powered Playlists Abroad, First Stop UK  —  With catalogues of unlimited music on streaming services so extensive these days that we never quite know what to listen to first, playlists have become one of the key ways that music fans use services like Soundcloud.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google Drive gets Gmail attachment support, Google voice search on Android, uploading from other apps on iOS  —  Google today rolled out new Google Drive features in Gmail, as well as updated Android and iOS apps.  Gmail attachment support is live now, while the Android update is rolling out on Google Play …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Brandwatch buys top influencer analytics firm PeerIndex  —  Brandwatch, the maker of technology for acquiring social intelligence, has purchased PeerIndex, an analytics firm that finds and measures social influencers.  —  Above: Giles Palmer, CEO of Brandwatch.
Vikas SN / MediaNama:
OnePlus sales halted in India after Micromax complaint over Cyanogen exclusivity  —  OnePlus India sales stopped by Delhi HC after Micromax complains  —  Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus has been stopped from shipping or selling its smartphones in India, just a fortnight after its launch in the country, reports Mint.
Alyson Shontell / Business Insider:
Twitter And Foursquare Are Partnering To Improve Location In Tweets  —  Twitter wants to start surfacing information for users that's relevant and interesting, not just timely.  And the company believes adding a location layer to its platform could be part of the solution.
More: Gizmodo, memeburn, Gigaom, Engadget and The VergeTweets: @mathewi
Garett Sloane / Adweek:
Twitter Debates Whether to Hit Autoplay on Videos to Compete With Facebook  —  Brands would love it, but would users protest?  —  Twitter is weighing a difficult decision, one that not only could disrupt the traditional order of things at the social network but also may well be the key …
Billy Steele / Engadget:
Fitbit says Charge skin irritation issues aren't caused by the device's materials  —  Fitbit says Charge skin issues aren't caused by its materials  —  Fitbit is no stranger to customer complaints, especially when it comes to skin issues.  After dealing with a wave of criticism …
More: TechRadar.com and TODAY
Barb Darrow / Gigaom:
MongoDB snaps up WiredTiger as new storage engine option  —  NoSQL fan favorite MongoDB has purchased WiredTiger and its storage engine technology, and as part of the deal snags itself some database stars in Keith Bostic and Dr. Michael Cahill.  —  Bostic was co-founder of Sleepycat Software …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Aiming To Be A ‘B2B Google’ For Business Intel, Mattermark Raises $6.5M Led By Foundry Group  —  Mattermark, the business intelligence site that pivoted out of YC-backed curation site Referly, is today announcing that it has raised a round of $6.5 million, funding that the startup will use to build out its ambition to be a “B2B Google.”
More: VentureBeat, PandoDaily and MediumTweets: @davemcclure

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