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January 5, 2015, 11:40 PM
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Top News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple to start selling SIM-free iPhone 6 & 6 Plus in the U.S. tomorrow  —  Apple will start selling fully unlocked, SIM-free iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models in the United States beginning tomorrow, January 6th, according to several sources.  The unlocked iPhones will be available …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Verizon approached AOL about possible acquisition or joint venture to strengthen mobile-video offerings  —  Verizon Said to Approach AOL About Possible Takeover or Venture  —  Verizon Communications Inc. has approached AOL Inc. (AOL) about a potential acquisition or joint venture …
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Dish announces Sling TV: stream channels like ESPN, CNN, and TNT over the internet for $20 per month without a cable subscription  —  You Can Finally Get ESPN on the Web, for $20 a Month  —  Lots of people say they want to ditch cable TV for the Web, but can't because they want to watch sports …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Gogo issues fake HTTPS certificates to block in-flight YouTube streaming, says no user info collected  —  Gogo issues fake HTTPS certificate to users visiting YouTube  —  Gogo has been caught issuing a fake digital certificate for YouTube, a practice that in theory could allow …
Austin Carr / Fast Company:
Amazon executes sweeping reorganization of hardware group Lab126 following Fire Phone flop  —  Following Fire Phone Flop, Big Changes At Amazon's Lab126  —  In recent months, a string of departures and managerial changes has hit Amazon's Lab126, the company's Silicon Valley-based R&D group …
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
Bitstamp confirms exchange hacked, has lost less than 19K bitcoins worth about $5M  —  Bitstamp exchange hacked, $5M worth of bitcoin stolen  —  The European bitcoin exchange suspends its service after it was hacked, ZDNet can confirm.  Less than 19,000 bitcoins were stolen from an operational wallet.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Acquires Wit.ai To Help Its Developers With Speech Recognition And Voice Interfaces  —  Facebook today acquired Wit.ai, a Y Combinator startup founded 18 months ago to create an API for building voice-activated interfaces.  Wit.ai already has 6,000 developers on its platform who have built hundreds of apps.
Ross Miller / The Verge:
Sony announces new high-res Walkman NW-ZX2 with 128GB onboard storage running Android 4.2, coming spring for for $1.2K  —  This is the new Sony Walkman  —  All signs pointed to a new Sony Walkman (literally) at CES 2015, and the signs didn't lie.  The new Walkman ZX2 is real …
Mitchel Broussard / MacRumors:
TapSense announces platform for contextual ads on Apple Watch as developers scramble to deliver ads through Watch SDK  —  TapSense Announces Platform to Bring Contextual Ads to Apple Watch  —  Amidst the new and upcoming product launches at this year's Consumer Electronics Show …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Intel Turns Off Russian Forums, Blogs & Comments In Response To Russian Blogging Law  —  Back in April of last year, we were among the first to report on a very dangerous new law in Russia targeting bloggers, requiring any blogger or social media user with more than 3,000 “visitors” a day to register their real name with the government.
Roger Cheng / CNET:
Key wireless charging groups A4WP, PMA agree to merge  —  The alliance should help bring a little bit of clarity to the fragmented world of wireless charging technologies.  —  Powermat technology, pushed by the PMA, is already available at select Starbucks.  —  LAS VEGAS—Two down, one to go.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Samsung updates SmartThings Hub, unveils subscription home monitoring service, coming April 2015  —  Samsung unveils next-gen smart home hub and monitoring service  —  Looks like you didn't have to wait long to see what Samsung would do in the smart home world after acquiring SmartThings …
Scott Stein / CNET:
Lenovo enters the smart fitness band game with e-ink, water-resistant Vibe Band VB10  —  LAS VEGAS — Fitness band meets smartwatch: yeah, it's a well-trodden formula.  Lenovo, however, hasn't made a splash into wearables before.  The Vibe Band VB10, debuted at the 2015 International CES in Las Vegas …
Caleb Pershan / SFist:
Mark Zuckerberg's New Year's Resolution Book Club Sells Out First Title On Amazon  —  Mark Zuckerberg is not like us.  For example, when it comes to New Year's resolutions, the Facebook CEO actually achieves things.  And in the five short days of 2015 so far, he's already become Oprah Winfrey.
Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:
Samsung is adding Slingbox-like features to its new smart TVs  —  Janko Roettgers  —  Credit: Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com  —  Credit: Kobby Dagan / Shutterstock.com  —  This is interesting: Samsung is adding what amounts to a kind of Slingbox to all of its new smart TVs …
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Google Asked to Remove 345 Million “Pirate” Links in 2014  —  In the hope of steering prospective customers away from pirate sites, copyright holders are overloading Google with DMCA takedown notices.  —  These requests have increased dramatically over the years.
Gordon Mah Ung / PC World:
HP takes on Chromeboxes with $180, Windows-based Stream Mini PC  —  HP takes on Chromeboxes with $180, Windows-based Stream Mini PC  —  Late last year, HP kicked off the Windows war against Google's Chromebooks with its $200 Streambook 11, and now the company is back again to tackle Chromeboxes with its Stream Mini PC.
More: HP, Engadget, ZDNet, Ars Technica and eWeek.  Thanks:@bradchacos

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From Mediagazer

Reuters:
Independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta plans to shut down after 30+ years, following pressure from Russian authorities and the persecution of its reporters

Bruce Gil / Gizmodo:
Fan fiction site AO3 says it will be offline for two to four weeks after a security incident; it hosts over 18M works and has 11M registered users

Selome Hailu / Variety:
Sources: Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine lays off about 30 employees, roughly 50% of its staff, as it focuses on film and TV projects and its book club brand

More News

Lynn La / CNET:
LG G Flex 2: curved smartphone with 5.5-inch screen and Snapdragon 810 coming to Korea this month, AT&T and Sprint later this year

Earlier Picks

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google Cast for audio lets you stream music from apps like Pandora and Rdio to compatible speakers, coming this spring
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