Techmeme
January 12, 2015, 8:20 AM

Top News

Quentin Hardy / New York Times:
Following Microsoft's new Skype Translator, Google to announce major update to Translate app, add automatic transcription for popular languages  —  Language Translation Tech Starts to Deliver on Its Promise  —  The tech industry is doing its best to topple the Tower of Babel.
Ben Thompson / stratechery:
With a broad range of products united by software, Xiaomi sells an ecosystem, not just phones  —  Xiaomi's Ambition  —  Xiaomi, the Chinese smart phone company that late last month raised $1.1 billion at a $45 billion valuation, sells way more than smartphones: Mi.com boasts over a thousand items …
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Samsung announces 5.5-inch metal unibody Galaxy A7 with 8-core Exynos or Snapdragon CPUs, 13MP camera, dual-sim option  —  Samsung Packs An 8-Core Processor Into Its New 5.5-Inch Galaxy A7 Smartphone  —  Last year Samsung released an eight-core version of the Galaxy S5 …
Yuliya Chernova / Wall Street Journal:
For Dave McClure's New 500 Startups Fund, U.S. Institutions Shy Away  —  Dave McClure's prolific seed investment firm and startup incubator 500 Startups has raised capital from plenty of supporters around the world.  But there's one group that continues to shun Mr. McClure's efforts—U.S. institutional investors.
Tweets: @wsjd
Robert Hansen / WhiteHat Security Blog:
Hands-on with Naenara Browser, North Korea's bizarre Firefox variant for its official Red Star OS  —  North Korea's Naenara Web Browser: It's Weirder Than We Thought  —  Naenara Browser is the DPRK's version of Firefox that comes built into Red Star OS, the official operating system of North Korea.
Matt Burns / TechCrunch:
Leaked Palantir document reveals uses and key clients, including several government agencies  —  Leaked Palantir Doc Reveals Uses, Specific Functions And Key Clients  —  Since its founding in 2004, Palantir has managed to grow into a billion dollar company while being very surreptitious about what it does exactly.
Joshua Brustein / Businessweek:
GameStop eludes Blockbuster's fate for now by selling physical vouchers for DLC, maintaining fat margins on used games  —  Extra Lives: Can GameStop Avoid Blockbuster's Fate?  —  Tim Brooks claims to know 98 percent to 100 percent of the people who visit his store, a GameStop on a scruffy city block in northern Philadelphia.
Johana Bhuiyan / BuzzFeed:
Flywheel, Asia's GrabTaxi, and India's OlaCabs consider taxi alliance to compete with Uber  —  Ride-Hailing Startups Discuss Global Taxi Alliance Against Uber  —  Two companies in Asia backed by Softbank Capital and one in the U.S. have discussed cross-booking and integrated apps.
Tweets: @semilThanks:@mat
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft chastises Google for disclosing Windows 8.1 security hole prior to patch … Microsoft is publicly criticizing Google for releasing details about a security vulnerability in Windows 8.1 two days before the Redmond company was slated to patch the bug — saying that Google is putting users …
David Katzmaier / CNET:
4K TV makers push features like quantum dots, HDR, and curved displays to differentiate at CES  —  TVs at CES 2015 go beyond 4K  —  4K is already old hat.  The rapidly falling prices of 4K TVs are causing manufacturers push even more elaborate features to make a buck.

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Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Arielle Duhaime-Ross / The Verge:
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