Techmeme
January 23, 2015, 12:30 PM

Top News

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Box opens at over $20 per share, 44% above IPO price, giving it a valuation of around $2.5B  —  Box Skyrockets 50% To More Than $21 Per Share In First Minutes As A Public Company  —  Bam.  —  Today Box opened at around $20.50, far above its $14 IPO price, giving the company a valuation of around $2.5 billion.
New York Times:
Winklevoss Twins Aim to Take Bitcoin Mainstream With a Regulated Exchange  —  Bitcoin, the virtual currency that was once the talk of the financial world, has been taking a beating over the last year with the price tumbling downward.  —  Now two of the biggest boosters of the virtual currency …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple targets Watch battery life of 2.5 hours heavy use and 3.5 hours standard use; pure standby battery life likely to be 2-3 days; CPU said to be A5-caliber  —  Apple targets for Apple Watch battery life revealed, A5-caliber CPU inside  —  Although Apple has said that the Apple Watch …
Fortune:
Cover story on the rise of unicorns: 80+ private companies achieve valuations of at least $1B  —  The Age of Unicorns  —  Stewart Butterfield had one objective when he set out to raise money for his startup last fall: a billion dollars or nothing.  If he couldn't reach a $1 billion valuation for Slack …
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Ulbricht Confessed to Running Silk Road, His College Friend Testifies  —  In this courtroom sketch, defendant Ross Ulbricht listens to proceedings from the defense table during opening arguments in his criminal trial in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015.  Elizabeth Wlliams/AP
Roger Cheng / CNET:
Verizon: Don't expect us to offer a data rollover plan  —  Verizon CFO Fran Shammo says the carrier won't be following AT&T and T-Mobile's lead.  —  Don't hold your breath for Verizon Wireless to counter AT&T and T-Mobile with a data rollover program.  —  That's according to Verizon Chief …
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Apple HomeKit incompatible with home automation accessories not licensed as MFi products that connect over WiFi, like Nest Thermostat  —  Apple details HomeKit compatibility with competing home automation platforms, rules out rival Wi-Fi gear  —  Apple will allow its upcoming Siri-controlled …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Bill and Melinda Gates annual letter: How the smartphone will lift up the world  —  Fifteen years after starting their foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates released their 2015 annual letter overnight, laying out their goals for the next 15 years and explaining their “big bet” — that …
Marco della Cava / USA Today:
Ford opens new Silicon Valley research lab to attract tech talent, work on autonomous cars  —  Ford's new Silicon Valley outpost seeks tech talent  —  PALO ALTO, Calif. — The earth-toned office building looks like any other here in Silicon Valley, an airy low-rise designed …
Reuters:
Obama quietly abandoned proposal to put phone metadata collected by NSA under non-governmental control  —  Obama abandons telephone data spying reform proposal: U.S. officials  —  (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration has quietly abandoned a proposal it had been considering …
More: Techdirt
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Hutchison Says It's In Exclusive Negotiations To Buy UK's O2 For Up To £10.25B  —  Today, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa released a statement saying that it is in exclusive negotiations with Telefonica to acquire mobile carrier O2 in the UK, offering to pay up to £10.25 billion ($15.3 billion, €13.5 billion ).

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More News

Leon Spencer / ZDNet:
Tim Higgins / Bloomberg:
Martin Beck / Marketing Land:

Earlier Picks

Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Russell Brandom / The Verge: