Techmeme: Samsung's Gear VR will provide in-flight entertainment for first-class Qantas passengers (Owen Williams/The Next Web)

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January 29, 2015, 3:50 PM

Top News

Julia White / The Official Microsoft Blog:

Microsoft launches Office for Android tablets, new Outlook mail apps for iOS and Android — Office everywhere: More great news for Office on iOS and Android — Last week, we saw the new experiences coming with Windows 10, including how Office universal apps for Windows 10 will deliver …

More: Office Blogs, GeekWire, Ars Technica, Office Blogs, TIME, PC Magazine, Telegraph, Engadget, The Register, Pocketnow, ZDNet, AnandTech, Bloomberg Business, Droid Life, Reuters, SlashGear, Android Authority, Ubergizmo, Android Central, VentureBeat, The Verge, TechCrunch, SiliconANGLE, Gigaom and iMore. Tweets: @msftnews

Office Blogs:

New Accompli-based Outlook for iOS and Android integrates email, calendar, contacts, and files, supports Office 365, Exchange, iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo accounts — A deeper look at Outlook for iOS and Android — Today, we announced the release of Outlook for iOS and a preview of Outlook for Android.

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft to be a minority investor in $70M+ round being raised by Cyanogen, makers of the popular modified Android OS CyanogenMod — Microsoft to Invest in Rogue Android Startup Cyanogen — Microsoft is investing in a hot startup that's trying to weaken Google 's hold over Android.

More: Ars Technica, Business Insider, SiliconBeat, GeekWire, BGR, 9to5Google, Android Police, The Verge, Fortune, Droid Life, SlashGear, Liliputing, Neowin, PhoneDog.com and WMPoweruser. Tweets: @rolfewinkler

Micah Singleton / The Verge:

FCC redefines broadband: minimum download speed raised from 4 to 25 Mbps, minimum upload from 1 to 3 Mbps — The FCC has changed the definition of broadband — The Federal Communications Commission has voted to change the definition of broadband by raising the minimum download speeds needed …

More: Ars Technica, FCC.gov, BGR, ZDNet, PC World, Re/code, Engadget, New York Times, The Next Web, Gigaom, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, GamePolitics blogs, Electronista, SlashGear, CNBC, Geek.com and WebProNews

Tweets: @munin and @wstrife

Daniel Terdiman / VentureBeat:

Facebook launches location tips on iPhone, tests Bluetooth beacons to increase geolocation accuracy in NYC — Facebook invades Yelp, Foursquare territory with geo-specific Place Tips for iPhone — Facebook knows that being able to target users with information about exactly where they are can be extremely lucrative.

More: Facebook, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Marketing Land, Re/code, The Verge and Consumerist

Paul Mozur / New York Times:

New regulations in China require source code, audits, and backdoors from companies working with banks, alarming Western tech firms — New Rules in China Upset Western Tech Companies — HONG KONG — The Chinese government has adopted new regulations requiring companies that sell computer equipment …

More: The Register, Techdirt, BBC, Wired, BetaNews, theWHIR.com, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, 9to5Mac, SC Magazine, Ars Technica, iLounge, PC World, Business Insider, Gigaom, MacDailyNews and iDownloadBlog.com

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

‘Fitbit For Dogs’ Maker Whistle Acquires Tagg Pet Tracker And Raises $15M — Wearables for pets used to be a punchline, but now it's a legitimate business with multiple players active in the space. Said space did just get a bit smaller today, as Whistle, the startup which launched its Fitbit for dogs back in 2013.

More: Gigaom, Business Wire, Wall Street Journal, Wearable Tech Insider, Forbes, PE Hub Blog, BestTechie and The Verge

Dawn Chmielewski / Re/code:

Samsung sold 71-75M smartphones in the holiday quarter, on par with Apple's 74.5M iPhone sales — Apple and Samsung in Dead Heat for Smartphone Dominance — Apple, which years ago ceded the top spot in the global smartphone market to rival Samsung, appears to have pulled into a dead heat.

Youkyung Lee / Associated Press:

Samsung Electronics' Q4 earnings down 27% to $4.9B, beating estimates on strength of component business

More: Samsung Tomorrow, AppleInsider, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, SiliconANGLE, SamMobile and BBC. Tweets: @jchengwsj

Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:

It's over: FCC's AWS-3 spectrum auction ends at record $44.9B in bids — The FCC said bidding in the AWS-3 spectrum auction, known as auction 97, is now closed after 341 rounds of bidding. Total provisional winning bids came in at a record $44.899 billion.

More: The Verge, Wall Street Journal, TmoNews and FierceCable. Tweets: @bfeld. Thanks:@fiercewireless

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Nickelodeon to unveil stand-alone streaming video subscription service in February — Nickelodeon to Unveil Stand-Alone Subscription Video Service in February — Kid-entertainment giant Nickelodeon intends to follow the example of HBO and unveil a direct-to-consumer subscription service in February …

More: TechCrunch, Digital Trends, Re/code, Reuters, ABC News, CNBC, Gizmodo, New York Post, New York Times, Telecompetitor, The Verge, Ubergizmo and Consumerist. See also Mediagazer

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

iTunes Connect offline after issue presented developers with wrong username and apps — Widespread iTunes Connect issue presenting wrong user name and apps for developers (Update: Offline) — iTunes Connect, Apple's portal where developers manage software published on the App Store …

More: MacRumors, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, GeekWire, The Next Web, iMore, AppleInsider, Gigaom and Cult of Mac

Tweets: @tapbot_paul, @tapbot_paul, @bitario, @9to5mac, @llsethj, @apollozac and @drbarnard

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Alibaba invests $10M in Ouya, plans to incorporate Ouya's game library into set-top boxes — Alibaba Breathes New Life Into Game-Console Maker Ouya — Ouya, the game-console maker that has struggled to gain traction since its record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, has received a new injection …

More: The Verge, Engadget and VentureBeat

Owen Williams / The Next Web:

Samsung's Gear VR will provide in-flight entertainment for first-class Qantas passengers — A new partnership between Samsung and Australian airline Qantas means passengers flying on the airline will be able to use a Gear VR on long-haul flights. — A limited number of Gear VR devices …

More: Qantas News Room, GeekWire, ABC News, BGR, Gizmodo Australia, Ubergizmo, Electronista, Engadget, SlashGear, Tech Times and GSMArena Blog

Alden Kroll / Steam Community:

Valve has paid out $57M+ to 1.5K creators across 75 countries through Steam Workshop since 2011; announces curated workshops for non-Valve games — Content Creators Earn Over $50M Through Steam Workshop, Can Now Earn Money in More Games — When we launched the Workshop late in 2011 …

More: VentureBeat, GeekWire, The Verge, Engadget, SiliconANGLE, Polygon, GamePolitics blogs, Gamasutra and destructoid. Tweets: @pentadact

Tony Romm / Politico:

White House privacy bill empowers FTC to levy steep fines on privacy violators, strengthen oversight of data brokers — White House preps expansive online privacy bill — The White House is preparing to send a sweeping online privacy proposal to Congress that would restrict how companies …

More: Gigaom, Gigaom and Washington Post

Tweets: @counternotions, @tonyromm and @juliaangwin

Stephen Barrett / AnandTech:

Intel Announces Broadwell vPro Processors: Wireless Docking and More — While Intel formally announced availability of Broadwell-U processors at CES this year, vendors did not actually have any devices available for purchase containing Intel vPro technology.

More: BetaNews, Liliputing, ZDNet and CNET

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

Nintendo to share up to 70 percent of ad revenue with game YouTubers — Video partnership program comes with some important restrictions, though. — Nintendo's somewhat indecisive stance on letting streamers and producers use video of its games online seems to be crystallizing …

More: GeekWire, Re/code, Zack Scott, Polygon, Forbes, Game Rant, Nintendo World Report Updates, Engadget, Eurogamer.net, TrustedReviews, GameSpot, Tech Times, Joystiq, Ubergizmo and SlashGear

Jordan Novet / VentureBeat:

Quantum computing company D-Wave raises an additional $23.1M, bringing total to $138.7M — D-Wave keeps dreaming of quantum computers everywhere, takes $23.1M more — D-Wave Systems, a company building what it calls quantum computers, is announcing today that it has taken on around $23.1 million …

More: TechCrunch, Techvibes Global News, Forbes, www.vancouversun.com and Marketwire

Travis Green / Google Commerce:

Now available in the UK: Send and request money right from Gmail — Since we announced Send Money in Gmail, paying back your friends has never been so simple, whether you're chipping in for lunch or reimbursing your housemate for your share of the rent. Today, we're excited to make this feature available for Gmail users in the UK.

More: TIME, Gigaom, 9to5Google, Android Police, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo, Engadget, TechnoBuffalo, Business Insider, GSMArena Blog and Electronista

Matti Huuhtanen / Associated Press:

Nokia reports net profit of $502M in Q4 2014, up nearly 10% year over year, higher operating expenses in technologies and mapping services — Nokia turns to fourth quarter profit buoyed by strong growth — HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia made a net profit of 443 million euros ($502 million) …

More: Tech Trader Daily, MarketWatch and CNBC

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

GIF search engine Giphy raises $17M Series B led by Lightspeed Ventures at $80M valuation — After An Approach From Facebook, Giphy Raises $17M At An $80M Valuation — Giphy — the betaworks-backed platform for searching and sharing gifs — has just raised $17 million in Series B funding led …

More: Business Insider

Barb Darrow / Gigaom:

VMware's vCloud Air to integrate Google's BigQuery analytics, Cloud Datastore, Cloud DNS, and Cloud Storage services — VMware is bringing key Google services to its cloud — Here's a deal that has “corporate synergies” written all over it. VMware and Google are working together …

More: VMware Blogs, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, RealWire, Virtualization Review, cloudpro.co.uk, Bloomberg Business, ZDNet, VentureBeat and CRN

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