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Techmeme
January 29, 2015, 10:25 PM

Top News

Google:
Google Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2014 Results  —  Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.  —  “Google's full year revenue for 2014 was $66 billion, up 19% year on year,” said Patrick Pichette …
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Google misses in Q4 2014 with $14.48B revenue, $6.88 EPS on slowing ad revenue growth  —  Updated 1:45 p.m. Pacific with new details from Google's earnings call.  —  Google reported its fourth-quarter earnings today, with GAAP EPS of $6.88 on revenue of $14.48 billion (minus traffic acquisition costs).
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:
Cyanogen's $70M+ round to include Microsoft as a minority investor  —  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.  —  People familiar with the matter say Microsoft is putting money into Cyanogen …
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
The best Gmail app for the iPhone is now made by Microsoft  —  Outlook.  Yes, Outlook.  —  Gmail is the world's most popular email service, and the iPhone, as if this week didn't make it abundantly clear, is the world's most popular smartphone.  The two have been around for years and years …
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 …
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Amazon posts $214M profit, $0.45 EPS in Q4 2014 on $29.33B revenue; Prime membership grows 53% year over year  —  Amazon Prime memberships grow 53% in 2014, despite $20 price hike … Amazon's decision to increase the price of its Prime membership doesn't seem to be hurting the company.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Prosecutors Trace $13.4M in Bitcoins From the Silk Road to Ulbricht's Laptop  —  If anyone still believes that bitcoin is magically anonymous internet money, the US government just offered what may be the clearest demonstration yet that it's not.  A courtroom PowerPoint presentation traced hundreds …
Tweets: @a_greenberg
Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:
FTC shuts down “revenge porn” operation, but imposes no fine  —  In one of the most despicable scams on the internet, Colorado resident Craig Brittain ran a website that posted nude photographs of hundreds of women alongside their Facebook profiles and other personal information …
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
The App Install Ad Boom Helps Tune Raise $27 Million  —  A few years ago, the app install ad business — fueled by developers who want to distribute their stuff across a universe of smartphones — didn't really exist.  —  Now it's one of the big reasons Facebook has a giant mobile ad business.
Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:
FCC raises record $44.9B in AWS-3 spectrum auction  —  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 and TmoNewsTweets: @bfeldThanks:@fiercewireless
Dan Levine / Reuters:
Delhi Uber passenger who alleges driver rape sues in U.S  —  (Reuters) - A passenger who said she had been raped by an Uber driver in India's capital sued the online car service in U.S. federal court on Thursday, claiming the company failed to maintain basic safety procedures.
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 …
Abhijeet M. / SamMobile:
Samsung may remove default add-ons from TouchWiz on Galaxy S6, make them downloadable instead  —  Exclusive: Samsung removing bloat from TouchWiz, making most of it downloadable  —  The fact that Samsung's phones and tablets come with a lot of software features is both an advantage and a curse.
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple resolves iTunes Connect issue presenting wrong user name and apps for developers  —  Widespread iTunes Connect issue presenting wrong user name and apps for developers (Update: Resolved)  —  iTunes Connect, Apple's portal where developers manage software published on the App Store …
J.T. Quigley / Tech in Asia:
Google's Nexus Player heading to Japan, its first market outside of North America  —  Google today announced that its Android-powered TV streaming box, the Nexus Player, will begin selling in Japan late next month.  Japan will be the first country outside of the US and Canada to receive the device.
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 …

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