Techmeme: Pebble teases new model, sources say thinner watch with color screen in the works (Mark Gurman/9to5Mac)

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February 19, 2015, 9:05 PM

Top News

The Intercept:

How US and UK spies hacked into world's largest maker of SIM cards and stole encryption keys — How Spies Stole the Keys to the Encryption Castle — AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world …

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Some Lenovo notebooks shipped with man-in-the-middle Superfish adware that breaks HTTPS connections, affects Chrome and Internet Explorer — Lenovo PCs ship with man-in-the-middle adware that breaks HTTPS connections — Superfish may make it trivial for attackers to spoof any HTTPS website.

Shira Ovide / Wall Street Journal:

Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius says company is working on a tool to remove Superfish from PCs, claims security community are dealing with “theoretical concerns” — Lenovo CTO: We're Working to Wipe Superfish App Off of PCs — Lenovo is working quickly to wipe all traces of an app …

More: Wired, forums.lenovo.com, Computerworld, The Next Web, ExtremeTech, InfoWorld, Ars Technica, eWeek, Bloomberg Business, Mashable, Vox, ZDNet, Digital Trends, Security Affairs, Threatpost, AppleInsider and Engadget

Tweets: @dangillmor, @erratarob, @auerbachkeller, @caseynewton, @zackwhittaker, @nateog, @harrymccracken, @nick_craver and @kansasalps

Thanks:@nateog

Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:

Lenovo disabled Superfish in January, but the company says it has not found “evidence to substantiate security concerns”

More: The Daily Dot, PC World, ABC News, Techdirt, A Few Thoughts …, Gigaom, Wall Street Journal and BGR

Tweets: @sriramk, @swiftonsecurity, @matthew_d_green, @caseynewton, @mattblaze, @sarahjeong, @benedictevans and @jbrodkin

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Revealed: The experts Apple hired to build an electric car — In the last few weeks we've heard about a poaching war between Apple and Tesla, a couple hires by Apple from the auto industry, and a whole lot of speculation followed by reports that Apple has a team of hundreds working on an electric vehicle.

More: Bloomberg Business, Reuters, Macworld, MacRumors, iMore, TechnoBuffalo, iPhone in Canada Blog, Seeking Alpha, TechCrunch, App Advice, iDownloadBlog.com, Vox, Associated Press, BGR, Gigaom and Business Insider. Tweets: @markgurman

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Pebble teases new model, sources say thinner watch with color screen in the works — Pebble updated its website this morning to tease a new model of its popular smartwatch. The announcement is scheduled for 10 AM on Tuesday next week, but Pebble has not specified what exactly is launching.

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Yahoo Mobile Development Suite combines Flurry Analytics with ad and search tools for apps — New Yahoo Mobile Development Suite Seduces App Makers With Analytics, Search, Ads — Today at Yahoo's first mobile developer conference, the tech giant unveiled its new Yahoo Mobile Development Suite …

Taylor Kourim / Gmail Blog:

Google Inbox comes to iPad and Android tablets, supports Firefox and Safari as well as Chrome — Inbox by Gmail: now in more places — It's always hard to know when it's time to share a new product, because there's always just a _few_ more things you want to do.

More: TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, CNET, iMore, USA Today, MacRumors, Pocketables, Ubergizmo, Ink, Bits, & Pixels, Google Operating System, PC Magazine, TechSpot, TechnoBuffalo, Gigaom, 9to5Google, App Advice, The Verge and Mashable

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Digit, a free savings account that monitors spending habits to automatically save users money, exits closed beta and is now open for US accounts — Digit is the automated savings plan we've been waiting for — Until recently, my savings consisted mostly of unexpected windfalls.

More: AndroidHeadlines.com, Business Insider and TechCrunch

Tweets: @mgsiegler and @anildash

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

IFTTT Launches 3 “Do” Apps To Automate Photo Sharing, Tasks, Notes; Rebrands Main App “IF” — IFTTT made its name in the tech world with a platform for “Recipes” that people could use to automate online and mobile actions in and between different apps and services — developer mechanics, simplified.

Office Blogs:

Microsoft OneNote gets OCR support across all platforms and handwriting recognition on iPad — Handwriting in OneNote for iPad, and OCR Everywhere — People are more overwhelmed than ever by how much they need to remember on a daily basis. In fact, according to a 2013 survey commissioned …

More: 9to5Mac, PC World, Cult of Mac, PC Magazine, SlashGear, FierceMobileIT News, MobileSyrup.com, iDownloadBlog.com, iMore, Geeky Gadgets, Neowin and SuperSite for Windows

Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:

Now 25 years old, what's next for Photoshop? An interview with Adobe's Stephen Nielson — Obsessed with mobile growth? Join us February 23-24 when we reveal the best technologies and strategies to help your company grow on mobile. It all takes place at our 5th annual Mobile Summit …

More: New York Times, PHOTOSHOP.COM BLOG, The Verge, BetaNews, Macworld, Adobe Conversations, The Next Web, CBS News, The Independent, The Drum, Inquirer, Re/code, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and Mashable

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

BuzzFeed Expands Mobile Team By Acquiring “Visual Conversation” Startup GoPop — BuzzFeed just announced that it's acquiring San Francisco startup GoPop. — The startup was originally known as Zeega, and it was part of the first class at Matter, the Knight Foundation- and KQED-backed incubator for media startups.

More: GoPop, MarketWatch and Medium. Thanks:@cdirusso. See also Mediagazer

Marco della Cava / USA Today:

YouTube Kids for Android set to launch Feb. 23, features parental controls and a simplified UI — YouTube unveils new app for kids — SAN FRANCISCO - YouTube is repository of clips that range from exceedingly educational to suggestively explicit. So to make sure younger fans …

More: 9to5Google

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

With Launch Of “Topics,” Imgur Adds A New Way To Explore By Interests — After moving to a fully ad-supported model earlier this month, popular photo-sharing site Imgur is today introducing a new feature designed to make it easier for visitors to explore images that relate to subjects of interest to them.

More: The Imgur Blog, VentureBeat, SlashGear, The Verge and Ubergizmo

Euan Rocha / Reuters:

BlackBerry 10 devices get 10.3.1 update that gives access to Amazon Appstore — BlackBerry updates software, offers access to Android apps — (Reuters) - BlackBerry rolled out a major software update on Thursday, allowing users of its entire suite of BlackBerry 10 devices such as the Z10 …

More: BlackBerry Press Room, The Verge, PC Magazine, eWeek and SlashGear

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

LinkedIn Expands Marketing Platform With Off-Site Ads And New Lead Targeting Tools — LinkedIn is launching an expanded version of its Marketing Solutions platform today. There are new products, an expansion beyond Linkedin Itself, and a broader vision for helping advertisers reach potential customers throughout the sales cycle.

More: Marketing Solutions Blog, AdExchanger, Marketing Land, Re/code and TechFrag

Christian Nutt / Gamasutra:

Epic Games offers up $5 million in Unreal Dev Grants — Today Epic Games has announced a new initiative — one that could see your game netting between $5,000 and $50,000 in no-strings-attached funding from the engine provider. — Unreal Dev Grants is a new $5 million fund aimed squarely …

More: UnrealEngine, PC Magazine, Ars Technica, VG247, Eurogamer.net and GamePolitics blogs

Eric Blattberg / Digiday:

YouTube prohibits sponsored overlays to keep creators from cutting Google out of ad revenues — YouTube makes a move against brand-sponsored videos — YouTube is putting down the clamps on video creators who work directly with brands, nudging them instead to rely on Google's sales team for deals.

More: http://patriciahandschiegel … and Marketing Land. Tweets: @joshelman. Thanks:@ericblattberg. See also Mediagazer

Quentin Hardy / New York Times:

HP to sell line of Linux-based open-source networking switches manufactured by Taiwan's Accton Technology — HP Targets Cisco and Facebook With New Line of Open-Source Networking Gear — Hewlett-Packard said on Thursday that it would sell a new line of networking switches that are manufactured …

More: Wired, Data Center Knowledge, HP, Re/code, TechWeekEurope UK, Wall Street Journal, CIO.com and The Register

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Apple Initiates Repair Program for 2011-2013 MacBook Pros With Video Issues — Apple has launched a repair program to fix MacBook Pro machines sold between February 2011 and February 2013 that have problems with distorted video, no video, or unexpected system restarts.

More: Engadget, The Verge, Ars Technica and Gotta Be Mobile

Ruth Reader / VentureBeat:

Stripe finally launches support for Bitcoin — Obsessed with mobile growth? Join us February 23-24 when we reveal the best technologies and strategies to help your company grow on mobile. It all takes place at our 5th annual Mobile Summit at the scenic Cavallo Point Resort in Sausalito, CA.

More: CoinDesk and MarketWatch. Tweets: @stripe. Thanks:@_trendspotter

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