Techmeme
July 16, 2015, 3:20 PM

Top News

Orr Hirschauge / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook's Oculus buys Israel-based VR gesture-control company Pebbles for around $60M  —  Facebook to Pay About $60 Million for Gesture-Control Firm Pebbles  —  Facebook Inc. Thursday agreed to buy Israel-based gesture-control company Pebbles Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter.
Financial Times:
Apple and Samsung are in advanced talks with GSMA telecom association about standardized electronic SIM cards with support from AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, more  —  Apple, Samsung in talks with telecom groups to launch e-Sim card  —  Apple and Samsung are in advanced talks to join the rest …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
eBay confirms agreement to sell eBay Enterprise to investment consortium for $925M  —  eBay has confirmed previous rumors that it's selling its enterprise services business, eBay Enterprise, for $925 million.  —  The unit specializes in developing and managing ecommerce sites for retailers …
Abhijeet M. / SamMobile:
Sources: Samsung's Tizen-based Gear A smartwatch will feature a 1.2 GHz Exynos processor, Bluetooth 4.1, a digital crown, and more  —  Exclusive: Samsung Gear A (Orbis) specifications  —  With all the Galaxy Note 5 news flooding the internet of late, Samsung's upcoming smartwatch hasn't been in the limelight for some time now.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Illicit sharing of HBO, Netflix, and other account passwords estimated to cost the VOD industry $500M+ in 2015  —  Password Sharing: Are Netflix, HBO Missing $500 Million by Not Cracking Down?  —  Subscription VOD players, fighting for market share, aren't likely to crack down on cheaters
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Misfit Unveils $20 Flash Link Activity Tracker and Link App, Drops Prices on Shine and Flash  —  Misfit today announced the debut of Misfit Link, a new app that's designed to add new capabilities to the Misfit Flash, which is the company's inexpensive activity and sleep tracker.
Ben Popper / The Verge:
HBO Now launches on Android phones and tablets and Amazon Fire as exclusivity with Apple ends; Chromecast and Fire TV support coming soon  —  HBO Now moves beyond Apple, arrives on Android and Amazon devices  —  Three months ago, HBO made its programming available to consumers without a cable subscription …
Jackie Dove / The Next Web:
App Annie: iOS lags Google Play in app downloads but still generated 70% more revenue on strength in China  —  App Annie report: Google Play's downloads top the App Store as Apple retains revenue lead  —  While the Google Play store crushed Apple's App Store in worldwide downloads …
Mark Scott / New York Times:
E.U. Opens Antitrust Investigations Into Qualcomm  —  The European Commission announced two antitrust investigations on Thursday into the chip maker Qualcomm, the latest in a number of competition inquiries that have targeted United States technology giants.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Google's New, Simplified Patent Search Now Integrates Prior Art And Google Scholar  —  Google has been a significant player in many facets of the patent world — as a creator, critic, litigator, buyer and big data indexer.  Today, it's taking the wraps off a product that is its flagship …

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More News

Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:
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Earlier Picks

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Carmel DeAmicis / Re/code:
Rich Lord / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed: