Techmeme: Aborted Wikipedia ban in Russia and GitHub ban in China show how HTTPS encryption can limit censorship as governments are reluctant to block the entire sites (Parker Higgins/Electronic Frontier …)

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August 30, 2015, 8:55 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Sources: Apple TV 4 coming in October for under $200, Apple TV 3 will support streaming service next year, but won't have App Store or direct Siri controls — Apple TV 4 coming in October for under $200, Apple TV 3 stays & gets new streaming service — Rough mockup of fourth Apple TV vs. third Apple TV by Michael Steeber

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Epix signs multi-year distribution deal with Hulu, will not renew its deal with Netflix after current agreement expires in September — Netflix Is Losing More Hollywood Movies, and Says You'll Be OK With That — Netflix says it's not renewing a distribution deal with cable network Epix …

More: Netflix US & Canada Blog, CNET, Engadget, The Verge, USA Today, Variety, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Hulu Blog, Neowin and Mashable. Tweets: @lucas_shaw. Thanks:@samerkamal. See also Mediagazer

Bla1ze / CrackBerry.com:

New images of the BlackBerry Venice slider leak, showing 18MP OIS rear camera, microSD and SIM card slots on top — BlackBerry ‘Venice’ slider spotted once again in new images [UPDATED] — While the rumors surrounding the BlackBerry ‘Venice’ slider continue to swirl …

More: 9to5Google, MobileSyrup.com, GSMArena.com, Fone Arena, Dispatch Times, Ausdroid, softpedia, The Verge, Engadget, Android Central, Android Police, PhoneDog.com, AndroidHeadlines.com, TmoNews, Android and Me, Android Authority, Android Beat, Phones Review and Liliputing

Parker Higgins / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Aborted Wikipedia ban in Russia and GitHub ban in China show how HTTPS encryption can limit censorship as governments are reluctant to block the entire sites — Russia's Wikipedia Ban Buckles Under HTTPS Encryption — Dueling forces of encryption and government censorship came to a head …

See also Mediagazer

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Former FireEye intern pleads guilty to developing Dendroid spyware for Android; sentencing scheduled for Dec. 2 — Former security intern admits developing super-stealthy Android spyware — Dendroid cost $300, made it easy to take pictures and record audio and video.

More: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Phandroid, The Register, Graham Cluley, Android Police, TechnoBuffalo, theWHIR.com, Ubergizmo, Neowin, International Business Times, Android Authority and ZDNet

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Why It's Hard to Sue the NSA: You Have to Prove It Spied on You — Here's a big problem with secret spying programs in the US: To dismantle them with a lawsuit, someone has to prove that their privacy rights were infringed. And that proof is almost always a secret.

More: Wall Street Journal

Tony Romm / Politico:

Steve Jobs actively disdained Washington DC, but Tim Cook's Apple has reengaged in politics, especially on issues like privacy — Apple Takes Washington — Steve Jobs famously disdained D.C. Tim Cook's quietly taking it on. — As Apple chief Tim Cook quietly slipped out of a public meeting …

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac and Cult of Mac. Tweets: @tonyromm

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Anonymous administration officials say US may issue sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from cyber theft of US trade secrets — Administration developing sanctions against China over cyberespionage — The Obama administration is developing a package …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Rolls Out Personalized Storm-Tracking Information In Search Results — With the U.S. hurricane season about to kick off, Google announced today that it's expanding the weather-related information that will appear in Google search results when web users search for information about particular storms or tornadoes.

More: Official Google Blog, Digital Trends, 9to5Google, Fox News, The Verge, Ubergizmo, AndroidGuys and Spatially Adjusted

Karl Bode / DSLreports:

Verizon customers with two-year contracts can keep and renew them, and still get phone subsidies — Verizon's New ‘Simplified’ No-Contract Prices Confuse Everyone — Verizon is reminding users that while the company recently announced that it was killing devices subsidies and long-term contracts …

More: Verizon Wireless Promotions, Ars Technica, PhoneDog.com and The Verge

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Hands-on with YouTube Gaming: effective for finding and viewing YouTube's existing gaming content, but it must attract big live audiences to compete with Twitch — YouTube Gaming is a great reminder of everything YouTube already does — YouTube is already a big player in live video.

More: PC Magazine, Tom's Guide, CNET, TechCrunch and MediaNama

Kevin Tofel / ZDNet:

Amazon Echo now plays music, books from multiple accounts; gains BART schedules — Don't want to hear the kid's hip-hop on your Echo? Just add another Amazon account and tell Alexa to use it for music and audiobooks. — The Amazon Echo got a little more useful on Friday both for families …

More: Engadget

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