Techmeme: French-based LinkedIn rival Viadeo exits Chinese market, where it claimed to have 25M members, citing lack of capital it needs for growth (Robin Wauters/Tech.eu)

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December 27, 2015, 3:05 PM

Top News

Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:

How Gary Alford, an IRS special agent assigned to work with the DEA, used Google search, old chat room logs, and more to track down Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht — The Tax Sleuth Who Took Down a Drug Lord — Gary L. Alford was running on adrenaline when he arrived for work on a Monday in June 2013 …

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @capitalobserver, @annaholmes, @ariyahidayat, @mattdpearce, @nytimesbusiness, @nycsouthpaw, @nzkoz, @nytimesbusiness and @mattblaze

Jason Schreier / Kotaku:

Valve says caching issue that allowed Steam users to view pages of others has been fixed, believes no other unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts — Steam Goes Nuts, Offers Access To Other People's Accounts — Steam faced something of a catastrophe this afternoon …

Wall Street Journal:

For Jack Dorsey, running both Twitter and Square involves 18-hour days, a rigorous schedule, and impromptu meetings — How Jack Dorsey Runs Both Twitter, Square — Being CEO at two publicly traded companies means 18-hour days, a meticulous schedule and impromptu business meetings

More: Re/code, Fortune, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Digital Trends and VatorNews

Tweets: @scottmaustin, @louisgray, @johnwilson, @johnlegere, @louisgray and @jillianiles

Ben Blanchard / Reuters:

China passes controversial counter-terrorism law that requires tech companies hand over encryption keys and other sensitive information to government — China passes controversial counter-terrorism law — China's parliament passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law on Sunday …

More: New York Times, BetaNews, Engadget, Quartz, Bloomberg Business, The Huffington Post, International Business Times, Financial Times, Xinhua News Agency, New York Times and DW.COM. Tweets: @ggreenwald

Corinne Reichert / ZDNet:

Comcast installs its first commercial modem with DOCSIS 3.1 technology for a customer in Philadelphia, providing speeds of up to 1 Gbps — Comcast now offering 1Gbps speeds across DOCSIS 3.1 — Comcast has connected the first commercial DOCSIS 3.1 service to a customer in Philadelphia, providing speeds of up to 1Gbps.

More: Comcast, Engadget, The Verge, PC Magazine, Tech Insider, The Tech Report, FierceCable, The Register and DSLreports

Tweets: @comcast and @fmanjoo

Valentina Palladino / Ars Technica:

Moto 360 Sport review: $299 is a lot for a smartwatch that's only good for tracking daily movement and running, but no other activities — The Moto 360 Sport reviewed: Good, but not enough fitness to be worth it — The $299 smartwatch is a runner's companion; all other athletes look elsewhere.

More: PC Magazine, Engadget and The Verge

Quentin Hardy / New York Times:

With investments from the state, an all-drone Air Force base, and high-tech talent, North Dakota has become hotbed for drone companies — A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota — FARGO, N.D. — “California and New York want what we've got,” said Shawn Muehler, a 30-year-old Fargo resident …

TechCrunch:

Twitter's fiscal 2015 in review: revenue grew, user growth stalled, shares are near all-time lows — Twitter's Fiscal 2015: Up, Flat, And Down — Twitter did not have a lovely 2015. The world-famous social company saw its revenue rise, its usage flatten, and its share price fall.

More: ResearchBuzz

Robin Wauters / Tech.eu:

French-based LinkedIn rival Viadeo exits Chinese market, where it claimed to have 25M members, citing lack of capital it needs for growth — French professional social network Viadeo exits Chinese market, closes data center in California — The publicly listed French company behind …

More: Seeking Alpha and Business Wire

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Profile of Samy Kamkar, hacker behind MySpace Samy worm, Evercookie, and OwnStar, who now showcases his skills on his YouTube channel named Applied Hacking — The Greatest Hits of Samy Kamkar, YouTube's Favorite Hacker — In an age when hackers hire themselves out to organized crime schemes …

Reuters:

Former and current Samsung employees say the company's mobile woes are rooted in its hardware-focused culture, lack of expertise in software and services — Culture shock: Samsung's mobile woes rooted in hardware legacy — Efforts to revive its once stellar smartphone fortunes may be doomed …

More: SamMobile, Engadget and BGR. Tweets: @mgsiegler

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

Apple says Samsung owes $180M in supplemental damages and interest, after the $548M payout in patent dispute — Apple asks court to make Samsung pay $180 million more in patent dispute — Just over a week after Samsung paid Apple more than $548 million for infringing the patents and designs …

More: Bloomberg Business, Ubergizmo, ZDNet, SamMobile, Engadget, The Verge and AppleInsider

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