Techmeme: Amazon Echo gets Alexa integration with Ecobee so you can control thermostats via voice (Aaron Tilley/Forbes)

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February 12, 2016, 7:40 PM

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Hollywood Reporter:

Sources: Apple is backing Vital Signs, a six-episode scripted television series starring Dr. Dre, likely to be distributed via Apple Music — Dr. Dre Filming Apple's First Scripted Television Series (Exclusive) — ‘Vital Signs,’ the technology giant's inaugural original …

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

4-inch iPhone 5se & iPad Air 3 planned to go on sale March 18th — Apple is currently on target to start selling its next iPhone and iPad models the same week that the new products are introduced in March. Apple is currently planning to introduce a new 4-inch iPhone dubbed the “iPhone 5se” …

Anil Sabharwal / Google Photos Blog:

Google to retire Picasa to focus on Google Photos: web albums will automatically migrate starting May 1, desktop app not supported as of March 15 — Moving on from Picasa — Since the launch of Google Photos, we've had a lot of questions around what this means for the future of Picasa.

Matt Hamblen / Computerworld:

AT&T preparing to test 5G technologies in Austin, Texas by the end of the year — AT&T to run field trials of 5G wireless in Austin this year — AT&T announced today it will being field trials of faster 5G wireless technology this summer in Austin, Texas.

More: AT&T, MacRumors, Re/code, Engadget, USA Today, InvestorPlace, Wireless Week, iPhone Hacks, App Advice, Lighthouse News Daily, Business Insider, Tech Times, 9to5Mac, The Next Web, SlashGear and CNET

Tweets: @inafried and @ericssonradio

Sean O'Kane / The Verge:

Eddy Cue says Apple has 782M iCloud users and 11M+ Apple Music subs, and Craig Federighi addresses complaints of bugs in Apple apps on John Gruber's podcast — Apple Music now has over 11 million subscribers — Apple senior vice presidents Craig Federighi and Eddy Cue appeared on John Gruber's podcast …

More: Daring Fireball, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, CNET, MacRumors, BGR, Mashable, The Next Web, TechnoBuffalo, iMore and MacNN

Tweets: @fromedome, @mattrosoff and @benedictevans

See also Mediagazer

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

YouTube Acquires BandPage For $8M To Attract Musicians With Money-Making Tools — YouTube wants to win the love of musicians by solving their biggest problem: how to turn popularity into cash. So today it announced it's acquired BandPage, a startup that helps artists show off and sell concert tickets …

More: The BandPage Blog, Engadget, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, hypebot, The Verge, Tubefilter, RAIN News, The Next Web, Digital Music News, Music Ally and Tech Times

Tweets: @bryce, @joshconstine, @joshconstine, @mulligan, @joshconstine and @joshconstine

Thanks:@joshconstine. See also Mediagazer

Jason Jacobs / Runkeeper:

Japanese sportswear company ASICS acquires Runkeeper — Runkeeper and ASICS are Joining Forces — I have some big news today! I am proud and excited to announce that Runkeeper has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by ASICS Corporation.

More: The Verge, ASICS US, iMore, ZDNet, VentureBeat, Xconomy, MacRumors, BetaNews, Ubergizmo, BetaBoston, Wired, iPhone in Canada Blog, SlashGear, TechCrunch, Fone Arena, 9to5Mac, MobileSyrup.com, Digital Trends, The Next Web, Android Authority, Pocket-lint, Guardian and Engadget

Tweets: @marshallk, @johnfertitta, @robinwauters, @jjacobs22 and @jjacobs22

Thanks:@sanatgersappa

Motherboard:

UK police arrest teen hacker thought to be Cracka, who is allegedly behind CIA and FBI breaches — Teen Allegedly Behind CIA, FBI Breaches: 'They're Trying to Ruin My Life.' — The months-long series of hacks and pranks by a group of alleged teenage hackers on the US government …

More: The Daily Dot, CNN, The Next Web, Security Affairs, Business Insider, The Verge and Office of Inadequate Security

Tweets: @anoncopwatch, @lorenzofb, @emptywheel, @taosecurity and @mims

Kim Zetter / Wired:

Security researchers spot re-used code, passwords, and obfuscation methods from Sony hack, indicating original hackers are still active — Evidence Suggests the Sony Hackers Are Alive and Well and Still Hacking — TENERIFE, Spain—The massive hack against Sony in late 2014 was sudden and loud.

More: Engadget, The Verge and KitGuru

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Bug in Adobe Creative Cloud deletes Mac user data; Adobe stops pushing affected update and is working on a fix — Warning: Bug in Adobe Creative Cloud deletes Mac user data without warning — Adobe has stopped distribution of an update believed to be triggering the deletions.

More: Help Desk, Macworld and iMore

Nellie Bowles / Guardian:

Facebook India's managing director Kirthiga Reddy resigns — Move follows a disastrous week for Facebook during which its free internet service was blocked in India and a board member praised colonialism — Facebook India's managing director Kirthiga Reddy has announced she will be stepping …

More: VentureBeat, The Tech Portal and NPR

Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:

UK's Streetmap loses ‘anticompetitive’ search abuse case against Google — UK internet mapping company to appeal after High Court rejects lawsuit claiming Google's conduct led to ‘dramatic loss of traffic’ — UK-based digital map provider Streetmap has lost its High Court action accusing Google …

More: Techdirt, Bloomberg Business, PCWorld, 9to5Google, MacNN, Search Engine Land, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica and The Register

Aaron Tilley / Forbes:

Amazon Echo gets Alexa integration with Ecobee so you can control thermostats via voice — Amazon Echo Can Now Control Thermostats — Amazon Echo has become a surprise hit among the tech crowd. The $180 tube-shaped speaker gives users access to Amazon's cloud-based voice service, Alexa.

More: Business Wire, CNET, Engadget, The Verge, Tech Times, The Next Web and SlashGear

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon X16 LTE modem supporting 1 Gbps downloads and 150 Mbps uploads — Qualcomm promises gigabit LTE speeds with its new Snapdragon X16 modem — And there are new low-end phone and wearable Snapdragon chips for later in 2016. — Qualcomm's lead in the mobile SoC …

More: TG Daily, Pocketnow, Qualcomm, CNXSoft, Neowin, TechEye, Gizmodo, PhonesReviews UK, Android Central, Technology Personalized, Wall Street Journal, MyBroadband, Engadget, FierceWirelessTech News, GSMArena.com, Android Central, PhoneDog.com and HotHardware. Tweets: @slashdot

Agam Shah / PCWorld:

Qualcomm bringing LTE connectivity to wearables with new Wear platform

More: Tech Times, TechnoBuffalo, PCWorld, Android Authority and Qualcomm

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