Techmeme
December 23, 2017, 10:55 AM

Top News

Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Wireless security camera startup Blink says it has been acquired by Amazon and will continue to operate; Blink raised ~$1M in a 2014 crowdfunding campaign  —  Amazon has acquired Blink, the wireless security camera company that launched back in 2014 and then subsequently closed a million-dollar Kickstarter campaign.
Tony Romm / Recode:
Facebook launches tool that shows if you followed or Liked Russia-linked US election related accounts on Facebook and Instagram between Jan. 2015 and Aug. 2017  —  Not all users who saw that content, however, can take advantage of a new tool out today.  —  Facebook has rolled out its new hub …
Evelyn Cheng / CNBC:
Bitcoin plunged below $11K for a while, down 40%+ from record high of ~$19.8K at the start of the week, amid a crash in all major cryptocurrencies  —  - Bitcoin plunges more than 40 percent from its all-time high reached Sunday, according to Coinbase.  — Stocks that have soared dramatically …
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Snowden-backed Haven app for Android alerts users of “evil maid” and other physical attacks using a phone's accelerometers, cameras, microphones, light sensor  —  YOUR DIGITAL SECURITY, any sufficiently paranoid person will remind you, is only as good as your physical security.
Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
At least three lawsuits seeking class action status have been filed against Apple for slowing down iPhones with old batteries  —  The plaintiffs in three separate suits contend that an Apple software tweak that slows down older iPhones was a ploy to spur upgrades to pricier models.
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:
Evelyn Cheng / CNBC:
Coinbase says it has re-enabled cryptocurrency trading after suspending it for several hours due to “high traffic”  —  Coinbase, one of the biggest bitcoin marketplaces in the U.S., said Friday that buying and selling was temporarily disabled amid a price rout in cryptocurrencies.
Associated Press:
Investigation finds Russia-linked Fancy Bear hacking group targeted 200+ journalists, publishers, and bloggers from mid-2014 until a few months ago  —  PARIS (AP) — Russian television anchor Pavel Lobkov was in the studio getting ready for his show when jarring news flashed across his phone …
Pranav Dixit / BuzzFeed:
A look at why WhatsApp has become the de facto social network for older users in India, where the app has more than 200M users  —  My mother became addicted to WhatsApp when her mother passed away in the winter of 2013.  She used it, she said, to “fill up a vacuum,” numbing her grief …

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Katie Roof / TechCrunch: