Techmeme
April 18, 2012, 1:45 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
In Facebook Deal for Instagram, Board Was All But Out of Picture  —  On the morning of Sunday, April 8, Facebook Inc.'s youthful chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, alerted his board of directors that he intended to buy Instagram, the hot photo-sharing service.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Sources: current Windows Phone devices will not get ‘Apollo’ upgrade  —  Earlier today, a developer evangelist for Microsoft was quoted as saying that all Windows Phone devices would get an upgrade to the “next major version” of the operating system.  Now, a trusted source close to Microsoft tells us …
Sergey Brin / Google+:
I believe the internet has been one of the greatest forces for good in the world over the past quarter century.  So when the Guardian requested that I speak to them over the past few months about internet freedom, I decided it was important to participate.  —  I think the article is a pretty …
Jamillah Knowles / The Next Web:
Google's Sergey Brin says coverage of his views on Internet freedom was “distorted”  —  Google co-founder Sergey Brin has published a post on his Google+ account seeking to clarify the article on Web freedom that ran in the Guardian on Sunday.  —  To describe his reasons for a further update …
Brent Schlender / Fast Company:
The Lost Steve Jobs Tapes  —  A treasure trove of unearthed interviews, conducted by the writer who knew him best, reveals how Jobs's ultimate success at Apple can be traced directly to his so-called wilderness years.  —  If Steve Jobs's life were staged as an opera, it would be a tragedy in three acts.
Mark Sullivan / PC World:
3G and 4G Wireless Speed Showdown: Which Networks Are Fastest?  —  We tested 3G and 4G wireless data transfer speeds—indoors and out—for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, at multiple locations in 13 major cities.  Here's what we found.  —  It's been a year since we looked closely …
Walt Mossberg / AllThingsD:
Permission to Procrastinate: Wait to Get a New Laptop  —  If you're thinking of buying a new laptop this spring, my advice is to think again.  Unless your laptop is on its last legs and you have to move quickly, there are compelling reasons to wait until at least the summer, and probably the fall …
Erin Bury / BetaKit:
Coursera Launches Online Education Platform with $16 Million in Funding  —  Online educational marketplaces are on the rise, with tools like Udemy and Khan Academy allowing people of all ages to become an expert in any topic.  New company Coursera is targeting higher education …
Zach Epstein / BGR:
AT&T to launch HTC One X on May 6th for $199.99, pre-orders begin April 22nd [video]  —  AT&T announced on Wednesday that the HTC One X smartphone will launch on May 6th for $199.99 on contract.  Pre-orders will begin on April 22nd, in line with an earlier report from BGR.
Dan Primack / Fortune:
K9 Ventures digs for $40 million bone  —  “Super angel” Manu Kumar is raising a new fund.  —  K9 Ventures is seeking to raise around $40 million for its second investment fund, Fortune has learned.  —  The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm was founded several years ago by serial entrepreneur Manu Kumar …
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Uber Experiments With Lower-Priced Taxis In Chicago Through Newly Launched Labs Group, ‘Garage’  —  Back when Uber launched in San Francisco, it was heralded as a service that would disrupt the taxi industry by providing black cars on-demand via mobile phones.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
CEO Scott Thompson To Cut 50 Properties: “Yahoo Has Been Doing Way Too Much”  —  CEO Scott Thompson outlined his vision today for how Yahoo can start growing again.  His big theme: Focus, focus, focus.  —  “Yahoo has been doing way too much for too long and was only doing a few things really well,” Thompson said.
Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:
Backed With $1.5M, CircleUp Aims To Be The AngelList For Consumer And Retail Startups  —  The funding environment for technology-focused startups these days is getting to be a bit ridiculous, so some tech industry folks may need to use their imaginations for a second to understand this concept.
Poornima Gupta / Reuters:
Apple investors brace for more turbulence  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc's results will be dissected more closely than ever next week, after a share swoon raised concerns on Wall Street that the stock's gravity-defying rally may be losing steam.  —  Five straight days of stock losses for the world's …
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Verizon Aims New Data Package at Global Travelers  —  Aiming to make international cellphone use slightly less excruciatingly expensive, Verizon Wireless announced a new $25 plan that gives users 100 megabytes of data when traveling; it will be available in 120 countries.
Elad Blog:
VC Signaling Coming Home To Roost  —  VC SIGNALING IS SCREWING UP THE ABILITY OF SOME COMPANIES TO RAISE A SERIES A … Dear Entrepreneur - remember that TechCrunch story you placed about your funding round that mentioned the VCs who invested in your seed round?
Andy Baio / Wired:
Memeorandum Colors 2012: Visualizing Bias on Political Blogs  —  I don't watch sports, but every four years, I lose myself in the horse race of the U.S. presidential elections.  That competition kicked off in earnest Monday, as Gallup started its daily tracking polls for the general election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Robert McMillan / Wired:
Amazon's Secretive Cloud Carries 1 Percent of the Internet  —  An Amazon data center in Sterling, Virginia.  Photo: Eric Hunsaker/Flickr  —  Amazon's cloud computing infrastructure is growing so fast that it's silently becoming a core piece of the internet.

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Drew Olanoff / The Next Web:

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