Techmeme
July 31, 2013, 1:55 PM

Top News

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’  —  A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals …
Guardian:
XKeyscore presentation from 2008 - read in full  —  Training materials for the NSA's XKeyscore program detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases and develop intelligence from the internet
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft forced to rename SkyDrive following trademark case with broadcaster  —  A UK court recently ruled that Microsoft's SkyDrive name infringed on a trademark owned by British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), and the software maker has agreed to change the name of its cloud-based service worldwide as a result.
AnandTech:
Update on GPU Optimizations in Galaxy S 4  —  Yesterday we posted our analysis of the Exynos 5 Octa's behavior in international versions of the Galaxy S 4 in certain benchmarks first discovered by Beyond3D user @Andreif7.  Samsung addressed issue on their blog earlier today:
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:
Google gives AT&T the boot, will supply 7000 US Starbucks locations with WiFi starting next month  —  After a brief announcement back in June that it had partnered with Starbucks to offer free, unlimited music through its new Google Play All Access streaming service, Google today announced …
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
Toward a More Public Social Network: Facebook Rolls Out Embedded Posts  —  The world's premier social network is beginning to learn the value of publicness.  —  Facebook announced on Wednesday that it will roll out embedded posts, giving users the ability to stick their status updates in pages across the Web, and outside of Facebook.
Esat Dedezade / Stuff:
EXCLUSIVE: UK Government to outlaw Google Glass for drivers  —  Google's smart specs are set to join mobile phones on the driving blacklist  —  Follow @https://twitter.com/@esatdedezade  —  The Department for Transport has acted to ban drivers from using Google Glass …
More: The Verge, Engadget and Cult of AndroidTweets: @panzer
Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:
Dropcam Snaps Up $30M for Connected Video Cameras  —  A recent generation of Web-connected hardware startups — Withings, Fitbit (unofficial), and now Dropcam — have in the past few months raised $30 million each to scale their businesses.  Funnily enough, it seems to be a magic number for the cohort …
Walter S. Mossberg / AllThingsD:
Review of Google's New Chromecast  —  Google is trying to change television watching again, after the tepid response to its Google TV product a few years back.  This time, instead of building a complex system to bring apps and Internet video to the TV, the search giant is taking a simpler approach.
Mark Collins / GSM Insider:
Moto X To Use Nano-SIM Card, SIM Tray Leaks In Hong Kong  —  Moto X leaks again and again.  This time is about the Nano-SIM tray of the Moto X. It was leaked earlier in an Asian country, Hong Kong.  It looks like Moto X is available in different parts of the world.
Barb Darrow / GigaOM:
Here are the 7 companies Microsoft doesn't want its ex-Windows chief to join  —  Since Steven Sinofsky and Microsoft shocked the PC world by divorcing last year, some details of Sinofsky's severance have already surfaced.  But now we know, thanks to Microsoft's 10-K filing …
More: GeekWire and AllThingsD
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft Office for Android now available, but not for tablets  —  Microsoft is extending its Office mobile software to Android this week, bringing basic editing to smartphones running Android 4.0 or higher.  Following the release of Office for iPhone, the Android variant is almost identical in what it provides and its requirements.
Brian X. Chen / NYT Bits:
OpenTable Begins Testing Mobile Payments  —  OpenTable, the world's largest online reservation service, lets users book a restaurant reservation with its smartphone app or Web site.  Now the company is getting ready to take the next step and let diners pay for the meal with its app, too.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Nvidia Shield review  —  Is Android ready for a portable game console?  —  Last summer, I bought an iPad 3.  I convinced myself I'd use it for everything: showing off wedding photos, reading all those neglected articles I save to Pocket, and as a second monitor for my laptop.
Jeff Blagdon / The Verge:
Zynga sues ‘Bang With Friends’ maker for trademark infringement  —  Zynga is going after hookup app Bang With Friends, suing its maker with trademark infringement over its use of the phrase “with friends” — common to a series of Zynga games including Words With Friends and Chess With Friends.

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Todd Bishop / GeekWire: