Techmeme
August 1, 2013, 11:05 PM

Top News

Steven Levy / Wired:
The Inside Story of the Moto X: The Reason Google Bought Motorola  —  THE PHONE THAT REVEALS WHY GOOGLE BOUGHT MOTOROLA  —  lmost exactly two years ago, Google announced its purchase of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.  It was the company's biggest deal ever, far exceeding previous big buys …
Roger Cheng / CNET:
Moto X: The first true anti-iPhone  —  analysis Google and Motorola Mobility's experiment will determine if choice and customization trump a tightly controlled experience and high-end specifications in the minds of consumers.  —  Motorola's Moto X.  —  The iPhone 5 may have found its polar opposite in Moto X.
Zach Honig / Engadget:
Moto X finally official: Motorola X8, 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED, custom finishes, assembled in the USA from $199  —  Well, you've gotta hand it to Motorola — the company has managed to build an unprecedented amount of buzz surrounding what's turned out to be a relatively mundane mainstream smartphone launch.
Wall Street Journal:
Google Reins in Motorola With Hardware Push  —  As Google Inc. GOOG +1.86% pushes deeper into hardware, the Internet search giant is pulling Motorola Mobility closer even as it tries to assure device partners that the phone maker won't have an unfair advantage.  The Moto X, shown Thursday, won't have the latest Android software.
More: The VergeTweets: @cocoonings
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Moto X vs. the world: spec sheet smackdown  —  Motorola's long-rumored Moto X smartphone has finally arrived.  It's a slick looking device with hundreds of color options, it can constantly listen for voice commands, and it will subtly wake up portions of its display to reveal notifications.
jessica lessin:
Exclusive: Apple Recently Acquired Low-Energy Chipmaker Passif  —  As the smartphone wars heat up, Apple has acquired a key technology in the arms race.  —  The company in recent months purchased Silicon Valley-based wireless chip developer, Passif Semiconductor, according to people briefed on the deal.
Jonny Evans / Computerworld:
Wearables and payments: What Apple might get from its Passif Semi purchase  —  Apple [AAPL] has acquired small semiconductor company, Passif Semiconductor — reading that company's published patents suggests Cupertino may be looking to use Passif's technologies in future wearable and contactless payment solutions.
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Employer Tipped Off Police To Pressure Cooker And Backpack Searches, Not Google  —  In what might be Medium's first widespread Twitter moment, music writer Michele Catalano used the platform to blog details of an unexpected visit to her home yesterday, from six men she identifies as members of the “joint terrorism task force.”
Wall Street Journal:
FBI Taps Hacker Tactics to Spy on Suspects  —  Law-Enforcement Officials Expand Use of Tools Such as Spyware as People Under Investigation ‘Go Dark,’ Evading Wiretaps  —  Law-enforcement officials in the U.S. are expanding the use of tools routinely used by computer hackers to gather information …
Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:
LinkedIn Beats Again as Revenue Jumps to $364 Million  —  Another earnings season, another beat from the Internet company that can seemingly do no financial wrong.  —  LinkedIn reported second-quarter earnings results on Thursday, with earnings per share of 38 cents on revenue of $364 million.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon Experiments With Its Own Take On Pinterest Called “Amazon Collections”  —  Amazon has quietly launched its own direct challenger to Pinterest with the debut of a feature called “Amazon Collections.”  It's a more attractive, image-heavy website where consumers can save …
John Reid / BlackBerryOS.com:
BBM For Android/iOS Betas Rolling Out In The Beta Zone  —  It seems that BlackBerry are moving forward with the cross-platform version of BBM as we have learned that there are a small number of users that are getting the chance to test out the Android, and iOS versions of BBM.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google Launches Real-Time API For Analytics In Invite-Only Beta  —  Google today launched the beta of its real-time API for Analytics that will finally allow developers to programmatically take action based on the real-time data they get from Google's service.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
HootSuite Raises $165M Series B Round From Insight, Accel And OMERS To Go Large On Enterprise Social Media Monitoring  —  It was a little over a year ago when we reported that Vancouver-based HootSuite, the platform that lets enterprises manage social media accounts, was raising a $50 million round at a $500 million valuation.
Matt McGee / Search Engine Land:
Twitter Launches Its Version Of Universal Search Results  —  Twitter is in the process of rolling out what you could call its version of “universal search results” on Twitter.com.  The changes bring Twitter's web search more in line with the current mobile experience.
More: Engadget, CNET, Marketing Land and WebProNewsTweets: @twitterThanks:@mattmcgee

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
5 common accounting mistakes  —  This is a guest post by Yaali Bizappln Solutions.  A lot of businesses manage their customers and finances on separate platforms.  This disconnect often leads to missed invoices …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 11/22 - An LLM Siri But... Only The Year AFTER Next?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:05 PM ET, August 1, 2013.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks