Techmeme: Fab.com cuts one-fifth of workforce (Gerry Shih/Reuters)

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October 3, 2013, 1:20 PM

Top News

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Schools Complain iOS 7 Upgrade Stripped Filters From Students' iPads — Apple's iOS 7 was supposed to make it easier for schools to manage the iPads that are becoming increasingly common in the classroom. But for some, the latest version of the mobile operating system is proving to be a bit of a headache.

More: The Verge, MacRumors, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, Macgasm, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacNN, AppleInsider, Softpedia News, App Advice and iClarified. Tweets: @bemaservices

Matt Brian / Engadget:

Google will launch a native Google Music iOS app later this month — If you've been against trying Google's Play Music All Access streaming service for lack of an official iOS app, it may soon be time to change your tune. Sources aware of Google's plans have let slip to Engadget …

More: MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Google, The Verge, GigaOM, Gotta Be Mobile, The Droid Guy, WebProNews, Electronista and MacNN

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

Edward Snowden's E-Mail Provider Defied FBI Demands to Turn Over Crypto Keys, Documents Show — The U.S. government obtained a secret court order demanding that Edward Snowden's e-mail provider, Lavabit, turn over its private SSL key, which would have allowed the FBI to wiretap the service's users.

More: Ladar Levison, SiliconANGLE, The Next Web, DSLreports, Freedom to Tinker, The Switch, Ars Technica, Boing Boing, The Verge, Motherboard, Electronista, Techdirt, Web Host Industry Review, Inquirer, VentureBeat, Gizmodo and ZDNet

Tweets: @glynmoody and @declanm

New York Times:

Lavabit Founder Waged Privacy Fight as F.B.I. Pursued Snowden — DALLAS — One day last May, Ladar Levison returned home to find an F.B.I. agent's business card on his Dallas doorstep. So began a four-month tangle with law enforcement officials that would end with Mr. Levison's shutting …

More: The Atlantic Wire, Softpedia News, Hillicon Valley, Daily Dot and TechPresident

Tweets: @propublica, @declanm, @ejosephsnowden, @pierre and @nicolepowers

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Jukeboxing: Rdio brings free radio to mobile apps to stay in the ring against Spotify — Rdio is releasing a free version of its service today on iOS and Android, bringing personalized radio to non-paying users of its mobile apps for the first time. Free of advertising for now …

More: Associated Press, BetaKit, TechHive, MacRumors, GigaOM, iMore, VentureBeat, AllThingsD, MacStories, Gotta Be Mobile, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, hypebot, Gizmodo, Electronista, TUAW and Mashable. Tweets: @caseynewton. See also Mediagazer

Roger Cheng / CNET:

LG preps curved display smartphone, the G Flex — Samsung isn't the only company planning a smartphone with a curved display. LG will likely unveil the device in November, CNET has learned, although plans are not yet final. — Get ready for the LG G Flex.

More: Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Digits, Engadget, Unwired View, Android Authority, The Droid Guy, The Verge, pocketnow.com, stuff.tv, Gearburn, The Next Web, SlashGear, Softpedia News and Mashable

Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:

Snapchat introduces “Stories”, a rolling compilation of snaps from the last 24 hours — Snapchat's next big thing: ‘Stories’ that don't just disappear — The app that introduced ephemeral messages sets its sights on Facebook — Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel's hands are shaking as he points to his iPhone.

Gerry Shih / Reuters:

Fab.com cuts one-fifth of workforce — E-commerce startup Fab.com Inc will lay off nearly a fifth of its workforce beginning Thursday as it tries to attain profitability by automating more of its business. — The company, valued at $1 billion by private investors, said it will cut 101 jobs worldwide …

More: Valleywag, GeekWire and GigaOM

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Amazon's Smartphones Detailed: ‘Project Smith’ 3D Flagship Model And A Value Handset With FireOS — Amazon is in the process of developing two smartphones, one inexpensive model and one with a 3D eye-tracking interface, TechCrunch has learned. The details are somewhat sparse …

Ars Technica:

How the feds took down the Dread Pirate Roberts — What he wouldn't give for a holocaust cloak. — The Dread Pirate Roberts, head of the most brazen drug trafficking site in the world, was a walking contradiction. Though the government says he raked in $80 million in commissions from running Silk Road …

More: Popehat, Forbes, CoinDesk, InfoWorld, Krebs on Security and Graham Cluley. Tweets: @natexanderson

Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:

Silk Road's mastermind allegedly paid $80,000 for a hitman. The hitman was a cop.

More: The Switch, Ars Technica, GigaOM and Reuters

Felix Salmon / Reuters:

FBI bust of Silk Road may in fact help legitimize Bitcoin by removing its shadiest aspect

More: Guardian, Digits, Forbes, Businessweek, SiliconANGLE, Zero Hedge and Daily Dot

Tweets: @adrianchen, @nikcub and @felixsalmon

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Circa wants to be a mobile wire service for breaking news — one that learns what you know — Circa, the mobile news service that was co-founded and funded by Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh, launched the second generation of its platform on Thursday, including an Android version of the app …

More: TechCrunch, The Next Web, VentureBeat, PandoDaily, GeekWire, AdAge and Mashable. Tweets: @mathewi. Thanks:@mathewi. See also Mediagazer

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Samsung execs shown confidential Apple-Nokia patent license terms, allegedly misused information — It came to light on Wednesday that at least fifty Samsung employees retained access to highly confidential Apple-Nokia licensing terms originating from the Apple v. Samsung court trial …

More: FOSS Patents, MacRumors, CNET, VentureBeat, AllThingsD, Fortune, iPhone in Canada Blog, Computerworld, iDownloadBlog.com, Engadget, Electronista, TechnoBuffalo, TUAW and MacDailyNews

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Patent troll Lodsys chickens out, folds case rather than face Kaspersky Lab — In 2011, Lodsys seemed like it was working hard to earn the title of the nation's most-hated patent troll by sending threat letters to small developers. At the end of the day, it turns out that Lodsys is one tremulous troll.

More: Nota Bene, The Verge and Kaspersky Lab US. Tweets: @e_kaspersky

Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Lodsys settled for nothing with Kaspersky Lab to avoid a ruling on the merits of its claims

More: Forbes, ZDNet, TechWeekEurope UK and ITworld.com

New York Times:

Social Networks in a Battle for the Second Screen — After “Breaking Bad” drew 10.3 million viewers to one of the most crowd-satisfying finales in television history on Sunday, Twitter and Facebook raced to tell the news media about the throngs who shared their instant reactions to the show on the social networks.

More: Marketing Land. Tweets: @dannysullivan, @carr2n, @kirstinestewart and @abcmarkscott. See also Mediagazer

Ina Fried / AllThingsD:

Aiming to Get Into Smaller Devices, Intel Announces Big Push Into Arduino — Intel's latest effort to expand beyond its PC roots involves reaching out to hobbyists. — At Maker Fair in Rome, the chipmaker is announcing plans to partner with open-source hardware specialist Arduino.

More: Wall Street Journal, Inquirer, Ars Technica, AnandTech, The Register, CNET, GigaOM, Computerworld, The Verge, Digits, ZDNet, VentureBeat and Electronista

Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:

Cue, The Startup Formerly Known As Greplin, Shuts Down Its App — Cue, the personal assistant app that grew out of a promising search product, has shut down. — The company left a brief note on their main page today, shown below. … The company was backed with at least $4.7 million …

More: The Next Web

David Kravets / Wired:

How a Purse Snatching Led to the Legal Justification for NSA Domestic Spying — Photo: Courtesy of Philip Weiss Auctions — It began as an ordinary purse snatching. On an early Baltimore morning in 1976, a local street thug crouched alongside his green Monte Carlo, pretending to change a flat, biding his time.

Tweets: @sarahjeong

Mike Beasley / 9to5Mac:

Review: 1Password 4 for Mac is a massive, feature-packed update — Back in December, AgileBits released 1Password 4 for iPhone and iPad. The app presented a completely revamped take on password security, but lacked feature parity with the Mac version of the software.

More: The Verge, iMore, MacRumors, Macworld, TheAppNews and The Next Web

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Netflix app for iPad and iPhone updated with HD video and AirPlay streaming — Netflix brought 1080p streaming to Android 4.3 this summer, and now iPhone / iPad users can experience HD streams as well, provided they've updated to iOS 7. Another new feature in the latest update is support …

More: CNET, Netflix US & Canada Blog, The Verge, MacRumors, VentureBeat, GigaOM, iMore, Redmond Pie, SlashGear, Softpedia News and The Next Web

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Chrome For iOS Bug Shows Private Browsing Search History In Google Mobile Search Bar — Update: Google has gotten back to us to let us know that this is an unfortunate but unavoidable loophole that comes with building a browser on iOS. It's noted in the company's support docs around Incognito mode.

More: parall.ax, The Verge, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, The Next Web, Business Insider, Gotta Be Mobile, WebProNews, TUAW and Softpedia News. Tweets: @rsnake

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Airbnb says New York renters should pay occupancy tax, pushes for looser hotel laws — After successfully overturning a fine against one of its New York City users, Airbnb is trying to preempt any future legal attacks. In a blog post today, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says that he supports formal rental taxes …

More: The Airbnb Blog, GigaOM, Businessweek and TechCrunch. Tweets: @joshuatopolsky

Matt Brian / Engadget:

France approves law stopping Amazon from shipping discounted books for free — French lawmakers have it up to “here” with Amazon's book-selling tactics and they're not going to take it any more. In a rare alliance, France's ruling Socialist Party and the opposition UMP Party approved …

More: FRANCE 24, BBC, GigaOM, Inquirer, Telegraph, Betabeat, NEWS.com.au, GeekWire and Softpedia News

Tweets: @erichippeau and @m4tt

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