Techmeme
January 6, 2014, 6:00 PM

Top News

Kate Tummarello / TheHill:
Snapchat hires lobbyists for the first time  —  The social network Snapchat has hired lobbyists in Washington for the first time.  —  Snapchat — which allows users to send photos and videos that disappear after a certain amount of time — has hired the powerhouse K Street firm Heather Podesta + Partners …
More: Re/codeTweets: @nicoleperlroth and @jwherrmanThanks:@lutherlowe
Bruce Schneier / Wired:
The Internet of Things Is Wildly Insecure — And Often Unpatchable  —  We're at a crisis point now with regard to the security of embedded systems, where computing is embedded into the hardware itself — as with the Internet of Things.  These embedded computers are riddled with vulnerabilities, and there's no good way to patch them.
Tweets: @kashhill
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Pebble Reveals The Pebble Steel For $249 Shipping Jan. 28; App Store Coming Soon  —  Smartwatch pioneer Pebble is introducing something everyone has been waiting for at CES this year: new hardware.  But the hardware isn't so new that it throws the baby out with the bath water …
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:
Mashable raises $13 million to launch expansion effort  —  Nearly a decade into its existence, the news Web site Mashable is taking on outside investors for the first time.  —  The site plans to announce on Monday that it has raised $13.3 million in an equity investment round led by Updata Partners.
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Palo Alto Networks Buys Cyber Security Startup Founded By Former NSA Engineers, Morta  —  In its first acquisition, security company Palo Alto Networks is acquiring stealthy cyber security startup Morta Security.  Financial details were not disclosed about the transaction …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Sponsored Data: AT&T will now let companies buy out your data charges for specific videos and apps  —  Today at CES, AT&T announced a new service called Sponsored Data, offering a way for companies to pick up the tab for 4G data usage whenever particular products or services are being used.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Rebooting webOS: how LG rethought the smart TV  —  Four years after it was first introduced, webOS comes back to CES in a radically different form  —  Things never went very well for webOS.  Between its blockbuster launch at CES in 2009 and its relaunch on LG's smart TVs today lies a history …
Ashlee Vance / Businessweek:
Google Teams With GM, Honda, and Audi to Bring Android to Cars  —  That kid—the one in the back of the SUV with the iPad—is the automotive industry's worst enemy.  He's also the reason some of the world's biggest automakers are working with Google to bring its Android software into vehicle infotainment systems.
Katie Roof / Fox Business:
Source: AOL Tried to Buy Business Insider for $100M+  —  AOL Inc. (AOL) offered to purchase BusinessInsider.com, a popular business and technology news website, for more than $100 million but talks ultimately broke down when the two sides couldn't agree on price, the FOX Business Network has learned.
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
The Asus Transformer Book Duet hybrid can instantly switch between Windows and Android  —  Back at Computex in June, Asus introduced its Transformer Book Trio — a computer that could function as both a laptop and tablet and dual-booted between Windows 8 and Android.
Richard Lai / Engadget:
Huawei's big Ascend Mate 2 4G can charge up your iPhone, coming to the US  —  Given the recent leak, Huawei's announcement of the Ascend Mate 2 4G should be no surprise to anyone.  The device is essentially an LTE Cat 4 (read: 150Mbps!) refresh of its predecessor, packing a similar 6.1-inch 720p IPS panel …
Nathan Ingraham / The Verge:
Vizio updates its Thin + Light laptop and all-in-one with Haswell processors, Iris Pro graphics  —  It's now been exactly two years since Vizio announced it was making the bold move of entering the PC marketplace with its Thin + Light laptops and all-in-one desktop computers.
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
The Pirate Bay plans own P2P network accessed via browser-like client to circumvent censorship  —  How The Pirate Bay Plans to Beat Censorship For Good  —  Over the past few years The Pirate Bay has had to deal with its fair share of censorship, mostly through court-ordered blockades.
Rich McCormick / The Verge:
T-Mobile to buy unused Verizon spectrum in deal worth over $3 billion  —  T-Mobile has agreed to buy 700 MHz A-block spectrum from Verizon Wireless for $2.365 billion.  The sale will also see T-Mobile transfer certain AWS and PCS spectrum licenses with a value of around $950 million to Verizon …

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Nick Summers / The Next Web:
Kwame Opam / The Verge: