Techmeme
January 15, 2014, 9:30 PM

Top News

Federal Trade Commission:
Apple to refund consumers at least $32.5M for in-app purchases made without parental consent  —  Apple Inc. Will Provide Full Consumer Refunds of At Least $32.5 Million to Settle FTC Complaint It Charged for Kids' In-App Purchases Without Parental Consent  —  Company Also Will Modify its Billing Practices Under FTC Settlement
John Paczkowski / Re/code:
Apple Agrees to FTC Consent Decree Over In-App Purchases (Memo)  —  Looks like Apple's settlement last year of a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of in-app purchasing in games and apps sold through the App Store wasn't enough for the Federal Trade Commission.
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro, Mayer's No. 2, to depart after failing to move lagging ad business  —  “Dead Man Walking” Walks: COO Henrique De Castro Out at Yahoo  —  As has long been rumored, Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro is departing Yahoo.  I had reported last week that he was in big trouble …
Fred Wilson / A VC:
How losing net neutrality will discourage investing in bandwidth-intensive startups  —  VC Pitches In A Year Or Two  —  Entrepreneur: I plan to launch a better streaming music service.  It leverages the data on what you and your friends currently listen to, combines that with the schedule …
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Brent Rose / Gizmodo:
Google Play Movies and TV Finally Comes to iOS  —  First Google Play Books made its way to iOS.  Then Google Play Music undertook the pilgrimage.  So, it should be little surprise that today Google Play Movies and TV has finally made the jump.  This is significant not just because it brings …
Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:
HP to Re-Enter Smartphone Market With “Phablets” in India  —  Hewlett-Packard will today announce plans to re-enter the market for smartphones and tablets that it exited in 2011, with a pair of voice-enabled tablets that will debut in India later this year.  —  HP's plans call for releasing …
CNBC:
Apple-China Mobile deal a ‘watershed’ moment: Tim Cook  —  By: Reporting by Eunice Yoon, Written by Dhara Ranasinghe  —  Apple CEO Tim Cook says the deal to sell iPhones on China Mobile's vast network is a “watershed” moment.  —  A deal to sell iPhones on China Mobile's vast network is a …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Zuckerberg Calls Snapchat A “Privacy Phenomenon”  —  Mark Zuckerberg thinks Facebook's innovated by creating a place where people could share what wasn't shared before, which is also why he thinks Snapchat is important.  Today in a low-profile talk at Stanford alongside discussions of the NSA …
More: AllFacebook and MashableTweets: @startupljacksonThanks:@gallagherbilly
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Adds Optional Data Compression Feature To Chrome For Mobile, Reducing Your Data Usage By Up To 50%  —  Google today is officially announcing the release of a data compression feature for its Chrome mobile web browser which allows you to reduce your data usage on smartphones and tablets …
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Spam-Fighting Startup Impermium Joins Google, Discontinues Third-Party Services  —  Impermium, a cybersecurity startup that was backed by top funds like Accel and Greylock, is joining Google.  They had raised $9 million in funding from Highland Capital Partners, the Social+Capital Partnership …
Nicole Bogart / Global News:
Fitbit offers apology, refund to users experiencing skin irritation from Fitbit Force  —  TORONTO - Wearable technology company Fitbit is apologizing to customers after some users took to the web to complain about painful skin irritations they allegedly developed after wearing the Fitbit Force.
Wall Street Journal:
Cloud-Software Startup Zendesk Hires Bankers for IPO  —  Maker of Online Help-Desk Software Part of Wave of Cloud Companies  —  Zendesk Inc., a maker of online help-desk software for businesses, has hired banks in preparation for an initial public offering this year.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft confirms Syrian Electronic Army hacked into employee email accounts  —  Microsoft has confirmed to The Verge that a “small number” of employee email accounts were accessed during the latest round of attacks by the Syrian Electronic Army.  The hacking group posted three internal emails …
More: Re/code and TechCrunchTweets: @tomwarren
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
A First Look at the Target Intrusion, Malware  —  Last weekend, Target finally disclosed at least one cause of the massive data breach that exposed personal and financial information on more than 110 million customers: Malicious software that infected point-of-sale systems at Target checkout counters.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Silent Circle & Geeksphone Join Forces To Build Blackphone: A Pro-Privacy Android-Based Smartphone  —  As the reality of the extent and invasiveness of the security services' dragnet surveillance programs hits home, the pro-privacy movement has been cranking up its own ideas to counter spy-tech with pro-privacy tech.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Recruiters, be that zeroth candidate  —  Welcome again!  Earlier, we looked at how personality assessments are evaluation tools that help look at candidates beyond resumes.  Let's look at how to use …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

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