Techmeme
February 26, 2014, 12:30 PM

Top News

Emily Flitter / Reuters:
US prosecutors investigating bitcoin businesses: source  —  (Reuters) - Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office is seeking information from businesses dealing in bitcoin on how some of them handled cyber-attacks that hamstrung several exchanges in recent weeks, a source familiar with the probe said on Wednesday.
Kazuhiko Tamaki / Reuters:
Japan authorities looking into closure of Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange  —  (Reuters) - Japanese authorities are looking into the abrupt closure of Mt. Gox, the top government spokesman said on Wednesday in Tokyo's first official reaction to the turmoil at what was the world's biggest exchange for bitcoin virtual currency.
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
Marc Andreessen / Andreessen Horowitz:
The Future of the News Business: A Monumental Twitter Stream All in One Place  —  I am more bullish about the future of the news industry over the next 20 years than almost anyone I know.  You are going to see it grow 10X to 100X from where it is today.  That is my starting point for any discussion about the future of journalism.
Jeff Atwood / Coding Horror:
App ecosystems reinvent everything hateful about the software industry before the web blew it up  —  App-pocalypse Now  —  I'm getting pretty sick of being nagged to install your damn apps.  —  XKCD helpfully translates:  —  Yeah, there are smart app banners, which are marginally less annoying …
Matt Warman / Telegraph:
Google did not bid for WhatsApp  —  Claims that Facebook outbid Google in its $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp are untrue, a top executive has said.  —  Google did not bid for WhatsApp, the company revealed yesterday.  Suggestions that Facebook's $19bn purchase of the instant messaging service outbid …
Associated Press:
Apple files appeal in e-book antitrust case  —  Apple asks federal appeals court to overturn finding in antitrust case, or award new trial  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Apple filed papers on Tuesday telling a federal appeals court in New York that a judge's finding it violated antitrust laws …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
OpenID Connect Identity Protocol Launches With Support From Google, Microsoft & Others  —  Signing users in to a mobile or web app isn't necessarily hard, but keeping their credentials safe is something that's often best left to specialists.  The OpenID Foundation today announced the launch …
Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:
Apple to Arizona: Anti-gay bill puts Mesa sapphire plant at risk  —  It's not clear if Apple could do business in a state that sanctions discrimination against gays.  —  FORTUNE — Apple (AAPL) confirmed Monday that it has urged Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a bill that would allow business owners …
Rip Empson / TechCrunch:
With Box, Yelp And Palantir On Board, Piazza Lands $8M From Khosla To Bring Recruiting To Its Social Q&A Platform For Students  —  As free online social tools now play a central role in how we communicate, interact and manage our interpersonal relationships, and as consumerization sweeps through …
Mat Smith / Engadget:
LINE takes on Skype and Hangouts with new, cheap, Call service  —  It's all about stickers, really.  LINE means stickers, but as the company keeps telling us, its apps do so much more than that — and even more starting next month.  The Japanese messaging service is launching …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
OpenX launches its mobile-first native ad exchange  —  OpenX Technologies is launching a mobile-focused native ad exchange today that it says will help app and game developers and publishers make a lot more money.  —  In an event at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, mobile monetization firm OpenX is unveiling Native O|
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Cell phone freedom bill passes House  —  Legislation aimed at letting people use their cell phones with any mobile carrier they wish was narrowly approved by the House today, after several Democrats opposed the bill due to a last minute change in the text.  —  House Republicans called …
Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:
Square acquires scheduling and appointment booking startup BookFresh, will keep products separate for now  —  Square today announced it has acquired BookFresh, a scheduling and appointment booking startup.  Both companies are promising that for BookFresh customers, nothing will change …
Reuters:
Japan's Line denies report of talks to sell stake to SoftBank  —  (Reuters) - Japan-based Line Corp denied a media report it was in talks to sell a stake to SoftBank Corp (9984.T) - a report that comes after big acquisitions of rival messaging app firms have fanned speculation that it too may be up for grabs.
More: Reuters and Quartz
Mat Honan / Wired:
Inside the High-Stakes Battle to Control How You Talk to Friends  —  Before the scrum  —  over who will control mobile messaging turned hot last week, with Facebook's $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp, things got very, very cold.  In December, an ice storm was blowing into the Canadian city of Waterloo …
More: TechCrunchThanks:@bobpatters
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
The internet is f**ked (but we can fix it)  —  Here's a simple truth: the internet has radically changed the world.  Over the course of the past 20 years, the idea of networking all the world's computers has gone from a research science pipe dream to a necessary condition of economic and social development …
Ina Fried / Re/code:
BlackBerry Eyes BBM as a Way to Send Money  —  BlackBerry is exploring whether it might be able to expand use of its BBM service as a way to transfer money in emerging markets where the instant messaging service is popular.  —  “We're meeting with partners and we are exploring the market …

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