Techmeme: “Unread” app sales show how hard it is for indie developers to earn a living from paid-up-front apps (Jared Sinclair)

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July 29, 2014, 3:40 PM

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Marco Arment / Marco.org:

Ubiquitous competition in the app market is hurting the quality and sustainability of iOS apps — App Rot — Look around your iPad for a minute. How are its third-party apps doing? — Are they all being actively updated? Are they all built for iOS 7 yet?

More: Benjamin Mayo, Jared Sinclair, ReadWrite, Daring Fireball and inessential.com

Tweets: @markgurman and @chrismessina

Jared Sinclair:

“Unread” app sales show how hard it is for indie developers to earn a living from paid-up-front apps — A Candid Look at Unread's First Year — To my knowledge, indie developers don't publish the kind of numbers that you'll find in this post.

More: txt.jazzychad.net, iMore, PadGadget, dailywireless.org, inessential.com, Daring Fireball and tyler.io

Tweets: @cdixon, @sachagreif and @cdixon

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

Certificate verification flaw in Android since 2.1 granted malicious apps special access to resources, potentially exposing sensitive user data — Android crypto blunder exposes users to highly privileged malware — A slide from next week's Black Hat talk titled Android Fake ID vulnerability.

More: AppleInsider, Guardian, BBC, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, BGR, eWeek, InfoWorld, Financial Times, Gigaom and Electronista. Tweets: @edbott. Thanks:@accretivegrowth

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft is about to launch a selfie phone and a new ‘high-end’ Windows Phone — Microsoft is planning to launch two new Windows Phone 8.1 devices shortly. Sources familiar with the company's plans tell The Verge that Microsoft devices chief Stephen Elop revealed both handsets during an internal company meeting this week.

More: Engadget, Windows Phone Central, VentureBeat, LiveSide.net, Gigaom, Techie News, Electronista, WinBeta, InvestorPlace, Neowin, BGR, WMPoweruser, TechnoBuffalo, Gizmodo, Softpedia News, Inquirer and SlashGear

Doina Chiacu / Reuters:

U.S. Senate bill proposes sweeping curbs on NSA surveillance — (Reuters) - Senator Patrick Leahy will introduce legislation on Tuesday to ban the U.S. government's bulk collection of Americans' telephone records and Internet data and narrow how much information it can seek in any particular search.

More: Wired, SiliconBeat, Computerworld, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Re/code, The Hill, NationalJournal.com and Patrick Leahy

Tweets: @binarybits and @binarybits

Richard Padilla / MacRumors:

Apple Launches Retina MacBook Pros with Faster Haswell Processors, More RAM Standard — As indicated over the weekend and yesterday, Apple today launched refreshed 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros.The new notebooks feature faster versions of Intel's Haswell processors …

More: Apple, ZDNet, AppleInsider, BGR, Digital Trends, iMore, Re/code, PC Magazine, Geek Beat, AnandTech, The Next Web, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, Computerworld, The Verge, TIME, Inquirer, Engadget, SlashGear, AppleInsider, Electronista, Gigaom, Forbes, BetaNews, Gizmodo, LAPTOP Magazine, TechnoBuffalo, Macworld, MacStories, TechCrunch and TUAW. Tweets: @joannastern

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Open Whisper Systems releases Signal iOS app for free encrypted voice calls; encrypted texts coming soon — Free, Encrypted Calling Finally Comes To The iPhone — The encrypted calling app Signal. The two seemingly random words beneath the contact's name are meant to be read …

More: Open Whisper Systems Blog, TechCrunch and The Verge. Tweets: @lorenzofb

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

Apple TV updated with FOX NOW, CNBC channels — Apple has rolled out some new channel additions to the Apple TV set-top box this morning. Both FOX NOW and CNBC have joined the Apple TV lineup. Both channels appear to require a cable subscription to unlock the content within.

More: The Loop, TechCrunch, MacRumors, Engadget, AppleInsider, CNET, VentureBeat, Macworld, Gigaom, Re/code and MacDailyNews. See also Mediagazer

Jon Russell / The Next Web:

Flipkart raises $1 billion to strengthen its bid to own India's e-commerce space — It's turning into quite a year for Flipkart. Today the e-commerce company from India has confirmed the much-reported rumor that it has raised $1 billion in fresh investment, as it eyes new verticals …

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Forces Users Worldwide To Download Messenger For Mobile Chat — Over the next few days, Facebook will stop allowing messaging in its main iPhone and Android apps, and force all their users around the world to download its standalone Messenger app. Facebook first started forcing users …

Yannick LeJacq / Kotaku:

EA announces subscription service for Xbox One: $5/month or $30/year for access to Fifa 14, Peggle 2, Madden NFL 25, and Battlefield 4 to start — EA Announces Netflix-Like Subscription Plan On Xbox One — Today EA announced a new subscription service for the Xbox One that will give …

More: EA, The Next Web, The Verge, IGN, Electronista and Xbox Live's Major Nelson

Andy / TorrentFreak:

UK police start placing anti-piracy warning ads on copyright-infringing websites — Police Begin Placing Warning Adverts on ‘Pirate’ Sites — For a year, City of London Police have been working with the music and movie industries on initiatives to cut down on the consumption of pirated content online.

More: BBC, cityoflondon.police.uk, The Verge, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, CNET, Wired.co.uk, Softpedia News, Neowin, PC Pro, Gigaom, The Next Web, V3.co.uk and Engadget

Paul Sawers / The Next Web:

Asana's productivity platform gets a native mobile app, redesigned and optimized for iPhone and iPad — Productivity platform Asana is unveiling a brand new native iOS app today, rebuilt and redesigned from the ground up. And yes, it's optimized for iPads too.

More: TechCrunch, TechCrunch, CITEworld, Macworld and Lifehacker

Karissa Bell / Mashable:

LinkedIn Redesigns Mobile Profiles to Put Relationships Into Context — LinkedIn's flagship app has gotten a major overhaul. — The company rolled out an update to its app Tuesday morning, unveiling completely redesigned user profiles that focus on adding contextual information.

More: Official LinkedIn Blog, TechHive, USA Today, SocialTimes, ReadWrite, Business Insider, CNET, App Advice, memeburn and The Next Web. Tweets: @dbreger

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

BlackBerry acquires mobile security firm SecuSmart, an anti-eavesdropping provider — BlackBerry acquires Secusmart, ups voice security ante — Summary: BlackBerry's acquisition of German software firm Secusmart is aimed at securing voice and data and putting better mobile security in every president and chancellor's hand.

More: BlackBerry Press Room, Re/code, VentureBeat, The Register, Techvibes Global News, CNET, BGR, Gigaom, Inquirer, TechCrunch, Electronista, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and WebProNews. Tweets: @ldignan

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:

This Is What Tech's Ugly Gender Problem Really Looks Like — Shortly after Kathryn Tucker started Red Rover, an app that showcases local events for kids, she pitched the idea to an angel investor at a New York tech event. But it didn't go over well. When she finished her pitch, the investor said he didn't invest in women.

More: Business Insider and TechPresident. Tweets: @cindygallop, @danshapiro, @tonyromm, @collision, @sarahfrier, @taralach and @jenna

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

Uber Gets Down To Business With New Travel Expense Tools And Concur Integration — On-demand ride-hailing service Uber has spent four years building a perfect transportation alternative to taxis and black car services in cities around the world. But until today it's just been focused on consumer travel.

More: Uber Blog, PC World, GeekWire, Tnooz, Bloomberg, NPR, The Next Web and Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @teroojanpera. Thanks:@ryanlawler

Joshua Ho / AnandTech:

Nvidia Shield tablet review: strong gaming features; few native multiplayer games at launch — The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Review — While I talked about this in the launch article, the Shield Tablet is very much the culmination of lessons learned from 2013.

More: Gizmodo, 9to5Google, LAPTOP Mag, GameSpot, Droid Life, SlashGear and SlashGear

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