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July 30, 2014, 4:15 PM
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Top News

Bloomberg:
Snapchat Said in Funding Talks With Alibaba at $10 Billion  —  Snapchat Inc., the company that makes a mobile application for disappearing photo messages, is in talks with investors including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) for a round of financing that may value the company at $10 billion, people with knowledge of the situation said.
Maria Kiselyova / Reuters:
Russia wants access to Apple and SAP source code to see if their products are used for spying  —  Russia wants Apple, SAP to cooperate against foreign spying  —  * Apple, SAP guard their source code closely  —  * Russian, Western relations strained over Ukraine
Ryan Knutson / Wall Street Journal:
Virgin Mobile intros customizable prepaid smartphone plans with options for unlimited data on certain services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest  —  Sprint Will Sell a $12 Wireless Plan that Only Connects to Facebook or Twitter  —  For about $12, Sprint will soon let subscribers buy …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Hangouts Now Works Without Google+ Account, Becomes Part Of Google Apps For Business And Gets SLA  —  Say what you want about Google+, but it incubated two great products at Google: Hangouts for video meetings and Google+ Photos.  While Photos is still deeply integrated with the social network …
Derrick Harris / Gigaom:
Twitter acquires deep learning startup Madbits  —  Twitter has acquired Madbits, a deep-learning-based computer vision startup founded by proteges of Facebook AI director Yann LeCun.  It's the latest in a spate of deep learning and computer vision acquisitions that also includes Google, Yahoo, Dropbox and Pinterest.
Eduard Kovacs / SecurityWeek:
Tor Warns of Attack Attempting to Deanonymize Users  —  The Tor Project has disclosed details of an attack which appeared to be an attempt to deanonymize users of the popular anonymity network.  —  According to Tor Project Leader Roger Dingledine, the attack was detected on July 4 …
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
FreedomPop's free data and voice are now available on tablets  —  Many people can't really justify buying a cellular-equipped tablet — why pay for more data when your phone probably does the trick?  FreedomPop is undoubtedly aware of that thriftiness, as it just started offering its namesake free service on tablets.
Mike Futter / Game Informer:
Sony: EA Access Doesn't ‘Represent Good Value To The PlayStation Gamer’  —  Following EA's announcement of the company's new subscription program, Access, we were curious about it being tied only to Xbox One.  We reached out to Sony for clarification, and it seems like PlayStation 4 owners shouldn't hold their breath for the program.
Joe Belfiore / Windows Phone Blog:
Windows Phone 8.1 Update expands Cortana to new countries, adds “Live” folders on start screen, and more  —  Windows Phone 8.1 Update brings Cortana to new markets + new features  —  Back in April, you heard me talk about how we believe Windows Phone 8.1 is the world's …
Sam Byford / The Verge:
‘Mario Kart 8’ fails to stem growing Nintendo losses  —  2.82 million copies sold, but most to existing Wii U owners  —  Nintendo made an operating loss of ¥9.47 billion ($92.7 million) in its first quarter of 2014, with the launch of Mario Kart 8 sparking a bump in Wii U hardware sales …
Brad Smith / Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft's general counsel on how the government wants the right to access emails stored abroad  —  We're Fighting the Feds Over Your Email  —  Governments want the right to see email stored anywhere in the world.  Microsoft says not so fast.  —  On Thursday Microsoft will oppose …
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Andrew Mason's Audio Tour App Detour Steers You Away From The Typical Tourist Traps  —  I'm about 20 minutes late when I meet Andrew Mason at the famous Boudin Bakery in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf district.  It's a tourist trap, but it's where Mason wants to meet and who am I to complain?

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:15 PM ET, July 30, 2014.

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From Mediagazer

Sara Fischer / Axios:
PBS and a public TV affiliate in Minnesota sue the Trump administration, saying his executive order to cut federal funding violated PBS' First Amendment rights

Max Tani / Semafor:
The California State Senate opens an inquiry into whether Paramount's reported $15M proposed settlement with Trump violated bribery and unfair competition laws

Chris Willman / Variety:
Taylor Swift acquires the rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Capital; sources say the deal was in the mid-$300M range

More News

András Neltz / Kotaku:
Xbox One launching in China on September 23, becoming its first major home console since PS2

Earlier Picks

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple's Smartphone Market Share Slips as Huawei, Lenovo Make Gains
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