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July 30, 2014, 11:45 AM

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.

More: Guardian, TechCrunch, Engadget, Business Insider and Mashable

Tweets: @bloombergtv and @nichcarlson

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.

More: Madbits, Re/code, Guardian, Marketing Land, Computerworld, WebProNews, Beyond Search, The Next Web, TechCrunch, ZDNet and memeburn

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 …

Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:

Virgin Mobile intros a blank-slate smartphone plan you can customize any way you like — Virgin Mobile's new prepaid plan can be anything you want it to be from a bare-bones emergency calling service to a custom unlimited Facebook plan. — Next month, Virgin Mobile USA will offer a new …

More: Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, BGR, The Verge, iMore, CNET, USA Today, LAPTOP Magazine and Re/code

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

Q&A WITH TWITTER CEO DICK COSTOLO: Why Twitter Was Able To Blow Away Expectations This Quarter — Twitter delivered its first boffo earnings report as a public company for the second quarter. — It crushed expectations on revenue, EPS, and most importantly, monthly active users.

More: Twitter. Tweets: @andybeal and @bijan

Garett Sloane / Adweek:

Twitter Is Considering Any Change that Will Convert Visitors to Logged-In Users Even filtering tweets

More: TechCrunch. Tweets: @mathewi. See also Mediagazer

Andy Fixmer / Mashable:

Netflix Signs Peering Deal With AT&T to Reduce Buffering — This story has been updated to include a statement from AT&T confirming the peering deal. — Netflix has reached an agreement with AT&T to give its streaming service direct access to AT&T's network, with the goal of reducing buffering …

More: TechHive, Washington Post, Softpedia News, Digital Trends, TechSpot, TechCrunch, The Register, Electronista, SlashGear, Ars Technica, CNET, Reuters, Gizmodo, Gigaom, DSLreports, The Verge, Engadget and Re/code. Thanks:@toddwasserman. See also Mediagazer

Eric Jackson / Forbes:

After several costly errors by CEO Marissa Mayer, Yahoo could use another activist investor — How Do You Solve A Problem Like Marissa? — [Disclosure: Author was long YHOO at time of writing.] — There's been a sharp response to the post I wrote last Wednesday in Forbes outlining …

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @mdudas and @forbes. Thanks:@techtipster1

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Amazon To Invest $2B In Its India Marketplace As Competition With Flipkart Intensifies — Just one day after Flipkart disclosed that it had raised as massive $1 billion round, Amazon has upped the ante by announcing that it will invest $2 billion in its Indian marketplace, which it launched about a year ago.

More: The Next Web, GeekWire, Gigaom, Computerworld, Wall Street Journal, NextBigWhat, MediaNama, New York Times and Associated Press

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.

More: 9to5Mac, Gigaom, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, The Next Web, Re/code, iDownloadBlog.com, Gotta Be Mobile, App Advice, TWICE and Cult of Mac

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Instagram launches Bolt, its one-touch photo and video messaging app, in Singapore, South Africa, and New Zealand — Instagram Launches One-Touch Photo And Video Messaging App Bolt Outside The US — Instagram is taking on Snapchat by turning your best friends' faces into the shutter button …

Marcus Wohlsen / Wired:

Square prepares new reader with support for forthcoming cards with embedded computer chips — Square Bets Big on Next-Gen Credit Card Tech — Square first came to fame with a credit card reader you could plug into your iPhone jack. But next year, the company's signature device …

More: Square, The Verge, TechCrunch, New York Times, iMore, The Next Web and Gizmodo. Thanks:@emilydreyfuss

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 …

More: emptywheel and Business Insider. Thanks:@techtipster1

Michael Carney / PandoDaily:

EXCLUSIVE: Payments giant First Data acquires Gyft in an effort to bring digital gift cards to the masses — Gyft, a Redwood City-based virtual gift card provider has been acquired by payment giant First Data, Pando has learned. The terms of the transaction were undisclosed …

More: TechCrunch

Shane Harris / Foreign Policy:

Ex-NSA head Keith Alexander says his new company IronNet Cybersecurity invented unique technology to detect hackers, will file at least nine patents — The NSA's Cyber-King Goes Corporate — Here's why Keith Alexander thinks he's worth a million dollars a month. — GOOGLE +

More: Washington Post, TechPresident, Ars Technica, emptywheel, The Verge, VICE and Boing Boing

Tweets: @dangillmor, @dbgrady, @ashk4n and @csoghoian

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Is Shutting Down Gifts To Focus On Its Buy Button And Commerce Platform — Facebook wants to help other businesses sell things, so it's done selling its own. Facebook Gifts will shut down on August 12th and stop selling gift cards for businesses like Starbucks and iTunes.

More: Re/code, TechSpot, CNET, ReadWrite, Reuters, Bloomberg, Engadget and Forrester Blogs. Tweets: @joshconstine

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