House passes amendment to cut NSA's ‘backdoor search’ funding
Following a push from Representatives Justin Amash and Thomas Massie, the House of Representatives has passed an amendment to stop at least some of the surveillance programs at the National Security A...
Twitter acquires SnappyTV, the service for clipping, editing, and sharing video clips from live broadcasts
SnappyTV is joining the flock — One of the best ways to follow events as they unfold is through real-time videos on Twitter. As we continue to invest in video …
Apple's smartwatch to launch as early as October with 2.5" screen, wireless charging, pulse sensor, sources say
Taiwan's Quanta to start mass production of Apple's smartwatch in July: source — (Reuters) - Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc will start mass production of Apple Inc's first smartwatch in July …
Significant enhancements coming to AppleCare+, Apple IDs, iOS support
Apple's vice president of AppleCare and technical support initiatives, Tara Bunch, held a Town Hall meeting for for AppleCare employees earlier this week, according to several employees in attendance ...
iOS 8 exposes almost every manual camera control possible, allows third-party apps access to all
Manual Camera Controls in iOS 8 — For the longest time, iOS had almost no camera controls at all. There would be a toggle for HDR, a toggle to switch to the front-facing camera, and a toggle to swi...
Why Did Amazon Make a Phone? A Conversation With Jeff Bezos
Shortly after he introduced the new Fire phone on Wednesday, I spoke with Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon's founder and chief executive, about the device and Amazon's goals in the smartphone business. — He...
Maps ‘City Tours’ feature hidden in iOS 8 betas, works like a guided Flyover video
Although deeper changes to Maps are in the works, Apple did announce a new City Tours feature for iOS 8 discreetly on one of the keynote slides. This feature is not normally available in the current ...
The Nokia team Microsoft didn't buy has made an Android launcher
But is it better than what's out there? — Nokia's involvement with Google's Android can only be described as one big “what if.” Ahead of Microsoft's deal to buy it, Nokia was testing Android phones...
Adam Bain taking over business development at Twitter; Gabriel Stricker to head its media unit
Bain Officially Gets Biz Dev, While Media Unit Moves to Stricker at Twitter (Plus TV Memo!) — As Re/code reported last week, Twitter sales leader Adam Bain will take over business development at Twi...
Supreme Court rules software patents that cover ‘abstract ideas’ are invalid
Software patents aren't dead, but they just took a blow. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that a series of banking patents didn't cover a concrete software process but an abstract...
Google buys Alpental, a startup focused on 5G technologies and led by former Clearwire researchers
Google just quietly bought this stealthy Seattle startup led by ex-Clearwire researchers — Sometimes startups attract corporate attention after releasing cutting-edge products, or nailing down key c...
BlackBerry Passport, formerly known as ‘Windermere’, coming in September
John Chen announced during BlackBerry's quarterly earnings report that the company's next phone will be called Passport. Previously known as ‘Windermere’, the often-leaked QWERTY device will sport …
Android to drop Dalvik VM for high-performance ART in next version
Code changes proclaim death of OS's original code runtime — The next version of Google's Android smartphone OS may ship with a new code execution engine that improves performance and battery life, i...
Mozilla to Develop Comments Platform for New York Times and Washington Post
The New York Times and The Washington Post announced on Thursday that they had teamed up with Mozilla to develop a new platform that will allow them to better manage their readers' online comments and...
LinkedIn Launches Its First Standalone Job Search App, Privacy Guaranteed
LinkedIn says that today 40% of its 300 million users access the site on mobile devices, so its bid to tap into the wave of users accessing the site via smartphones and tablets continues apace …
Google Acquires mDialog To Improve DoubleClick's Video Advertising
Google today announced that it has acquired video advertising company mDialog. — In a post on Google+, the company said that it will “work with the mDialog team to incorporate their technology and e...
Microsoft provides roadmap for Office 365 and a new ‘First Release’ program
Microsoft's move to turn Office into a subscription-based service is working out well for the company. With millions of consumers and businesses now using the platform, Microsoft has to be clear …
Fitness app usage up 62% in past six months from 49% in 2013, 87% faster than total app market growth
Health and Fitness Apps Finally Take Off, Fueled by Fitness Fanatics — Over the past six years, we have seen mobile and its apps disrupt and transform many industries.
Sources say Box hopes to complete IPO by July-August; contrary to rumors, has ruled out sale
Box Revives IPO Plans as Cloud Shares Recover — Timing is everything. And cloud storage company Box could not have picked a worse time to go public. — The March 24 public disclosure …
US Marshals Service leaks list of participants in the auction of 30,000 Silk Road bitcoins
CONFIRMED: List of Possible Silk Road Bitcoin Bidders Leaked by US Marshals — UPDATE (22:25 BST): Updated with comment from Lynzey Donahue, a U.S. Marshals spokeswoman.
Early-Stage VC Greycroft Closes $200M Growth Fund
Greycroft Partners, a New York firm that saw its early investments in Maker Studios, Buddy Media, Huffington Post and Braintree Payments Solutions turn into large payouts, has now closed on its first ...
NY AG: iPhone's activation lock reduces phone thefts; Android and Windows Phone to also have kill switches
Android, Windows Phone Will Have Kill Switches, N.Y. Says — Google Inc. (GOOGL) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will incorporate a “kill switch” into the next versions …
Puppet Labs lands $40M in funding to boost its IT automation work
DevOps-centric Puppet Labs closed a series E $40 million investment round, bringing its total funding to $86 million. The IT automation company plans on using the cash to expand globally and invest i...
Codecademy Partners With Google And DonorsChoose To Boost Girls' Interest In Computer Science
Programming education startup Codecademy is announcing a new initiative with a stated goal “to double the number of high school girls studying Computer Science.”
Code Spaces closes shop after attackers destroy Amazon-hosted customer data
Code Spaces closes shop after attackers destroy Amazon-hosted customer data. — A code-hosting service that boasted having a full recovery plan has abruptly closed after someone gained unauthorized a...
BlackBerry Q1: $23 million in profit, beats analyst expectations
Summary: BlackBerry is in the midst of turning from hardware to services, and the restructuring appears to be fruitful. The company still experienced losses in Q1, but the financial result is not as ...
As Iraq censors Internet, Tor usage jumps tenfold
As the Iraqi government censors large swaths of the Internet following devastating attacks and victories by the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), thousands of people are adopting ...
President Obama at the White House Maker Faire: “Today's D.I.Y. Is Tomorrow's ‘Made in America’”
“Our parents and our grandparents created the world's largest economy and strongest middle class not by buying stuff, but by building stuff — by making stuff, by tinkering and inventing and building …
NSA ‘third party’ partners tap the Internet backbone in global surveillance program
‘Third parties’ give NSA access to international fiber-optic cables, sharing massive amounts of phone and Internet data, new Snowden documents show. Germany and, by all accounts, Denmark …
Intel's new messaging app Pocket Avatars uses the camera to find cartoons matching your mood
Intel releases Pocket Avatars, a chat app that maps your facial expressions onto silly characters — When you think of Intel, you normally think of PC chips, but the company is bucking expectations t...
Galvanize lands $18 million in venture capital to broaden its education focus
Denver-based startup hub Galvanize LLC raised $18 million venture capital in a round led by New York City-based University Ventures Fund, attracting investors to Galvanize's vision of becoming a new k...
Facebook Goes Down In Global Outage. Update: It's Back!
Facebook appears to be a suffering a major outage this morning, with the site unavailable in multiple regions around the world, and Facebook social plug-ins on other websites also acting up. — The F...