January 8, 2014 06:00 PST | 09:00 EST | 14:00 UTC
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>> CES SIREN: Five-in-one PC, Pogue 2.0, Rafe, SNLhoo, MoreDroid 4K
> Toshiba shows off shape-shifting 5-in-1 concept PC [Motherboard in kickstand. Windows and Android, natch.] PCWorld
> SNL cast helps Marissa Meyer launch Yahoo News Digest [Also on stage: Dave Pogue and Katie Couric. And if you can parse 'algorithmically produced but editorially curated,' fame and fortune await.] InfoWorld
> Yahoo courts mainstream audiences with vertical sites, launches Yahoo Food and Yahoo Tech [Joining Yahoo News, Yahoo Business. Rafe Needleman is the new Yahoo Tech editorial director.] TechCrunch
> Yahoo acquires intelligent home screen service Aviate TNW
> Can Yahoo inspire us? ReadWrite
> Sony CEO Kaz Hirai says cloud TV won't compete with cable, 4K adoption could take seven years The Verge
> Sony announces Internet TV service, plans to start testing it later this year [TechBrief announces world domination, plans to start testing it later this year.] GigaOM
> Sony sold 4.2 million PlayStation 4 consoles last year TNW [Compare: Xbox One sales in 2013 top 3 million units.] Engadget
> Valve convinces 14 PC builders to make Steam Machines a reality PCWorld
> Behind the missing $13 billion at CES 2014 Bloomberg >> COMING ATTRACTIONS: Jelly, Biz Stone's new Q&A platform, uses images to find answers, by Ingrid Lunden: "Jelly, a new question-and-answer platform from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, is coming out of stealth today. The app, available on both iOS and Android worldwide, will go head-to-head with the likes of Quora and ChaCha but also go a step further, incorporating features like visual imagery to steer people to getting better answers from within and outside their social networks." TechCrunch
> Biz Stone defends his overhyped, new search engine HuffPo
> Just add photos: Why Jelly could actually work Pando
>> LIBERTY & JUSTICE: Clickable consent at risk as Google targeted over privacy, by Linda Sandler: "Google, LinkedIn, and Yahoo are all being sued by customers who say the companies unfairly appropriated their personal information for profit. The lawsuits have landed before U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, who in September rattled Google -- and became a hero to some privacy advocates -- when she said the company wasn't disclosing clearly enough its plans for the user information it harvests.... At issue in the suits is consent: Are users who check off on online companies' click-to-agree screens, or have access to their privacy policies and opt-out buttons, given an explicit enough picture of providers' plans?" BloombergBusinessweek
>> ARRIVAL LOUNGE: An introduction To Yahoo Tech!, by David Pogue: "Tech is coming faster and thicker every year. New, better, more; new, better, more... It's supposed to be my job to keep up with tech developments, and even for me it's like drinking from a firehose. I have no idea how the average person copes. But with my team at Yahoo Tech, I'm here to do everything humanly possible to help." Yahoo Tech
> Yahoo News Digest: Get in the know in no time [TechBrief just discovered new slogan.] Tumblr
> Introducing the new Yahoo Advertising Tumblr >> REDMOND CONCLAVE: Report: Ford's Alan Mulally says he won't go to Microsoft, by Zach Miners: "'I have no other plans to do anything other than serve Ford,' Mulally said in an interview... Mulally is sticking with the plan to stay with Ford at least through the end of 2014, he told the AP. He didn't say whether he talked to Microsoft about becoming CEO, but he said the speculation was a distraction for the car company." InfoWorld
> Gartner gets bullish about Windows' future Computerworld
> Windows 8.1 spring update expected to arrive in April Neowin
> Microsoft pulls the plug on Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows XP InfoWorld
> Android + Windows 8 = Windows Super-Frankenstein InfoWorld
>> STILL WORKING ON TELEPORTATION: Google launches private SF Bay ferry service to shuttle workers, by Allen Martin: "According to the Port of San Francisco, Google is providing the service on a trial basis and paying the port for each docking just like any other short-term users of port facilities.... The service started Monday and the catamaran -- the Triumphant which holds 149 passengers -- runs two trips in the morning from San Francisco to Redwood City and two return trips in the evening." KPIX 5
>> BRING IT, CISCO: Oracle buys Corente, pushes into networking more, by Larry Dignan: "Oracle has acquired Corente, which provides software defined networking applications for networks. The move gives Oracle another piece of its networking puzzle.... According to Oracle, the acquisition of Corente will help its customers better deploy cloud applications and provision private networks. Corente's flagship product is its cloud services exchange, which distributes applications over any network.... The upshot is that Oracle plans to bundle cloud computing infrastructure and software defined networking." ZDNet
>> CYBERCRIMES & MISDEMEANORS: LinkedIn sues to stop bots that are stealing its user profiles, by Jeff John Roberts: "LinkedIn is fighting off shady competitors that are using bots to vacuum up hundreds of thousands of its user profiles in order to compete with LinkedIn's own recruiter products, according to a new lawsuit... LinkedIn asked a court to grant orders that will allow it to stop a group of 'John Does' from scraping its servers, and to make the unknown defendants pay for allegedly breaching federal and state hacking statutes as well as a variety of other laws. LinkedIn explained that since May of 2013, unknown people have been deploying a wave of bots that create thousands of fake profiles in order to interact with real LinkedIn users and siphon their user profiles." GigaOM
>> ALL YOUR BASE: Silicon Valley's new spy satellites, by Robinson Meyer: "Three startups are launching services -- and orbiters -- to provide real-time, better-than-Google imagery of the Earth... Each of the three is choosing different methods, different kinds of devices, and different orbits. Each is selling something a little different. They are Urthecast, Planet Labs, and Skybox... Silicon Valley is making what, in any other decade, we'd call spy satellites." The Atlantic
>> MONEY SHOT: Alibaba online-payment affiliate teams with Sina Corp, by Liyan Qi: "The new service allows users of Sina's Weibo microblog service to make online and offline payments through their Alipay accounts. The move follows Alibaba's deal last year to acquire an 18% stake in Weibo from Sina for $586 million. Alibaba is China's largest electronic commerce company by sales volume. It has branched out in recent months into social media with its Weibo investment and into financial services by offering money-market-like investment products to savers." Wall Street Journal
> Apple opens store on Alibaba's Tmall Wall Street Journal
> Bitcoin banned by Alibaba's Taobao after China tightens rules Bloomberg
>> What legal battles? Video upstart Aereo lands $34M in new funding, plans big US expansion TechCrunch
>> Firm bankrupted by cyberheist sues bank Krebs on Security
>> Groupon's next big thing? Helping mom-and-pop shops unload extra inventory Re/code
>> When SEO fails: Single channel dependency and the end of Tutorspree Aaron Harris's blog
>> When will smartphones saturate? Asymco
>> Review: Microsoft Office 365 vs. Google Apps InfoWorld
>> Reporter's notebook: Cracking Mark Zuckerberg's code Wall Street Journal
>> Snowden leaks spark encryption explosion: Unisys ArN
>> How the NSA almost killed the Internet Wired
>> At least eight security experts boycott prominent RSA security conference over NSA ties WaPo
>> GitHub cranks delivery speeds, adds analytics PCWorld
>> Red Hat and CentOS become Voltron, build free operating system together Ars Technica
>> Google talks UK government into allowing drivers to wear Google Glass [report] Glass Almanac
>> Wolfram's Connected Devices Project starts to catalog all electronics for the Internet of Things The Verge
>> The spies you'll wear: When big data gets too personal InfoWorld
>> HAD TO RUN IT (CES EDITION): Set it and forget it: The iPot applies smartphone sensors to pressure cooking TechHive
>> BITCOIN: $940 Mt.Gox
>> TWEET O' THE DAY: "Eating buttermilk-fried dill pickles in an airport hotel in startlingly cold Atlanta. As one does." @GreatDismal (William Gibson)
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