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RT @Techmeme: How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly (New York Times)

RT @Techmeme: How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly (New York Times)

RT @Techmeme: Intel offers to pay up for Internet TV programming deals (Reuters)

RT @Techmeme: Intel offers to pay up for Internet TV programming deals (Reuters)

RT @Techmeme: No evidence of NSA's 'direct access' to tech companies (@declanm / CNET)

RT @Techmeme: Warner Bros: We're Fining File-Sharers Who Use Non Six-Strike ISPs (Andy / TorrentFreak)

RT @Techmeme: Warner Bros: We're Fining File-Sharers Who Use Non Six-Strike ISPs (Andy / TorrentFreak)

Sources inform ''Globes'' that Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) will acquire Waze Ltd. for $1.3 billion. The acquisition of the Israeli navigation app and traffic report start-up will be completed after months of reports that Waze would be sold to either Google or Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).

My guess is that Google and the others have agreed to receive FISA requests in an automated way, process them in an automated way, and fire off the data in an automated way. That whole process could take a very small amount of time. Milliseconds for small sets of data, easy. Anything beyond that is from any human intervention at Google to read the order and decide whether to accept it. From what I’ve seen, it’s extremely rare for companies to push back on orders, since the secret FISA court always, without exception, tells them to settle down and get that data over to the NSA, pronto. So Google complies, and the whole thing has been handled “in accordance with the law.” Given how important the Super 9 are to PRISM, it seems clear that responses from queries must come back pretty quickly, almost as fast as a normal search engine, for example. That tells me there’s a lot of automation going on in a server or two (just don’t call them back doors or drop boxes). Now here’s something new (to me at least) that also fills in some boxes. The NSA can begin surveillance on a subject for a full week before going to the secret FISA court for an order. In the last year every one of those orders have been granted, so it’s just a formality.

The new design is inspired by, and similar to, the styling of the Xbox One. Microsoft says that it will be available immediately. Xbox Live Gold subscribers will also get some extra perks. As previously announced, Xbox Live subscriptions will carry over to the Xbox One. Anyone buying a subscription from July 1 will be given two free downloadable games per month, with Assassin's Creed 2 and Halo 3 both on offer.

So with the new Mac Pro, graphics pros get a mixed blessing: two workstation-class AMD FirePro cards with a boatload of memory and compute power... soldered onto the Mac Pro’s motherboard:

FiftyThree, the startup behind the wildly popular drawing app Paper, has closed a Series A round of financing led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Highline Ventures, Thrive Capital, SV Angels, and Jack Dorsey. The investment was led by Chris Dixon, and could help the company to expand its suite of creative tools for mobile and tablet users.

Netflix’s growing popularity has made it a target of ISP (internet service providers) vitriol and anger, especially those who offer competitive services. Verizon, for instance owns 50 percent of Redbox, a video-over-the-Internet service that is competitive with Netflix. Time Warner Cable and Comcast are other large providers that has allowed degradation of the online video experience on its networks — after all the logic is that as people start to have a bad Netflix experience, they start to look for alternatives — perhaps the ISP’s own pay TV offering.

In addition to Best Buy and Amazon.com, we’re excited to welcome several new retailers to the family. Starting today, Walmart will be making the newest Acer Chromebook, which has a 16GB Solid State Drive (SSD), available in approximately 2,800 stores across the U.S., for just $199. Look for Chromebooks coming to the laptop sections of a Walmart near you this summer.

The company's leading game, "Candy Crush Saga," launched on Facebook in April 2012 and involves matching up columns and rows of candy items. It is the most popular app on Facebook, with an estimated 15.4 million average daily users as of the most recent figures, according to AppData, an independent firm that tracks online activity. "Candy Crush Saga" has also been one of the most frequently downloaded free apps via the iPhone and Google GOOG +1.32% Play, according to App Annie, which tracks app store purchases.

We’ve been working on getting more details on a press event that Facebook is having this week. Earlier, we wrote it could launch a news-reading app, but we have since heard more details that point to something else entirely. On June 20, a source says Facebook will unveil that Instagram, its popular photo-sharing app, will begin to let people also take and share short videos. Call it the Vine effect.

Intended for use in businesses like cafes, Facebook Wi-Fi asks users to “check in” at the business location using their Facebook account. Once they do, or once they click a small opt-out link, they are granted wireless internet access. The system was developed during a hackathon at Facebook’s Seattle office by engineers Mohit Talwar and Adrian Potra. After winning raucous applause at a “prototype forum” after the programming marathon, it was forwarded to top Facebook brass, who assigned a team of three at the company’s Menlo Park, California headquarters to develop the idea further.

Historically, these types of FTC studies can change the conversation about an issue. The FTC performed a 6(b) study on the issue of "pay for delay" drug settlements several years ago, and the data has fueled its continued battle against those types of settlements in courts and in Congress ever since. Such studies were also instrumental in pushing alcoholic beverage companies to voluntarily steer their marketing away from youth. Ultimately, a 6(b) study on patent trolls could even could push the Commission towards legal action against some trolls based on antitrust laws.

RT @Techmeme: Microsoft Restructuring Nears, As Execs Top Fret Over Their Fate (@karaswisher / AllThingsD)

RT @Techmeme: Microsoft Restructuring Nears, As Execs Top Fret Over Their Fate (@karaswisher / AllThingsD)

RT @Techmeme: Bitcoin Foundation Receives Cease And Desist Order From California (@jonmatonis / Forbes)

RT @Techmeme: Bitcoin Foundation Receives Cease And Desist Order From California (@jonmatonis / Forbes)

RT @dhh: "Don't Even THINK of Using Encryption Software to Escape NSA Scrutiny",

Instead, their contact information had been collected on the sly — stored in Facebook's secret behind-the-scenes scaffolding, where it collects troves of data on you that you never knew about. That information comprises what's known as your "shadow profile."

RT @Techmeme: Encryption Has Foiled Wiretaps for First Time Ever, Feds Say (@dmkravets / Wired)