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Eagle-eyed readers may notice a new feature here on Re/code today. It’s called “Sponsor Content,” and is, for us, a new form of advertising. Known broadly as “native advertising,” this is a category of ad that takes the form of an article written by, or commissioned by, an advertiser. It’s widely used online, but the technique actually goes back well before the Web, when print publications ran articles written by advertisers that were called “advertorials.”

In an atypical glum mood, Mr. Ballmer retreated to his home overlooking Lake Washington and watched 100 episodes of "The Good Wife" in two weeks. Then he busied himself playing golf, giving speeches, studying Hebrew and preparing to teach an M.B.A. leadership course. He and his wife, Connie, decided to spend some of their roughly $22 billion net worth on civic endeavors.

Uber is arming teams of independent contractors with burner phones and credit cards as part of its sophisticated effort to undermine Lyft and other competitors. Interviews with current and former contractors, along with internal documents obtained by The Verge, outline the company’s evolving methods. Using contractors it calls "brand ambassadors," Uber requests rides from Lyft and other competitors, recruits their drivers, and takes multiple precautions to avoid detection. The effort, which Uber appears to be rolling out nationally, has already resulted in thousands of canceled Lyft rides and made it more difficult for its rival to gain a foothold in new markets. Uber calls the program "SLOG," and it’s a previously unreported aspect of the company’s ruthless efforts to undermine its competitors.

Social media, like Twitter and Facebook, has the effect of tamping down diversity of opinion and stifling debate about public affairs. It makes people less likely to voice opinions, particularly when they think their views differ from those of their friends, according to a report published Tuesday by researchers at Pew Research Center and Rutgers University.

During the past couple of weeks, there has been a focus on the fact that Microsoft's Windows Store was full of apps that were misleading or offered no value; they only existed to scam consumers. Microsoft initially responded that they would take a closer look at the situation and is now finally making good on that promise.

RT @Techmeme: Former staff blames LG's failed webOS acquisition on culture clash, infighting and politics

The process starts weeks before keynote addresses. Apple’s PR/Communications and Marketing teams keep an eye on media reports to determine expectations, leaking information to temper expectations that won’t be matched by the announcements. Executives typically practice for two weeks in Apple’s Infinite Loop auditorium, and senior PR members prepare special white booklets to be handed out to the rest of the Communications group during a lengthy meeting, held about one week prior to the main event.

It’s not shipping anytime soon,” said one. So when does Apple plan to ship its eagerly anticipated wearable? That’s not clear, but my understanding is that we’re unlikely to see it at retail until after the holiday season — think early 2015.

The Australian test flight and 30 others like it conducted in mid-August are the culmination of the first phase of Project Wing, a secret drone program that’s been running for two years at Google X, the company’s whoa-inducing, long-range research lab.

Smith, 49, who was most recently a vice president at Google’s X lab, is a top candidate for the role of U.S. chief technology officer, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

The technology firm has told developers that their apps, which would use Apple's "HealthKit" platform on the forthcoming products, must not sell any personal data they gather to advertisers. The move could stave off concerns users might have around privacy as Apple seeks to move into the health data business.

Eighteen months later, the acquisition looks a lot like a failure. About a third of the webOS team has left LG since the acquisition, including some recent high-profile departures. Others are close to making the jump, as early euphoria has been displaced by disillusionment and frustration. The LG Silicon Valley Lab, as the webOS unit is now officially called, introduced LG’s first webOS-based smart TV at CES in January, but the road to Vegas was rocky, and the device unveiled at the show almost didn’t happen, save for a few lucky accidents.

Apple has reached an agreement with American Express to work together on its new iPhone payments system, according to sources familiar with the talks. American Express is one of several partners Apple will need to sign up before it can launch its new payments plan, which sources say it plans to announce at its September 9 product event.

“We don’t quarrel with the fact that AT&T has shareholders that it has to answer to,” Bowling said with a drawl while sitting in the spacious wood-paneled den of her log-cabin-style home. “That’s fine, and I believe in capitalism and the free market. But when they won’t come in, then Tennesseans have an obligation to do it themselves.”

Despite a federal court order directing Microsoft to turn overseas-held email data to federal authorities, the software giant said Friday it will continue to withhold that information as it waits for the case to wind through the appeals process. The judge has now ordered both Microsoft and federal prosecutors to advise her how to proceed by next Friday, September 5.

Yes, Microsoft is trying to protect its customers' email data (held in Ireland) in this case. And yes, it's an important case. But Microsoft (and a variety of other tech companies that filed amicus briefs in support of Microsoft's position) took that stand months ago. What happened on Friday was a minor procedural effort to move the case along, and didn't represent any big new "heroic" move by Microsoft to "defy" a court order. Nothing to see here, move on. The appeals court is where this case will actually get interesting.

7. Apple accounts seem particularly vulnerable because of the recovery process, password requirements and ability to detect if an email address has an associated iCloud account. The recovery process is broken up into steps and will fail at each point. While Apple do not reveal if an email address is a valid iCloud address as part of the recover process, they do reveal if it is valid or not if you attempt to sign up a new account using the same email – so verification (or brute force attempts) are simple. The second step is verifying the date of birth and it will pass or fail based on that data alone so can be guessed, while the last step are the two security questions. It would be a good idea for Apple to kill the interface on signup that shows new users if their email account is available to use as an iCloud account or not. It would also be a good idea to make the recovery process one big step where all data is validated at once and the user is not given a specific error message. It would also be wise to attach rate limits and strict lockout on this process on a per-account basis.

The advertisements may appear about every seven minutes or so, he said, and they last for just seconds before trailing away. Douglas said the advertising campaign only applies to Xfinity's publicly available Wi-Fi hot spots that dot the landscape. Comcast customers connected to their own Xfinity Wi-Fi routers when they're at home are not affected, he said. "We think it's a courtesy, and it helps address some concerns that people might not be absolutely sure they're on a hotspot from Comcast," Douglas said.

f only the retailer could persuade those fans — or anyone, really — to actually buy the device. The Amazon Fire is threatening to become the Amazon Fizzle. On Monday, Amazon took a drastic step to avert disaster, announcing that it would charge 99 cents for the phone, basically giving it away if u

Microsoft is nearing a deal to buy Mojang AB, makers of the Minecraft video game franchise, according to a new report. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal would value Mojang at more than $2 billion and could be signed as soon as this week.

Starting today you can make voice calls from Hangouts on Android, iOS and the web. It’s free to call other Hangouts users, it’s free to call numbers in the U.S. and Canada, and the international rates are really low. So keeping in touch is easier and more affordable than ever.

The process starts when a consumer inputs his credit card into his iPhone. When the card is inputted — the iPhone 6 allows for the card to be inputted via scanning — the networks send a token and a cryptogram to the iOS device, which stores them on a special chip (more about that in a moment). The iOS device, in this state with the cryptogram and token installed, is known as the “token requester.” (Some fintech folks had wondered whether Apple would be the “token provider,” but in actuality it — or its devices, really — are “token requesters.”) Again, Apple stores the token and cryptogram data on the phone in a “secure element” — which is a separate, secure chip within the iPhone especially dedicated to its security. This secure chip is also the only element within the device that can produce a token and cryptogram.

The move, announced with the publication of a new privacy policy tied to the release of Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device’s owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers.

Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.

NEW YORK – Not to be outdone by the likes of kiddie-tablet makers Fuhu or competitors like Samsung, Amazon is introducing its own tablet intended for kids. Starting at $149, the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition is 6- or 7-inches of Amazon tablet goodness, which comes with a year of FreeTime Unlimited all-you-can-eat kids content and a 2-year worry-free guarantee. Preorders start now, and the two tablets should be on sale in October.

Joshua Ho savages the new Moto X in a very amateurishly written review. Bring back Brian

1Password has been updated to version 5 today with support for iOS 8 and many of its new features, including for extensions, as well as Touch ID. Additionally, 1Password is also embracing the freemium model, giving users a basic set of features

We're going to give you a thorough rundown of iOS 8's new features today, but the most important thing to know about the software is that you're now in the driver's seat. Well, maybe not quite the driver's seat; there's still quite a bit you can't customize or change. But Apple is definitely letting you reach over and steer the car.

The FTC said Tuesday that online sellers will be required to ship merchandise within 30 days of purchase, or else give customers the option for a refund.