Pinboard

From his beginnings managing Chrome — the browser and then the OS and line of netbooks — Pichai picked up his first additional unit in March 2012, when Google Apps head Dave Girouard left to do a startup. Then, when Andy Rubin stepped down as the longtime leader of Android in March 2013, that high-profile and growing business found its way under Pichai, too.

Mr. Eustace was carried aloft without the aid of the sophisticated capsule used by Mr. Baumgartner or millions of dollars in sponsorship money. Instead, Mr. Eustace planned his jump in secrecy, working for almost three years with a small group of technologists skilled in spacesuit design, life-support systems, and parachute and balloon technology. He carried modest GoPro cameras aloft, connected to his ground-control center by an off-the-shelf radio.

RT @Techmeme: CVS and Rite Aid reportedly disabling NFC in stores to shut down Apple Pay and Google Wallet

RT @Techmeme: CVS and Rite Aid reportedly disabling NFC in stores to shut down Apple Pay and Google Wallet

It may be very likely that the primary interface for interacting with apps will not be the app itself. The app is primarily a publishing tool. The number one way people use your app is through this notification layer, or aggregated card stream. Not by opening the app itself.

And the reason they don’t want to allow Apple Pay is because Apple Pay doesn’t give them any personal information about the customer. It’s not about security — Apple Pay is far more secure than any credit/debit card system in the U.S. It’s not about money — Apple’s tiny slice of the transaction comes from the banks, not the merchants. It’s about data.

We weren’t able to find a way to keep Twitpic independent. However, I’m happy to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to give them the Twitpic domain and photo archive, thus keeping the photos and links alive for the time being. Twitter shares our goal of protecting our users and this data. Also, since Twitpic’s user base consists of Twitter users, it makes sense to keep this data with Twitter.

RT @Techmeme: Lionsgate and Tribeca film studios are launching a new streaming service (@ceciliakang)

RT @Techmeme: Lionsgate and Tribeca film studios are launching a new streaming service (@ceciliakang)

Fabric is the foundation for Twitter to transform a business based purely on a single product—tweets!—into a diversified service aimed at every person and company that makes mobile apps. That, in turn, would affect every person who uses mobile apps. In other words, everyone.

The discussions illustrate Apple’s true ambitions with the technology underlying Apple Pay, which are far broader than replacing payment cards. Apple, Google and others are racing to make mobile phones control all sorts of things in our lives, from televisions to door locks in homes. For the new breed of phone apps that aim to replace physical cards, the underlying technology is the same.

Fitbit is the runaway leader in the fitness-tracker market, and yet the company has been completely quiet in 2014. Now, as leaks have hinted, it's back at the end of the year with a trio of new products. They range in price from $130-$250 in the US, £100-£200 in the UK and $150-$300 in Australia. Two of them -- the Charge HR and Surge -- have all-day heart-rate tracking, but, alas, they aren't coming until early 2015.

Apple Watch Will Need Juicing Daily, Says Tim Cook

RT @Techmeme: T-Mobile's John Legere Talks Apple SIM, iPhone 6 Demand, and Landing the iPhone (@julipuli)

RT @Techmeme: T-Mobile's John Legere Talks Apple SIM, iPhone 6 Demand, and Landing the iPhone (@julipuli)

RT @Techmeme: Apple confirms decline in sales of iTunes digital music downloads (@obrien / VentureBeat)

RT @Techmeme: Apple confirms decline in sales of iTunes digital music downloads (@obrien / VentureBeat)

RT @Techmeme: Tim Cook says Apple Pay activated in excess of 1M cards within first 72 hours (@nateingraham)

RT @Techmeme: Tim Cook says Apple Pay activated in excess of 1M cards within first 72 hours (@nateingraham)

Kim Kardashian West on Social Media, Mobile Games and Her Polarizing Fame

Apple, Alibaba soon to be in talks to link up Apple Pay, Alipay

Tim Cook Talks Apple Pay Pushback, Alibaba Deal, Death of iPod Classic

RT @Techmeme: YouTube's Wojcicki says they're considering paid ad-free subscriptions (@laurengoode)

RT @WiredFeed: Apple Pay Is Already Bigger Than All Competitors Combined, Says CEO Tim Cook: LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA — Citin...

RT @justicar: Today is the 20th anniversary of the first paid banner ad on the internet. Here's the first insertion order:

RT @RWW: Check out Fitbit's newest fitness trackers

RT @WIRED: Verizon's "perma-cookie" is a privacy-killing machine -- and you can't turn it off: