Techmeme
December 17, 2013, 5:30 PM

Top News

Facebook:
Testing a New Way to Watch Promoted Videos in News Feed  —  Since September, we've been testing a way to make videos more engaging on Facebook, and as a result we've seen views, likes, shares and comments increase more than 10 percent.  —  We're beginning to test a similar video viewing format for advertisers.
Seung Min Kim / Politico:
White House chooses former Microsoft Office VP Kurt DelBene to lead HealthCare.gov overhaul  —  White House to tap Microsoft exec to fix Obamacare site  —  The White House is tapping the private sector for its next point man to fix the troubled Obamacare website.
Amit Singhal / The Official Google Blog:
2013 in Search: Heroes, tragedies and the Harlem Shake  —  Every day, around the world, we search.  We want to find out more about our heroes, explore far-away destinations, or settle a dinner table dispute between friends.  And sometimes we just search to find out how many calories are in an avocado.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Acquires PeerCDN As It Builds Out Its Content Strategy  —  Content delivery network provider PeerCDN has been acquired by Yahoo, the company has informed TechCrunch, in a deal the terms of which were not disclosed.  The startup revealed its project earlier this year …
More: AllThingsD, VentureBeat, CNET, ZDNet and silicontap.comTweets: @peercdnThanks:@mjburnsy
Derrick Harris / Gigaom:
Amazon's streaming data service, Kinesis, is now available  —  Kinesis, the streaming data service that Amazon Web Services announced in November, is now publicly available.  The service is comparable in theory to popular open source technologies such as Apache Storm, only Kinesis brings …
Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:
Microsoft Director Says CEO Choice Will Not Be Made Until Early 2014  —  Microsoft director John Thompson, who leads CEO search  —  John Thompson, the Microsoft director who is leading the search for a CEO to replace outgoing leader Steve Ballmer, said today in a blog post that the board will not make its choice until early next year.
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Samsung launches a gamepad for Android that's optimized for its Galaxy phones  —  Apple began allowing third-party gamepads on the iPhone with iOS 7, and Samsung is also upping its presence in the space after announcing its own gamepad (the not-so-creatively named 'Smartphone GamePad') for Android 4.1 phones.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Roku 3 finally snags an official YouTube app, support for additional models is on the way  —  The lack of a YouTube app has been a massive hole in the content lineup of Roku's otherwise well-rounded media streamers, but no more.  YouTube just announced that Roku 3 players in the US, Canada …
Ken Yeung / The Next Web:
PayPal acquires mobile platform provider StackMob so developers can build more payment-friendly apps  —  PayPal is showing that it's serious about supporting developers.  Today, the company announced that it has acquired mobile platform StackMob in a move that will bolster its efforts …
Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:
Samsung taps ex-Apple retail designer for possible Galaxy stores  —  Samsung may have something new in store for its battle with Apple: A new take on the retail store itself.  Former Apple Store designer Tim Gudgel is a new Samsung employee according to The Information (subscription required) …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Cisco acquires Collaborate.com, eyes mobile  —  Summary: The networking giant said the acquisition will help it better navigate mobile collaboration and cloud computing.  —  Cisco on Tuesday said it has acquired Collaborate.com, a company that develops mobile tools for document sharing, task management and team communication.
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Glass XE12 released: Wink photos, iPhone MyGlass incoming  —  Google has released XE12 for Glass, including paving the way for the iPhone MyGlass for iOS app briefly previewed earlier today, with YouTube video sharing, wink-triggered photos, and more.  The new firmware, one of the more significant updates …
Michael Steeber / 9to5Mac:
Apple airs touching holiday commercial featuring the iPhone 5s and AirPlay  —  As is tradition, Apple is airing a new holiday commercial this evening, this time highlighting the iPhone 5s, its movie making capabilities, and AirPlay with the Apple TV.  The ad is set to the tune of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”.
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Mac Pro Build-to-Order Upgrade Pricing Revealed  —  Late last week, we noted that Apple's business sales staff have been offering customers price quotes for build-to-order configurations of the new Mac Pro, providing the first glimpse at what these machines will cost beyond the $2999/$3999 base configurations shown on Apple's site.
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Chromebook 11 charger recalled after nine overheat and melt  —  Google and HP are recalling power chargers for the Chromebook 11 after receiving nine reports of them overheating and melting.  One minor burn and one minor incident of property damage resulted from the heating issues …

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