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By Jordan Valinsky 4/26 9:16am

Linkages

Mr. Parker. (Photo: Flickr/Le Web)

Booting Up: Digg Owner Betaworks Acquires Instapaper

NYC-based non-incubator Betaworks has acquired a majority stake in the article-bookmarking service Instapaper. Creator Marco Arment wrote on his blog that he will slide into an advising role “indefinitely” as Betaworks oversees operations and expands Instapaper’s staff. [PC Mag]

CISPA, the controversial Internet bill, is (probably?) dead. An anonymous source said that “there is no possible plan” to bring it up in the Democratic-controlled Senate because it faces little support from the party. [Daily Dot]

Some big names, like Sean Parker, Steve Ballmer, and Bill Gates, are joining Mark Zuckerberg’s political action committee, FWD.us. We would love to be on those brunch-planning emails. [AllThingsD]

Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer has joined the board of Jawbone, the hardware maker behind those groovy wireless headsets and speakers. [AllThingsD]

A study of Bitcoin exchanges revealed that 45 percent of them fail, often taking peoples’ money with them. And the exchanges that don’t shutter are more likely to be the target of cyber attacks. [Wired]

By Jordan Valinsky 4/25 8:53am

Linkages

Googlers? (Photo: ConferenceBike)

Booting Up: PayPal is ‘Kinda Thinking About’ Using Bitcoin

The bizarre tale of Google’s takeover of Provo’s fiber network is getting even weirder. The search giant billed the Utah city $500,000 to locate where the wires are hidden since the company that installed them didn’t keep proper records of where they were buried. [Ars Technica]

Matthew Keys, the beleaguered former Reuters deputy social media editor, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he conspired with Anonymous to break-in and attack websites of his former employer, Tribune. His next court date is June 12. [Huffington Post]

“Anytime I’m at a dinner or an event, social or business, people are buzzing about Tinder.” And with those words spoken, a Times profile of the dating app was born. [New York Times]

Google houses more than 1,300 colorful bikes in a warehouse near its Mountain View headquarters for employees to use because there’s no perk not offered there. Were you expecting anything less? [Wired]

PayPal said that it’s “kinda thinking about” introducing Bitcoin as a form of payment in its system. [Silicon Angle]

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is officially on Twitter. No word if he’s #TeamFollowback. [TNW]

By Jordan Valinsky 9:07am

Linkages

WhatApp phone. (Photo: Nokia/BBC)

Booting Up: Twitter Is Probably Working On Two-Step Authentication

Twitter is reportedly working two-step authentication. Hopefully that means we don’t have to write “Look who got hacked!” stories anymore. [Wired]

Apple’s profits dipped 18 percent but were buoyed by the strong sales of iPads and iPhones. The company said its next big announcement will come sometime this fall. [CNet]

Move over Facebook Home, there’s a WhatsApp phone…sort of. Nokia implemented a “hard button” on its new phone for direct access to the app of the moment. [TechCrunch]

Reddit screwed up last week as it conducted a witch hunt to search for the suspected Boston bombers. However, there is a proper way to crowd-source a manhunt if Reddit looks at a 2000 NASA experiment called Clickworkers. [New Yorker]

The writers of Mad Men are pitching a show about the early days of the U.S. space program as seen through the eyes of journalists. Don Draper would even look hot in an astronaut suit, so we’re on board. [Wired]

Shapeways, a 3D printing marketplace, received a $30M investment from Andreessen Horowitz and Chris Dixon. [Launch.co]

By Kelly Faircloth 4/23 8:45am

Linkages

Let's hope this means more wacky pet products.

Booting Up: Fab Reportedly Thinks It’s Worth a Billion Dollars Now

Fab is reportedly raising over $100 million, at a $1 billion valuation. That’s a jump from the $600 valuation the last time the company raised. [TechCrunch]

Netflix now has (just barely) more American subscribers than HBO. [Variety]

“Apple Inc. is facing an identity crisis on Wall Street.” Sounds dramatic. [Wall Street Journal]

Matthew Keys, who was indicted in March for allegedly conspiring with Anonymous to hack the L.A. Times website, has been fired from his job at Reuters. Apparently they didn’t like a parody Twitter account he created, or his tweets about the hunt for the marathon bombers. [Atlantic Wire]

There’s a startup that wants to disrupt raising your hand in class, FYI. [GigaOm]

By Jessica Roy 4/22 8:25am

Linkages

(Photo: Facebook)

Booting Up: People Love Their Chat Heads

Facebook Home has already passed 500,000 installations on Google Play a week after launch, which just goes to show people love to throw away their friends. [The Next Web]

A cadre of Silicon Valley companies, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft, are quietly trying to kill a privacy bill in California that would give residents the right to know how tech companies are using their personal information. [insideBayArea]

Japan wants to stymie access to TOR by asking ISPs to flat out block it. [Wired]

Comedy Central is planning to host a comedy festival on Twitter because this is what the future is like now. [New York Times]

How technology helped the FBI track down the Boston Marathon bombers. [Washington Post]

It’s baaaaaaaack. [Valleywag]

By Jordan Valinsky 4/19 9:04am

Linkages

Look at all that spring-fed fiber in Provo. (Source: Flickr)

Booting Up: Google Only Paid $1 for Fiber in Provo, Utah

All it took for Google to buy Provo, Utah’s fiber-optic network was a dollar. If only you had four quarters! [AP]

Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that YouTube did not violate Viacom’s copyright–despite the fact that several of the company’s shows were being illicitly uploaded onto the site. That’s because the Google-owned service is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s “safe-harbor provision.” [Los Angeles Times]

Time‘s very important “100 Most Influential People List” is packed with techies with fake-sounding titles, like “Internet talent discoverer” Scooter Braun. [AllThingsD]

Twitter announced it has teamed up with BBC America to offer “in-tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series.” What does that mean? Your guess is as good as ours. [CNet]

Amazon, looking to expand its international operations, has opened an office in Russia. [TechCrunch]

By Kelly Faircloth 4/18 8:12am

Linkages

Worms can get in through that bite now. (via Wikipedia)

Booting Up: Apple’s Been Better, Thanks for Asking

Apple stock is down 24 percent this year. Shares slipped briefly below $400 earlier this week. [Wall Street Journal]

Did an adding error in Microsoft Excel exacerbate unemployment? [Ars Technica]

“It really is that simple–just design something great, something that users love.” Damn, someone ought’ve told  Zynga. [Forbes]

Should we really be so worried about hackers? [TechDirt]

Barry Diller says, ”I see the death of irrelevant media.” You think he relishes the angel of death role?[NetNewsCheck]

By Kelly Faircloth 4/17 8:49am

Linkages

Totally, totally innocent... or is it?

Booting Up: Silk Road Founder Unruffled by Bitcoin Ups and Downs

There are now 150 million Snapchats sent every day. Very few of them are sent by people older than 30. [Business Insider]

Facebook is testing ads in your Graph Search, but so far they’re not based on your searches. (So you won’t get an eHarmony ad when you search “ex-girlfriends who I still love.”) [TechCrunch]

The founder of the Silk Road–who goes by the name “Dread Pirate Roberts”–isn’t too worried about Bitcoin booms and busts. “Bitcoin’s foundation, its algorithms and network, don’t change with the exchange rate.” [Forbes]

The New York Times won a Pulitzer for investigating Apple’s business practices. [Pulitzer]

Meanwhile, Funny or Die has released iSteve, its very own movie about Steve Jobs. [Funny or Die]

By Jessica Roy 4/16 7:44am

Linkages

Bye bye. (Photo: Netflix)

Booting Up: Netflix Is Finally Going to Ditch Microsoft Silverlight

If you were hoping to get rich off of being one of the first to build apps for Google Glass, think again: Google has prohibited developers from using ads or charging for apps. We’re betting Google wants to keep  that potential ad revenue all to itself. [The Verge]

Sources tell Bloomberg Twitter is seeking a deal with Viacom and Comcast that would allow it to host clips (as well as ads alongside those clips) on the site. Can’t you at least verify @Jack’s parents first? [Bloomberg]

Binge-watching shows is about to get a whole lot easier: Netflix is finally ditching Microsoft Silverlight in favor of HTML5 video. [The Verge]

IBM execs are headed to Washington to try to convince politicians to pass CISPA. Paging Alexis Ohanian! [Hillicon Valley]

Cory Booker’s Waywire startup has finally launched in beta. [PandoDaily]

By Jordan Valinsky 4/15 8:56am

Linkages

Charlie Ergen? (Photo: NBC)

Booting Up: Dish Network’s Chairman Thinks He’s Jerry Seinfeld

Dish Network announced today that it has submitted a $25.5 billion bid for Sprint Nextel in an effort to circumvent an offer from Japanese telecom company SoftBank. Charlie Ergen, the chairman of Dish, related the company’s purchasing strategy to the plot of Seinfeld: “You initially didn’t know exactly where things were going, but it seemed to all come together in the end.” [New York Times]

Facebook Home has only been out for three days, but that’s totally enough time to call it a failure. Out of 4,000 reviews, roughly 47 percent of users gave it a 1-star rating. [Daily Dot]

Foxconn is adding 10,000 new employees to its ranks as it prepares for the launch of the next Ping Home iPhone. [CNet]

Cornell’s planned high-tech campus on Roosevelt Island is still years away, but some of the classes are getting started in a nondescript, third-floor loft in Chelsea. [New York Times]

Baidu, a.k.a “Chinese Google,” has opened an artificial intelligence lab in Silicon Valley to look for top talent to join the growing company. [ZDNet]