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| Canadian police investigating after bitcoin bank Flexcoin folds Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Julie Gordon and Leah Schnurr VANCOUVER/TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police have launched an investigation after online bitcoin bank Flexcoin, which closed its virtual doors this week, said that it had lost about $600,000 worth of the digital currency in a hacker attack. The Edmonton, Alberta-based company reported the theft of 896 bitcoins on its website on Monday and said it "does not have the resources (or) assets ... to come back from this loss." It blamed the attack on hackers who had targeted its online wallet. Bitcoins stored in Flexcoin's cold storage facility, which is basically an offline bank, were not affected by the hack and will be returned to customers, the company said. The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) said on Wednesday they were investigating the issue. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: DirecTV in talks with Disney on deal for Internet rights Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 03:37 PM PST  DirecTV is in talks with Walt Disney Co to license the rights to offer Disney's broadcast and cable channels as part of an Internet-based product, mirroring a first-of-its kind agreement that Disney and satellite rival Dish Network announced earlier this week. "The deal and terms are not unexpected as the Dish contract was the most recent in the Disney timeline to expire," DirecTV spokesman Darris Gringeri said on Wednesday. "The DirecTV contract is up next and we're in the process of working with Disney on a similar long-term agreement of our own." A Disney spokesman declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| EBay CEO says top shareholders agree PayPal should stay put Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 03:17 PM PST  By Phil Wahba and Nadia Damouni NEW YORK (Reuters) - EBay Inc CEO John Donahoe said on Wednesday that several of the online retailer's most active shareholders have assured him they support his efforts to resist demands by activist investor Carl Icahn for a spin-off of the PayPal unit. Donahoe told Reuters on Wednesday he has spoken with as many as 16 of the 20 most-active shareholders in eBay, and most favored hanging on to the fast-growing PayPal payments unit. PayPal had become the preferred online payment method of the online marketplace's customers when eBay acquired it for $1.5 billion in 2002. Full Story | Top |
| Google's Arora says mobile will create bigger advertising pie Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:34 PM PST  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets will vastly expand the number of companies who advertise online and will allow Internet companies to reap more revenue than they have from customers on PCs, Google Inc Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora said on Wednesday. Small, local businesses will represent the largest influx of new marketers as they discover the benefits of reaching on-the-go consumers on their mobile devices, Arora said, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco. Google, the world's No.1 Internet search engine, generates the vast majority of its revenue from advertising. But its ad rates, like those of other Internet companies including Yahoo Inc, have been under pressure as more consumers access its online services on small-screened mobile devices, where advertising rates are lower than on PCs. Full Story | Top |
| Online sleuthing by Mt. Gox dispossessed throws up few clues Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:02 PM PST  By Jeremy Wagstaff SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Some of those who have lost bitcoins in the collapse of Mt. Gox have turned to internet sleuthing to find out where their money has gone - but they're unlikely to have much luck. Forum websites like Reddit and internet relay chatrooms have attracted hordes of users as the Mt. Gox debacle unfolded in recent weeks. "The crowdsourcing so far has been a miserable failure," said Emin Gun Sirer of Cornell University, who posted his own analysis challenging several theories about what may have happened at Mt. Gox. The problem, Gun Sirer and others say, is two-fold: users of such forums are not always methodical or disciplined in their research on one hand, and on the other, bitcoin's combination of transparency and complexity invites the unwary to draw false conclusions. Full Story | Top |
| Lufthansa, Qatar Air clash over in-flight movies on smartphones Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 12:38 PM PST  By Victoria Bryan and Tim Hepher BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Lufthansa on Wednesday announced plans to offer wirelessly streamed movies to passengers on trans-European flights, sparking a clash over the future of traditional seatback systems at the world's largest travel fair. Europe's largest traditional network carrier said passengers on some medium-haul flights would be able to stream movies, TV programs, music or games from an onboard server to their own portable devices or smartphones starting from the summer. ... Full Story | Top |
| Facebook, Instagram crack down on gun sales on social networks Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:03 AM PST  Facebook Inc and its photo sharing subsidiary, Instagram, will delete posts offering to buy or sell guns without background checks, Facebook announced on Wednesday. In an effort to curb what gun control advocates say is the increasing use of the social networks to circumvent checks and controls on firearms sales, Facebook and Instagram will also bar users under 18 from viewing gun offers posted by individuals or groups. "We will not permit people to post offers to sell regulated items that indicate a willingness to evade or help others evade the law," Facebook said. Full Story | Top |
| Winklevoss twins use bitcoins to book space trip Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 10:43 AM PST  By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - You can't spend bitcoins at Amazon.com or to pay your mortgage but, as the Winklevoss twins showed on Wednesday, you can use the digital currency to book a trip into suborbital space. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who famously accused Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, said they used bitcoins to buy tickets for a high-altitude voyage on billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflight venture. The brothers, Olympic rowers who earned MBA degrees from Oxford University, have become bitcoin evangelists and investors and are planning to launch a fund to make it easy to trade the digital currency on the stock market. In a blog post, Tyler Winklevoss compared Branson's space endeavor and bitcoin entrepreneurs to major historical figures who changed the way the world was perceived, like Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Nicolaus Copernicus. Full Story | Top |
| Target announces technology overhaul, CIO departure Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 10:39 AM PST  Target Corp announced an overhaul of its information security practices and the resignation of its chief information officer as the retailer tries to reassure customers and investors after a massive data breach late last year. CIO Beth Jacob is the first high-level executive to leave the company following the breach, which led to the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records of customer details. Jacob, who comes from a sales background and has been CIO since 2008, will be replaced by an external hire, Target said in an email to Reuters on Wednesday. The breach at Target was the second largest at a U.S. retailer, after the theft of more than 90 million credit cards over about 18 months was uncovered in 2007 at TJX Cos Inc, operator of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains. Full Story | Top |
| Icahn says eBay corporate governance worst ever: CNBC Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 10:23 AM PST  Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said Wednesday that corporate governance at e-commerce giant eBay Inc., in which he is a shareholder, was the worst he had ever seen. "I've never seen worse corporate governance than eBay," Icahn told CNBC television. Icahn, who has a 2.15 percent stake in eBay, is known for taking large stakes in companies and pushing for management change. Icahn also said that eBay chief executive John Donahoe should not have control over PayPal, the company's fast-growing payments business. Full Story | Top |
| Bouygues sees $13.7 billion synergies from SFR deal: Le Figaro Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 10:12 AM PST  PARIS (Reuters) - Bouygues has promised to deliver 10 billion euros ($13.7 billion) worth of cost savings from its proposed combination with larger mobile telecoms rival Vivendi's SFR, according to a report in Le Figaro newspaper. Bouygues' offer, which was expected to be submitted to Vivendi by 1900 GMT, would leave Vivendi will a 40 percent stake in the newly-created company, the paper said without citing sources. The company will not sell its stake in train and turbine maker Alstom to finance the deal, the report said. To read le Figaro story, please click here: http://link.reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| News reader company Flipboard buys rival Zite from CNN Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 08:53 AM PST News reader company Flipboard said on Wednesday it has bought rival app Zite from CNN and struck a content partnership with the cable news network. The deal is valued at $60 million, according to the CNN Money website. Time Warner Inc's CNN bought Zite, a news reader application that aggregates content for tablets like Apple Inc's iPad in 2011, for around $20 million, according to reports at the time. Full Story | Top |
| Yahoo to stop user access of services with Facebook, Google IDs Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 08:26 AM PST  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will stop letting consumers access its various online services, including Fantasy Sports and photo-sharing site Flickr, by signing-in with their Facebook Inc or Google Inc credentials. The change, which will be rolled out gradually according to a Yahoo spokeswoman, will require users to register for a Yahoo ID in order to use any of the Internet portal's services. The move marks the latest change to Yahoo by Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, who is striving to spark fresh interest in the company's Web products and to revive its stagnant revenue. "Yahoo is continually working on improving the user experience," the company said in a statement, noting that the new process "will allow us to offer the best personalized experience to everyone". Full Story | Top |
| Apple's new finance steward Maestri takes over $160 billion cash haul Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 07:20 AM PST  By Sruthi Ramakrishnan and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer will retire and hand the reins to Luca Maestri in September, entrusting to the Italian-born executive a cash pile the size of Vietnam's economy and the difficult task of guiding Wall Street's expectations. The 50-year-old born in Rome is taking over with Apple at a crossroads. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Megafon to buy 750,000 iPhones in 3 years Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 05:44 AM PST  Russia's second-biggest mobile phone operator, Megafon, said it would buy at least 750,000 iPhones from Apple Inc over the next three years for resale through its retail network. Megafon signed an agreement with Apple's Russian subsidiary in January, returning to a direct partnership with the U.S. company after a break of several years, but did not disclose the contract terms at the time. Sergei Libin, an analyst at Raiffeisen Research, said the volumes agreed by Megafon and Apple were reasonable. "Based on MTS' estimates, in the fourth quarter alone around 650,000 iPhones were sold in Russia. Full Story | Top |
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