Vjeran Pavic
We at Re/code had a wonderful Fourth of July, and are hoping that you did, too. In case you missed any of the big headlines this holiday week, we have you covered with the news that powered Re/code:
- Why didn't Twitter buy Soundcloud? Well, one theory is that the cash they didn't spend on the music streaming service just enabled them to purchase Tap Commerce, an adtech firm, in a deal valued at around $100 million. Twitter also brought aboard a new CFO in former Goldman Sachs banker Anthony Noto, who helped guide Twitter through the IPO process. Lastly, it seems soon you’ll be able to shop on Twitter, as “Buy now” buttons started appearing in some tweets earlier this week.
- T-Mobile, the "uncarrier" that claims to be the voice of the huddled masses of smartphone users across the nation, found itself in a spot of trouble this week. It turns out a number of T-Mobile subscribers were billed huge data charges for streaming music through Spotify, which is supposed to be free of charge on T-Mobile. Oops.
- The arms race for personal health and fitness technologies is heating up, with investments in the field made this year already surpassing the end-year investment total for 2013.
- Interested in what cable insiders think about the Aereo shutdown? One anonymous author penned a guest column for Re/code this week, declaring "the Aereo Shutdown Will Be a Disaster for Broadcast TV."
- This year could be called "The Year of the Cloud," as more and more companies see their competition aiming to offer more and more products based entirely online. Our latest example of this trend is Founders' Fund's recent investment in an entirely cloud-based robotics lab.
- For this week in "The End is Nigh and You Should Begin Stockpiling For the Coming Apocalypse," Arik Hesseldahl reported that the Symantec discovered hackers have been able to infiltrate power grids in the United States and Spain. Maybe you should buy that extra gallon of water for the garage next time you're at the supermarket.
- A Pew survey found that Internet experts believe increased commercialization is the greatest threat the Internet faces, as opposed to government surveillance or censorship.
- Monetizing college gossip? There's an app for that — YikYak — which just raised $10 million in funding from venture capitalists.
- An independent oversight board found that the NSA's Internet spying program is legal, but will require serious changes in order to keep effectively protect Americans' privacy.
- Millennials: The man-children of today who will become the leaders of tomorrow! According to a survey from MTV, millennials sure do love them some America, theoretically giving Republicans in Congress less to worry about.
