Welcome to NewsDesk on SiliconANGLE TV for Monday June 17, 2013 here’s your SiliconANGLE daily round-up.

• Google shuts down AdWhirl

Google has announced that it will be shutting down AdWhirl, its advertising network switching tool for developers. Current AdWhirl users will have until September 30th to make alternate arrangements. The AdWhirl platform was originally created to give smaller ad networks leverage against AdMob. It was then acquired by AdMob, but most of the functionality remained in place.

When Google paid seven hundred and fifty million to acquire AdMob, it wasn’t clear if they would continue to support services like AdWhirl, or for how long. Upon learning of its impending demise, many developers are now voicing their frustrations. The relatively short period of time given to modify the apps that use AdWhirl is the developer’s main point of contention. Google has suggested that the new AdMob interface provides tools to help developers get set up quickly and easily. The letter to AdWhirl customers encourages developers to make the switch to AdMob Mediation.

• Square loses a founding member

Square, the payment processor startup, is losing a Co-Founder. Tristan O’Tierney, who built Square’s original iPhone app, announced his departure on Twitter Friday. During his four years at Square, O’Tierney helped shape the user interface for the platform. He led the development of the Square iPad app, the Pay with Square service, and the Square Register app for merchants.

After his initial announcement, O’Tierney posted a follow up Tweet saying that he was leaving the company on good terms. He hasn’t announced any startup plans for the future. His only definitive plans involve time off and travel. He exits Square at a time when the service is doing better than ever. It recently received a two-hundred million series D round investment that reportedly valued the company at over three billion dollars.

• Apple speaks up on PRISM allegations

In response to the PRISM controversy, Apple has released a statement to reassure its users of its commitment to customer privacy. Apple has asked for, and received permission to share some of the information about national security information requests from the government.

From December first, two-thousand-twelve to May thirty-first, two-thousand-thirteen, Apple received between four-thousand and five-thousand requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies for customer data. Between nine-thousand and ten-thousand accounts or devices were specified in those requests, which came from federal, state, and local authorities. Apple claims to evaluate each request in order to provide the narrowest possible set of information.

Apple also touted its built-in privacy and security mechanisms explaining that conversations that take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption, so only the sender and receiver have access to them. As the PRISM scandal continues to attract more press coverage we expect more reassurances like this one to come from various technology companies.

• Netflix gets animated

Netflix has partnered with Dreamworks Animation in what is being described as its largest deal for original content. The deal will result in over three-hundred hours of new programming that will be available in all of the Netflix operational territories. The original content will be based on both existing and forthcoming movies and franchises. The pre-cursor to this massive intellectual property licensing deal was the previously announced Turbo spin-off series, which debuts this December. The additional content will begin airing on Netflix next year. Thanks to the DreamWorks acquisition of Classic Media earlier this year, the partnership includes new content with several familiar faces. Where’s Waldo, Casper, and Fat Albert are a few of the well-known characters that will appear in brand new programming on Netflix. Many of DreamWorks’ blockbuster feature films are scheduled to arrive on Netflix in the future, including The Croods, and Turbo.

• Instagram taking on Vine?

The latest “Instagram for Video” app could be none other than Instagram…with video. It’s been reported that Facebook will announce the increased functionality for Instagram at its scheduled press event on June twentieth. Initially, it was rumored that the announcement would be about a Facebook news-reading app, but some analysts are suggesting that an Instagram update is more likely.

Sources described a video service for Instagram that was being internally tested several weeks ago. Current trends suggest that video for Instagram would have more of an impact than a news reader. The latest headlines about news readers have been about Google’s decision to shut down its Google Reader service. The latest news about video apps has focused on the phenomenal success of Twitter’s six-second video platform, Vine.

Often described as the current champion of “Instagram for video” apps, shares of Vines on Twitter now surpasses those of Instagram photos. Many Instagram users have expressed concern about the rumored video upgrade, saying that the simplicity and charm of Instagram will be lost. We’ll know more about Facebook’s big launch in a few days.

• Puurrr-fect house pet?

A Swiss laboratory has developed a tiny four-legged robot that was modeled after a house cat. The scientists paid particular attention to mimicking the the stability that cats have while moving on uneven surfaces. The “cheetah-cub robot” is able to run seven times its body length in one second. The researchers hope their invention leads to the creation of more exploration and search and rescue robots.