Microsoft Corp. is said to be in talks to acquire social news reader Prismatic (Woven Inc.) for a figure said to be $30 million. According to the report, Microsoft may not be alone in taking interest, with Prismatic said to have also spoken to Apple Inc. and Yahoo Inc, with Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. also said to ...

Samsung Co. Ltd’s launch of the Galaxy S6 Sunday shipped with one feature that is a killer in the mobile payments spaces and leaves Apple Inc. for dead, and that’s a service Samsung has simply called Pay. Based on technology from LoopPay, a startup Samsung acquired February 18th, Pay has two killer features that Apple ...

Samsung Co. Ltd. launched its new flagship smart phone the Galaxy S6 Sunday and as rumored the phone comes in two versions: a standard S6 and the S6 Edge, with the Edge supporting edges on both sides of its screen. Where the rumor mill failed though was on form factor: while both phones sport a ...

Google Inc. has backflipped on its decision to ban publicly viewable sexually explicit material and graphic nudity on its blogging service Blogger. The decision to implement the ban, despite sexually explicit material and graphic nudity being on Blogger going back to before Google acquired the service in 2003, was unsurprisingly not well received by a significant number of ...

Deep-linking startup Branch Metrics Inc. has raised $15 million Series A in a round co-led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Ben Narasin, that included Pejman Mar Ventures, Zach Coelius, Cowboy Ventures and TriplePoint Capital. The company offers a solution that promises to make app installs, sharing, and user viewing experiences that are seamless and don’t break at the app ...

Email fraud prevention startup Emailage Corp. has raised $3.8 million in a new round led by Felicis Ventures that included Double M Partners and Mucker Capital. Emailage helps customers world wide to predict fraud risk before a transaction happens, and promises to be the next logical solution to tracking digital reputations, clearing good transactions, and cutting fraud. The ...

Mobile stock photography startup Twenty20 Inc. has raised $8 million Series A in a round led by Canaan Partners that included First Round Capital, Bullpen Capital and VersionOne Ventures. Along with the new round Twenty20 have announced that it’s officially launching out of beta. Twenty20 offers what they claim is the world’s largest real-world stock image catalog. Their platform boasts ...

Real-time Bitcoin analytics startup Coinalytics have launched Blockstem API, a service which allows customers to query the Bitcoin blockchain and unveil hidden relationships. While open to everyone, the API will be particularly appealing to companies and organizations looking to find ways to beef up their fraud detection and compliance monitoring, and can also be used ...

Buzzfeed Inc. has launched a new app for rating pet pictures called Cute or Not. The app offers Tinder-like functionality for voting for pet pictures: you swipe right if the animal is cute, or swipe left if the dog or cat you’re viewing doesn’t rate as being given a cute swipe. Along with rating other people’s pets, ...

Notorious hacking group Lizard Squad is being blamed for a hack of Lenovo Group Ltd.’s main group site at Lenovo.com According to reports the hack went live around 4pm EST Wednesday when users visiting the site saw a carousel of pictures featuring various snaps of an emo kid, along with the song “Breaking Free” from High School Musical being played ...