Ellis Hamburger, Business Insider
- HTC's problem is its CEO Peter Chou, say a dozen sources interviewed by Reuters. "The weak point is they don't really have a long term strategy," said one. "It used to be a strength, and now is becoming a weak point as they don't have a clear direction going forward."
- The best game out of Gamescom is called Titanfall. "The titular Titans, which are slow and graceless, but pack devastating firepower." Wahoo!
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a "rough" plan to bring the Internet to 5 billion more people around the world.
- Brick and motor stores are starting sacrifice margins in order to keep their prices as low as Amazon's. "Prices at Bed Bath & Beyond were on average 6.5% less than at Amazon for a basket of 30 items chosen by analysts"
- Take it easy with the selfies. "People who post a lot of photos on Facebook and other social networks run the risk of alienating friends, family members and colleagues, leading to less supportive bonds, a team of U.K. researchers found."
- Leaked photos of two new iPhones showed up on Taiwanese site Apple Daily.
- Google launched something called Helpouts. You pay to videochat with an expert on a topic.
- Michael Arrington can't believe how shy TechCrunch reporters have gotten when it comes to harassing sources.
- A rapper bragged about selling guns on Instagram and it led to NYPD's biggest gun bust in history.
- Google might buy the rights to the NFL's Sunday Ticket package.