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Microsoft bring Skype for Business

Microsoft’s Lync replacement , Skype for Business, is now available for Android. Available without a fussy beta tag, Skype for Business — for Android — brings all the functionality you like about Skype, but with a mobile twist. A new dashboard surfaces all of your upcoming meetings, contacts and recent conversations. The app also has full-screen video and large buttons for things like muting your microphone or disabling video. A new contacts search bar lets you search for people by name, phone number or email, and supports groups. Microsoft says all Lync 2013 users will be automatically updated to the new Skype for Business on Android, and is promising regular updates moving forward. ➤ Skype for Business for Android now available [Microsoft] ✉ CONTACT LOCATION POSTS POSTS / MO Nate Swanner a.k.a. TNW's West Coast writer in

Wikipedia Co-Founder Jimmy Wales Accidentally Starts A Bitcoin Donation Campaign For Wikipedia

Is Jimmy Wales testing out Bitcoin donations for Wikipedia? He is certainly considering it, according to a thread on Reddit. It first started with a tweet — Wikipedia co-founder set up a personal Coinbase account. Playing with BTC today: I just bought 0.1 bitcoin with @Coinbase! coinbase.com— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) March 06, 2014 But then, Wales shared his wallet address on Twitter and Reddit. “I’m liking Coinbase and finding the interface pretty straightforward,” he wrote on Reddit. Bitcoin users started voting with their wallets. Many sent small amounts of Bitcoin to show Wales that Bitcoin should become a new payment option on Wikipedia. While people are not donating directly to the Wikimedia Foundation, Wales clearly stated that he will donate everything to his foundation. So far the accidentally viral BTC address I posted yesterday has collected 4.5+ BTC. I will donate all to Wikipedia of course. — Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) March 10, 2014 “I’m planning

An Upcoming Anonymous App Called Cloaq Promises A New Way To Post & Share, No Email Or Phone Number Required

A team of engineers, who have asked to not be identified by name, are working to develop a new platform for anonymous posting called Cloaq (pronounced “cloak”). This upcoming web and mobile platform, they tell me, will combine the anonymity of apps like Secret and Whisper, with the ease-of-use of more public platforms for sharing, like Twitter, Medium or WordPress. (Oh, and no, it’s not this Cloaq. It’s a different one.) The team has sent me several lengthy and mysterious emails detailing their project, but I told them that I couldn’t, in good faith, cover them, unless I knew who they were, and why they were qualified to build such a thing. Though I’ll stick by my agreement to not reveal their names, what I can say is that the team at Cloaq are not seasoned startup veterans hailing from the Valley, but rather a group of engineers whose backgrounds include both senior and consulting roles within larger organizations where they couldn’t have fudged their technical capabilities. The

WhatsApp For Android Update Lets Users Pay For Their Friends’ Subscriptions

today WhatsApp, Facebook’s new $19 billion messaging darling, has released an update to the Android version of the app. Among a few new privacy-related features, the update also brings with it an interesting new feature that lets users pay for their friends’/families’ subscriptions, regardless of the platform. As it stands now, WhatsApp is free for the first year of use, and then requires a $.99 yearly subscription. By letting users pay for their friends’ subscriptions, Facebook and WhatsApp may be promoting the invitation of new users onto the platform. In terms of WhatsApp monetization, Zuck has been perfectly clear. Right now, there is no plan to release ads onto the WhatsApp platform, and to that point, subscriptions aren’t a huge priority either. What’s important right now is growth, and letting users invite and pay for their friends is a good place to start. In related news, WhatsApp is said to get voice calling in the second quarter of this year.

WhatsApp For Android Update Lets Users Pay For Their Friends’ Subscriptions

oday WhatsApp, Facebook’s new $19 billion messaging darling, has released an update to the Android version of the app. Among a few new privacy-related features, the update also brings with it an interesting new feature that lets users pay for their friends’/families’ subscriptions, regardless of the platform. As it stands now, WhatsApp is free for the first year of use, and then requires a $.99 yearly subscription. By letting users pay for their friends’ subscriptions, Facebook and WhatsApp may be promoting the invitation of new users onto the platform. In terms of WhatsApp monetization, Zuck has been perfectly clear. Right now, there is no plan to release ads onto the WhatsApp platform, and to that point, subscriptions aren’t a huge priority either. What’s important right now is growth, and letting users invite and pay for their friends is a good place to start. In related news, WhatsApp is said to get voice calling in the second quarter of this year.

Facebook Sets New All Time High This Morning, Topping $72 Per Share

Another day, another record high for Facebook. This morning the social company ticked up around 0.6%, topping an up market, and re-cresting the $72 mark comfortably, a level that it barely tasted yesterday. What’s driving Facebook? The larger markets are also broadly higher, but the company’s day is likely still driven by its positive analyst note yesterday. UBS raised its price target for Facebook to $90 per share, a roughly 25% premium on its current price. Facebook, once beleaguered after a rough IPO, traded as low as $18 per share in the low points of 2012. The company is up nearly 100% since its flotation. Despite slowing growth at Twitter, investors seem confident in Facebook, and by implication, its decision to buy WhatsApp; you don’t bid up shares in a company in the face of coming dilution if you are not in favor of the result of that dilution. In this case, a massive acquisition.

If WhatsApp Is Worth $19B, Then WeChat’s Worth “At Least $60B” Says CLSA

Heads turned when Facebook forked out $19 billion for messaging service WhatsApp in February, and eyes popped when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was probably worth even more. Now, analysts over at Crédit Lyonnais Securities Asia have taken up the baton on outsized messaging app valuations: it says that WeChat, a Chinese competitor owned by Tencent, is worth “at least $60 billion,” because of the fact that it has more active revenues streams incorporated into its service than WhatsApp does. CLSA ranges the valuation between $35 billion and $64 billion this year. In a bullish research note published today on Tencent (subtitle: “Building an empire”), analysts Elinor Leung and Terry Chen make the case for how WeChat should be worth at least two to three times the value of WhatsApp, which they had previously valued at $35 billion. Although it looks like WeChat has less users — around 300 million today to WhatsApp’s 465 million — it has more revenue streams. “WhatsApp only ge