Also: Softbank to buy Sprint Nextel for about $20 billion; 13-inch MacBook Pro may be unveiled later this month.
Amazon looks to acquire TI mobile chip business, report says [CNET]
If Amazon buys out Texas Instruments’ mobile chip business, it would mark a dramatic shift for the e-retail giant. Amazon uses Texas Instruments’ processors in its mobile devices, including the latest Kindle Fire HD. Barnes & Noble, one of its chief competitors, does, as well. It’s not clear whether Amazon would continue to sell chips to competitors or use its own technology for itself.
Softbank to buy Sprint Nextel for about $20 billion [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
In a statement, Softbank said it would acquire a majority stake in the U.S. carrier by buying $8 billion of shares directly from Sprint and then buying another $12.1 billion of shares in the market.
The deal would transform Softbank, a relative newcomer in the telecommunications industry, into one of the world’s largest telecom groups with about 90 million subscribers when combined with Sprint. It expects to complete the deal by mid-2013.
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display confirmed for Apple event [9 to 5 MAC]
Alongside the smaller iPad, Apple will debut a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, according to a consistently reliable source at a high-profile U.S. retailer.
This new 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina Display is said to pick up the thinner and lighter enclosure of the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display that was released in June.
Microsoft to compete against Spotify with Xbox Music [TECHCRUNCH]
Xbox Music seeks to combine all the best aspects of the existing music services, by enabling free and paid models for streaming a vast library of content, as well as the ability to purchase and download music to your devices. Microsoft has licensed music from all the major labels, as well as a ton of independents, giving the Xbox Music services more than 30 million songs in its catalog.
Disruptions: Seeking privacy in a networked age [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
A feature that allowed users to opt out of being mentioned could actually benefit companies like Facebook and Twitter. It would entice people who are afraid of being in the cast of “Nothing’s Private Anymore” to sign up, knowing that they can hide at any given time.
Mr. Malik said he had simply resigned himself to the reality that most of the things he does in public, no matter how banal, will end up on the Internet. “But an offline switch would be a welcome addition for it would give me an illusion of privateness (if not privacy),” he wrote in an e-mail.
Zynga files suit against former staffer, claiming theft of trade secrets [ALLTHINGSD]
In the filing, Zynga claims that Patmore amassed 760 documents from his work computer, and backed them up online before his last day. Further, Zynga claims in the complaint that the data is important enough that it could be used to “improve a competitor’s internal understanding and know-how of core game mechanics and monetization techniques, its execution and ultimately its market standing to compete more effectively with Zynga.”
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