India learns to ‘fail fast’ as tech start-up culture takes root

By Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Clara Ferreira-Marques BENGALURU, India (Reuters) – After ping pong tables, motivational posters and casual dress codes, India's tech start-ups are following Silicon Valley's lead and embracing the “fail fast” culture credited with fuelling creativity and success in the United States.

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Facebook raises minimum pay for contractors to $15 per hour

By Yasmeen Abutaleb NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facebook raised wages for its contract workers, such as cafeteria staff and janitors, to a minimum of $15 per hour amid rising tension over the wage gap between the technology sector's elite and the lower-paid workers. Contractors will also receive a minimum of 15 days of paid vacation days and a $4,000 new child benefit for parents who do not receive parental leave, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a Wednesday post on Facebook

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Facebook to let nine news companies publish news to mobile feeds

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc tied up with nine news publishers to launch “Instant Articles” that will let them publish articles directly to the social network's mobile news feeds. Instant Articles will let stories load more than 10 times faster than standard mobile web articles and will include content from publishers such as the New York Times, BuzzFeed and National Geographic, Facebook said in a blog post on its website

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Former U.S. government employee attempted to steal nuclear weapons secrets: Justice Department

The U.S. Justice Department has charged a former employee of the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for allegedly attempting an email attack on government employees to extract sensitive information on nuclear weapons.

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Two charged with conspiracy, fraud for Photobucket.com breach

Federal prosecutors charged two men on Friday with conspiracy and fraud after they allegedly breached the computer systems of Denver-based Photobucket and sold passwords and access to private information on the giant photo-sharing website. Brandon Bourret, 39, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Athanasios Andrianakis, 26, of Sunnyvale, California, were arrested at their homes, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

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Music streamer Spotify revenues topped 1 billion euros in 2014

Online music streaming service Spotify's revenues leapt 45 percent to top 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) last year, though its operating loss widened due to product development and expansion costs, its holding company said. The company, founded in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, was reportedly valued at about $8 billion in a recent fundraising. It said the increased loss was due to substantial investments in product development and international expansion, as well as an increase in staffing.

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Exclusive: Microsoft has no plans to pursue Salesforce – sources

Microsoft Corp currently is not weighing an offer for Salesforce.com Inc , two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, dampening speculation that Microsoft could be drawn into bidding for the cloud software company. Bloomberg News, citing people with knowledge of the matter, reported earlier this week that Microsoft was evaluating a bid for Salesforce after the latter was approached by another unnamed would-be buyer. Microsoft considers Salesforce's current market valuation expensive, one of the people said

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Orange in talks with buyers of fiber assets to get Jazztel deal approved

By Leila Abboud and Gwénaëlle Barzic PARIS (Reuters) – Orange has begun talks with several potential buyers for parts of Jazztel's fiber network, which it has agreed to sell to get regulatory approval for the takeover of the Spanish broadband company. Nicolas Laederich, an executive who handles regulatory affairs and competition issues for the French telecoms group, said the divestment would be paired with a promise to rent out capacity on the company's fixed network to whoever buys the fiber assets

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SurveyMonkey CEO, husband of Facebook’s Sandberg, dies

SurveyMonkey CEO and husband of Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Dave Goldberg, died unexpectedly on Friday night, his brother wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday. “It’s with incredible shock and sadness that I’m letting our friends and family know that my amazing brother, Dave Goldberg, beloved husband of Sheryl Sandberg, father of two wonderful children, and son of Paula Goldberg, passed away suddenly last night,” Robert Goldberg wrote.

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