This didn’t take long. Today, following the announcement of new proposed deal for Dell by Carl Icahn, the company’s Special Committee has responded with a terse statement that calls what Icahn has put forth all but unserious.

The deal is simple to understand, as Arik Hesseldahl of AllThingsD reported moments ago: “Icahn proposed that Dell offer to buy back as many as 1.1 billion shares of the company in a self-tender offer, at a price of $14 a share.” Icahn will also pick up half of Southeastern’s stake in Dell.

The Special Committee has a number of problems with Icahn’s newest idea, but many appear to reflect earlier concerns: “Furthermore, as in the May 9 letter, Mr. Icahn’s current concept would likely force shareholders to continue to own shares in the highly leveraged company that would result.” The concept would see “Dell pursue a self-tender for its shares of approximately $16 billion,” and would in effect “equate to a dividend of approximately $10.00 per share.”

Given the above concerns, the new deal is “not, in its present state, a transaction that the Special Committee could endorse and execute” as it currently enjoys neither “financing, nor any commitment from any party to participate, nor any remedy for the company and its shareholders if the transaction is not consummated.”

The zingers continue: “the concept does not adequately address the liquidity issues and other risks the Committee previously highlighted. [...] More than a month ago, the Committee requested financial and other information from Mr. Icahn and Southeastern in connection with their previous recapitalization idea. Those requests remain outstanding and are equally relevant to this latest concept.” Ouch.

At a minimum, Michael Dell and Silverlake, the proposers of the $13.65 per share deal, have their money in place.

Icahn does not appear close to offering a functional deal that could compete with what has currently been accepted by the company’s board. Perhaps Icahn is stalling in hopes that the extant deal is sweetened to make him go away. I doubt that will work.

Top Image Credit: Jo Jakeman

Just over a week after passing a record 2 million searches in a single day, DuckDuckGo has announced a new milestone: the company processed 3,095,907 searches yesterday. DuckDuckGo made it clear that this stat does not include yesterday’s 18.9 million searches via its API and approximately half a million bot searches.

It’s no coincidence that DuckDuckGo’s stats are climbing as the PRISM and larger NSA surveillance controversy grows. The startup has received considerable attention as a Google alternative — remember, Google was cited as a main data source for PRISM. After facing severe criticism for its involvement, Google appealed to the US government in hopes of sharing more about the data requests it receives.

It took 1445 days to get 1M searches, 483 days to get 2M searches, and then just 8 days to pass 3M searches: https://t.co/u4HCuL2e1W

— DuckDuckGo (@duckduckgo) June 18, 2013

Following the PRISM controversy, we reached out to DuckDuckGo CEO and founder Gabriel Weinberg, who clarified that he believes DuckDuckGo could never be of use to PRISM:

…if the NSA were to come to us and ask for all our data, it would not be useful to them because our data is truly anonymous (as opposed to psudo-anonymous, which is never really anonymous).

As we’ve previously detailed, DuckDuckGo has also ramped up its media efforts lately. The service was recently profiled in the Washington Post and founder Gabriel Weinberg appeared on CNBC in April and Bloomberg last week.

Facebook for iOS has gotten a small update today that adds a couple of nice changes. Foremost is the ability to very quickly edit the privacy of a given post so that it’s visible only to the people you choose.

This is accomplished by tapping on the small downward chevron next to any post, which presents you with an ‘edit privacy’ option. Once you’re in there you can choose to have it seen by friends, family or a particular list. Note that this can also be defined before you post the item as well, it’s just made a bit easier to do it after the fact now.

In addition to the slightly easier privacy controls, Facebook for iOS also now supports ‘emoticons’ of sorts that tie into their actions feed. This means that you can post what you’re feeling, reading, watching, listening to, drinking, eating, playing and more. Each option, which is accessed via the ‘what are you doing’ smiley face, leaves behind a short message which is now accompanied by an icon.

So, if you’re a frequent user of the activity feature of Facebook, you’ve got some shiny new icons to go along with your status updates.

You can now also begin new conversations off of photos that you get inside Messages by tapping and sharing to ‘a new message’. There are also a few new Chat Heads animations in the update, including a ‘swipe up’ that shrinks your window as it closes it.

Facebook for iOS

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The NSA surveillance controversy continues this week, and TNW would be remiss to keep you out of the loop. However, instead of shipping a number of short posts on the most recent news, what follows is a short compendium of what you need to know. For full coverage of PRISM, and the phone records program, head here. Let’s begin.

The LIBERT-E Act

As TNW previously reported, a bipartisan bill under the name of the ‘LIBERT-E Act’ is in the works. That awkward name breaks down in the following way: the “Limiting Internet and Blanket Electronic Review of Telecommunications and Email Act.” As reported in Politico, the bill’s backers, Republican Rep. Justin Amash and Democrat Rep. John Conyers, stated the following:

We accept that free countries must engage in secret operations from time to time to protect their citizens. Free countries must not, however, operate under secret laws. Secret court opinions obscure the law. They prevent public debate on critical policy issues and they stop Congress from fulfilling its duty to enact sound laws and fix broken ones.

Their bill would increase the amount of disclosure provided to both Congress and the wider public. It’s chances of passage are unclear. It has attracted 31 co-sponsors thus far. The views of the two were articulated in a Huffington Post editorial: “[t]he government has no business stockpiling so much of our data.” We’ll track the bill and keep you informed.

50 Plots

Today General Keith Alexander, head of the NSA, stated that surveillance efforts have stopped “over 50″ potential terror threats in the last decade. That is a bold claim. This comes after the General had stated that, as TNW wrote at the time, “the two previously secret programs have, as Reuters reports, ‘helped to prevent ‘dozens’ of potential terrorist events.’”

The claim is a bit suspect as when it has come to specific events that are discussed as perhaps defused using data collected from the phone record program, or PRISM, they have been circumspect. Please allow me another short quote:

Before, President Obama had indicated that a terrorist attack had been thwarted by PRISM. That attack, it came out, was a 2009 plot in New Yorkin which PRISM played a role. However, others have stated that PRISM’s role in that incident was superfluous, making the argument specious.

Thus, to state that 50 events were disrupted or avoided using NSA surveillance feels perhaps a bit high. This leads us to our next topic.

New York Stock Exchange

Sean Joyce, FBI deputy director, today pointed to Khalid Ouazzani as someone that had been stopped. The mentioned effort was the exploding of a bomb at the New York Stock Exchange. “Ouazzani had been providing information and support to this plot,” Joyce said.

As reported by Wired, Ouazzani’s lawyer disputes that, claiming that he pled guilty to money laundering, and that “Khalid Ouazzan was not involved in any plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange.” It’s also worth noting that his plea deal mentioned no such plot.

In a real way, this appears to be another somewhat hollow example of how recently uncovered NSA programs have proved critical to national security, which is the stated reason we should allow elements of our privacy to be eroded in the face of physical danger.

Three Experts Praise Snowden

The USA Today recorded an incredible interview with three whistle-blowers who were all formerly employed at the NSA. The video is worth your time. Here’s the nub of the discussion, in the paper’s words:

They say the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former NSA contractor who worked as a systems administrator, proves their claims of sweeping government surveillance of millions of Americans not suspected of any wrongdoing. They say those revelations only hint at the programs’ reach.

That final segment mirrors what the AP reported over the weekend, that the NSA’s overall reach into the data streams of the world is far greater than what PRISM and the phone program are capable of.

Google

Breaking now is a report from the Washington Post that Google will challenge gag orders associated with Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court data requests. The company will base its arguments on the First Amendment.

That’s what you need to know now. More as it unfolds.

Top Image Credit: Andrew Malone

Google has filed a petition with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court citing its first amendment rights as it asks for permission to disclose controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests.

The company revealed in a Google+ post that it is seeking to separate out federal criminal requests from those related to national security:

We have long pushed for transparency so users can better understand the extent to which governments request their data—and Google was the first company to release numbers for National Security Letters. However, greater transparency is needed, so today we have petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow us to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately. Lumping national security requests together with criminal requests—as some companies have been permitted to do—would be a backward step for our users.

The Washington Post obtained a copy of Google’s motion, which referred to the first amendment, which protects freedom of speech, and the high value that the company places on transparency.

According to the Post, Google is specifically asking to reveal the number of national security requests it receives and how many user accounts are affected.

Last week, Google sent an open letter with a similar request addressed to the US Attorney General and the head of the FBI. The company  cited a need to defend itself from inaccurate claims that suggest it is giving the government “unfettered access” to its data.

Facebook announced last week that it would begin publishing national security orders in its transparency reports. Apple and Yahoo have followed suit as well.

The National Security Agency has come under scrutiny this month after a series of reports revealed a massive surveillance apparatus that was believed to have the cooperation of the technology industry’s biggest players. President Obama has spoken out in defense of the NSA programs, noting that citizens aren’t getting the “complete story”. The FBI has pointed out that the data collection programs helped the agency thwart bomb plots against the New York Stock Exchange and the New York subway system.

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Adobe today announced that publications created with its Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) have surpassed a total of 100 million publication downloads. DPS is Adobe’s software collection designed to help publishers create content for tablets and mobile devices.

The company noted that the number of brands and corporations using DPS has jumped 30 percent over the past six months.

Adobe marked the milestone as it announced its second quarter earnings. The firm beat expectations with revenue of $1.011 billion and earnings per share of $0.36.

The company released a major update to its Creative Cloud offerings on Monday as it navigates away from a software purchase model toward cloud subscriptions.

Feature Image Credit – Thinkstock

Today Adobe reported its second quarter financial performance for the 2013 fiscal year, including revenue of $1.011 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.36. Analysts had predicted that Adobe would earn $0.34 per share on revenue of $1 billion.

Adobe has exceeded expectations, and both Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and CFO Mark Garrett cited Marketing Cloud as major reason for the company’s positive results. In regular trading, Adobe was essentially flat on an up market day. In after hours, the company is up by 4%.

Adobe ended Q2 with 700,000 paid Creative Cloud members, a nice improvement from Q1′s 479,000 subscribers. Net income was $76.5 million on a GAAP basis, and Adobe Marketing Cloud quarterly revenue was $229.6 million with bookings up 25 percent. Adobe also shared that its Digital Publishing Suite platform has passed 100 million publication downloads.

All in all, Adobe saw relatively impressive results in the context of expectations, but on a year over year basis, the company has declined. In Q2 2012, the company brought in $1.124 billion in revenue and $0.60 non-GAAP earnings per share. Now, let’s get to why this happened.

Adobe’s Fight for Subscribers

Both Adobe’s public image and business model are in the middle of a major transition. In 2012, the company announced Creative Cloud. One year later —and nearly ten years after introducing its Creative Suite — Adobe announced that it would shift entirely to a subscription-based model. As of yesterday, things have come full circle: Adobe released its Creative Cloud-only suite of apps and services to the public.

The core reasoning behind this change is simple. Adobe believes trading steeply priced and irregular software purchases for predictable monthly fees will stabilize its income. In the long-run this is probably true, if Adobe’s users don’t revolt, but in the short-term, the company is bound to see a decline in incoming revenue.

And decline it has: last quarter Adobe beat street estimates, but brought in approximately $37 million less ($1.008 billion) on a year over year basis. Once again, this wasn’t surprising, but it’s something Adobe must turn around in 2013 or else shareholders will push back.

With its new subscription model in full swing, Adobe’s CS6 sales will surely decline rapidly. It’s up to Creative Cloud subscribers to keep the company afloat.

Microsoft’s efforts to promote the Xbox One on Facebook have devolved into an old-fashioned ASCII art flame war.

Xbox One and PlayStation 4 faced off last week at E3, and by most accounts, the Xbox took a bruising. Massively unpopular policies regarding used games and persistent Internet connections have left Microsoft with a significant public relations problem on its hands.

After Microsoft changed the cover photo on its Xbox Facebook page on Monday, Sony fans took to the comment thread to post hundreds of ASCII Sony logos, middle fingers and face palms. Microsoft loyalists have responded with the occasional thumbs up, but they appear to be vastly outnumbered. The thread has attracted over 14,500 comments.

Microsoft is taking it all in stride. The company has posted several pieces of ASCII art of its own, dedicating them to all of its “ASCII loving Facebook fans and followers”:

Header image credit: Wavebreak Media

Kiip has announced reaching over 1,000 apps integrated with its mobile rewards platform and 500 million “engaged moments” per month on its platform as it opens up self-service opportunities for brands to submit their rewards.

The rewards program works by offering developers a monetization solution that’s centered around offering mobile app users rewards for reaching or accomplishing specific engaged moments, such as beating a level in a game, finishing a to-do list or achieving a goal in a fitness app.

Known as Kiip Self-Serve, the brand-facing offering is launching in an invite-only beta at first and will be tied to the company’s preexisting vertical channels: gaming, fitness, food and drink, health and productivity. A music vertical is also coming along, with popular music game Songpop joining the platform earlier today.

Though Kiip will still need to review rewards before approving them, companies will be able to submit their rewards directly through an online interface. Interestingly, the startup originally developed the interface for internal use before repurposing it for clients.

Self-Serve has a global focus, as it is launching in 11 languages in order to help Kiip offer more international rewards. Kiip launched in Japan late last year and the company also has presences in the EMEA and Latin America regions.

Brands like Uber, Sidecar and Coastal.com participated in an alpha version of the service. Kiip has been steaming ahead with bring on brands, now boasting over 115 of the “world’s major consumer brands”, including Amazon, McDonald’s, Pepsi and Sony Music.

Kiip had previously opened up a self-serve option for developers looking to integrate their apps, so both sides of the field can now sign up on their own.

Image credit: F1online

Google is updating its search results pages on the desktop today to show an interactive “carousel” of nearby restaurants, bars and other local places.

It works as expected; type in a query such as “Italian restaurants” and Google will bring up a horizontal grid of businesses close to your current location. Clicking on the image or name of the result will display further details, such as its address, relevant photos and an aggregated review score.

“And you can zoom in on the map that appears below the carousel to restrict your search to only places in a specific area,” the company revealed in a Google+ post.

The feature is rolling out in English for users based in the United States today. The “carousel” has been available for a selection of iPad and tablet users since December, but this is the first time that it’s hit the desktop, where a much wider number of users can access it.

The addition signals a renewed push by Google to serve up contextual information based on the location of the user. It’s the same strategy being used by Foursquare at the moment, although Google has a much wider reach due to its influence on the Web and desktop.

Google+ was updated in March, for example, with a new “Local reviews” tab that has since been condensed to just “Local” in the most recent redesign. It recommends popular places based on the user’s position and was later bolstered in May with a new Locations section for the Google+ Android app.

Google also updated the Google Places API to feature establishments listed and recommended by Zagat, a restaurant-rating group also owned by Google.

Local businesses that are listed prominently at the top of the search results page should receive a massive boost in interest from Google’s users. The new feature will improve the quality of the service for users, but also give Google a new potential revenue stream. If they can prove that being positioned in the “carousel” improves foot traffic, businesses will be stepping over each other to be listed there.

Image Credit – Getty Images