New York Times

[Commentary] In August 2013, Jeff Bezos, an avatar of digital innovation as the founder of Amazon, came out of nowhere and plunked down $250 million for The Washington Post.

His vote of confidence in the future of print and serious news was seen by some as a sign that an era of “optimism or potential” for the industry was getting underway. Turns out, not so much -- quite the opposite, really. The Washington Post seems fine, but just recently, three of the biggest players in American newspapers -- Gannett, Tribune Company and E. W. Scripps, companies built on print franchises that expanded into television -- dumped those properties like yesterday’s news in a series of spinoffs.

The journalism moment we are living in is more about running for your life than it is about optimism. Newspapers continue to generate cash and solid earnings, but those results are not enough to satisfy investors.

Apple may well be the only tech company on the planet that would dare compare itself to Picasso.

In a class at the company’s internal training program, the so-called Apple University, the instructor likened the 11 lithographs that make up Picasso’s “The Bull” to the way Apple builds its smartphones and other devices.

Steven P. Jobs established Apple University as a way to inculcate employees into Apple’s business culture and educate them about its history, particularly as the company grew and the tech business changed. Courses are not required, only recommended, but getting new employees to enroll is rarely a problem.

Although many companies have such internal programs, sometimes referred to as indoctrination, Apple’s version is a topic of speculation and fascination in the tech world.

John R. MacArthur, the publisher of Harper’s Magazine, is uncompromising in his support for print journalism.

Harper’s, which is nonprofit and funded by a foundation, has been available online for a decade. But to read anything, you must subscribe to the physical magazine too.

It remains to be seen whether history will judge him as a resolute visionary or a stubborn martyr.

Regulators in Washington won not one but two major merger battles -- without even firing a shot. In telecommunications, Sprint abandoned a bid for its rival T-Mobile.

And in media and entertainment, 21st Century Fox dropped its pursuit of Time Warner. Both deals were proposed mergers of direct competitors, which often reduce competition and, as a result, usually attract heightened scrutiny from regulators.

In neither case did the Justice Department or the Federal Communications Commission announce a formal position, and in Fox’s bid, the antitrust division and the Federal Trade Commission, which share jurisdiction, hadn’t even decided which agency would conduct the inquiry. But the threat of action may have been enough -- certainly so in Sprint’s case, and at least something that had to be seriously considered in Fox’s case.

[Commentary] Dr Bernie Mayer, author of several books on conflict resolution and a professor at the Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, noted that beyond keeping up with the sheer near real-time pace of heated Internet discussions, another problem with digital arguments is that people can’t detect tone, facial expression and, most of all, sarcasm.

A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion username and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say.

The records, discovered by Hold Security include confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, ranging from household names to small Internet sites.

Last quarter, Xiaomi was the top smartphone seller in the largest market in the world: China. A report published by Canalys highlighted Xiaomi’s remarkable growth, surpassing giants like Samsung and Lenovo to become the top player in China.

Because of its huge growth in China, Xiaomi became the fifth largest smartphone maker in the world.

Judge Loretta Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld a magistrate judge’s earlier ruling that Microsoft must turn over the customer’s e-mails, held in a Microsoft data center in Ireland. Judge Preska agreed to stay her order while the company pursues an appeal.

The issue at the heart of the case is whether communications kept in data centers operated by American companies are beyond the reach of domestic search warrants. The Microsoft case is believed to be the first time that a United States company has fought against a domestic search warrant for data stored overseas.

Google says complying with Europe’s so-called right to be forgotten ruling is getting complicated.

In a lengthy response to questions from the region’s data regulators, the search giant said that it often lacked enough information to decide whether it should remove links to web pages to comply with European law.

Google said it had rejected a number of requests made by journalists, who wanted links to articles at publications where they no longer worked to be taken down.

Some members of gay and minority groups in Utah say The Salt Lake Tribune represents their concerns in culturally and ethnically changing Salt Lake City better than the competing paper, The Deseret News, which is owned by the Mormon Church.

And they say that changes made last fall in the joint operating agreement between the publications -- which include cutting The Tribune’s profits in half in exchange for cash and other benefits -- are certain to spell The Tribune’s demise.

Activists like State Senator Jim Dabakis (D-UT), a longtime gay rights advocate, are campaigning to save The Tribune -- though it remains unclear whether The Tribune needs saving.