TC Roundup: Apple must face U.S. lawsuit over vanishing iPhone text messages

Apple must face U.S. lawsuit over vanishing iPhone text messages: Apple Inc (AAPL.O) was ordered to face a U.S. federal lawsuit claiming it failed to tell consumers that its messaging system would block them from receiving text messages if they switched to Android-based smartphones from iPhones.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California said Apple must face plaintiff Adrienne Moore's claim that the message blocking interfered with her contract with Verizon Wireless (VZ.N) for wireless service, which she kept after switching in April to a Samsung (005930.KS) Galaxy S5 from an iPhone 4. (Reuters) Yahoo to buy ad platform for $640 million: Yahoo Inc. is using some of its cash from the sale of Alibaba stock to catch up with rivals in video advertising.

The Internet portal said Tuesday it is paying about $640 million in cash to buy video-ad startup BrightRoll Inc., Yahoo's largest deal since the October initial public offering of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., and its second largest acquisition during Marissa Mayer's tenure as chief executive. (The Wall Street Journal) Amazon is expanding its R&D in Cambridge, U.K., with a focus on prime air drones and speech tech: Amazon is expanding its R&D operations in Cambridge, U.K., with a plan to staff out a large research lab — expanding on the foothold it acquired when it bought Cambridge-based speech tech startup Evi Technologies two years ago, TechCrunch has learned.

Cambridge is feted for its world-class university which, in turn, acts as a hub for concentrating science and technology talent, naturally leading to many startups spinning out from it. Amazon is evidently hoping to grab itself a larger slice of this local talent. A source familiar with the company's plans told TechCrunch it will focus on Prime Air, its autonomous delivery drones project, and on beefing up its speech tech R&D team. (Tech Crunch)