Techmeme
April 18, 2017, 5:50 PM

Top News

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Facebook debuts Spaces, its social VR platform that lets up to four users hang out in VR, available in beta for Oculus Rift, to expand to other VR platforms  —  More than three years after its acquisition of Oculus, Facebook is a product even more deeply intertwined with people's online identities.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook debuts Camera Effects developer platform: Frames Studio for simple picture effects, available now; AR Studio for creating masks, scene effects, in beta  —  Facebook will rely on an army of outside developers to contribute augmented reality image filters and interactive experiences to its new Camera Effects platform.
Tim Peterson / Marketing Land:
Interview with David Marcus on making bots easier to find on Messenger, updates to M assistant, debut of Chat Extensions to help devs add in-chat functionality  —  ‘We have a shot at becoming the Yellow Pages of messaging apps,’ says Facebook's Messenger boss, David Marcus.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
BuzzFeed:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple to unveil three iPhones this fall, including two revamped models and new high-end model with curved OLED display; high-end model could be delayed  —  Apple is testing a revamped iPhone with an all-screen front, curved glass and a stainless steel frame alongside upgrades to the current models.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Samsung S8/S8+ review: gorgeous design, build quality, great camera, but fingerprint scanner is in awkward spot, Bixby's useless, preinstalled apps are annoying  —  The new S8 and S8 Plus aren't perfect, but they are damn close  —  People “aren't excited by new phones anymore.”
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Snapchat introduces World Lenses, live filters for the rear-facing camera that add AR elements like a cloud, rainbow, and more  —  Menlo Park, start your photocopiers  —  Snapchat today is rolling out world lenses, a new twist on its popular face filters that continues to the company's exploration of augmented reality.
Rich McCormick / The Verge:
Redesigned Google Earth brings interactive guided tours and 3D maps view to Chrome browsers and Android devices, coming to iOS and other browsers later  —  Just in time for Earth Day, Google has redesigned Google Earth for web and Android.  The new version adds new features that let users …
Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
Steve Ballmer launches USAFacts, a project to provide an online database of spending across federal, state, and local governments  —  Guess what Steven A. Ballmer has been up to for the last several years.  (No, not just cheering for the basketball team he owns, the Los Angeles Clippers.)
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft buys Intentional Software, which develops productivity scenarios for future workplaces; founder, ex-Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi, to rejoin the firm  —  Microsoft is acquiring Intentional Software, a Bellevue, Wash.-based productivity-app vendor whose well-known founder is a programming expert and former Microsoft manager.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
PayPal teams up with Android Pay for mobile payments  —  PayPal is joining forces with Google's Android Pay mobile payments platform, the companies announced this morning - an effort aimed at allowing PayPal to expand its footprint both within mobile applications as well as at brick-and-mortar retailers.

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Meet Airtable ProductCentral  —  The unified solution for managing your entire product development process in the AI era.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
Zoho Forms for successful Black Friday sales  —  Black Friday is a retail frenzy that can significantly impact your bottom line.  To make the most of this shopping bonanza, you need a strategy that not only attracts customers …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 11/04 - Apple Buying And Investing In Things
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:50 PM ET, April 18, 2017.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Adrianne Jeffries / The Outline: