Techmeme
May 23, 2017, 10:55 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils new Surface Pro with 13.5 hour battery life, Kaby Lake, optional 4G LTE; preorders open today starting at $799, ships June 15 in 26 countries  —  Available on June 15th starting at $799  —  Microsoft is launching a new Surface Pro today, and it's dropping its numbering scheme as a result.
Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:
Uber underpaid NYC drivers for past 2.5 years, is refunding them the difference plus interest, which may cost the firm upwards of $45M  —  The ride-hailing company says it is refunding the money after miscalculating its commissions  —  Uber Technologies Inc. on Tuesday said it mistakenly underpaid …
Michael del Castillo / CoinDesk:
Blockstack releases developer edition of blockchain-powered browser, plans to introduce tokens later this year  —  Blockchain startup Blockstack has released a decentralized browser aimed at making apps more easily accessible.  —  In a way, the release is a kind of Netscape for the decentralized internet …
Eduard Kovacs / SecurityWeek:
Chaos Computer Club hackers say they have defeated Samsung Galaxy S8's iris recognition system using a photo of victim's iris  —  Hackers of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Germany have managed to defeat the iris recognition system on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S8 smartphones.
Roger Cheng / CNET:
LeEco says it's laying off 325 employees, or 70% of its US business' workforce, due to a lack of funding  —  Little-known LeEco cuts 70 percent of its US workforce as its lofty goals couldn't match the reality of a tough market.  —  It was a chilly January night in Las Vegas as Danny Bowman …
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Apple's head of worldwide HR, Denise Young Smith, to become VP for Inclusion and Diversity, reporting to Tim Cook; CFO Luca Maestri to temporarily fill HR role  —  Apple's head of Worldwide Human Resources Denise Young Smith will now run diversity programs for the company under a newly created VP position …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Snapchat introduces custom Stories for capturing group moments with friends with the option to invite nearby users to join  —  A natural evolution  —  Snapchat today is rolling out custom Stories, a new form of Story designed to make sharing around big events easier.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Facebook debuts new group features for Live, including Live With, letting users stream side-by-side, and Live Chat with Friends private chatrooms  —  Facebook Live might be about bringing the entire community together around events, but sometimes you just want to know the reactions of your buddies.
Michael del Castillo / CoinDesk:
Global distributed ledger consortium R3 raises $107M to develop blockchain-like tech for banks from 40+ investors including Intel, HSBC, BoA Merrill Lynch  —  Global banking consortium R3 has closed the largest funding round in the history of distributed ledger technology.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Huawei unveils the Matebook E, an update to the original Matebook, a more powerful 13" flagship X model, and 15" D model, all expected to ship this summer  —  The company also announced the MateBook E and MateBook D  —  The MateBook was Huawei's first shot at building a Windows 10 laptop …
Paul Mozur / New York Times:
Google's AlphaGo beats world's top Go player, China's Ke Jie; China reportedly blocked livestreams of the match, despite enormous interest within the country  —  HONG KONG — It isn't looking good for humanity.  —  The world's best player of what might be humankind's most complicated board game …

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