Techmeme
September 21, 2018, 4:20 PM

Top News

The Intercept:
Sources: Google made staff delete internal memo that said Dragonfly required logins to search, tracked location, gave Chinese partner unilateral access to data  —  Google bosses have forced employees to delete a confidential memo circulating inside the company that revealed explosive details …
GeekWire:
A roundup of all the major announcements from Amazon on Thursday, from a new microwave to a subwoofer to new Alexa skills and developer tools  —  Microwave.  Subwoofer.  Smart plug.  In-car device.  —  Those are just a handful of the new devices Amazon debuted on Thursday …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Sources: Facebook plans to unveil its “Portal” video chat device for home with Alexa support next week; it will come in two screen sizes for ~$400 and ~$300  —  Facebook plans to finally unveil its Portal video chat device for the home next week, Cheddar has learned.
Wall Street Journal:
In letter to Congress, Google confirms it continues to allow third-party apps to scan and share data from Gmail accounts, though Google itself stopped doing so  —  Lawmakers had asked company to explain policy in wake of WSJ report  —  WASHINGTON—Google Inc. told lawmakers it continues …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it fixed a bug that sent some users' direct messages from their interactions with business accounts to third-party developers, since May 2017  —  Twitter said that a “bug” sent user's private direct messages to third-party developers “who were not authorized to receive them.”
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
PayPal says it has banned all Infowars-related sites for promoting hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions  —  PayPal will no longer do business with Infowars, according to a post on the conspiracy theory site this morning.
Sara Salinas / CNBC:
Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya appears unconcerned about the string of exits from the firm and says it will no longer raise outside capital  —  - Chamath Palihapitiya told his employees he would be diverting much of the “carry” — the portion of investment returns traditionally given …
Jonathan Huang / Google Developers Blog:
Google announces new experimental Daydream VR features for developers: support for all Android apps, new 6DoF controllers, and a see-through mode  —  Posted by Jonathan Huang, Senior Product Manager, Google AR/VR  —  Since we first launched Daydream, developers have responded by creating virtual reality …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Sources: Instagram was testing a way for users to reshare posts from other accounts to their own feeds; Instagram says it's not building or testing such feature  —  Will it revive the feed — or break it?  —  After years of resistance, Instagram is now testing a way for you to reshare posts from other accounts to your own feed.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Timothy J. Seppala / Engadget:
PlayStation Now announces subscribers can download PS4 and remastered PS2 games, as the service becomes more like Xbox Game Pass  —  The biggest hindrance to Sony's PlayStation Now streaming service is lag.  Because the game isn't stored locally, whatever device you're playing on has to send …
Ashlee Clark Thompson / CNET:
Amazon launches a $59.99 AmazonBasics-branded microwave that works with Alexa-enabled speakers, has built-in WiFi, and an Amazon Dash Replenishment  —  Amazon will begin to sell its own brand of Wi-Fi-connected microwaves that will respond to voice commands, the company announced Thursday at its headquarters in Seattle.

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More News

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Motherboard:
Josh Ye / Abacus:
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Dani Deahl / The Verge: