Techmeme
November 27, 2019, 2:10 PM

Top News

Drew Olanoff / TechCrunch:
Twitter should offer a way to memorialize accounts of deceased people before removing accounts that have been inactive for over six months  —  Editor's note: Drew is a geek who first worked at AOL when he was 16 years old and went on to become a senior writer at TechCrunch.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Twitter says accounts that have not been logged into for six months leading up to Dec. 11 will be removed, likely freeing up a large number of usernames  —  No exact date for when usernames will be available  —  Twitter is sending out emails to owners of inactive accounts with a warning …
BBC:
Apple meets Russia's demands to show Crimea as part of Russia for Russian Apple Maps users; elsewhere on Apple Maps, Crimea isn't shown as part of any country  —  Apple has complied with Russian demands to show the annexed Crimean peninsula as part of Russian territory on its apps.
Leo Kelion / BBC:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Amazon announces new Alexa emotions for developers to let Alexa respond to questions from US users with a “happy/excited” or a “disappointed/empathetic” tone  —  Alexa is also getting a radio DJ-like voice  —  You might hear a little more emotion from Alexa's vaguely-robotic voice …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Valve says its Steam Controller, launched in 2013 as part of the failed Steam Machines program, will no longer be made; last units will sell for $5/controller  —  An amazing gadget bites the dust  —  Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Good Deals stamp of approval …
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Facebook buys the VR studio behind Beat Saber, one of virtual reality's biggest titles with over 1M copies sold since May 2018  —  Virtual reality doesn't have many hit games yet, but Facebook is buying the studio behind one of the platform's biggest titles.
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
Leaked docs: Amazon's Ring was working on neighborhood “watch lists” and a feature to notify users of individuals deemed suspicious, built on facial recognition  —  Ring, Amazon's crimefighting surveillance camera division, has crafted plans to use facial recognition software …

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More News

Frank Pasquale / Law and Political Economy:

Earlier Picks

Steven Scheer / Reuters:
David Dayen / American Prospect:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bloomberg: