Techmeme
August 1, 2017, 12:55 PM

Top News

Douglas Soltys / BetaKit:
500 Canada shutting down fund investments; managing partners say potential LPs would not invest if McClure retained any control or could profit from the fund  —  In a letter sent to portfolio founders, 500 Canada's managing partners have announced the decision to terminate the fund's investment period.
Frank Chaparro / Business Insider:
As Bitcoin splits in two, many exchanges including Coinbase don't support Bitcoin Cash fork  —  Bitcoin-themed balloons at the “Inside Bitcoins: The Future of Virtual Currency Conference” in New York.  —  Bitcoin power brokers were unable to come behind a single solution that would have preserved …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Latest version of Google's experimental browser Chrome Canary on Android includes setting to block “intrusive” ads  —  Google will reportedly debut a built-in ad blocking feature for its Chrome browser next year, and now we have the first concrete look at this addition to the web navigation software in action.
Jake Tapper / CNN:
Self-described email prankster from UK fooled White House officials, including Homeland Security Advisor, into email exchanges, while posing as Kushner, Priebus  —  (CNN)A self-described “email prankster” in the UK fooled a number of White House officials into thinking he was other officials …
Ryne Hager / Android Police:
Android's Nearby Connections 2.0 API, which enables offline, P2P communication between devices over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, is now available to developers  —  Some of you might remember the Contextual App Experiences talk at I/O this year.  The seemingly convoluted name actually held some pretty big news …
Roger Cheng / CNET:
Amazon suspends sales of BLU phones amid renewed concerns that pre-loaded software is sending user data to China  —  Following a report that some Blu phones use an app that collects your data, Amazon has made them unavailable on its site.  —  Amazon just put budget phone maker Blu in the penalty box.
Corbin Davenport / Android Police:
Alleged renders of Samsung Galaxy Note8 leak online, showing the fingerprint sensor and dual cameras on the rear, ahead of potential unveiling in August  —  The upcoming Galaxy Note8 has been highly anticipated by fans, despite the previous model blowing up on several occasions.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Google says it has begun rolling out Daydream-ready update to Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+  —  Google's brand of VR is, at last, beginning to arrive on Samsung devices.  —  Reports emerged last week that certain Verizon Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices were getting the Daydream update, but today Google confirmed the rollout.
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook acquired AI startup Ozlo, which had raised $14M, to help Messenger build its personal assistant; Ozlo will shut down its enterprise API and app  —  Ozlo is joining Messenger.  —  Facebook has acquired Ozlo, a Palo Alto-based artificial intelligence startup, to help Messenger build …
Sean Silcoff / Globe and Mail:
Shopify beats estimates with $151.7M revenue in Q2, up 75% YoY, and says it now has 500K+ merchants, with growth in Asia, South America, and Africa  —  Canada's leading emerging software superstar Shopify Inc. continues to surpass expectations as it expands the product features and channels …
More: TechCrunch and BNN
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Spotify to double down on original content and fund a new batch of podcasts in coming months, as it promotes shows from established producers  —  Streaming company promotes shows from established producers  —  Top music site tries to diversify offerings beyond songs

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Alan Ni / Google:
Eric Slivka / MacRumors: