Techmeme
May 24, 2018, 9:50 PM

Top News

Gary Horcher / KIRO:
After allegations Alexa recorded a private conversation and sent it to a person in contact list, Amazon says the case was extremely rare, is taking steps to fix  —  A Portland family contacted Amazon to investigate after they say a private conversation in their home was recorded by Amazon's Alexa …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Essential, a startup co-founded by Android creator Andy Rubin, is considering selling itself and has canceled development of a new smartphone  —  - Company cancels development of second version of smartphone  — Startup has spent over $100 million on product development
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
Apple wins $538.6M from Samsung in iPhone patent retrial: $533.3M for infringement of Apple's design patents and $5.3M for infringement of its utility patents  —  Nearly six years after a federal jury awarded Apple over $1 billion in damages against Samsung for infringing on iPhone design patents …
Rob Leathern / Facebook:
Facebook rolls out “Paid for by” disclosure labels on Facebook and Instagram for political ads in US, including issues ads that deal with 20 specific subjects  —  As we announced last month, we're making big changes to the way ads with political content work on Facebook to help prevent abuse, especially during elections.
Twitter:
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Sign up now for Techmeme's new newsletter, which goes out daily at 5pm Pacific  —  Today we're launching Techmeme's first newsletter.  Sign up here!  It goes out Sunday through Friday around 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern and, like Techmeme.com, summarizes the day's top tech news and commentary …
Jason Koebler / Motherboard:
Documents from a “bendgate” lawsuit show Apple's tests found iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were 3.3x and 7.2x more likely to bend than 5S; Apple later made changes to fix  —  Apple publicly maintained that there were no engineering issues with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus …
Bloomberg:
Sources: DOJ and CFTC have opened a criminal probe into alleged market manipulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies  —  - Justice Department opens investigation into illicit trading  — Agency is working with CFTC, which oversees crypto futures  —  The Justice Department …
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Vevo is shuttering its Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile apps and website to refocus on YouTube following resignation of several execs and significant layoffs  —  Major-label owned Vevo is giving up on plans to build its own music video platform outside of YouTube's control …
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
An API bug on T-Mobile's staff-facing website, since fixed, let anyone gain access to customer addresses, account PINs, and other details using a phone number  —  Exclusive: The exposed lookup tool let anyone run a customer's phone number — and obtain their home address and account PIN, used to contact phone support.
David Shepardson / Reuters:
US NTSB report on Uber's self-driving car that killed a pedestrian in March in AZ says the car failed to identify the pedestrian or brake until it was too late  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] self-driving vehicle that struck and killed a woman in Tempe …
AppleInsider:
Apple giving month-long free trials of its 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB iCloud storage plans to customers currently on the free 5GB tier  —  In a move designed to drive iCloud storage subscription upgrades, Apple is now promoting free month-long trials of 50GB, 200GB and 2TB plans to customers currently on the gratis 5GB tier.
More: 9to5Mac
Shannon Liao / The Verge:
Pornhub launches a free VPN, called VPNHUB, with unlimited bandwidth, available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, alongside $13/month ad-free premium VPN  —  Pornhub is launching its own VPN service today with free and unlimited bandwidth.  The VPN is supposed to help users avoid ISP throttling and geographic limitations.

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
Are you ready for the era of agentic AI?  —  Tech leaders are always talking about what's next, and right now, agentic AI is dominating the discourse.  Equip yourself with the info you need in this recorded webinar.
Tribe AI:
State of AI: Adoption, Challenges and Recommendations  —  Examining the current state of AI, the key challenges organizations face, and practical recommendations for utilizing AI integration alongside other best practices.
Zoho:
Introducing captions, dynamic cross-references, table of tables and figures, and more in Zoho Writer  —  Easily ensure that your documents—reports, manuals, research papers, or thesis—are neatly structured …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
It's Already Starting...
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Spotlight On:
Corelight's Brian Dye on What He's Learned About Scaling
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Michael Ovitz - Turning Potential into Prominence
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
UiPath CEO Daniel Dines on AI agents replacing our jobs
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Grit:
Brex 3.0: Inside the Radical Turnaround with Pedro Franceschi
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact | Wes Kao (coach, entrepreneur, advisor)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:50 PM ET, May 24, 2018.

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

Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Garrett Camp: