Techmeme
August 29, 2018, 5:10 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google redesigns Wear OS with a Google Assistant feed, one-swipe access to Fit, and revamped notifications  —  And adding a Google Assistant feed  —  If you have a newer Wear OS watch, sometime in the coming month, you'll get a software update that will change what happens when you swipe on your watchface.
Robert Mitchell / Variety:
Facebook announces the international rollout of Facebook Watch, which first launched in the US a year ago this month, starting on Thursday  —  Facebook has announced the international rollout of Facebook Watch, its video destination for episodic content, which first launched in the U.S. a year ago this month.
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Blockchain-based cloud computing project DFINITY raises $102M from Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, and others  —  An ambitious blockchain project called Dfinity wants to reinvent computing by replacing large platforms like Amazon Web Services and Salesforce with a cheaper, decentralized alternative.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Sonos says it will open its developer program to all partners on September 6, opening the door to audio notifications and more  —  The company is opening its developer program to all in September  —  Alongside the announcement of its brand new Sonos Amp today, Sonos has also revealed an expansion of its developer program.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Dell unveils its fall line-up of Alexa-ready Inspiron, XPS, and Vostro laptops and 2-in-1s, updated with 8th Gen Intel Core processors  —  Dell revealed its new line-up of laptops, 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrids, and monitors with the latest components from Intel.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Skagen unveils a minimalist Wear OS-based Falster 2 smartwatch with a heart-rate sensor, GPS, and NFC, available September 12 and priced from $275  —  Skagen's Falster has been one of the darlings among Wear OS smartwatches thanks to its posh yet minimalist look, but it was hard to recommend …
Catalin Cimpanu / BleepingComputer:
Reports: data of 130M guests at Chinese company Huazhu Hotels, including booking and personal info like phone numbers and email addresses, sold on the dark web  —  A hacker is selling the personal details of over 130 million hotel guests for 8 Bitcoin ($56,000) on a Chinese Dark Web forum.
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
A look at the recent $100M+ acquisitions of direct-to-consumer startups, including MVMT and Native, that raised little to no venture capital  —  A new breed of entrepreneurs is creating huge consumer brands — like MVMT and Tuft & Needle — without venture capital, and laughing all the way to the bank.
Sarah Jeong / The Verge:
An excerpt from Sarah Jeong's book “The Internet of Garbage”, which discusses online harassment as a threat to the useful functions of the internet  —  Today, The Verge is publishing an interim edition of Sarah Jeong's The Internet of Garbage, a book she first published in 2015 but has since gone out of print.
Ellen Pao / Wired:
CEOs of social media companies should not hide behind “naiveté” and “free speech” as an excuse for letting fake news and harassment flourish on their platforms  —  IT'S NOT OFTEN you hear some of the richest, most powerful men in the world described as naive, but it's becoming pretty commonplace.
Dan Primack / Axios:
Sources: a16z is shifting from multi-sector to specialized funds and plans an early stage $750M fund for consumer and enterprise software startups next year  —  Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is changing up its fundraising strategy, moving away from multi-stage, multi-sector flagship vehicles …
New York Times:
Charlie Osborne / ZDNet:
New zero-day flaw found in Microsoft Windows task scheduler that can allow a local user to gain system privileges in Windows 10  —  Updated: There is no known workaround for the security flaw.  —  Microsoft has quickly reacted to the disclosure of a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability in the Windows operating system.

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