Techmeme
October 30, 2018, 12:30 PM

Top News

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Apple unveils iPad Pro with no home button, thinner design, smaller bezels, A12X chip, Face ID, no 3.5mm jack, and USB-C; 12.9" for $999+, 11" model for $799+  —  After months of rumors, Apple has today announced a completely redesigned iPad Pro with slimmed-down bezels, Face ID, a USB-C port …
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
Apple unveils Pencil 2, which can attach magnetically to iPad Pro, uses inductive charging, and can detect swipe and tap gestures on the sides of the Pencil  —  Apple Pencil 2.  Apple originally introduced the Apple Pencil in September 2015 as an accessory for the first-generation iPad Pro — the company's first iPad stylus.
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple says it will release iOS 12.1 on October 30 with Group FaceTime, new emoji, Dual SIM support, and more  —  iOS 12.1 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch will be available tomorrow as a free software update.  The first significant update to iOS 12 brings a variety of features including Group FaceTime …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Apple announces A12X Bionic 7-nanometer chip, an update to the A12, that has a seven-core GPU and eight-core CPU, processing up to 5T operations per second  —  It's been just a few short weeks since Apple unveiled the A12 Bionic, but at an event in New York City, the Cupertino upstaged it with a more powerful model: the A12X Bionic.
More: MacRumors and 9to5Mac
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Apple announces an updated Mac mini in space gray with Intel 8th gen CPU with four to six cores, up to 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD, starting at $799 for 8GB RAM model  —  Now that the Air's got shiny new update, it's time for the other major neglected entry in the Mac line.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Apple unveils MacBook Air with Retina 13.3" display, 50% narrower bezel, wedge design, Touch ID, USB-C ports, no Touch Bar, 8th gen Intel CPU, for $1,199+  —  Apple has brought the MacBook Air back to life today, announcing the first proper refresh of its super thin laptop line in three years during its October hardware event.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Apple says there are now 100M active Mac users, with 51% of buyers buying for the first time  —  Apple CEO Tim Cook announced during the company's “More in the Making” event in New York City that the company has 100 million active Mac users.  He added that 51 percent of Mac buyers are …
Asiff Hirji / The Coinbase Blog:
Coinbase raises $300M Series E led by Tiger Global Management at a post-money valuation of $8B+  —  At Coinbase, we believe that cryptocurrencies and the technologies that power them represent a breakthrough in computer science that will change both the internet and the global financial system for the better.
Nick Summers / Engadget:
Nintendo says it sold 3.19M Switch units in Q2, passing the GameCube's total sales with 22.86M units, and reports profit of ~$274M on revenue of ~$1.96B  —  The Nintendo Switch has overtaken another console in lifetime sales: the GameCube.  The company sold 3.19 million units in the last quarter …
BuzzFeed News:
Sources: 200+ Google engineers organizing company-wide “women's walk” walkout, expected Nov. 1, following reports of Google protecting alleged sexual harassers  —  A group of more than two hundred engineers at Google are organizing a company-wide “women's walk” …
Rose Eveleth / Motherboard:
NY's Lockport City school district has begun implementing a controversial surveillance system with facial recognition software and a tool to identify guns  —  Installed in the wake of recent high-profile mass shootings, controversial facial recognition systems that scan students' faces …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google releases reCAPTCHA v3 API that is more customizable and runs adaptive risk analysis in the background to alert webmasters of suspicious traffic  —  CAPTCHAs are a common test on the web and are designed to differentiate between actual users and bots.
Kate Clark / TechCrunch:
App performance platform HeadSpin raises $20M Series B at a $500M valuation after exiting stealth last year  —  HeadSpin has closed a $20 million Series B, valuing the provider of mobile application performance software at $500 million.  New investors ICONIQ Capital, Battery Ventures …
Raymond Zhong / New York Times:
How China-based Bytedance, worth ~$75B, has crossed borders with relative ease by focusing on apps with light, affirming fare aimed toward young people  —  BEIJING — A Chinese internet company that serves up homemade break-dancing videos, dishy news bites and goofy hashtag challenges …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Uber announces Ride Pass, a $14.99+ per month service that locks in a flat fare for UberX and UberPool trips, available today in five US cities  —  For $14.99 a month, riders get flat, heavily discounted fares that can save them 15 percent on travel  —  Uber has a new plan to lock customers …
Jeff Benjamin / 9to5Mac:
Blackmagic Design launches Blackmagic eGPU Pro with Radeon RX Vega 56, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, DisplayPort connectivity, and more, starting at $1,199  —  Alongside the brand new Mac mini and MacBook Air, Blackmagic Design has launched a new external graphics chassis with a faster Radeon RX Vega 64 inside.

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: