Techmeme
March 6, 2019, 6:50 PM

Top News

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is working on rebuilding its messaging services to be more interoperable, ephemeral, privacy-focused, with end-to-end encryption  —  A major new blog post about Facebook's future  —  Facebook will increasingly shift its focus away from public posts to encrypted …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Google brings its Duplex AI restaurant booking assistant to 43 states for Pixel 3 owners starting today and will soon roll it out to other Android users and iOS  —  No moment wowed the audience at last year's I/O more than Duplex.  The demo of the artificial intelligence restaurant …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it is making its Windows calculator app open source, available now on GitHub  —  Windows developers can help build the calculator now  —  Microsoft is making the source code for its Windows calculator available on GitHub today.  The software maker wants to …
Scott Rosenberg / Axios:
Axios Harris Poll of US adults: Facebook's reputation dropped from 51st to 94th in 2018, following myriad scandals; Amazon, Netflix, and Apple remained steady  —  Data: The Axios Harris Poll 100; Chart: Axios Visuals  —  Facebook's reputation took a long dive over the past year …
Tom Randall / Bloomberg:
Waymo starts selling lidar sensors to customers who don't compete with its robotaxi business, expects increased production of sensors to lower costs  —  Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving car unit, Waymo, is getting into the sensor business.  —  Waymo is set on Wednesday to begin selling …
Sam Kim / Bloomberg:
Sources say Samsung is working on two new foldable phones: a vertical clamshell device with an extra outside screen and one folding outward like Huawei's Mate X  —  - Device that folds from top to bottom is next in line  — ‘Outfolding’ model may also challenge Huawei, Xiaomi
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / Motherboard:
Sources describe the gray market for prototype iPhones, oftentimes with security features disabled, that iOS hackers have used to probe internals and find bugs  —  Very few people have heard of them, but “dev-fused” iPhones sold on the grey market are one of the most important tools for the best iOS hackers in the world.
Michael McWhertor / Polygon:
Following criticism, Valve says it will not distribute Rape Day, a game set to arrive in April on Steam that would have let players abuse women  —  Game about raping women in a zombie apocalypse pulled from Steam  —  Valve says it will not allow Rape Day, a visual novel that would have let players …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Apple says it will bring 1,200 employees to its San Diego offices over three years, with as many as 200 coming in 2019, and will add new labs and office space  —  - Apple announced it will bring 1,200 employees to San Diego over three years as it reportedly tries to bring its modem engineering in-house.
Sylvie Corbet / Associated Press:
France unveils 3% tax on large internet companies with over €25M in French digital revenues, affecting about 30 companies; law expected to pass in coming months  —  PARIS (AP) — The French government on Wednesday unveiled plans to slap a 3 percent tax on the French revenues of internet giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook.
Natt Garun / The Verge:
Fitbit announces new $160 Versa Lite smartwatch, $70 Inspire and $100 Inspire HR fitness trackers, and discontinues the Zip, Flex 2, Alta, and Alta HR  —  It's also discontinuing the Zip, Flex 2, Alta, and Alta HR  —  Fitbit's renewed take on the smartwatch appeared to have worked with the Versa …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Report: Snap reached settlements with 3+ women in 2018 who alleged discrimination after layoffs; one round eliminated only women from growth and design teams  —  Snap reached settlements with three women last year who alleged discrimination at the company after they were laid off, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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