Techmeme: Google's New Director Of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, Is Building Your ‘Cybernetic Friend’ (Gregory Ferenstein/TechCrunch)

January 6, 2013, 4:05 PM

Top News

Alex Wilhelm / The Next Web:

Google says Maps redirect on Windows Phone was a product decision, and will be removed — Today, a Google spokesperson provided The Next Web with a statement indicating that the company intends to remove the redirect that it has in place for Windows Phone users who attempt to access the Google Maps product …

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

The Strange Explanation Of Why Windows Phone Users Lost Access To Google Maps — On Friday, Windows Phone users supposedly found themselves unable to access Google Maps. But Google said it made no sudden change on its end to cause this. What happened? It seems likely many people simple noticed …

More: WMPoweruser, Tim Anderson's ITWriting, TechPinions and TECHGEEK.com.au. Tweets: @fxshaw

Paul Thurrott / SuperSite for Windows:

Explaining Windows 8 PC Sales Over the Holidays — It's time to stop denying that Windows 8 is off to a slow start — At some point, the cheerleaders—and yes, amazingly, they're out there—are going to have to face reality: Windows 8 is selling slowly. More slowly than Windows 7 at launch …

More: Computerworld, TechSpot, CNET, NPD Group, Business Insider, Newsome.Org, The Verge, parislemon, PC World, VentureBeat, LAPTOP Magazine, The Next Web, Neowin and The Verge

Tweets: @ihnatko, @marxculture and @olebegemann

MG Siegler / TechCrunch:

The Fifth Horseman: Samsung — We all know the “four horsemen” of tech: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. These are the companies that pretty much everyone agrees will shape the foreseeable future of the tech sector. In some circles, that list makes waves for who is not included: Microsoft.

More: atmaspheric, The Loop, Ars Technica and Edible Apple

Tweets: @valaafshar, @efeng, @lessien, @carnage4life and @joshconstine

Gregory Ferenstein / TechCrunch:

Google's New Director Of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, Is Building Your ‘Cybernetic Friend’ — World-renowned artificial intelligence expert and Google's new Director of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, wants to build a search engine so sophisticated that it could act like a ‘cybernetic friend,’ who knows users better than they know themselves.

More: Washington Post

Dana Wollman / Engadget:

Vizio debuts its first Windows 8 tablet, an 11.6-inch slate with a 1080p display, AMD processor — After breaking into the PC market last year, it was only a matter of time before Vizio released its first Windows 8 tablet. The company just announced the Vizio Tablet PC …

More: Gizmodo, ZDNet, VentureBeat, LAPTOP Magazine, The Verge, Neowin, Inquirer and Digits

Richard Lai / Engadget:

Lenovo to split into Lenovo Business Group and Think Business Group, effective in April — Lenovo's done pretty well since its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business in 2005, but in an internal e-mail earlier today, CEO Yang Yuanqing admitted that despite some attempt …

More: LAPTOP Magazine, Pocket-lint and The Verge

Dana Wollman / Engadget:

Vizio refreshes its PC lineup: all new models have touchscreens, quad-core CPUs — When Vizio entered the PC market last year, we weren't gushing about its computers, per se, but we found ourselves rooting for the company anyway: for all it got wrong (flaky trackpads, poor battery life), it did a lot of things right.

More: IGN and The Verge

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Wall Street Journal:

Life and Death Online: Who Controls a Digital Legacy? — Alison Atkins died on July 27 at age 16. Online, her family is losing its hold on her memory. Three days after the Toronto teen lost a long battle with a colon disease, her sister Jaclyn Atkins had a technician crack Alison's password-protected MacBook Pro.

More: Digits. Tweets: @geoffreyfowler

Agence France Presse:

Iran designing software for controlled social media access — TEHRAN — Iran is designing “intelligent software” that would give citizens restricted and controlled access to banned social networking sites, local media on Sunday quoted police chief Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam as saying.

More: CNET, The Next Web, The Verge, Gizmodo and Associated Press

David Beren / TmoNews:

T-Mobile's Unlimited Data Plan Coming Soon To Monthly4G — Some good news for Monthly4G customers as your opportunity to take advantage of T-Mobile's Unlimited 4G data plan finally arrives on January 9th. T-Mobile's Unlimited Nationwide 4G Data plan is “Perfect for video chat …

More: PC World, SlashGear, Mobile & Apps, The Verge, Engadget and Android Police

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

HBO Renews Universal Deal Through 2022 — HBO has renewed a pact with Universal Pictures, which will keep the studio's movies, like “Ted” and “Bourne Legacy” on the pay cable channel through 2022. — HBO, which normally plays up the value of its original productions like “Game of Thrones …

More: TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and atmaspheric

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