Techmeme
May 21, 2013, 5:05 PM

Top News

Microsoft:
Microsoft unveils Xbox One: the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system  —  Blockbuster titles, Steven Spielberg-produced Halo TV series, and exclusive agreements with the NFL transform games, TV and entertainment for the 21st century living room.  —  A new vision for the future comes …
Chris Kohler / Wired:
How Xbox One Plans to Fight Sony, Steam, and Everything Else  —  The other day, unable to take it anymore, we sucked it up and ordered HBO.  We needed our Game of Thrones fix immediately.  When the order went through and we were ready to binge-watch, it wasn't our cable box we turned on, but our Xbox.
Ben Gilbert / Engadget:
Microsoft unveils its next game console, the Xbox One  —  Microsoft debuted the Xbox One this afternoon live from a tent on its Redmond, WA. campus, putting to end months of speculation about the company's next-generation video game console.  Microsoft exec Don Mattrick called it out as an “all-in-one” box.
Sharif Sakr / Engadget:
Xbox One hardware and specs: 8-core CPU, 8GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and more  —  Slot-loading Blu-ray drive?  Check.  HDMI in and out?  Absolutely, considering the Xbox One is meant to play a central role in the living room.  There's an octa-core processor based on AMD's Jaguar design …
Reuters:
Ireland rejects blame for Apple's low tax rate  —  (Reuters) - Ireland said on Tuesday it was not to blame for Apple Inc's low global tax payments and had no special rate deal with the company after the U.S. Senate said it paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries.
Jim Puzzanghera / Los Angeles Times:
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Flickr, Vimeo integration likely to bolster social ties in iOS 7  —  In the upcoming overhaul of its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system, iOS 7, Apple plans to include an increased presence of third-party social networks, including Flickr and Vimeo, according to a person familiar with the software.
Donna Tam / CNET:
NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400  —  An administrative law judge decides that a man leasing a condo broke New York's laws after he rented out part of his home on Airbnb.  —  New York officials have determined that a man who rented out part of his apartment on Airbnb …
Bruce Upbin / Forbes:
IBM's Watson Now A Customer Service Agent, Coming To Smartphones Soon  —  IBM's question-answering Watson supercomputer is building quite the résumé.  First it won a much-publicized showdown against the two greatest Jeopardy! champions of all time, then it went to medical school and emerged as a budding oncologist.
Christopher Mims / Quartz:
The audacious plan to end hunger with 3-D printed food  —  Anjan Contractor's 3D food printer might evoke visions of the “replicator” popularized in Star Trek, from which Captain Picard was constantly interrupting himself to order tea.  And indeed Contractor's company, Systems & Materials Research Corporation …
Wall Street Journal:
Hazards of the Buzzy Startup in Light of Tumblr Buy  —  Yahoo's Purchase of Tumblr Puts Spotlight on Highfliers Like Pinterest, Quora With Little Revenue  —  Yahoo Inc.'s $1.1 billion deal for Tumblr Inc. is a fairy-tale ending for the blogging site, which fetched a rich price despite its meager revenue.

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