Techmeme: Meet Cloak, the ‘antisocial’ network that helps you avoid people (Caitlin Dewey/Washington Post)

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March 19, 2014, 6:40 PM

Top News

Richard Lai / Engadget:

Oppo Find 7 is the world's first phone that can take 50MP photos (video) — We've seen the teasers and we've seen the leaks, so it's about time to see the real thing. Oppo has finally unveiled the Find 7 in Beijing just now, and as promised, this Android 4.3 device really can take 50-megapixel photos!

Adrianne Jeffries / The Verge:

Twitter gives up on encrypting direct messages, at least for now — Twitter has shelved a project that would have made it more difficult for the government to intercept users' private messages without a court order, sources tell The Verge, a sudden reversal for a company that has been ahead …

More: Computerworld, ReadWrite, Android Community, Salon, SlashGear, Daily Dot, Softpedia News, Ubergizmo, Business Insider, SC Magazine and Gigaom

Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:

Huawei backtracks, won't release a dual-OS Android, Windows Phone smartphone — Huawei said it has no plans to release a dual-OS smartphone running Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, contradicting earlier statements from a Huawei executive.

More: eWeek, Engadget, Windows Phone Central, Phandroid, Coolsmartphone, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo, Pocketnow, Android Community, Android Police, SlashGear, WMPoweruser and Android Central

Diane Bartz / Reuters:

Exclusive: States to probe Comcast plan to buy Time Warner Cable — (Reuters) - Florida and other U.S. states will join the Justice Department in seeking to determine if Comcast's plan to merge with Time Warner Cable is legal under U.S. antitrust law, Florida said in a statement to Reuters.

More: The Verge, DSLreports, CNET, WebProNews, DailyTech, Softpedia News, SlashGear, Electronista, Engadget and Deadline.com

Ben Gilbert / Engadget:

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 now available by subscription for $19, headed to OS X and more — Unreal Engine 3 set the standard for games last generation, powering breakout franchises like Gears of War and Mass Effect. We don't know if Unreal Engine 4 will have the same impact …

More: Unreal Engine, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Electronista, CNET, The Verge, VG247, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Gamasutra and Joystiq. Tweets: @comex

Caitlin Dewey / Washington Post:

Meet Cloak, the ‘antisocial’ network that helps you avoid people — We have myriad tech-enabled ways to encounter friends (and strangers!) in real life. We can check in on Foursquare. Tag a location on Instagram. Swipe on Tinder. Tweet, from just about anywhere.

More: Engadget, Mashable, Lifehacker, BuzzFeed, BBC, Wired.co.uk, SiliconBeat, Daily Dot, CNET, PSFK, SiliconANGLE, memeburn and NEWS.com.au. Tweets: @fmanjoo

Bloomberg:

Burger King to Add Mobile-Phone Payment at U.S. Stores — Burger King Worldwide Inc. (BKW), the second-biggest U.S. burger chain by store count, is introducing an application that will allow customers to pay for Whoppers with their smartphones as it races rivals to woo younger diners.

More: iMore, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, MobilePaymentsToday.com News, Engadget, IntoMobile, Gigaom Research, App Advice and iDownloadBlog.com

Jay Hathaway / Gawker:

Dong Nguyen says Flappy Bird will return to the App Store, but not soon — Enjoy Your Life While You Can, Because Flappy Bird is Coming Back — The most addictive, dangerous new drug of 2014 is about to come back on the market. Game developer Dong Nguyen has announced that his hit game Flappy Bird …

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

In-depth with Android Wear, Google's quantum leap of a smartwatch OS — We take a look at how Android Wear works, and even manage to break some stuff. — Yesterday, Google announced Android Wear, its wearable device platform for smartwatches. Android Wear is a shrunken-down …

More: The Verge, LAPTOP Magazine, PandoDaily and Wearable Tech Insider

Chris Velazco / Engadget:

Quirky and GE cook up a smarter, prettier air conditioner — Quirky is more than just bendy power strips these days — recently, it's been pushing its vision of the connected home thanks to a multi-million dollar partnership with GE. So far their deal has yielded stuff like intelligent egg trays …

More: Gizmodo, The Verge, AppleInsider, Wall Street Journal, CNET, 9to5Mac, Quartz, TechCrunch, Co.Design, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo and Gigaom

Sean Hollister / The Verge:

The second Oculus Rift developer kit includes higher resolution panels, peripheral camera for position tracking, ships in July for $350 — World-builders, rejoice: the final Oculus Rift VR dev kit is here — One year ago today, Oculus introduced the first version of its prototype virtual reality headset …

More: Oculus VR, Polygon, CNET, GeekWire, New York Times, Kotaku, Engadget, PC Magazine, ReadWrite, TechSpot, The Tech Report, Tested, Joystiq, Wall Street Journal, Re/code, TechCrunch, Rock, Paper, Shotgun and Engadget

Tweets: @tomwarren, @starfire2258 and @starfire2258

Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg:

Google Won't Face Group E-Mail Privacy Lawsuit: Judge — Google Inc. (GOOG) won a major victory in its fight against claims it illegally scanned private e-mail messages to and from Gmail accounts, defeating a bid to unify lawsuits in a single group case on behalf of hundreds of millions of Internet users.

More: Ars Technica, Education Week, Marketing Pilgrim, Reuters, Naked Security, SlashGear, Electronista, The Register, bizjournals and Mercury News

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Want More Privacy In Your App? Wickr Resells Its Encryption, Self-Destructing Tech To Other Apps — Wickr, one of the wave of messaging apps built on the idea of private, encrypted and self-destructing data, has vowed never to make money off its users — with its app remaining free …

More: VatorNews, Re/code and VentureBeat

Ben Popper / The Verge:

Turntable.fm shuts down for good as founder launches new social app — Billy Chasen explains why the current music industry is killing digital startups and stifling innovation — When Turntable.fm took off during the summer of 2011, adding 140,000 users in its first month …

More: TechSpot, Medium, Medium and Guardian

Tweets: @danprimack and @aweissman

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Autodesk Buys Creative Market To Square Up To Adobe With A Marketplace For Designers And Makers — It looks like Autodesk has taken one more step forward in its bid to compete more with the likes of Adobe in the business of providing tools to the design community, but also a bigger step into the maker movement.

More: Creative Market, ZDNet, VentureBeat and SeekingAlpha.com

Liz Gannes / Re/code:

Google's Larry Page on Internet Privacy: Don't Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater — Google CEO Larry Page was hesitant to tell the world about the medical condition that was hurting his ability to speak, but publicly sharing his voice troubles helped him realize the value of openness.

More: The Verge, Business Insider, Bloomberg, TED Blog, Wired.co.uk and Search Engine Roundtable. Tweets: @om

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Sony's virtual reality headset won't be released this year — Sony thrilled PlayStation gamers last night when it unveiled Project Morpheus, the company's own take on a virtual reality headset that will eventually be paired with the PS4. But if you were expecting to see it in the form …

More: Computerworld and Laughing Squid

Sam Byford / The Verge:

Sony reveals Project Morpheus, its VR headset for PlayStation 4

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