Techmeme
June 17, 2014, 11:50 AM

Top News

Thomas Gryta / Wall Street Journal:
AT&T to Exclusively Carry Amazon Smartphone  —  Amazon Expected to Unveil its Phone on Wednesday in Seattle  —  AT&T Inc. will be the exclusive carrier for Amazon.com Inc. 's new smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the plans.
Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg:
Apple Settles E-Books Pricing Case With States, Consumers  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) reached a settlement with U.S. states and consumers seeking damages over the company's fixing of electronic book prices, avoiding a trial in which it faced as much as $840 million in claims.
New York Times:
Jonathan Ive on Apple's Design Process and Product Philosophy  —  When Steven P. Jobs led Apple, he created a core principle for the company's designers and engineers: stay fully focused on making great products.  —  That philosophy continues to guide Apple, even under its new chief executive …
Matt Burns / TechCrunch:
Nest Brings Back The Protect At $99, But Waving Is Still Disabled  —  The Nest Protect is now available following its two-month hiatus after it was pulled for safety concerns.  The smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector is now only $99, down from its $129 launch price.
Marcus Wohlsen / Wired:
A Rare Peek Inside Amazon's Massive Wish-Fulfilling Machine  —  The first thing I saw when I walked into Amazon's Phoenix warehouse was a man riding on a giant tricycle.  Behind him, yellow plastic tubs the size of office recycling bins whizzed by on a conveyor belt.
Mike Rispoli / Privacy International:
UK intelligence forced to reveal secret policy for mass surveillance of residents' Facebook and Google use  —  Britain's top counter-terrorism official has been forced to reveal a secret Government policy justifying the mass surveillance of every Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google user in the UK.
Sara M. Watson / The Atlantic Online:
Why customized ads are so creepy, even when they miss their target  —  Why customized ads are so creepy, even when they miss their target  —  “What is it about my data that suggests I might be a good fit for an anorexia study?”  That's the question my friend Jean asked me after she saw …
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
The history of Android  —  Android's home screen over the years.  —  Android has been with us in one form or another for more than six years.  During that time, we've seen an absolutely breathtaking rate of change unlike any other development cycle that has ever existed.
Leslie Horn / Gizmodo:
SoundCloud, with 300M users, focuses on monetization, considers licensing deals, pre-roll ads  —  How SoundCloud Changed Music Forever  —  Some of the best ideas are also the simplest.  And there are few things more simple than SoundCloud, which in its seven year existence has sneakily become one of the best things online.
Tweets: @waxpancake
Tasneem Raja / Mother Jones:
On the importance of schools fostering “computational thinking” at a young age  —  Is Coding the New Literacy? … Detail from “On the Mode of Communication of Cholera,” 1854 … Upending our notions of what it means to interface with computers could help democratize …
More: NPR
Jill Lepore / New Yorker:
What the Theory of “Disruptive Innovation” Gets Wrong  —  In the last years of the nineteen-eighties, I worked not at startups but at what might be called finish-downs.  Tech companies that were dying would hire temps—college students and new graduates—to do what little was left of the work of the employees they'd laid off.
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority:
Moto G 4G LTE now available directly from Motorola for $219  —  The Moto G continues to be one of the most popular devices world-wide.  In fact, it is Motorola's most sold smartphone ever made!  It came as no surprise that Motorola would release a worthy successor.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Parallels' new remote desktop apps let you control your PC like a phone  —  Remote desktop apps have an easier time working on tablets, where you have a lot of display area to work with, but they're frequently awkward on smartphones.  Wouldn't it be nice if you could control a PC at home like it was just another phone app?
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
Democrats unveil legislation forcing the FCC to ban Internet fast lanes  —  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. gesturing during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)  —  Democratic lawmakers will unveil a piece …
More: BGR and The Verge
The Unicode Blog:
Unicode version 7.0 released: 2,834 new characters including 250 emoji  —  Announcing The Unicode Standard, Version 7.0  —  Version 7.0 of the Unicode Standard is now available, adding 2,834 new characters.  This latest version adds the new currency symbols for the Russian ruble and Azerbaijani manat …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook Paper's New Trending Section Makes It A Better Softcore News Reader  —  Facebook Paper is pretty, but sluggish when it comes to news.  Its human-curated sections take a while to ingest the latest world events and gossip.  But today's 1.2 update adds a “Trending” …

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:50 AM ET, June 17, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Steven Levy / Wired:
Wall Street Journal: