Techmeme
October 17, 2014, 4:40 PM

Top News

Guardian:
Guardian responds to Whisper's denials, stands by its claims, urges media and users to keep pressing Whisper  —  Whisper: the facts  —  Executives from the anonymous social media app have dismissed as a ‘pack of lies’ the Guardian's revelation that they track users.  But the evidence is clear
Jonathan Zdziarski:
Whisper iOS app collects user location within 100 meters, data could be fuzzed server-side  —  Preliminary Findings on Whisper  —  At the suggestion of @kashhill, I did a brief analysis of the Whisper iOS application, which appears to be at the height of controversy with respect to user privacy.
Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:
Whisper's Neetzan Zimmerman says the Guardian's coverage deliberately misrepresents how the service works  —  Neetzan Zimmerman, who runs the editorial operation at Whisper, said in an interview that a series of stories by The Guardian that raised concerns about the anonymous app's privacy …
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
Snapchat:
Snapchat ads to roll out this weekend, will appear as a single ad in “Recent Updates” for US users, never in personal communications  —  Advertising on Snapchat  —  This weekend we're placing an advertisement in “Recent Updates” for Snapchatters in the United States.
Jason Del Rey / Re/code:
Amazon Fresh launches in New York, starting with Brooklyn's Park Slope area, for Amazon Prime members  —  Amazon Confirms It Will Deliver Fresh Groceries in New York City  —  Amazon's grocery delivery business is launching in New York City on Friday, the company said …
Dan Frommer / Quartz:
This new “Apple SIM” could legitimately disrupt the wireless industry  —  Perhaps the most interesting news about Apple's new iPad Air 2 tablet is buried at the bottom of one of its marketing pages: It will come pre-installed with a new “Apple SIM” card instead of one from a specific mobile operator.
Wall Street Journal:
Apple's iPhone 6 Finally Makes Its Debut in China  —  Apple launched its latest iPhone in China on Friday morning.  But unlike some past debuts for its new gadgets, the event was decidedly low-key.  —  About 100 customers waited in line Friday morning outside Apple's store …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Gaming company Razer valued at $1B+ after new funding from Intel  —  Gaming Company Razer Is Now Valued At $1B+  —  Razer, the San Diego-based high-end gaming tech company, is on a roll.  In the wake of the latest models of its thin Blade gaming laptops, a partnership with Tencent in China …
Allen Pike:
Developer notes difficulties of supporting old iPads, says obsolescence of A5 CPU is overdue  —  The iPad zombie  —  In March 2011, Apple announced the iPad 2.  It was an incredible leap forward, dramatically thinner and faster than the original iPad.  In many ways, the iPad 2 was when the iPad hit its stride.
Nancy Scola / Washington Post:
Obama nominates ex-Google lawyer Michelle Lee to head US patent office in a victory for Silicon Valley  —  Obama nominates former Google exec to lead U.S. Patent Office  —  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria in 2011.  (Alex Brandon/AP)  —  Michelle K. Lee …
Martin Peers / The Information:
HBO's standalone online streaming service likely won't be less than pay TV retail price of $15/month  —  HBO's Online Pricing Trap  —  HBO's broadband service looks doomed even before it starts.  —  While HBO hasn't disclosed details, pricing of the new broadband offering most likely …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Cortana gets new features powered by Bing: Evening alerts, concerts, flights, and local app recommendations  —  Microsoft today announced improvements to Cortana that take advantage of recent Bing advancements in speech recognition, entity understanding, and stream processing.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
MasterCard Will Borrow A Touch ID Trick For Fingerprint Scanning Credit Card  —  Apple isn't the only company using biometrics to authenticate payments and purchases - Apple Pay partner MasterCard wants to make fingerprint scanning something even people without an iOS device can use to digitally ‘sign’ for contactless transactions.
Carmel DeAmicis / Gigaom:
Facebook may have solved mobile, but Google is still struggling with it  —  Although Google missed the earnings mark, its overall health is strong.  —  Google's mobile ad strategy is sounding a lot like Facebook's these days.  On its third quarter earnings call Thursday …
Conor Dougherty / New York Times:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:40 PM ET, October 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

Xav de Matos / Joystiq:

Earlier Picks

Stephen Shankland / CNET:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch: