Techmeme: Doctors share and discuss anonymous photos of patients with Instagram-like app Figure 1 (John Herrman/The Awl)

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October 20, 2014, 7:15 AM

Top News

Parmy Olson / Forbes:

Microsoft plans to launch a fitness-focused wearable in the next few weeks with more than two-day battery life, multi-platform support — Microsoft Plans To Launch A Wearable Device Within Weeks — Microsoft is gearing up to launch a wearable device within the next few weeks, Forbes has learned.

More: Guardian, Digital Trends, Inquirer, BetaNews, VentureBeat, The Verge, Electronista, Ubergizmo, TechWeekEurope UK, Channel EYE, THE CORNERPLAY, ITProPortal, Japan Today, CNET, GeekWire, Connectedly, Gizmodo, PC World, USA Today, Neowin, SlashGear, App Advice, Business Insider, WMPoweruser and Seeking Alpha. Tweets: @tomwarren. Thanks:@aatilley

Chris Welch / The Verge:

This is the Fitbit Surge, a $250 ‘superwatch’ with built-in GPS — GPS and heart rate monitoring headline Fitbit's next flagship wearable — Fitbit is preparing to launch three new fitness trackers in the coming weeks. Two of those will be the Charge and Charge HR.

More: SlashGear, Ubergizmo, Engadget, CNET, Digital Trends, Connectedly, The Wearable Stuff, Gizmodo, Gizmodo UK and App Advice

Tweets: @piercedavid and @ow

Kevin Roose / New York Magazine:

Marc Andreessen on the evolution of Silicon Valley and technology's impact on the economy — Marc Andreessen on Why Optimism Is Always the Safest Bet — The Netscape creator turned Silicon Valley sage on why optimism is always the safest bet. — It's not hard to coax an opinion out of Marc Andreessen.

Tweets: @bznotes, @caseynewton, @davemcclure, @codinghorror, @seldo, @pkafka and @semil

Bloomberg:

IBM Agrees to Pay Globalfoundries $1.5 Billion to Take Chip Unit — International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) agreed to pay Globalfoundries Inc. $1.5 billion to take an unprofitable chip-manufacturing unit off its hands, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

More: Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, New York Times, Gigaom, Inquirer, The Register, Guardian, Reuters, Seeking Alpha, Gigaom, Re/code, Tech Trader Daily, VentureBeat, TheStreet.com, bit-tech.net and Business Insider

Tweets: @fmbutt, @thestalwart, @felixsalmon, @tomgara, @iankar_ and @pmarca

Brian Stucki / Macminicolo Blog:

2014 Mac mini: RAM is not user-replaceable, no dual-drive server version — A look at the 2014 Mac mini — We've been working extensively with Mac minis for nearly 10 years. (Yes, we're nearing the tenth anniversary for the more-popular-than-you-think Mac.)

More: Gizmodo, TechCrunch, ITProPortal, Engadget, SlashGear, Ubergizmo and AppleInsider. Tweets: @drunknbass

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Amid pressure from activist investors, Marissa Mayer to detail Yahoo's cost-cutting plan and acquisitions strategy during Tuesday's earnings call — Yahoo CEO Set to Refresh Turnaround Plan — Firm to Release Quarterly Results Tuesday, Detail Its Current Efforts

More: VentureBeat, Business Insider, Bloomberg and Seeking Alpha

John Herrman / The Awl:

Doctors share and discuss anonymous photos of patients with Instagram-like app Figure 1 — The Uncanny Language of Medical Instagram — A few months ago I came across an old story about an app called Figure 1. It was billed as “Medicine's Answer to Instagram,” and had apparently just raised a couple million dollars.

Chris Ziegler / The Verge:

Tesla built a sophisticated autonomous driving system, but its advancements are incremental — Tesla's autopilot isn't special (but it's still cool) — An important non-revolution for self-driving cars — “We've been able to accelerate autopilot and bring it to market faster …

More: Engadget

Amy Schatz / Re/code:

Pressing Fwd.us: How Silicon Valley's $50 Million Bet on Immigration Stalled — When President Barack Obama decided in early September to postpone immigration reform, it marked the beginning of the end of Joe Green's tenure as the head of one of Silicon Valley's most ambitious political groups …

Gideon Rosenblatt / Medium:

Google's information processing and Amazon's transaction processing platforms are headed for a collision in the battle to dominate local retail — The Google—Amazon Retail Slugfest — Two competitors, seemingly in different businesses, now determine the future of shopping.

Christopher Breen / Macworld:

Remembering Macworld Expo: Why we went to the greatest trade show on earth — This morning IDG announced that Macworld Expo (later known as Macworld/iWorld) is going on hiatus. How permanent this break is depends entirely on whether those running the show can find a financial model …

Tweets: @settern

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