Techmeme
October 30, 2014, 8:50 PM

Top News

Tim Cook / Businessweek:
Tim Cook publicly acknowledges he's gay, says giving up his personal privacy is worthwhile if it helps others struggling with their sexual orientation  —  Tim Cook: “I'm Proud to be Gay”  —  Throughout my professional life, I've tried to maintain a basic level of privacy.
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Thank you, Tim Cook  —  Why we're not “moving on” from the Apple CEO's big statement today  —  In a way, what Tim Cook said today felt inevitable.  At least since 2008, when Owen Thomas asked the question in Gawker, a steady accretion of reporting has suggested Apple's chief executive is gay.
Dave McNary / Variety:
Seth Rogen Set as Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs Biopic  —  Seth Rogen has been set to star as Steve Wozniak opposite Christian Bale in Sony's Steve Jobs biopic.  —  Variety reported on Oct. 15 that Bale was in talks to star in “Jobs,” Sony's biopic about the late Apple co-founder.
Garett Sloane / Adweek:
Instagram ads arrive in the form of 15-second autoplay spots from Disney, Activision, Lancome, Banana Republic, and the CW  —  Instagram's Video Ads Are Finally Live, and Here Are 4 From Major Brands  —  Disney, Activision and Banana Republic among early buyers
Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:
Google's robotics lead and Android founder Andy Rubin leaving the company to start an incubator for hardware startups, will be replaced by James Kuffner  —  Former Android Leader Andy Rubin Leaving Google  —  Rubin Is Starting an Incubator for Startups Interested in Building Technology-Hardware Products
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple No Longer Rejecting Calculator Widgets From The App Store  —  The maker of a popular iOS app and widget, PCalc, which took advantage of iOS 8's support for Notification Center Widgets, was recently told by Apple that his handy app would be pulled from the App Store due to the fact that …
Yoree Koh / Wall Street Journal:
Twitter demotes Daniel Graf, elevates Kevin Weil to lead consumer product group  —  Twitter Demotes Product Chief Daniel Graf  —  Kevin Weil Becomes Fifth Product Head in As Many Years  —  Twitter Inc. has demoted its new head of product, Daniel Graf, just six months after his much-touted hire away from Google Inc.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
IDC: Tablet shipments grew 11.5% in Q3 2014, but leaders Apple, Samsung, and Asus all lost market share  —  The tablet market continues to grow, albeit not as quickly as before.  Q4 2013 saw 53.8 million units ship worldwide, up 11.5 percent from 47.6 million the same quarter last year.
Steve Dent / Engadget:
LG slims smartphone bezels to a virtually non-existent 0.7mm  —  You might talk about how much you hate large bezels, but LG is actually doing something about it.  It just unveiled a 5.3-inch, 1080p LCD display with 0.7mm bezels, less than the width of a credit card.
Todd Holmdahl / The Official Microsoft Blog:
Microsoft Health announced: a platform that works with Jawbone UP, RunKeeper, and more; app available for Windows Phone, Android, iOS  —  Introducing Microsoft Health  —  Today we're announcing a new platform called Microsoft Health.  Within health and fitness, there is rapid innovation …
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:
Kamcord gameplay recording platform gets into mobile gaming competitions starting with SEGA  —  Kamcord, the mobile gameplay recording platform that offers developers an easy way to implement cross-platform gameplay recording and sharing features, is today announcing its next big push in mobile gaming: competitions.
Roberto Baldwin / The Next Web:
Smule's karaoke app update now lets you make music videos with friends  —  Karaoke is experiencing a rise in popularity.  As a society, we've seen that singing in public, both on TV and YouTube, isn't as weird as our parents led us to believe.  In fact, it could lead to to fame and riches.
More: VentureBeat and 9to5Mac
Shandra Martinez / MLive.com:
Regional grocery chain Meijer will continue to provide both Apple Pay and CurrentC services  —  Why Meijer isn't ditching Apple Pay like other retailers  —  With the wave of an iPhone 6 or the yet-to-be-released Apple Watch, you can buy groceries or fill up your gas tank at Meijer using Apple Pay.

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