Techmeme: A look at the history of Richard Stallman's GNU Manifesto and its impact as it turns 30 this month (Maria Bustillos/New Yorker)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

March 22, 2015, 4:10 AM

Top News

David Ruddock / Android Police:

New “On-Body Detection” Smart Lock Mode In Android Seems To Be Hitting Some Devices — If a tipster's screenshots are to be believed (and I think in this case, they are to be believed), Google is testing and / or rolling out a new smart lock mode called on-body detection.

More: PC Magazine, 9to5Google, The Verge, SlashGear, CNET, Engadget, Android Authority, Digital Trends, GSMArena Blog, Ubergizmo, PC World, PhoneDog.com and Pocketnow

Ellen Huet / Forbes:

Newly merged Kuaidi-Didi reportedly controls 99% of Chinese taxi-hailing market, claims 6M rides per day, putting Uber's future in China at risk — In Wake Of Kuaidi-Didi Merger, Uber Faces An Even Tougher Battle In China — During the Lunar New Year in China, taxi-hailing app Kuaidi showered its riders with red envelopes.

Tweets: @chen_liyan and @ellenhuet

The Economic Times:

Ola, Indian rival of Uber, launches food delivery service, is raising $500M round at an estimated $2B valuation — Ola now allows you to order food — The service will be available as one of the options in the existing Ola app in select localities across four cities.

More: The Tech Portal, Tech in Asia, TechCrunch, The Next Web, MediaNama, Trak.in and VatorNews

TechCrunch:

Kleiner defense rests its case, and judge rules Ellen Pao may indeed seek punitive damages — Pao Vs. Kleiner Defense Rests Its Case, Showcasing A Different Side Of The Story — Yesterday afternoon, the legal team representing venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers rested …

More: Re/code, Re/code, The Verge, bizjournals, Business Insider, Reuters, Business Insider, ABC News and VentureBeat

ABC News:

Apple provides a peek into its Watch fitness testing facility, reveals it collected 18K hours of health and fitness data in testing — Inside Apple's Top Secret Health and Fitness Lab for Apple Watch Development … Apple, known for keeping its product developments under the strictest of lock-and-key …

Maria Bustillos / New Yorker:

A look at the history of Richard Stallman's GNU Manifesto and its impact as it turns 30 this month — The GNU Manifesto Turns Thirty — Unix, one of the earliest computer-operating systems, was developed between the late nineteen-sixties and the early nineteen-eighties …

Horace Dediu / Asymco:

Market saturation, rising monthly fees, lack of innovation, and broadband expansion make cable TV's decline inevitable in the US — Peak Cable — Paying for TV has been a curious consumer phenomenon. There was a time when TV was free to consumers. It was delivered as a broadcast …

More: Mashable and TechCrunch. Tweets: @michaelpinto, @caseynewton, @themurdochtimes and @jonsteinberg

Kyle VanHemert / Wired:

Apple's new haptic trackpad suggests a future in which we won't just see interfaces but also feel them — Apple's Haptic Tech Makes Way for Tomorrow's Touchable UIs — If you're into magic tricks, stop by an Apple Store and park yourself in front of a new 13-inch MacBook Pro.

More: 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com and The Loop. Tweets: @wired_design

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Amazon is working on a storefront called Unlocked to offer paid apps for free; no launch date set — Amazon ‘Unlocked’ Will Give Away Paid Apps For Free — Amazon has been working hard to build up the popularity of its Android-based Appstore with consumers and developers …

More: GeekWire, Phones Review, Neowin, PC World, GSMArena Blog, Digital Trends, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, PC Magazine, Engadget, CrackBerry.com, Phandroid, PhoneDog.com, Business Insider, Pocketnow, Canadianreviewer.com, The Verge, The Next Web and GamePolitics blogs

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Sources: Meerkat raises a $12M Series B led by Greylock at a $40M pre-money valuation — |LIVE NOW| Meerkat Raises $12M From Greylock At A $40M Valuation — If you're reading TechCrunch right now (you are, by the way), chances are you have at least heard of Meerkat.

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @sfiegerman, @rsg, @johnolilly and @mikeisaac

David Ruddock / Android Police:

Facebook testing app that provides info on callers and automatically blocks calls from commonly blocked numbers on Android — Facebook Appears To Be Testing A Dialer And Caller ID App For Android, And It's Called... Phone — Facebook, that company that is constantly trying to confuse …

More: SlashGear, Digital Trends, The Verge, GSMArena Blog, VentureBeat, Ubergizmo and Canadianreviewer.com

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Apple Stops Supporting Windows 7 in Boot Camp on New MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Models — Apple's newly refreshed MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro models no longer support running Windows 7 with Boot Camp, according to Apple's Boot Camp support document. Boot Camp on the new notebooks …

More: PC Magazine, Digital Trends, Cult of Mac, Thurrott.com, iMore, SlashGear, Neowin, Ubergizmo, MacNN, AppleInsider, iClarified, AppleInsider and 9to5Mac

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Soxton:

AI-powered law for startups — Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better. We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts. Join the waitlist for early access!

Zoho:

Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements — 2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …

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.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:

Alex And Ranjan's 2026 Outlook: ChatGPT 1 Billion, AI Shopping, Apple's Big Year, AI Love Boom

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:

Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress?

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.

The Talk Show With John Gruber:

'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson

The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.

Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control

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.

BG2 Pod:

AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean

Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.

Subscribe to BG2 Pod.

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.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:10 AM ET, March 22, 2015.

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.