Techmeme
April 8, 2015, 6:40 PM

Top News

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Apple Watch review: a blissful link from the digital world to my brain, but has a steep learning curve, requires fine-tuning of notifications settings  —  Apple Watch Bliss, but Only After a Steep Learning Curve  —  It took three days — three long, often confusing and frustrating days — for me to fall for the Apple Watch.
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Apple Watch review: easily the best smartwatch, but costlier than rivals, and with performance issues in apps and locations services  —  Apple Watch: the definitive review  —  The Apple Watch is an extraordinarily small and personal device.  It is designed to participate in nearly every moment …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Apple Watch review: falls short of conventional watches as a timepiece, but Taptic Engine is a breakthrough  —  The Apple Watch  —  Apple Watch is, in many ways, the Bizarro iPhone — in some ways parallel and similar, but in others, the inverse, the opposite.  —  Both were introduced as three things in one.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases iOS 8.3, including new emojis with diversity, new Siri languages, more  —  Following the release of OS X 10.10.3 to the public, Apple has also released iOS 8.3 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.  The update, which has been in beta for several months, brings over 300 new emojis …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple Releases OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 With Photos for OS X App, Emoji Updates  —  As expected, Apple today released OS X Yosemite 10.10.3, the first significant feature-rich update the operating system has received.  OS X 10.10.3 was first seeded to developers in February, and was provided to public beta testers in March.
Matthew Lynley / TechCrunch:
Apple Quietly Bought Dryft, A Keyboard App  —  Apple quietly bought Dryft, a startup that develops keyboard apps — an acquisition that appears to have occurred last year — TechCrunch has learned.  —  The acquisition seemed to be confirmed by Randy Marsden's LinkedIn profile, which lists him as joining Apple last September.
Kurt Wagner / Re/code:
Facebook launches a standalone website for Messenger at Messenger.com, intended for users who want to chat without other Facebook distractions  —  Facebook Launches Messenger for Web Browsers  —  Facebook is bringing Messenger, its standalone messaging tool, to the Web.
New York Times:
Zynga founder and chairman Mark Pincus returns as CEO, replacing Don Mattrick  —  Mark Pincus, Zynga's Founder, Returns as C.E.O.  —  When Mark Pincus hired a new executive to run Zynga, the online games company he founded, he tweeted a message calling the executive, Don Mattrick, an “Internet treasure.”
Gabor Cselle / The Twitter Blog:
Twitter retires Discover and Activity features for iOS and Android users, moves Trends tool to search page  —  Updating trends on mobile  —  Trends are a great way to find out what people are talking about on Twitter at a given moment and at a single glance.
Xbox Wire:
TV on Xbox Gets More Versatile with Over-the-Air Tuner for the U.S. and Canada  —  At Xbox, we're committed to delivering amazing new gaming and entertainment experiences, and part of that commitment includes giving you the best TV-viewing options, in one place, never more than one step away from your gaming.
Rebecca R. Ruiz / New York Times:
FCC fines AT&T $25M for failing to protect personal information, including SSNs, of customers  —  F.C.C. Fines AT&T $25 Million for Privacy Breach  —  The Federal Communications Commission announced on Wednesday a $25 million fine against AT&T for failing to protect the personal information …
Dan Graziano / CNET:
Dell introduces Venue 10 7000 Android tablet: 10.5" screen, starts at $499, $629 with keyboard dock, on sale in US and China later this month  —  Dell's new Android tablet is built for work and play (hands-on)  —  As the name implies, the main difference between the two slates is the Venue 10's display.
Blair Hanley Frank / GeekWire:
Oyster takes aim at Amazon with new e-book store, lands all ‘Big Five’ publishers … Oyster launched a new version of its e-book platform today that puts it in even closer competition with Amazon.  The New York-based startup introduced its own e-book store to augment its existing Netflix-esque e-book subscription service.
Andrew Nusca / Fortune:
Fortune hires six former Gigaom reporters to double down on its technology coverage  —  Fortune bulks up on technology coverage, hires 6 Gigaom veterans  —  When technology industry executives visit Fortune's New York City headquarters, one of the things I enjoy most is when they inevitably slow …
Business Insider:
Yahoo reorganization may end Tumblr's run as an independent unit  —  Marissa Mayer is doing a huge shakeup at Yahoo and Tumblr will never be the same  —  Yahoo is planning a big reorganization that will bring Tumblr more closely into the company, instead of allowing it to be run as a largely independent business unit.
Chris Crum / WebProNews:
Twitter confirms it's experimenting with a new search interface with more filtering options  —  Twitter Confirms It's Messing With Its Search Experience  —  While covering Google's closure of Google Moderator earlier, I searched Twitter on the desktop to see what people were saying about it …
Thanks:@ccrum237
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Amazon Echo adds Hue and WeMo smart home voice control  —  Amazon Echo is digging its voice-controlled fingers deeper into the smart home, with Amazon adding Philips Hue and Belkin WeMo support to the always-listening home assistant.  The new functionality, pushed out to Echo units from today …
Megan Geuss / Ars Technica:
Microsoft applies to be a Money Services Business and for money transmitter licenses in all 50 states, paves the way for payment platform  —  “Microsoft Payments” may join Apple, Android, Samsung in pay platforms  —  Windows 10 for phones supports Host Card Emulation, licensing makes it official.
More: Politico
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Operator app from Uber co-founder Garret Camp will fulfill requests such as purchases and deliveries  —  Uber Co-Founder's Startup ‘Operator’ Will Get You What You Want  —  Send an instant message asking for something, and they'll do the grunt work of placing your order and getting it delivered to you.
Richard Lai / Engadget:
HTC One M9+ launches in China: 5.2" Quad HD screen, fingerprint sensor, MediaTek SoC  —  HTC's bigger and better One M9+ launches in China  —  HTC clearly gets China's obsession with large-screen phones.  Following the plastic 5.5-inch One E9+, the company is back with the metallic M9+ which …

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