Techmeme
May 6, 2015, 8:25 PM

Top News

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
First consumer version of Facebook's Oculus Rift VR headset to ship Q1 2016, pre-orders to start later in 2015  —  Facebook's Oculus Rift virtual reality headset will ship in early 2016  —  After months of rumours that the first commercial model of VR headset would slip beyond 2015, company confirms the news
Nathan Donato-Weinstein / bizjournals:
Mountain View city council allocates LinkedIn 1.4M of 2.2M square feet in North Bayshore, threatening Google's campus expansion plans  —  In stinging defeat for Google, LinkedIn scores lion's share of real estate capacity in Mountain View's North Bayshore  —  LinkedIn Corp. came away …
Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:
Ex-Apple retail boss Ron Johnson launches Enjoy e-commerce site, with personal delivery and in-home setup service at no cost  —  Former Apple Retail Boss Ron Johnson Unwraps New Web Startup ‘Enjoy’  —  Ron Johnson, the former Apple retail chief who was ousted as J.C. Penney's boss two years ago …
Ben Popper / The Verge:
Reddit launches a video division to create original content  —  The social news service Reddit has grown to a truly massive size, garnering 170 million monthly visitors and 6.7 billion pages view this January, while maintaining a fairly bare-bones service.  It helps elevate obscure material …
Eric Johnson / Re/code:
Zynga Narrows Focus, Will Cut 18 Percent of Staff  —  With Don Mattrick out and founder Mark Pincus reinstalled as CEO, what will Zynga's future look like?  —  For one, think a bit smaller: The company said today that as part of a $100 million cost reduction program, it would lay off 364 people …
Tom Fairless / Wall Street Journal:
EU unveils plan to unite fragmented online markets, crack down on possible abuses by US Internet firms  —  EU Announces Plans to Create a Single Digital Market  —  Plans include inquiries into the role of online platforms and possible abuses by U.S.-based companies
POLITICO:
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Zenefits raises $500M round led by Fidelity Management and TPG, attains $4.5B valuation after just two years  —  Zenefits Tagged With $4.5 Billion Valuation After Just Two Years  —  The latest software company valued at over $1 billion doesn't make a dime selling software.
Paul Thurrott / Thurrott.com:
Sources: Xbox One will get DVR functionality as Windows Media Center is removed from Windows  —  Confirmed: Media Center is Dead  —  You may have seen recent rumors that Microsoft has killed off Windows Media Center, the ten-foot digital media interface that it first developed for a special version of Windows over 10 years.
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Banjo raises $100M from SoftBank to build out software that detects world events in real time, using photos and videos uploaded to social media sites  —  Banjo Raises $100 Million to Detect World Events in Real Time  —  Banjo started four years ago as a simple app for viewing social media posts tagged …
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Paypal co-founder Max Levchin's lending startup Affirm raises $275M  —  Lending Start-Up Affirm Raises $275 Million  —  Affirm, a San Francisco-based consumer lending start-up, is adding $275 million in debt and equity to accelerate its growth plans.  —  The big Series B funding round …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Meerkat Launches Developer Platform To Differentiate From Periscope  —  How did it feel getting cut off by Twitter with just 2 hours notice?  “It sucked” says Meerkat founder Ben Rubin.  That's why it's determined to treat developers with more respect.  In the nine weeks since Meerkat launched …
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Sources: Samsung to introduce Artik, new chip platforms to power IoT devices, next week  —  Samsung readies new processors to power the Internet of Things  —  The hardware platform, which Samsung will reveal next week during a San Francisco event, will be called Artik, CNET has learned.
Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:
As part of a $300M multi-year plan, Comcast will hire 5,500 new customer service employees, credit customers $20 if technicians are late for appointments  —  Comcast to Pay Customers $20 If Technicians Are Late as Part of Customer Service Revamp  —  Comcast is going to pay you $20 …

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Earlier Picks

Ina Fried / Re/code:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Antonio Regalado / MIT Technology Review: