Techmeme
May 21, 2015, 11:55 AM

Top News

CBC News:
US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand planned to hijack Google and Samsung app stores to implant spyware on smartphones  —  Spy agencies target mobile phones, app stores to implant spyware  —  Users of millions of smartphones put at risk by certain mobile browser gaps, Snowden file shows
Pew Internet:
Pew Report: 69% of US adults are not confident social networks will keep their data private and secure  —  Americans' Attitudes About Privacy, Security and Surveillance  —  The cascade of reports following the June 2013 government surveillance revelations by NSA contractor Edward Snowden …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
YouTube live streams now support HTML5 playback and 60fps video  —  YouTube today announced it is enabling HTML5 playback for live streams.  At the same time, live streams can now be viewed at 60 frames-per-second.  —  A few puzzle pieces had to come together to make this possible.
Marco Arment / Marco.org:
Apple's new MacBook, with its shallow keyboard and Force Touch trackpad, makes major usability compromises for thinness  —  Mistake One  —  MacBook “One”, 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, and Hops for scale.  —  I've had mixed luck with impulse buys.  —  As a kid, I impulse-bought Marble Madness for my Sega Genesis.
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Techmeme adds an author leaderboard, introduces a linking-based metric to rank by “Leadership”  —  Today we've expanded our Leaderboard page to offer four lists instead of one.  In addition to ranking publications, we now rank authors.  On top of that, we've introduced a second ranking method …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple's planned iOS 9 ‘Home’ app uses virtual rooms to manage HomeKit accessories  —  Apple's plan to manage upcoming HomeKit-compatible accessories could revolve around a new iOS app called “Home,” according to sources familiar with the app.  Introduced at last year's Worldwide Developers Conference …
Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:
Troll uses Twitter adverts to urge transgender people to kill themselves  —  Promoted tweet from fake account purporting to be that of Australian feminist campaigner inserts transphobic content into Twitter users' timelines  —  Twitter users have expressed outrage at a troll's use …
Chris O'Brien / VentureBeat:
Amazon's Prime Now service will start delivering from local stores in Manhattan  —  Amazon announced today that its Prime Now service will now start delivering goods from local stores in Manhattan, with plans to expand soon to other communities later this year.
Wall Street Journal:
H-P to Sell 51% of Chinese Data-Networking Unit to Tsinghua Holdings  —  Buyer is expected to pay $2.3 billion for majority control of H3C Technologies  —  Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to unveil sweeping changes to its business in China, including the sale of a majority stake …
Alexander Martin / Wall Street Journal:
Nikesh Arora to replace Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son as Yahoo Japan Chairman  —  Arora to Replace Softbank CEO Son as Yahoo Japan Chairman  —  SoftBank Corp. chief executive Masayoshi Son will step down as chairman of Yahoo Japan Corp.'s board of directors to be replaced by Nikesh Arora …
More: Reuters
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Netflix To Roll Out A New, More Immersive Web Interface Starting In June  —  Netflix confirms today that it will roll out a new user interface on the web to all users worldwide beginning next month.  A number of Netflix customers are already seeing the updated look-and-feel, however, according to various reports.

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Enhancements to Zoho Writer's automation flow designer: New PDF operations, password protection, and more  —  Once we rolled out the automation flow designer in Zoho Writer's merge templates …
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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.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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BG2 Pod:
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Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
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Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
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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.
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More News

Steve Dent / Engadget:
Kristen V. Brown / San Francisco Chronicle:

Earlier Picks

The Huffington Post:
Xbox Wire: