Techmeme: Apple vans are gathering data for in-house mapping database, collecting street-view imagery and taking stills of business storefronts to replace Yelp photos (Mark Gurman/9to5Mac)

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May 29, 2015, 7:10 PM

Top News

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Google's Project Vault Is A Secure Computing Environment On A Micro SD Card, For Any Platform — Project Vault is a secure computer contained entirely on a micro SD sized device. Google's ATAP said the micro SD format made sense because there's already advanced security features on your phone …

More: VentureBeat, 9to5Google, Android Authority, Tech Times, Electronista, The Next Web and CNET

David Pierce / Wired:

With Project Jacquard, Google aims to bring touch sensors, haptic feedback, and more to fabric used for everything from jeans to car seats, partners with Levi's — Google Is Hacking Our Clothes to Work Like Touchscreens — If you want to understand a key piece of Google's vision …

More: Levi Strauss, The Verge, The Verge, The Verge, Fusion, Android Authority, Fortune, TechCrunch, The Next Web, TechnoBuffalo and POPSUGAR

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal:

Google begins testing Hands Free mobile payments system that lets users pay with spoken commands at a handful of McDonald's and Papa John's in the Bay area

More: Ars Technica, Gizmodo, TIME, PCWorld, Engadget, Bloomberg Business, Mashable, GeekWire, Entrepreneur and VentureBeat

Roberto Baldwin / Engadget:

Google's Project Soli brings gesture control to wearables by using radar to recognize motion

More: The Next Web, CNET, Liliputing and TechCrunch. Tweets: @mattcutts

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

Google's I/O keynote suggests Google is poised to surpass Apple when it comes to mobile design — Google's Quest For Complete Control Of Your Digital Life — Today's keynote suggests Google is poised to surpass Apple when it comes to mobile design. — Ninety minutes into today's Google …

Tweets: @qhardy, @fmanjoo, @dannysullivan and @cwarzel

Natt Garun / The Next Web:

Everything Google announced at Google I/O 2015 in one handy list

More: Computerworld, eWeek, Official Android Blog, The Verge, RCR Wireless News, Tech Times, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and The Verge

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Google SVP Sundar Pichai lays out his plan to deliver computing capabilities to billions through Project Loon and improve products through machine learning

More: The Verge and The Verge

Selena Larson / The Daily Dot:

Diversity in Google I/O keynote featuring women and people of color onstage raised the bar for other technology companies

More: Wired, Slate, Bloomberg Business, ITProPortal, Telegraph, bit-tech.net, Tubefilter, Business Insider, Bank Innovation, GeekWire, TechCrunch, ReadWrite, Tech News Today and The Technology Chronicles

Tweets: @baekdal, @ow, @brokenbottleboy, @jacksmithiv and @ceodonovan

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple vans are gathering data for in-house mapping database, collecting street-view imagery and taking stills of business storefronts to replace Yelp photos — Mystery solved: Apple vans gathering next-gen Maps data, grabbing Street View storefronts + 3D images

More: Search Engine Land, PC Magazine, Macworld, TechnoBuffalo, BGR, TechSpot, MacRumors, Forbes, InvestorPlace, iDownloadBlog.com, The Verge, iMore, iPhone in Canada Blog, App Advice, MobileSyrup.com and Fortune. Tweets: @markgurman

Business Insider:

Founder of Silk Road drug marketplace Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life in prison, to forfeit $184M — The founder of the Silk Road drug marketplace has been sentenced to life in prison without parole — The convicted mastermind behind the world's largest online narcotics emporium …

More: Wired, USA Today, Ars Technica, Guardian, The Verge, The Next Web, Slate, Mashable, NBC News, CoinDesk and Hit & Run

CNBC:

Sources: Snapchat in the process of raising $650M in equity at $16B valuation — Snapchat stock sale values company at up to $16B — Snapchat is in the process of raising $650 million in equity, which would value the company at 16 billion, sources told CNBC.

More: Business Insider, CNET, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, SiliconANGLE, Tech Times, Re/code, Social Media Today, Seeking Alpha, VentureBeat, VatorNews, SocialTimes, tech.co and Investor's Business Daily

Tweets: @stocktwits, @danprimack, @danprimack, @danprimack and @hblodget

Joseph Menn / Reuters:

Sources: US tried deploying Stuxnet-style virus against North Korea five years ago to destroy equipment, but the campaign failed — Exclusive: U.S. tried Stuxnet-style campaign against North Korea but failed - sources — The United States tried to deploy a version of the Stuxnet computer virus …

More: Wired, Gizmodo, Fortune, PCWorld, Ars Technica, Engadget, The Verge and The Next Web

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Jessica Verrilli, Twitter's Director of Corporate Development and Strategy, leaving for Google Ventures after six years — Exclusive: Jess Verrilli leaving Twitter for Google Ventures — Jessica Verrilli is stepping down as director of corporate development and strategy at Twitter TWTR …

More: Silicon Republic

Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:

iPhone text crash bug also works via Snapchat text chats and Twitter DMs or mentions — iPhone text crash bug hits Twitter and Snapchat — Unfixed iOS bug allows booby-trapped messages to break Snapchat text chat and can be sent via Twitter direct messages or mentions

More: The Next Web, International Business Times, Redmond Pie, TechCrunch, SiliconBeat, PhoneDog.com, bizjournals, SlashGear, iDownloadBlog.com, MacRumors, Engadget, iPhone in Canada Blog, iPhone Hacks, USA Today, BetaNews, Gizmodo UK, CNET, adaptivemobile.com and RCR Wireless News

Sébastien Page / iDownloadBlog.com:

Apple releases temporary fix for iMessage-crashing text bug, says update coming soon

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Facebook Confirms It Will Officially Support GIFs — Facebook this afternoon confirmed that it will now support animated GIFs in the Facebook News Feed. Not everyone will see the added functionality immediately, we understand, as the update is still rolling out.

More: The Next Web, PCWorld, SiliconANGLE, PC Magazine, Mashable, Fortune, Silicon Republic, Gizmodo, TechSpot, Marketing Land, Wired, TechRadar.com, The Verge, Yahoo Tech, SlashGear and SocialTimes

Andy / TorrentFreak:

Hola sells bandwidth and computing resources of idle user machines that make up its free VPN service, used in one case to mount a DDoS attack on 8chan — Hola VPN Sells Users' Bandwidth, Founder Confirms — Faced with increasing local website censorship and Internet services …

Jordan Novet / VentureBeat:

Salesforce acquires smart calendar app Tempo AI, will shut it down on June 30 — Salesforce has bought Tempo AI, a startup with a smart calendar app. — Tempo AI announced the news today in a post on its homepage. — The app is no longer accepting new users and will be shut down on June 30, according to the statement.

More: tempo.ai, Fortune, The Next Web and TechCrunch. Tweets: @shaig

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Apple's HomeKit platform will see first accessories launch next week — The first home automation products using Apple's new Siri-controlled HomeKit platform will arrive next week, according to sources briefed on Apple's plans. — The company first introduced HomeKit last year alongside iOS 8 …

More: VentureBeat

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Debuts App Invites, A More Personalized System For Inviting Friends To Try Apps — Google has debuted a new product called “App Invites” aimed at helping mobile app developers grow their application's user base. Now in beta for both iOS and Android, App Invites includes a set …

More: Google Developers Blog, Digital Trends, The Next Web and WebProNews

Reto Meier / Android Developers Blog:

Google Play services 7.5 includes Smart Lock for Passwords, App Invites beta, Google Cast, Remote Display API, Google Fit, more

More: Android Authority, Google Developers Blog, Droid Life, PCWorld, MobileSyrup.com, SlashGear, PC Magazine, Android Police, 9to5Google, PhoneArena, Liliputing, Android Central, Google Commerce, The Verge, The Verge and The Verge

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Google gives developers new AdWords, Analytics, and AdMob tools to monetize their apps with ads

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Forbes and Marketing Land

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