Techmeme: Xiaoice, Microsoft's Chinese chatbot, has a sense of humor, good listening skills, and 20M registered users (New York Times)

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August 2, 2015, 3:20 AM

Top News

Washington Post:

Former DNI Mike McConnell, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, and Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn back strong encryption in op-ed — Why the fear over ubiquitous data encryption is overblown — Clarification: Due to a production error, a version of this column was temporarily posted prematurely …

More: Wall Street Journal, Schneier on Security, Techdirt, Engadget and International Business Times

Tweets: @ronwyden, @lorenzofb, @mattblaze, @paulbernaluk, @emptywheel, @normative, @xor, @konklone and @pmarca

Rachel Thomas / Medium:

Why women are leaving tech, and what tech companies can do to increase hiring and retention of women — If you think women in tech is just a pipeline problem, you haven't been paying attention — According to the Harvard Business Review, 41% of women working in tech eventually end up leaving the field …

More: New York Times, Digital Trends and WMPoweruser

Tweets: @spacekatgal, @jalak, @jess, @stevesi, @jess and @timoreilly

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Anonymous Obama administration sources say US will retaliate against China for OPM hack and is weighing options that include breaching the Great Firewall — U.S. Decides to Retaliate Against China's Hacking — The Obama administration has determined that it must retaliate against China …

More: Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, International Business Times, hakspek.com, Engadget and The Verge

Tweets: @dangillmor, @mikeemanuelfox, @gaberivera and @thegrugq

Dina Bass / Bloomberg Business:

Microsoft Said to Invest About $100 Million in Startup Uber — Microsoft Corp. has agreed to invest about $100 million in Uber Technologies Inc. at a valuation of approximately $50 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said. — The deal was finalized earlier on Friday …

More: New York Times, Engadget, WinBeta, Mashable, Forbes and Neowin

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Uber closed round of nearly $1B with Microsoft participating, valuing the company at over $50B and bringing total funding to more than $5B

More: GeekWire, broadstuff, Trak.in, USA Today, TechCrunch, CNNMoney, Fast Company, CNBC, ITV, Mercury News, Slate, Telegraph, The Register, Business Insider, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, The Verge, International Business Times, bizjournals, Quartz, TIME, Seeking Alpha, Reuters, VentureBeat, Re/code, Inc.com, Windows Central, Daily Mail, BetaBoston, Tech Insider and WebProNews

Tweets: @dinabass, @jonerlichman and @dmac1

Dante D'Orazio / The Verge:

Microsoft's HoloLens will ship to developers ‘within the next year’ — Microsoft will release “V1” of its HoloLens virtual reality headset sooner rather than later. CEO Satya Nadella said that the first developer version of the hologram-projecting device will come out “within the next year” …

More: BBC, Windows Central, Gdgt Arena, Digital Trends, Neowin and Engadget

Gensthaler O. / SamMobile:

Galaxy Note 5 specs leak: 5.66" Quad HD Super AMOLED display, octa-core Exynos 7420, 4GB of RAM; press renders of Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ also leak — Galaxy Note 5 (SM-N920) tech specs and S6 edge + leaked — We have a new leak on the upcoming Galaxy Note 5 from @evleaks.

More: 9to5Google, Android Police, Android and Me, Android and Me, VRFocus, Fone Arena, Ubergizmo, Redmond Pie, PhoneDog.com, 9to5Google, Android Central, Neowin, Android Central, AndroidGuys, Ausdroid, The Verge, Android Authority, Phandroid and MobileSyrup.com

Tweets: @evleaks and @evleaks

New York Times:

Xiaoice, Microsoft's Chinese chatbot, has a sense of humor, good listening skills, and 20M registered users — For Sympathetic Ear, More Chinese Turn to Smartphone Program — She is known as Xiaoice, and millions of young Chinese pick up their smartphones every day to exchange messages with her …

More: Business Insider and Daily Mail. Tweets: @nytscience

Jillian D'Onfro / Business Insider:

Facebook adds Lollapalooza festival content to Place Tips, the first event in Place Tips and first available outside the geographic location — Here's why you might be seeing Lollapalooza all over your Facebook today even though you're not there — Instead of wriggling your way through …

More: Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Digital Trends, PhoneArena, The Verge, PCMag Australia Feed, Engadget and BetaNews

Takashi Mochizuki / Wall Street Journal:

Japanese Police Arrest Mark Karpelès of Collapsed Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox — Official says police allege he manipulated the company's computer system to inflate its assets — TOKYO—Japanese police on Saturday arrested Mark Karpelès, the head of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox …

More: New York Times, Ars Technica, BBC, TheDomains.com, Gizmodo, Reuters, CIO.com, Fusion, CoinDesk, Guardian, CoinTelegraph.Com News and NEWSBTC

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Google Straps Aclima Sensors To Street View Cars To Map Air Pollution — If a city knows what intersections are full of smog, it could add trees or change stop light schedules to improve the air its citizens breathe. Google Earth's Outreach program that equips nonprofits and public-benefit organizations …

More: NPR, The Verge, Business Wire, Newsweek, Washington Post, KSL-TV, Wired, The Daily Dot and EE Times. Tweets: @joshconstine

Patrick Howell O'Neill / The Daily Dot:

Hackers find vulnerabilities in Industrial Ethernet Switches used in hydroelectric dams, nuclear power plants — How hackers can take over nuclear power plants — The world's most important facilities—think massive hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants—are vulnerable to devastating cyberattacks.

More: TechWorm. Thanks:@dellcam

Heather Somerville / Mercury News:

Lyft forgoes global expansion in favor of U.S. market domination — SAN FRANCISCO — Lyft has walked back years of promises about a global expansion, and instead the car-booking company is doubling down on the U.S. market, hoping to beat its biggest foe here at home.

Tweets: @sbyrnes, @jonrussell and @glennf

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