Techmeme
October 18, 2015, 5:50 PM

Top News

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
After delay, Amazon rolls out $299 “Prime Fresh” annual membership required for AmazonFresh purchases  —  After delay, AmazonFresh rolls out mandatory $299/year ‘Prime Fresh’ grocery membership … Amazon has followed through on its plan to require a special $299/year membership …
More: Re/code and EngadgetThanks:@taylor_soper
Matt Rosoff / Business Insider:
Some VCs, appearing defensive, dismiss WSJ's reporting on Theranos, but should actually welcome investigative journalism  —  Some tech investors sure seem to be getting defensive lately ...  Nobody likes to be questioned.  —  But lately, some of Silicon Valley's big tech investors seem …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Twitter's decision to hide links in Moments is the latest sign that social giants want to be destinations, not portals to publishers' sites  —  Twitter And Facebook Are Turning Publishers Into Ghost Writers  —  Publishers are in danger of becoming dumb content in the smart pipes of platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
More: New YorkerTweets: @ralphrivera
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Android 6.0 Marshmallow review: the premier feature, Now on Tap, is magical when it works but it isn't dependable  —  Android 6.0 Marshmallow review  —  Android 6.0 Marshmallow is such a mishmash of features that I spent a long time trying to suss out the unifying principle behind it all.
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Stanford and Michael Bloomberg invest combined $100K in each startup that goes through Y Combinator as part of new seed funding terms  —  Stanford, Michael Bloomberg Now Back Every Y Combinator Startup  —  When startup incubator Y Combinator changed the terms of its seed funding last year …
Tweets: @msquinn
Jason Del Rey / Re/code:
Banks are likely the next big competitors for Android Pay and Samsung Pay, as Capital One becomes the first US bank with tap-to-pay in its Android app  —  The Next Big Competitors for Android Pay and Samsung Pay: Banks  —  Eighteen months ago, rulings by Visa and MasterCard gave banks …
Andrew Tangel / Wall Street Journal:
NYC yellow taxis to test using GPS to calculate fares to keep up with tech-driven competitors  —  Tech Inside Yellow Cabs Faces an Overhaul  —  Taximeters could be replaced by GPS and ‘Taxi TVs’ may be on way out as regulators set pilot project  —  The technology inside many New York City yellow taxis …
More: Digital Trends and Tech TimesTweets: @digiphile
Deepa Seetharaman / Wall Street Journal:
Survey: 33% of teens say Instagram is their most important social network, 20% Twitter, 19% Snapchat, 15% Facebook  —  Survey Finds Teens Prefer Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat for Social Networks  —  A new survey may reignite the debate over teenagers' use of Facebook .
Molly Hensley-Clancy / BuzzFeed:
New pilot program opens up federal student loans to select coding boot camps and MOOCs  —  You Can Now Use Federal Money To Pay For Unaccredited Coding Boot Camps  —  The federal government will allow students to use federal funding to pay for a small group of coding boot camps …
Sam Machkovech / Ars Technica:
Amazon Fire TV 2015 review: fastest content loading of any streaming box, universal search is great but doesn't support some apps like Netflix  —  Amazon's 2015 Fire TV: Finally, Amazon gets the streaming box right  —  Connectivity, interface issues are met with gaming, search boosts.  Plus, it's fast.

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Earlier Picks

Kif Leswing / Fortune: