Techmeme
April 19, 2017, 5:55 PM

Top News

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Facebook copying Snapchat's features reduces the competition to just who has the stronger network, illustrating how monopolies are bad for innovation  —  The shamelessness was breathtaking.  —  Having told a few jokes, summarized his manifesto, and acknowledged the victim of the so-called …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft makes its Wunderlist successor, To-Do, available in preview as part of Office 365; Wunderlist will “eventually” be retired  —  Microsoft's ‘Project Cheshire,’ the successor to its Wunderlist to-do app, is now in public preview for many Office 365 users on a variety of devices.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Facebook updates its Surround 360 camera lineup with two models: larger x24 and smaller x6, both capable of shooting 8K video, with pricing and availability TBD  —  The freedom of VR with the fidelity of real life  —  Facebook today announced the second generation of its Surround 360 video camera design …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Richard Nieva / CNET:
Inside Building 8, Facebook's moonshot lab working on a brain interface that translates thoughts into words and a project to use skin vibrations to “hear” words  —  The social network finally unveils what its secretive Building 8 hardware lab has been working on for the past year.
Chance Miller / 9to5Google:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify brings its half-price student tier to 33 new countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Japan, and New Zealand  —  Hot on the heels of Pandora's public launch of its on-demand streaming service, Pandora Premium, rival Spotify is looking to make its service more appealing …
Tom Phillips / Eurogamer.net:
Sources: Nintendo to launch a mini version of its SNES console in time for Christmas 2017, after the success of its mini NES console  —  Major factor for NES mini discontinuation.  —  Nintendo will follow up its smash hit NES microconsole with a mini version of the SNES, sources close to the company have confirmed to Eurogamer.
Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:
Amazon brings its Amazon Lex platform out of preview, letting developers build chat features into apps  —  Amazon.com Inc's chief technology officer is working toward a day when people can control almost any piece of software with their voice.  —  The company on Wednesday rolled …
Tony Romm / Recode:
Amazon, Facebook, Google, Snap, and 150+ more file brief in federal court arguing against Trump's revised travel ban  —  Amazon, Facebook, Google and Snap are among those filing.  —  Amazon, Facebook, Google, Snap and more than 150 other tech companies told a federal court in Virginia today …
Elizabeth Weise / USA Today:
Trump's newly signed executive order to reform H-1B visas may make outsourcing less viable but could bring more educated and better paid tech workers to US  —  SAN FRANCISCO — H-1B visa holders could get a lot more expensive and a lot better educated under a new executive order signed …

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More News

Sam Byford / The Verge:
Rich McCormick / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Andrew Dalton / Engadget:
Serdar Yegulalp / InfoWorld:
Rich McCormick / The Verge:
Dan Seifert / The Verge: