Techmeme
April 21, 2017, 3:25 AM

Top News

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft says it will now roll out twice yearly updates for Windows and Office in March and September, starting with “Redstone 3”  —  IT Pros, mark your calendars.  Starting in September 2017 with Windows 10 ‘Redstone 3,’ Microsoft will begin rolling out new feature updates …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Google Home now supports up to six users and can distinguish voice of speaker to provide personalized results, available in US, expanding to UK within months  —  Up to six people can train Home to recognize their voice  —  Google Home can now be trained to identify the different voices of people you live with.
Michael Nunez / Gizmodo:
Plastc, the all-in-one smart payment card that raised $9M+ in preorders and failed to ship any product, says it will file for bankruptcy  —  There are dozens of ways to pay for things, but apparently, the world was not ready for one more.  Plastc, the company that promised to put …
Greg Barbosa / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases a JavaScript API for Live Photos, allowing playback on the web  —  Following up on Tumblr's own implementation of Live Photos for the web, Apple has released an official Live Photos JavaScript API.  Developers will be able to use the new API to share Live Photos playback on iOS, macOS, and the web.
Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:
Trump misses 90-day deadline to publish cybersecurity plan after alleged Russian hacking in 2016 election, and there is no evidence of anyone working on it  —  He pledged in January to quickly develop a program for countering hackers, but no one seems to know who's in charge of developing it or where it is.
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Source: Oracle will pay more than $850M for digital ad tracking company Moat  —  A big bet on ad tech.  —  Oracle will pay more than $850 million to acquire Moat, a company that tracks digital ads, according to a person familiar with the deal.  —  Oracle announced its planned acquisition earlier …
George Slefo / Ad Age:
Google, Microsoft, major ad buyers and publishers coordinating on ad blocking plan, says Coalition for Better Ads' counsel, who expects a rollout by end-of-year  —  The biggest players in advertising and tech are mapping out a strategy to kill off the digital ads that have been deemed as the absolute worst by consumers.
Joshua Goldman / CNET:
GoPro unveils Fusion, a small wearable, 5.2K spherical camera for capturing both VR and non-VR content, slated for limited commercial release at the end of 2017  —  The spherical camera, called Fusion, is small and wearable, but a lot of other details are a mystery.
Bérénice Magistretti / VentureBeat:
Gladly raises $36M Series C led by GGV Capital to help businesses manage customer service across multiple platforms  —  Gladly, which provides software to help businesses deliver better customer service, announced today funding of $36 million, led by GGV Capital.
Yaniv Feldman / Geektime:
Sources: Snapchat acquired geofilter patent from defunct Instagram competitor Mobli for $7.7M  —  After 6 years, 86 Million Dollars in funding, a peak of 23 Million users and 4 different products, today marked the what seems to be the final chapter for Mobli, with the sale of one of its patents to Snap Inc.
More: TechCrunch.  Thanks:@geektime
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Verizon reports Q1 revenue of $29.81B, missing estimates of $30.4B, with net income of $3.6B, and sees net decline of 307K postpaid connections  —  Verizon lost postpaid retail customers in the first quarter, but the damage could have been worse without the launch of Verizon Unlimited.
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Sources: Facebook is looking to hire a head of news products to combat fake news, but is having trouble finding someone with media and tech experience  —  The new role is proving hard to fill.  —  Facebook is looking to hire someone to head up its news products, a significant new role charged …

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Earlier Picks

Tony Romm / Recode:
Cherlynn Low / Engadget:
Ian Murphy / Enterprise Times:
Richard Nieva / CNET: