Techmeme
September 21, 2018, 2:35 PM

Top News

GeekWire:
A roundup of all the major announcements from Amazon on Thursday, from a new microwave to a subwoofer to new Alexa skills and developer tools  —  Microwave.  Subwoofer.  Smart plug.  In-car device.  —  Those are just a handful of the new devices Amazon debuted on Thursday …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Sources: Facebook plans to unveil its “Portal” video chat device for home with Alexa support next week; it will come in two screen sizes for ~$400 and ~$300  —  Facebook plans to finally unveil its Portal video chat device for the home next week, Cheddar has learned.
The Intercept:
Sources: Google made staff delete internal memo that said Dragonfly required logins to search, tracked location, gave Chinese partner unilateral access to data  —  Google bosses have forced employees to delete a confidential memo circulating inside the company that revealed explosive details …
Wall Street Journal:
In letter to Congress, Google confirms it continues to allow third-party apps to scan and share data from Gmail accounts, though Google itself stopped doing so  —  Lawmakers had asked company to explain policy in wake of WSJ report  —  WASHINGTON—Google Inc. told lawmakers it continues …
Sara Salinas / CNBC:
Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya appears unconcerned about the string of exits from the firm and says it will no longer raise outside capital  —  - Chamath Palihapitiya told his employees he would be diverting much of the “carry” — the portion of investment returns traditionally given …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
PayPal says it has banned all Infowars-related sites for promoting hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions  —  PayPal will no longer do business with Infowars, according to a post on the conspiracy theory site this morning.
Timothy J. Seppala / Engadget:
PlayStation Now announces subscribers can download PS4 and remastered PS2 games, as the service becomes more like Xbox Game Pass  —  The biggest hindrance to Sony's PlayStation Now streaming service is lag.  Because the game isn't stored locally, whatever device you're playing on has to send …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Sources: Instagram was testing a way for users to reshare posts from other accounts to their own feeds; Instagram says it's not building or testing such feature  —  Will it revive the feed — or break it?  —  After years of resistance, Instagram is now testing a way for you to reshare posts from other accounts to your own feed.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Ashlee Clark Thompson / CNET:
Amazon launches a $59.99 AmazonBasics-branded microwave that works with Alexa-enabled speakers, has built-in WiFi, and an Amazon Dash Replenishment  —  Amazon will begin to sell its own brand of Wi-Fi-connected microwaves that will respond to voice commands, the company announced Thursday at its headquarters in Seattle.
Laura Stevens / Wall Street Journal:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft says Skype is coming to Amazon Alexa devices later this year, letting Alexa users make outgoing voice and video calls, accept incoming calls, and more  —  Microsoft and Amazon are working together to bring Skype calling to Alexa-powered devices, which brings into question, again, where Microsoft is going with Cortana.

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Motherboard:
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