Techmeme
October 31, 2018, 8:55 AM

Top News

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
How Instagram has become a refuge for far-right figures who have avoided being banned from the site, including Alex Jones  —  Instagram hosts accounts from prominent right-wingers who have already been banned from Twitter and Facebook.  —  Alt-right social network Gab shuttered itself …
Ina Fried / Axios:
Source: Rich DeVaul, a director at X, Alphabet's moonshot unit, left the company today following reports of sexual harassment, did not receive an exit package  —  Rich DeVaul, a director at X, the moonshot unit of Alphabet, Google's parent company, has left the company following reports of sexual harassment.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Apple unveils new MacBook Air with 13.3" Retina display, 50% narrower bezel, wedge design, Touch ID, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, 8th gen Intel CPU, for $1,199+  —  Apple has brought the MacBook Air back to life today, announcing the first proper refresh of its super thin laptop line in three years during its October hardware event.
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Peter Cao / 9to5Mac:
Apple has pulled watchOS 5.1 update after reports that it had bricked some Apple Watches  —  [Update: Apple has now pulled watchOS 5.1.  Users who haven't updated should refrain from doing so if it was downloaded, but not yet installed.]  —  While many users are disappointed with the lack …
Facebook:
Facebook reports Q3 revenue of $13.73B, up 33% YoY, DAUs of 1.49B on average, up 9% YoY, says mobile ad revenue represented ~92% of all ad revenue  —  Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2018.  —  “Our community and business continue …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Saheli Roy Choudhury / CNBC:
Samsung Electronics posts Q3 operating profit of ~$15.5B, up 21% YoY, driven by strong sales of memory chips and higher demand for high-end OLED display panels  —  - Samsung Electronics on Wednesday said it recorded an operating profit of 17.57 trillion won (about $15.5 billion) for the quarter ending in September.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Apple unveils new iPad Pros with no home button, thinner design, smaller bezels, A12X SoC, USB-C, Face ID, no 3.5mm jack; 12.9" model for $999+, 11" for $799+  —  After months of rumors, Apple has today announced a completely redesigned iPad Pro with slimmed-down bezels, Face ID, a USB-C port …
Virginia Hughes / BuzzFeed News:
Researchers examining 135 popular kids apps on Android and iOS find 88% of paid and 100% of free apps often have manipulative and distracting ads  —  Popular apps for young kids, especially those available in Google's app store, are teeming with advertisements that distract them from play …
Carolyn Said / San Francisco Chronicle:
Waymo granted the first permit from California's DMV for driverless testing of autonomous cars on public roads, will start with limited tests in Silicon Valley  —  Waymo is the first company in California allowed to test robot cars on public roads with no human driver behind the steering wheel, it said Tuesday.
William Turton / VICE News:
Reporters tried to buy fake Facebook ads on behalf of all 100 US senators and Facebook approved all of them, following other high profile fake ad approvals  —  One of Facebook's major efforts to add transparency to political advertisements is to require those paying for the ads to make a …

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Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
BuzzFeed News: