Techmeme
July 29, 2019, 4:35 PM

Top News

The Keyword:
Pixel 4 will come with face unlock and radar-powered Motion Sense features, to let you skip songs, snooze alarms, and more by waving your hand over the device  —  As we shared last month, Pixel 4 is in the works1.  Today we're giving you an early look at the technology behind two new features coming …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google says it used field research that offered people $5 to scan their faces, to improve accuracy of face unlock; research data will be kept for 18 months  —  It's ensuring that the Pixel 4 will work on a wide range of faces  —  Google just announced a face unlock feature for the upcoming Pixel 4 …
Reuters:
ByteDance confirms it is working on its own smartphone after acquiring some patents and employees from Chinese smartphone maker Smartisan earlier this year  —  Chinese social media firm ByteDance Ltd said on Monday it is developing a smartphone, following a deal it made with device maker Smartisan Technology.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
EU's top court rules that sites with embedded Facebook Like buttons are responsible for data collected, must obtain user consent before data is sent to Facebook  —  Europe's top court has made a ruling that could affect scores of websites that embed the Facebook ‘Like’ button and receive visitors from the region.
Karen Weise / New York Times:
Sources: Amazon is exploring an ambitious new grocery chain, probably separate from Whole Foods, built for pickup and delivery as well as in-store shopping  —  SEATTLE — In early 2017, a memo circulated inside Amazon that imagined an ambitious new grocery chain.
TechCrunch:
GitHub officially confirms it is blocking devs in Iran, Syria, N. Korea, Cuba, and Crimea from accessing private repositories and paid accounts due to sanctions  —  The impact of U.S. trade restrictions is trickling down to the developer community.  GitHub, the world's largest host of source code …
Juro Osawa / The Information:
Sources: Huawei and Google were working together on a Huawei-branded smart speaker slated for September release, but that work ended after Trump's ban in May  —  China's Huawei and Google were working together on a new Huawei-branded smart speaker right before President Donald Trump restricted Huawei's access …
CNBC:
Source: Lyft COO Jon McNeill, who joined in February 2018, is leaving the company  —  KEY POINTS  — Lyft Chief Operating Officer Jon McNeill is leaving the company, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC.  —  Lyft COO Jon McNeill said to leave
More: CNET, Business Insider, TechCrunch, and AxiosTweets: @yoda
Caroline Haskins / VICE:
According to notes from an Amazon webinar, Ring has partnered with 200+ local police departments in US, which can directly ask Ring owners for camera footage  —  Ring's partnerships with law enforcement could be far more more widespread than previously reported.
Phil Wahba / Fortune:
A look at Etsy's turnaround since Josh Silverman became CEO in 2017, largely focused on improving basic parts of the user experience, like search and shipping  —  When you type the term “bike jersey” into the search field at Etsy.com, most of the results you get are, in fact, bike jerseys.
Benedict Evans:
Amazon is increasingly good at helping us buy things we know we want, but it's not clear if it'll ever be good at helping us shop for things we don't know about  —  I sometimes think that if you could look in the safe behind Jeff Bezos's desk, instead of the sports almanac from Back to the Future …

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Earlier Picks

Ronojoy Mazumdar / Bloomberg: