Techmeme
September 24, 2019, 6:35 AM

Top News

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook to acquire CTRL-Labs, which develops non-invasive neural interfaces for computing, like a bracelet; sources: size of deal is between $500M and $1B  —  - CTRL-Labs is said to fetch $500 million to $1 billion  — Facebook may one day pair the technology with AR or VR glasses
Meagan Simpson / BetaKit:
Kik says it is officially shutting down its messaging app and will reduce its headcount to 19 people, amid its heated legal battle with the SEC  —  The Kik app is officially shutting down.  The company will reduce its headcount to 19 people, and will focus solely on converting Kin users into Kin buyers …
BBC:
EU court rules that Google does not have to apply “right to be forgotten” globally  —  Europe's top court has ruled that Google does not have to apply the right to be forgotten globally.  —  It means that firm only needs to remove references to articles and other material …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Play Pass unveiled as a $4.99/mo. subscription for access to 350+ unlocked Android apps and games that are free of ads and IAPs; first year to be $2/mo.  —  No ads, no in-app purchases.  $1.99 introductory price  —  Today, Google is launching a new service called “Google Play Pass …
Eugene Kim / CNBC:
Sources: Amazon is developing Alexa-enabled wireless earbuds with an accelerometer that monitors things like calories burned and the pace and distance of runs  —  - Amazon is working on wireless earbuds that can track things like the distance run, calories burned, and pace of running, CNBC has learned.
Popular Information:
Facebook page with 1.1M followers called “I Love America” is one of many Ukrainian-run pages now pushing pro-Trump propaganda and recycling 2016-era IRA memes  —  The “I Love America” Facebook page boasts 1.1 million fans, with viral content that reaches more Facebook users …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Code deployment toolmaker Chef says it will not renew an ICE contract, after an ex-employee deleted his open-source code in protest leading to customer downtime  —  Last week, a former employee deleted open-source code he wrote for a tool called Chef in protest over an ICE contract.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it is expanding its policies to explicitly prohibit financial scams on the platform and details the kind of scams it's banning  —  Twitter today says it's expanding its policies to prohibit financial scams on its platform — something you'd think would have already been banned …
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Disney's Bob Iger says he pulled the plug on Disney buying Twitter at the last minute because the nastiness on the platform is “extraordinary”  —  Hollywood's nicest C.E.O. on the great family dramas of Hollywood — and why he, too, is disturbed by Twitter.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Amazon debuts a feature called Show and Tell, which helps blind and low vision customers with an Echo Show smart display identify common household pantry goods  —  As part of a continued mission to make its Alexa intelligent assistant more accessible for everyone, Amazon today introduced …
New York Times:
China's social credit system extends to businesses, with 33M recently rated; some US firms were warned ratings may be affected by their stances, like on Taiwan  —  Beijing hopes its social credit system will use vast troves of data to quickly punish companies accused of wrongdoing.

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Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

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Wall Street Journal:
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