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September 26, 2019, 1:00 AM

Top News

Dami Lee / The Verge:

Amazon announces high-end Echo Studio, available for pre-order today for $200, with five speaker drivers and 3D audio support — It supports 3D audio from Dolby Atmos — Amazon announced its first high-end smart speaker at its annual hardware event today, called the Echo Studio.

More: Amazon.com, Inc., The Verge, The Verge, Ars Technica, Android Police, Thurrott, Mashable, TechSpot, BetaNews, Digital Trends, Engadget, TechCrunch, CNET, TechHive, VentureBeat, The Streamable, Engadget, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, and Axios

Tweets: @_am1t, @stshank, @benbajarin, @caseynewton, @markgurman, and @gigastacey

Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:

Amazon announces a new line of Alexa-enabled wearables equipped with mics and speakers, including the $180 Echo Frames eye glasses and $130 Echo Loop ring — Amazon is rolling out a new line of wearables that work with Alexa today including the Echo Frames eyeglasses and the Echo Loop smart ring.

More: TechCrunch, Washington Post, The Verge, Engadget, MacRumors, TechCrunch, The Verge, Engadget, The Verge, CNET, Vox, The Verge, CNN, CNET, iDownloadBlog.com, Firstpost Tech, TechRepublic, ZDNet, TechHive, VentureBeat, and Thurrott

Tweets: @mikalfm, @mcwm, @neilcybart, @caseynewton, @fightfortheftr, @benedictevans, @joannastern, @alexqgb, @neilcybart, and @backlon

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Amazon unveils Echo Buds, $129.99 Alexa-enabled wireless earbuds that track steps, with claimed battery life of five hours and 20 hours with the charging case — Preorders start today, with shipping in time for the holidays — Amazon just announced its first foray into the headphone space …

More: 9to5Mac, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, Amazon.com, Inc., TechHive, Engadget, Eater, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, CNET, Mashable, iPhone Hacks, iDownloadBlog.com, Bloomberg, and 9to5Toys

Tweets: @tomwarren, @johnpaczkowski, @benedictevans, @benedictevans, @voice_beyond, and @neilcybart

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Amazon unveils the $25 Echo Flex, an Echo smart plug with modular accessories that cost $15, like a motion sensor and night light, available for pre-order today — Alexa now has its own smartplug with modular accessories — Amazon is introducing another way to get Alexa into your home, the Echo Flex.

More: GeekWire, The Verge, CNBC, Engadget, Thurrott, Thurrott, CNET, and TechCrunch

Tweets: @greene, @bretkinsella, and @tomwarren

The Verge:

Amazon Echo Buds first impressions: comfortable, sound good, and are great at noise reduction, but their case is significantly larger than AirPods'

More: Digital Trends. Tweets: @dangraziano, @backlon, and @kantrowitz

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Amazon announces third-generation Echo for the same $100 price, improving its audio quality with stronger bass and adding a “twilight blue” color

More: CNET, Digital Trends, Engadget, Engadget, Mashable, and CNET

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook unveils Horizon, a VR massive multiplayer world coming in 2020, and will shut down existing VR platforms Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms on Oct. 25 — Facebook today announced a virtual reality sandbox game where you can build your own environments and games, socialize with friends, and more.

More: Oculus Blog, Engadget, VentureBeat, and CNET

Tweets: @alexeheath, @joshconstine, @joshconstine, @mahalis, @benasmith, @thejeremyhaynes, @stocksharks_, @imcatnoone, and @joshconstine. Thanks:@joshconstine

Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:

Oculus Quest will be updated in Nov. to be able to wire up directly to PCs, like the Rift, and in 2020 will get support for hand tracking, no controllers needed — Just before the annual VR/AR conference Oculus Connect 6, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a teaser video hinting …

More: Oculus Blog, Engadget, Ars Technica, Engadget, The Verge, SlashGear, Oculus Blog, Ars Technica, Facebook, GameSpot, Digital Trends, Android Headlines, PC Gamer, VRFocus, PCWorld, Android Central, Destructoid, TechCrunch, IGN, SiliconANGLE, Variety, The Verge, The Verge, CNET, TechCrunch, Windows Central, and Road to VR

Tweets: @thehealy6, @chriswade__, @appleidinesh, @jason_rubin, @jank0, @merryh, and @endigoskyborn

Scott Stein / CNET:

Interview with Mark Zuckerberg on cracking social in VR, updates to the Quest headset, and how the future of Oculus' AR ambitions are grounded in its VR efforts

More: Telegraph, GameSpot, Windows Central, The Next Web, VentureBeat, Kotaku, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, and IGN. Thanks:@iansherr

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

Facebook is making a “new social layer”, arriving on Oculus headsets in 2019; one feature, Destinations, lets players broadcast what they're doing inside games

More: PYMNTS.com and VentureBeat

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

Oculus says it's surpassed $100M in revenue in the Oculus store, with Zuckerberg noting that 20% of that revenue was for Quest titles sold in past four months

More: Engadget and PCWorld

Tweets: @urgamingtechie, @bertaroo, and @jordannovet

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Amazon announces a new Eero mesh router with Alexa voice controls, available today in the US for $99 each or $249 for a three pack — Amazon has just announced a brand-new $99 Eero router at its big hardware event, marking the first new product from the mesh networking company since Amazon bought it earlier this year.

More: TechCrunch, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, Android Headlines, Engadget, The Verge, CNET, and CNET

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Amazon announces updates to Alexa: a new multilingual mode, celebrity voices for $0.99 each, starting with Samuel L. Jackson, frustration detection, and more

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Engadget, The Verge, Engadget, Android Headlines, BBC, Digital Trends, 9to5Google, IGN, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Business Insider, and CNET

Tweets: @levie, @willoremus, @ow, @max_read, @mcwm, and @mcwm

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:

GM says it will add Alexa to the infotainment systems on its Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles from 2018 onwards, rolling out in first half of 2020

More: The Verge, Engadget, CNET, Android Headlines, and VentureBeat

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Amazon debuts new privacy settings for Alexa, including the ability to easily delete specific recordings and automatically delete them after three or 18 months

More: CNET, The Daily Dot, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, Engadget, Thurrott, TechCrunch, Android Headlines, Digital Trends, and BuzzFeed News. Tweets: @benthompson

Andrew Gebhart / CNET:

Amazon launches the “Certified for Humans” program for simple-to-use devices that are able to be set up and controlled within the Alexa app

More: The Verge and Amazon. Tweets: @johnpaczkowski

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Amazon announces a cheaper $100 Stick Up Cam and $60 Indoor Cam, and says Ring Doorbell Elites will get a feature where Alexa “answers” the doorbell next year — It also showed a DIY retrofit alarm kit — At its fall event today, Amazon announced two new versions of its Ring Stick …

More: Day One, Pocket-lint, Gotta Be Mobile, CNET, and Engadget. Tweets: @jeffawilke

Alfred Ng / CNET:

Amazon announces a new privacy feature for Ring doorbells called Home Mode, preventing the doorbells from recording audio and video when residents are home

More: VentureBeat, Gotta Be Mobile, and PCMag

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

FTC sues Match Group, alleging Match.com connected daters with accounts known to be fake to get them to subscribe, leading to 499,691 new subscriptions — The FTC says more than 400,000 people subscribed because of these fraud messages — Match.com may have connected non-paying daters …

More: Federal Trade Commission, Match.com, New York Times, SiliconANGLE, Engadget, The Register, Fortune, The Hill, Gizmodo, CNN, Business Insider, Digital Trends, Bloomberg, and Reuters

Tweets: @kakurady, @tonyromm, @vinnylingham, @ashleyrcarman, and @tonyromm

Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:

Dropbox starts rolling out Dropbox Spaces, shared team workspaces that connect things like files, tasks, and meetings, and other new features in its desktop app — Dropbox held its Work in Progress user conference on Wednesday where the company announced a host of new product experiences and features.

More: Work in Progress, Inquirer, Work in Progress, Neowin, diginomica, Fast Company, and The Register

Tweets: @dropbox, @dropbox, and @dropbox

Matthew Prince / The Cloudflare Blog:

Cloudflare launches Warp VPN for iOS and Android for optimizing and securing traffic, with a faster tier for $5/mo., after its bug-ridden limited debut in April — Today, after a longer than expected wait, we're opening WARP and WARP Plus to the general public.

More: Wired, The Cloudflare Blog, XDA Developers, Android Police, 9to5Mac, and BleepingComputer

Tweets: @dok2001 and @rustlibhunt

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google says Android 10 (Go edition), aimed at low-end devices with less than 1.5GB RAM, will launch this fall with speed and security improvements — Last year, Android (Go edition) launched with Pie, and Google today is detailing the latest version of its OS for entry-level smartphones with less than 1.5GB of RAM.

More: The Keyword, Android Police, Softpedia News, XDA Developers, Android Headlines, and Thurrott

Greg Bensinger / Washington Post:

Interviews with 20 people show Uber's 80-strong Special Investigations Unit, which deals with severe incidents, often puts Uber's interests ahead of riders' — Investigators say drivers get three “strikes” for bad behavior — and may just end up driving for Lyft.

More: Digital Trends, Business Insider, and The Verge

Tweets: @drewharwell, @eliotwb, @dmac1, @ralianceorg, @ericnewcomer, @brynstole, @goldfarb, @gregbensinger, @laurastevens, @byheatherlong, @elizabeth_joh, @reggievaitz, @johnpaczkowski, @robertfaturechi, and @lam_barrett

Laura Kayali / Politico:

Google refuses to pay publishers in France, first to apply EU's copyright law, will only show headlines and thumbnails, unless publisher asks to add previews — The announcement pours cold water on publishers' hopes of getting more money from Google after an EU reform of online copyright law.

More: Ars Technica, The Keyword, Bloomberg, Financial Times, 9to5Google, Search Engine Land, and The Next Web

Tweets: @laukaya, @glynmoody, @robpegoraro, @jasonfalter, @mehreenkhn, @jason_kint, @ugambini, and @mathewi

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The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Salon:

Salon, launched in 1995 to cover politics, culture, and more, says it is closing: “business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly”

Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:

Nexstar reports Q3 net income up 285% YoY to $250M and net revenue up 78% YoY to $2.1B, as Q3 political ads brought in $317M; results include Tegna numbers

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

How Democrats' midterm wins may affect Hollywood and media: uncertainty over federal tax incentive bill, greater FCC oversight, restoring CPB funding, and more

More News

Eudora Wang / DealStreetAsia:

Beijing-based Deepexi, which uses large data sets and AI to provide supply chain, manufacturing, and marketing services, announces $35M Series A

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Netdata, makers of an open-source computer hardware monitoring tool, raises $17M Series A led by Bain Capital, bringing total raised to $20.5M

Tweets: @panosjee, @ron_miller, and @chuhnk

Joshua Franklin / Reuters:

Peloton prices its IPO at $29/share, at the top of the range, raising $1.16B at ~$8.1B valuation; Peloton was reportedly valued at ~$4.15B in its latest round

Tweets: @jasonfalter

Jasmine Pennic / hitconsultant.net:

Eko raises $20M Series B for its AI powered in-clinic and at-home cardiac monitoring platform which includes devices that combine digital stethoscope and ECG

More: TechCrunch, FierceBiotech, and VentureBeat

Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:

Divvy, which buys and rents homes while setting aside ~25% of monthly payments toward the renter's future down payment for the house, raises $43M Series B

More: TechCrunch and FinSMEs

Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez / The San Francisco Examiner:

San Francisco grants permits to Lime, JUMP, Scoot, and Spin to deploy up to 2,500 electric scooters each, starting from October 15

More: Axios and TechCrunch

Tweets: @fitzthereporter, @jasonlk, @theryanford, @zck, @safeselfdrive, @femfuel, @jeff_jordan, and @fitzthereporter

Wall Street Journal:

SoftBank-backed real estate tech startup Compass loses its COO, after departures of CFO, CTO, CMO, HR head, general counsel, and head of product over 18 months

Tweets: @wsjrealestate

Alan Ohnsman / Forbes:

Self-driving truck startup Embark Trucks raises $70M Series C led by Tiger Global Management, bringing its total raised to $117M

More: Embark Trucks and The Robot Report. Tweets: @forbes. Thanks:@helenaspopkin

Earlier Picks

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Amazon unveils Sidewalk, a low-bandwidth, long-range wireless protocol, tested at 700 access points in LA, and says its first Sidewalk product will be a dog tag

More: The Verge, CNET, VentureBeat, and Engadget. Tweets: @markgurman

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Samsung: 44% of viewers switch back and forth from streaming to linear TV; 45% of viewing time is spent on streaming, of which 40% is spent on ad-supported VOD

Joseph Marks / Washington Post:

Lawmakers say the White House has been withholding details of its offensive hacking strategy used for cyber warfare for over a year

South China Morning Post:

Alibaba unveils its first AI chip, the Hanguang 800, used within Alibaba for product search, translation, and recommendations, not for sale to third parties yet

More: Nikkei Asian Review, ZDNet, and SiliconANGLE

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

eBay announces CEO Devin Wenig is leaving the company and appoints CFO Scott Schenkel as interim CEO

More: eBay Newsroom, Silicon Valley Business …, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, Bloomberg, GeekWire, Telegraph, Bloomberg, New York Times, Financial Times, TechSpot, CNET, and TechCrunch. Tweets: @caseynewton

Google AI Blog:

Google has released a dataset of ~3,000 deepfake videos to help researchers develop deepfake detection techniques

More: MIT Technology Review, MediaNama, The Daily Dot, Engadget, Fast Company, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @googleai, @sundarpichai, @valaafshar, @adam_k_levin, @samgregory, @techreview, @divinefrequency, @yasmind, @r_d, and @jason_kint

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:

Kuo: 2020 iPhones will have a new metal frame structure similar to iPhone 4 to reduce the negative impact of metal on the efficiency of the internal antenna

More: The Verge, The Next Web, TechSpot, CNET, Engadget, Firstpost Tech, Neowin, iDownloadBlog.com, MacDailyNews, Macworld, AppleInsider, Inquirer, Cult of Mac, MSPoweruser, Mashable, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, and iMore. Tweets: @rsgnl

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann is resigning as CEO, will be nonexecutive chairman of We Co.; source: his voting shares will be reduced in power from 10:1 to 3:1

More: The Information, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Business Wire, NPR, Business Insider, Slate, Forbes, and GeekWire

Tweets: @tenuous, @carnage4life, @bespokeinvest, @teddyschleifer, @teddyschleifer, @shiraovide, and @ellenhuet