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August 18, 2020, 10:45 PM
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| Adi Robertson / The Verge: |
Oculus will soon require all of its VR headset users to sign up with a Facebook account, removing support for new separate Oculus accounts in October — Support for separate Oculus accounts will end in 2023 — Oculus will soon require all of its virtual reality headset users to sign up with a Facebook account.
More:
Oculus, UploadVR, PC Gamer, GamesIndustry.biz, SlashGear, CNET, Android Central, Road to VR, Tom's Hardware, Digital Trends, Social Media Today, USgamer.net, MSPoweruser, VRFocus, Twinfinite, Engadget, The Next Web, VentureBeat, Kotaku, and KnowTechie
Tweets: @oculus, @jason, @chetfaliszek, @oculus, @starfire2258, @quinnypig, @calbucci, @joabaldwin, @inkblitzer, @melt_dem, @slasher, @tojiro, @samfbiddle, @accursedfarms, and @willoremus
| Jon Porter / The Verge: |
Google Maps says it's rolling out more detailed maps with improved street designs for SF, NYC, and London, and with more accurate natural features worldwide — Making natural features easier to see and streets easier to navigate — Google Maps is being redesigned to make it easier …
More:
The Keyword, Ubergizmo, The Next Web, Android Headlines, CNET, Engadget, VentureBeat, MacRumors, Android Police, International Business Times, Mashable, Neowin, Droid Life, Android Authority, XDA Developers, iDownloadBlog.com, Pocketnow, and SlashGear
Tweets: @googlemaps, @gregbensinger, and @brchastain
| Dieter Bohn / The Verge: |
Samsung Note20 Ultra review: has fast performance, multiday battery life, big display is great for streaming games, but camera bump is huge, and it's expensive — A refinement of the formula — Samsung has settled into a new routine for its Galaxy Note line of smartphones …
More:
Engadget, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, Android Police, International Business Times, Softpedia News, Droid Life, CNBC, Wired, and CNET
| Michael Simon / PCWorld: |
Samsung promises three generations of Android updates for many Galaxy S, Note, foldable, and A series devices, rivaling Google's three-year promise for Pixel — When Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 20 earlier this month, the biggest surprise wasn't the faster screen, smoother S Pen, or more powerful processor.
More:
Samsung Global Newsroom, TechSpot, Ubergizmo, SlashGear, TechRadar, Gizmodo, Droid Life, and MSPoweruser. Tweets: @propernig
| Steven T. Dennis / Bloomberg: |
Senate Intelligence Committee concludes Putin ordered the 2016 hacking of Democratic Party accounts and the release of emails to harm Hillary Clinton's campaign — - Manafort described as a ‘grave counterintelligence threat’ — Report details plan to hurt Clinton, finds no Trump collusion| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Report: a look at the narrowing regulatory exemptions Apple has been operating under in China, such as running an App Store without a local partner — Amid continued tension between the United States and China, a new report from The Information details how Apple could be impacted by Chinese retaliation.
Source:
The Information. More:
The Verge, PYMNTS.com, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, and iMore
Tweets: @markdistef, @_danielsinclair, @zhugeex, @amir, and @sarthakgh
| Apple: |
Apple renames Beats 1, its streaming radio station, Apple Music 1, and launches two new radio stations: Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country — Apple Music 1 and two new stations, Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country, feature exclusive original shows from the world's top music hosts and artists
More:
The Verge, Rolling Stone, TechSpot, TidBITS, Apple Must, Android Police, iMore, Macworld, TechRadar, MacStories, SlashGear, Pocketnow, Neowin, iPhone Hacks, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Next Web, Appleosophy, and Variety
Tweets: @dontstartswift, @tomthorogood, @dcseifert, @reneritchie, and @ashleyrcarman
| Joanna Nelius / Gizmodo: |
Nvidia's cloud gaming service GeForce Now is now available in beta on Chromebooks, but lacks the ability to automatically adjust for poor network conditions — Nvidia's cloud gaming service, GeForce Now, officially hit beta on ChromeOS today and it's helping to make the gaming PC obsolete faster than you'd expect.
More:
The Official NVIDIA Blog, TalkAndroid.com, PC Gamer, Game Rant, Wccftech, and TechSpot
| The New Indian Express: |
India's main opposition party asks Facebook to look into reports of favorable treatment towards BJP by Facebook's India team, replace it while investigating — The Congress and other opposition parties have attacked the social media giant after a US media report alleged that Facebook did not apply its hate speech rules on BJP leaders.| Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: |
Ukraine, helped by Binance's internal investigations, arrests three men who allegedly ran 20 crypto exchanges and laundered more than $42M for ransomware gangs — Gang is believed to have laundered more than $42 million in criminal proceeds. — Law enforcement in Ukraine has announced today …
More:
CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, CryptoGlobe, HackRead, and Security Affairs
| Kris Holt / Engadget: |
Google updates its activity cards feature to provide more personalized results for recipes, jobs, and shopping — Google is making its activity cards feature — which helps you pick up where you left off in Search on mobile — more useful. Let's say you're looking for iPad accessories.
More:
The Keyword, 9to5Google, Pocket-lint, SlashGear, CNET, and Pocketnow
| Matthew Handrahan / GamesIndustry.biz: |
Take-Two Interactive has agreed to acquire NYC-based mobile game developer Playdots for $192M in cash and stock; Playdots had raised $10M Series A in 2014 — New York-based studio's entire team will join Take-Two in cash and stock deal — Take-Two Interactive has acquired the mobile developer Playdots in a deal worth $192 million.
More:
TechCrunch, Gamasutra, Hollywood Reporter, Digital Trends, Pocket Gamer.biz, VentureBeat, and GameSpot
| Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch: |
Samsung launches its Pay Card in the UK, a digital-first card powered by London-based Curve, which consolidates existing credit and debit cards into one — Samsung Pay Card, a new Mastercard debit card from the mobile handset giant, has launched in the U.K. today.| Cody Toombs / Android Police: |
Android 11 to remove the camera picker, often seen in 3rd-party apps, defaulting instead to the built-in camera; Google says it's to protect privacy, security — Android may have started with the mantra that developers are allowed to do anything as long as they can code it …
More:
9to5Google, Trusted Reviews, Neowin, and Android Headlines
| Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal: |
Amazon says it is expanding physical offices and adding 3,500 corporate employees in six major cities, including 2,000 jobs in New York City — The e-commerce giant says it is adding 3,500 employees in six major cities, including 2,000 jobs in New York City
More:
CNN, New York Times, The Amazon Blog, Fast Company, NPR, Business Insider, Denver Post, New York Post, Arizona Republic, Forbes, Crain's New York Business, SDxCentral, San Diego Union-Tribune, detroitnews, CNET, CRN, WRAL TechWire, CNBC, Fox Business, Axios, and GeekWire
Tweets: @markdistef, @shaig, @wsjbusiness, @jrsterne, @ddayen, @levinepmc, @scottlincicome, @anthony, @sarthakgh, @brycecovert, @allenholub, @carlquintanilla, @imdaviddunn, @pat_garofalo, @seldo, and @drorpoleg
| Matthew Smith / TIME: |
After saying it was committed to justice in Myanmar, Facebook is fighting The Gambia's suit in US court seeking info from FB for Rohingya genocide case at ICJ — Just when it seemed like Facebook's controversies might have peaked, the company now appears to be obstructing a genocide investigation, and it's using U.S. law to do it.
Tweets: @matthewfsmith, @kenroth, @jason_kint, @counteringcrime, @poppymcp, @haritho, and @time
| Nick Corasaniti / New York Times: |
Inside the work of the DNC and RNC digital teams for the conventions: building a robust network, ensuring a livestream, producing a broadcast, and more — Making sure livestreams don't lag. Sending out remote video kits. Showing speakers how to avoid microphone mishaps.| Kate Conger / New York Times: |
Sources: Uber and Lyft are considering a franchise-like model in California where they would license their brands to operators of vehicle fleets — Under pressure to classify their freelance drivers as full-time employees, the ride-hailing companies are discussing another option.
More:
Bloomberg, Forbes, Business Insider, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @veenadubal, @kyweise, @eliotwb, @tonyromm, @vermontgmg, @lizthegrey, @jeremybwhite, @somospostpc, @nytimes, @daveyalba, @kateconger, and @veenadubal
| Axios: |
Sources: Filecoin parent company Protocol Labs, which had a couple of seed rounds before raising $205M in an ICO, faces an investor revolt over who owns what — Filecoin is one of the blockchain world's most highly anticipated projects, promising to decentralize data storage.
Tweets: @danprimack, @jeffjohnroberts, @arbedout, @shaig, and @vc
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Reliance Retail, India's largest retail chain, has acquired a 60% stake in online pharmacy Netmeds' parent firm Vitalic for about $83.2M — Reliance Retail has bought a 60% stake in pharma marketplace Netmeds' parent firm Vitalic for about $83.2 million, it said today …
More:
The Economic Times
| Ashley Carman / The Verge: |
Instagram starts rolling out QR codes for user profiles globally, a feature that it had first launched in Japan last year; Instagram is deprecating Nametags — Don't open Instagram to find a profile — Instagram is bringing QR codes to the app. Users can now generate QR codes that'll …
More:
9to5Mac
| Sam Shead / CNBC: |
Pandemic-battered travel companies like GetYourGuide, Trivago, and HomeToGo say they have been feuding with Google for weeks over outstanding ad payments — - Google has been locked in a debate for weeks with the likes of GetYourGuide, Trivago and HomeToGo over outstanding ad payments.Sponsor Posts
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Zoho:
Enhancements to Zoho Writer's automation flow designer: New PDF operations, password protection, and more — Once we rolled out the automation flow designer in Zoho Writer's merge templates …
Enhancements to Zoho Writer's automation flow designer: New PDF operations, password protection, and more — Once we rolled out the automation flow designer in Zoho Writer's merge templates …
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