Techmeme
September 16, 2020, 3:00 PM

Top News

Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Facebook announces Oculus Quest 2, starting at $299, with a lighter design, 50% better resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, up to 256GB storage, coming October 13  —  The Oculus Quest 2 is here, and it sounds like a tremendous upgrade over the original in every way.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Oculus Quest 2 review: sharp screen, great price, and strong ecosystem, but requires a Facebook sign-in, Link cable and better strap cost extra, and it's bulky  —  At a passing glance, the Quest 2 looks like a dramatically new headset.  Facebook-owned Oculus has become known …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Facebook says it will stop selling the Rift S next spring after announcing the standalone $299 Quest 2, which can also connect to a PC via Oculus Link  —  The new Quest 2 can connect to a PC  —  Facebook-owned virtual reality company Oculus is ending sales of the Rift S headset next spring.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Facebook says it has partnered with Ray-Ban maker Luxottica to develop consumer “smart glasses”, coming next year, but shared few details  —  The company partnered with Ray-Ban maker Luxottica  —  Facebook says its first pair of consumer “smart glasses” will be releasing next year …
Scott Stein / CNET:
Interview with Facebook's Andrew Bosworth on Project Aria, its AR glasses project that is using ~100 testers in Seattle and SF to refine the experience  —  Facebook's full AR glasses are years away, but the road-testing has begun.  Its VR and AR VP Andrew Bosworth talks with CNET about AR's future and VR's present.
Dan Primack / Axios:
Cloud data warehousing company Snowflake raised $3.4B in its IPO, making it the largest software IPO ever, valuing the company at over $44B  —  Snowflake, a Silicon Valley cloud data warehousing company, on Tuesday night raised $3.4 billion in what is the largest software IPO ever.
James Vincent / The Verge:
In a new filing, Apple says “Epic started a fire, and poured gasoline on it”, arguing that the game developer's injuries are “entirely self-inflicted”  —  Apple lays out its case for keeping Fortnite off the App Store  —  Apple has responded to Epic's demands …
Matt Binder / Mashable:
Developers are frustrated at Apple for launching iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7 with just one day's notice  —  Apple fans who were waiting for an iPhone 12 unveiling at the Apple Event today may be a little disappointed.  But, Apple gave them a treat to hold them over instead: an announcement that iOS 14 is being released tomorrow.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
NYT and Facebook announce a multi-year partnership to co-develop AR filters and effects on Instagram that help users access and contextualize NYT stories  —  The New York Times and Facebook have struck a multi-year partnership to co-develop augmented reality (AR) filters and effects on Instagram …
Kate Conger / New York Times:
A safety driver who was riding in an autonomous Uber vehicle in Tempe, AZ, during its fatal 2018 crash has been charged with negligent homicide  —  Investigators said the woman had been watching a video on her phone when the vehicle killed a pedestrian in Arizona.
David Pierce / Protocol:
As Evernote rolls out a redesigned iOS app, CEO Ian Small discusses the challenges facing the company, which rebuilt all of its apps over 18 months  —  “Silicon Valley is addicted to momentum,” Evernote CEO Ian Small said, by way of explaining how his company had come to be, as he put it, stuck.
More: Engadget and Evernote BlogTweets: @pierce
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Apple One bundles launch with discounts on services including Music, TV+, Arcade, iCloud storage, Fitness+, and News+ and tiers between $15 and $30/month  —  The hardware giant leans into its software offerings  —  The long-rumored bundle bringing together Apple Music, Apple TV Plus …
Wesley Hilliard / AppleInsider:
Reuters:
AT&T says it is considering offering wireless phone plans partially subsidized by advertising as soon as a year from now  —  (Reuters) - AT&T Inc is considering offering wireless phone plans partially subsidized by advertising as soon as a year from now, Chief Executive John Stankey said in an interview on Tuesday.
Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
DOJ charges five Chinese citizens with hacks targeting 100 companies and institutions in the US and elsewhere; two Malaysian businessmen were arrested  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged five Chinese citizens with hacks targeting more than 100 companies and institutions …
Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:
Sources: teens are being paid by conservative youth org Turning Point Action to promote pro-Trump posts on Twitter and Facebook; Twitter suspended ~20 accounts  —  One tweet claimed coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated, adding, “It's hard to know what to believe.”  Another warned, “Don't trust Dr. Fauci.”
Ben Geman / Axios:
Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher, and others join a 24-hour freeze of Facebook and Instagram accounts for #StopHateForProfit  —  Kim Kardashian West announced that she will freeze her Instagram and Facebook accounts on Wednesday because the platforms …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Sources: at an all-hands, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek defended keeping Joe Rogan's transphobic podcasts available; Spotify passed on some other old Rogan episodes  —  Multiple sources inside Spotify described an all-hands meeting in which Spotify CEO Daniel Ek discussed the company's handling of the controversial podcaster.

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