Techmeme
September 18, 2013, 8:10 PM

Top News

TIME:
Google vs. Death  —  In person, it can be a little hard to hear Larry Page.  That's because he has nerve damage in both vocal cords: one was paralyzed about 14 years ago, the other left with limited movement after a cold last summer.  This rare condition doesn't slow him down, though it has made his voice raspy and faint.
Google:
Google announces Calico, a new company focused on health and well-being  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - September 18, 2013 - Google today announced Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
iOS 7 now available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch  —  iOS 7, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, is now available for download.  The update can be installed on any compatible iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch by visiting your device's settings menu, choosing “general,” …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple launches iTunes 11.1 with iTunes Radio, Genius Shuffle, Podcast Stations, iOS 7 support  —  In the hours before iOS 7 arrives for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, Apple has released iTunes 11.1 with several major new features.  The download is available from Apple's website.
David Pierce / The Verge:
iOS 7 review: a new look or a new beginning?  —  Your iPhone or iPad is about to look very different  —  Apple may deserve more credit than anyone for the way our smartphones look and work, but six years after our first glimpse of the iPhone a lot has changed.
Ben Woods / The Next Web:
Will Connors / Wall Street Journal:
BlackBerry to Slash Its Workforce by Up to 40%  —  TORONTO—BlackBerry Ltd. is preparing to make deep staff cuts by the end of the year via layoffs that could cost up to 40% of its employees their jobs, people familiar with the matter said.  —  The layoffs will cut across all departments …
Donny Halliwell / Inside BlackBerry:
BBM Available for Android on September 21 and iPhone on September 22  —  That's right BBM fans — the iconic mobile social network will begin rolling out for Android and iPhone customers around the world from September 21.  Soon, you'll be able to easily connect with friends on different platforms.
Joe Palazzolo / Law Blog:
Court: Facebook ‘Like’ Is Protected By the First Amendment  —  “Liking” something on Facebook is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, reviving a closely watched case over the extent to which the Constitution shields what we say on social media.
Bloomberg:
Staples, RadioShack Yank Amazon Lockers from Stores  —  Staples Inc. (SPLS) and RadioShack Corp. (RSH) have removed Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) lockers from their stores after the partnership failed to meet expectations.  —  The retailers began testing a system last year in which Amazon shoppers …
More: GeekWire and Gizmodo
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The iPhone 5S and 5C  —  The 5C  —  Let's consider the new iPhone 5C1 first, because it's easier to understand.  —  On the inside, it's an iPhone 5, with a few relatively minor upgrades.  (To wit: the cellular antenna now supports more LTE bands and faster LTE speeds, and the front-facing FaceTime camera is better.)
Josh Lowensohn / CNET:
Apple quietly doubles cellular app download limit to 100MB  —  Users can now download over-the-air iTunes and App Store content up to 100MB in size, up from the previous 50MB limit.  —  Alongside iOS 7's arrival today, Apple has quietly doubled the size of apps users can download while away from Wi-Fi.
Joseph Volpe / Engadget:
BlackBerry Z30 official: 5-inch Super AMOLED display, 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro, 2,880mAh battery and BB 10.2  —  If you were paying attention to the late summer leaks, then the BlackBerry above won't strike you as a surprise.  That's because it's the newly announced BlackBerry Z30 …
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
No Internet?  No Problem: YouTube Getting Ready to Let You Watch Videos Offline, on Your Phone.  —  YouTube streams more than six billion hours of video a month.  Soon it will let people watch some of those videos even if they're not connected to the Web.  —  Next month, Google's video site …
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
Salesforce, Workday announce strategic product integration  —  Summary: By integrating each other's apps, both companies are capitalizing on their shared “mutual customers.”  It also brings Workday a step closer to Oracle, which already has a nine-year cloud pact with Salesforce.  —  Zack Whittaker
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook's New Mobile Test Framework Births Bottom Tab Bar Navigation Redesign For iOS 5, 6, & 7  —  Facebook lost its ability to “move fast and break things” when it switched its apps from HTML5 to native.  But it's gotten its mojo back.  Today it announced a big iOS 7-style app redesign …
Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:
After getting acquired by Samsung, Boxee shuts down its Cloudee video-sharing service  —  Two months after news broke that Boxee has been acquired by Samsung, the company is finally shutting down its video-sharing service Cloudee.  In an email to users, Boxee said Wednesday:
More: SlashGear
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Machinima, YouTube's Giant Gamer Network, Lays Off 10 Percent of Staff  —  Machinima, one of the biggest networks on YouTube, is laying off 10 percent of its staff.  —  The game-centric video company said it will let go of 22 of its 206 employees “in connection with Machinima's growth plan.”

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Featured Podcasts

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Blitzy's Brian Elliott: Cursor And Claude Code Are Looking At Your Enterprise Code 'Through A Straw'
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OpenAI's Plan To Merge Chat And Agents — With Greg Brockman
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Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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