Techmeme
September 18, 2013, 5:25 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 was 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.
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:
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.)
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.
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 …
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 …
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
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers can slip an undetectable trojan into Intel's Ivy Bridge CPUs  —  Scientists have developed a technique to sabotage the cryptographic capabilities included in Intel's Ivy Bridge line of microprocessors.  The technique works without being detected by built-in tests or physical inspection of the chip.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Twilio Adds Picture Messaging To Its API Frame, Cuts Text API Pricing By 25% For U.S. Numbers  —  Photo-sharing services like Instagram have become some of the most popular of all mobile apps, and today Twilio launched a new service that could help a much larger swathe of developers tap into that trend: picture messaging.

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Featured Podcasts

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SpaceX's IPO Triumph, Anthropic's Fable Fumble, OpenAI's Price War
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Access:
A top iPhone app developer reacts to Apple's new Siri
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Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 1: Satya Nadella and Cindy Cohn
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The Upstarts Podcast:
TBC's Alex Ksendzovsky: The Neurosurgeon Using Brain Cells To Build Better AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
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BG2 Pod:
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Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
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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Zachary Lutz / Engadget:

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