Techmeme
June 17, 2014, 5:25 PM

Top News

Thomas Gryta / Wall Street Journal:
AT&T to Exclusively Carry Amazon Smartphone  —  Amazon Expected to Unveil its Phone on Wednesday in Seattle  —  AT&T Inc. will be the exclusive carrier for Amazon.com Inc. 's new smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the plans.
Brad Stone / Businessweek:
Amazon's Lab126 has been working on a 3D smartphone since 2009  —  Inside the Secretive R&D Lab Behind the Amazon Phone  —  Disclosure: Brad Stone is author of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.  The book is published by Little, Brown & Co., a division of the Hachette Book Group …
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
YouTube to block indie labels who don't sign up to new music service  —  Starting internal tests of subscription service but faces accusation of ‘catastrophic error of judgement’  —  YouTube has confirmed that it will begin blocking videos from independent labels that have not signed …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook's Slingshot Challenges Snapchat With ‘Reply To Unlock’  —  Facebook wants to break the “1% Rule” of Internet culture that says a tiny fraction of users create the content for everyone else.  So after a momentary leak last week, today Facebook officially launches Slingshot for iOS …
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Facebook Slingshot is much more than a Snapchat clone  —  A new kind of network that feels more like a feed than a messenger  —  At first, Facebook's new ephemeral messaging app, Slingshot, feels like yet another Snapchat clone.  The free app, available now for iPhone and Android …
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
Democrats unveil legislation forcing the FCC to ban Internet fast lanes  —  Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. gesturing during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)  —  Democratic lawmakers will unveil a piece …
Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg:
Apple Settles E-Books Pricing Case With States, Consumers  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) reached a settlement with U.S. states and consumers seeking damages over the company's fixing of electronic book prices, avoiding a trial in which it faced as much as $840 million in claims.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Following A Drop In Completed Jobs, Errands Marketplace TaskRabbit Shakes Up Its Business Model  —  Errands marketplace TaskRabbit is shaking things up today with a change to its business model.  The company says it's shifting away from the auction model where contractors bid for tasks posted by end users …
Sara M. Watson / The Atlantic Online:
Why customized ads are so creepy, even when they miss their target  —  Why customized ads are so creepy, even when they miss their target  —  “What is it about my data that suggests I might be a good fit for an anorexia study?”  That's the question my friend Jean asked me after she saw …
More: Stowe Boyd.  Tweets: @marginalutility
Marcus Wohlsen / Wired:
A Rare Peek Inside Amazon's Massive Wish-Fulfilling Machine  —  The first thing I saw when I walked into Amazon's Phoenix warehouse was a man riding on a giant tricycle.  Behind him, yellow plastic tubs the size of office recycling bins whizzed by on a conveyor belt.
More: BGR
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Nike finally introduces a Fuelband app for Android  —  Despite rumors of the Nike Fuelband's demise (and a cozy relationship with Apple), the sportswear maker has finally expanded it compatibility by releasing a sync app for Android.  Just like the iOS companion app, it communicates …
Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:
Snapchat Launches Collaborative Timelines Based On Events  —  Last year, Snapchat took its first big iterative step with the launch of Stories, which let users string together all of their snaps from the latest 24 hours into a single, fluid narrative.  The company has since gone on to add text …
Dylan Tweney / VentureBeat:
Pencil, the $60 iPad stylus, will get pressure-sensitivity with iOS 8  —  Above: A new feature for the digital “Pencil” — angling it so you can shade in larger areas.  —  Pencil, a high-end iPad stylus that looks like a carpenter's pencil, will add pressure-sensing capabilities this fall.
Mike Rispoli / Privacy International:
UK intelligence forced to reveal secret policy for mass surveillance of residents' Facebook and Google use  —  Britain's top counter-terrorism official has been forced to reveal a secret Government policy justifying the mass surveillance of every Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google user in the UK.
Jordan Novet / VentureBeat:
Amazon strikes back, launching speedy solid-state block storage one day after Google  —  If you're looking for more proof that Google's public cloud is a competitive threat to market leader Amazon Web Services, consider this.  —  Just a day after Google announced that it would back up its …

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Matt Burns / TechCrunch:
Jon Fingas / Engadget: