Techmeme
August 19, 2014, 5:50 PM

Top News

Microsoft Corporation:
Steve Ballmer steps down as board member at Microsoft  —  As I approach the six month mark of my retirement and your appointment as CEO, I have been reflecting on my life, my ongoing ownership of Microsoft stock, and my involvement with the company.  I have reached some conclusions and wanted to share them with you.
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Uber Hires Top Obama Adviser David Plouffe as New “Campaign Manager”  —  As Re/code had reported in July, Uber has zeroing in on the hiring of a high-profile “campaign manager” to head its policy and communications strategy and fight what its CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick has called “an a**hole named Taxi.”
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
HTC One With Windows Phone: Another Great Phone You Won't Buy  —  The Best-Designed Android Phone Is Being Released With Windows Phone 8.1  —  Windows Phone smartphones have gotten quite good, so why doesn't anyone buy them?  Personal Tech columnist Joanna Stern tests the HTC One (M8) with Windows Phone 8.1 to find out.
More: TechCrunchTweets: @whatthebit, @mims and @fmanjoo
Dana Wollman / Engadget:
HTC One M8 with Windows Phone launches exclusively on Verizon today at $99 on-contract  —  HTC's One M8 now available with Windows Phone, but only on Verizon  —  In case you've wondered what a flagship Android phone would look like if it ran Windows Phone, it looks like you'll get your chance to find out.
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Lyft COO Travis VanderZanden leaves after tensions with founders  —  Lyft COO Out After Tensions With Founders  —  According to sources close to the situation, Lyft COO Travis VanderZanden has left his job, after some level of tension with its founders.  —  Sources close to the situation …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Launches Photo Sphere Camera App On iOS  —  Google has just launched a new photo application for iOS users called Photo Sphere Camera, which allows you to take 360-degree photos, then publish them to Google Maps or other social networks.  The app is an expansion of a feature …
Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:
Netflix is now paying Time Warner Cable for direct access and faster streams  —  Netflix, the online streaming giant, has signed a paid peering deal with Time Warner Cable, meaning that it now has deals with the four biggest U.S. ISPs.  —  Time Warner Cable signed a direct interconnection deal with Netflix …
More: MacworldThanks:@mathewi
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Uber launches on-demand delivery service “Corner Store” in Washington D.C.  —  Uber launches on-demand product deliveries in Washington D.C.  —  Update 6:19 a.m. PT: Uber confirms that the service will launch today.  —  Uber is set to launch an on-demand product delivery service …
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge:
Mailbox for Mac Beta: fast, offers drafts, yet buggy  —  I burned through my inbox with Mailbox for Mac  —  The king is dead, long live the king  —  Email, right guys?  Some love it.  Some hate it.  Some are trying to replace it.  But the fact is, we all use it.
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
YouTube Music Key's differentiating feature: user uploaded content, like concert recordings and remixes  —  YouTube Music's Secret Weapon: Music You Can't Get Anywhere Else  —  You Tube has already said, on the record, that it is launching a music subscription service.
Liam Spradlin / Android Police:
Jamie Condliffe / Gizmodo:
Project Tango Tablet Teardown: Everything You Need For Handheld 3D  —  Google's Project Tango tablet is an amazing bit of hardware that made us finally realize that computer vision could be useful for regular people, too.  So now that iFixit has ripped one apart, we're pretty excited to see what lurks within it.
Major Nelson / Xbox Wire:
First of its kind reddit experience launching on Xbox One, New MTV app and Twitch update available soon  —  In June we announced more than 45 new entertainment experiences coming to Xbox One and we continue to deliver on that commitment with additions like ReddX, an app that we are confident …
Jackie Dove / The Next Web:
Blurb branches out to low-cost trade books, e-books and mass distribution via Ingram  —  Since its launch in 2006, Blurb, the independent publishing pioneer of print-on-demand artistic tabletop tomes and illustrated magazines, has been popular with the creative community.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
FunPlus Group sells its game subsidiary to Chinese holding company for $960M  —  FunPlus Group, the creator of mobile-social games like Family Farm, has agreed to sell its game subsidiary to publicly traded Zhongji Holding for $960 million.  —  Above: Dan Fiden

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: MessageWhiz SMS for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI's Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the "Artificial State" + Train of Thought
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
The $12.5 Billion Lakers, the NFL's TV Fight, and Sports Media's Big Split
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Big Technology Podcast:
Nick Bostrom: Worries About AI Existential Risk Just Became More Concrete
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Training Data:
Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
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.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:50 PM ET, August 19, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Simon Cohen / VentureBeat:

Earlier Picks

Alistair Barr / Wall Street Journal: