Techmeme
August 20, 2014, 11:00 AM

Top News

Yoree Koh / Wall Street Journal:
Twitter to Remove Images of the Deceased Upon Families' Request  —  Twitter said on Tuesday it will remove images of deceased individuals at the request of family members, a move that comes a week after Robin Williams's daughter said she is quitting the platform after being sent disturbing photo-shopped images of her father's death.
Siraj Datoo / BuzzFeed:
Twitter To Suspend Accounts Of Anyone Tweeting Graphic Images Of Journalist's Alleged Execution  —  A video emerged last night appearing to show photojournalist James Foley being beheaded by a member of ISIS.  —  Twitter CEO Dick Costolo announced in a tweet on Wednesday morning that any users …
Dan Frommer / Quartz:
Twitter now officially says your timeline is more than just tweets from people you follow  —  Many Twitter users have noticed that Twitter is now inserting tweets into their timelines that seemingly don't belong.  This is not an accident.  Twitter has updated its help document, “What's a Twitter timeline?”
Chris Kanaracus / Computerworld:
Ballmer's exit from Microsoft's board expected, boosts Nadella's standing, analysts say  —  The former CEO cited a busy schedule, particularly involving his LA Clippers basketball team, for the board resignation  —  It's not surprising that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer abruptly gave …
Microsoft Corporation:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Samsung's first Nook tablet arrives at Barnes & Noble today for $179  —  Samsung is becoming Barnes & Noble's first partner to create a Nook-branded tablet today with the unveiling and release of the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook.  The name is a mouthful, but it basically means that the tablet …
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
iOS 8 turns up evidence of another possible iPhone 6 resolution: a larger 828 x 1472  —  Early this year, we heard from a source that Apple had been testing multiple resolutions for the iPhone 6's larger display, including a resolution of 960 x 1704.  As we outlined, the benefit of that resolution …
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Verizon Preps Challenge to Google's App Store  —  After years of watching Google and Apple dominate the business of selling smartphone software to consumers, Verizon Communications is aiming to alter the playing field by building an industry coalition to launch a new, global online store for mobile applications.
More: Droid Life and Android Central.  Tweets: @amir
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 …
Paul Ingrassia / Reuters:
Google's driverless cars designed to exceed speed limit by up to 10mph for better safety  —  Look, no hands!  Test driving a Google car  —  (Reuters) - The car stopped at stop signs.  It glided around curves.  It didn't lurch or jolt.  The most remarkable thing about the drive was that it was utterly unremarkable.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Sharp's Aquos Crystal: a 5-inch, 720p, edge-to-edge display smartphone lacking premium specs  —  Sharp's new phone for Sprint looks like something out of a sci-fi fantasy  —  And it's only $239  —  This week, Sharp, Softbank, and Sprint announced a new line of devices called Acquos Crystal …
Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:
Delaware becomes first state to give heirs broad digital assets access  —  Delaware has become the first state in the US to enact a law that ensures families' rights to access the digital assets of loved ones during incapacitation or after death.  —  Last week, Gov. Jack Markell signed House Bill …
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google Made 890 Improvements To Search Over The Past Year  —  In a Google+ post from Google head of search Amit Singhal, Google shares they have made “more than 890 improvements to Google Search last year alone.”  —  In 2009, Google told us they made between 350 to 400 changes to search and in 2010 …

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
GitHub Universe 2026: Highlights from the developer's developer conference  —  Copilot Fusion was the belle of the ball, but the hero at the heart of the two-day event was the developer community.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Introducing the new Zoho Analytics: Agentic analytics for every business  —  We're excited to announce the launch of the new Zoho Analytics!  This release marks a major shift for the product …
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

The Upstarts Podcast:
The Accidental YC Founder Solving AI's GPU Crisis | SF Compute's Evan Conrad
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.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Cheeky Pint:
Why Sam Altman is against a single superintelligence
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Great Chat:
The case for AI optimism
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Sources:
Tobi Lütke on the AI agent revolution and future of Shopify
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Big Technology Podcast:
This AI Expert Argues We're Underestimating AI's Productivity Impact — With Ethan Mollick
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.
Machine Gods:
Inside Anthropic's IPO + How AI agents spy on your messages
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:00 AM ET, August 20, 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

Earlier Picks

Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Ellis Hamburger / The Verge: