Techmeme: Deezer's high-quality ‘Elite’ streaming service is now available worldwide - but still only on Sonos (Ben Woods/The Next Web)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News Contact Editors

March 19, 2015, 3:40 PM

Top News

Bloomberg Business:

Google, Intel and TAG Heuer Partner on Luxury Smartwatch — Watch industry, consider yourself warned — Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer is creating a smartwatch in partnership with American technology firm Google. The watch is an attempt to compete with devices by consumer-electronics makers, particularly the much-hyped watch by Apple.

New York Post:

NYC has 14K cars affiliated with Uber, outnumbering 13.5K medallion cabs, 4 years after launch — More Uber cars than yellow taxis on the road in NYC — Black is the new yellow. — Uber has thrown down the gauntlet in the Big Apple taxi wars — overtaking the yellow-cab industry …

More: Digital Trends, The Daily Dot, BBC, Tech Times, Engadget, Business Insider, CBS San Francisco and Entrepreneur. Tweets: @ericnewcomer

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple Store retail plan for Watch: 15-minute appointments, at least 10 try-on stations, some employees dedicated to assisting Edition buyers — Apple Store retail plan for Watch: 15 min. appointments, 10+ try-on stations, Experts for Edition — Apple will introduce several major initiatives …

Matt Peckham / TIME:

Nintendo CEO talks about plans for smartphone games, says most will be developed in-house — Exclusive: Nintendo CEO Reveals Plans for Smartphones — It's official: Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda will appear on smartphones and tablets at last—and that's just the start.

More: Wired, Ars Technica, Tech Times, Lazygamer .:, 9to5Mac, MCV: Home Stream, TheStreet.com, Game Revolution, Gamasutra, Kotaku, GamesIndustry.biz, The Verge, destructoid, VG247 and VideoGamer.com

Alyssa Bereznak / Yahoo Tech:

Facebook Engineering Director David Recordon joins White House as Director of Information Technology, a newly created position — Exclusive: Facebook's Engineering Director Is Headed to the White House — The White House just added another Silicon Valley veteran to its growing roster of tech experts.

More: TechCrunch and Wall Street Journal

Mark Hachman / PC World:

Windows 10 will come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, supports phones up to 8 inches and requires that they have at least 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage — Windows 10 hardware specs allow for huge phones and teeny tablets — If you thought the six-inch Lumia 1520 was a monster phone …

More: BetaNews, SlashGear, The Next Web, VentureBeat and BetaNews

CBS News:

Target agrees to $10M settlement in class-action suit for 2013 data breach, up to $10K/person — Target agrees to pay $10 million to data breach victims — MINNEAPOLIS — Target has agreed to pay $10 million under a proposed settlement in a class-action lawsuit stemming from a massive 2013 data breach …

More: PandoDaily, SiliconBeat, Reuters, Computerworld, Mashable, Ubergizmo, Naked Security, The Verge, KSTP-TV, Electronista, TechSpot, Gizmodo, Engadget, Consumerist, WebProNews, BBC and VentureBeat

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Rakuten Buys Ebook And Audiobook Platform OverDrive For $410M — Rakuten is beefing up its digital content chops after it announced the acquisition of ebook and audiobook marketplace OverDrive for $410 million. — The Japanese e-commerce giant got into the e-reader game when it picked up hardware maker Kobo for $315 million in 2011.

More: Rakuten, Inc., The Next Web, GeekTime, Tech in Asia, Good E-Reader and internetretailer.com

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Android Auto now available for devices running Android 5.0+, compatible with some Pioneer in-car systems; third-party Auto apps available on Google Play — Android Auto Now Available On Android 5.0+ And Pioneer Head Units — Android Auto has gone live, for devices running Android 5.0 and up …

More: Android - Google+, Android Authority, Ars Technica, 9to5Google, Engadget, VentureBeat, Android Police, Android Developers Blog, AndroidGuys, Phandroid and Android and Me

Geoffrey Smith / Fortune:

Alibaba's Jack Ma demos Smile to Pay app that validates mobile payments using facial recognition — Alibaba's Jack Ma shows off new ‘pay with a selfie’ technology — New facial recognition software is intended to buttress the fast-growing mobile-payments business.

More: Re/code, Patently Apple, Mashable, Forbes, bizjournals, USA Today, Newsweek, The Drum, Computerworld, Ubergizmo, Tech in Asia and Pocket-lint

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

RIAA finds streaming services made $1.87B in 2014, eclipsing US CD sales for the first time — Sales of Streaming Music Top CDs in Flat Year for Industry — The American market for recorded music was flat in 2014, but income from streaming services like Spotify and Pandora has quickly grown …

More: The Huffington Post and Consumerist. See also Mediagazer

Ben Woods / The Next Web:

Deezer's high-quality ‘Elite’ streaming service is now available worldwide - but still only on Sonos — Deezer's ‘Elite’ high-quality music streaming service is now available to users around the world following a brief US-only stint at the end of 2014. — First launched in September …

More: TechCrunch and hypebot

Andrew Grush / Android Authority:

Xiaomi VP Hugo Barra says firm is allowing Windows 10 experiments on Mi 4 but Microsoft deals directly with Mi fans in China, not Xiaomi — Hugo Barra clarifies Xiaomi's new relationship with Microsoft — Yesterday news broke that Windows 10 would be coming to the Xiaomi Mi4 in the form of a flashable ROM.

More: VentureBeat and WMPoweruser

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.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

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.

Lenny's Podcast:

OpenAI's Head of Design: This is the best time in history to be a designer | Ian Silber

Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.

Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.

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.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:40 PM ET, March 19, 2015.

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.