Techmeme: WhatsApp for Android now allows all users to make voice calls, iOS coming soon (Abhimanyu Ghoshal/The Next Web)

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March 31, 2015, 4:00 PM

Top News

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft's new Atom-based Surface 3, starting at $499, to hit in May — Summary:Microsoft's coming Surface 3, an Intel Atom x7-based Surface, is the new little sister to the Surface Pro 3. — Microsoft is adding a new Surface tablet to its line-up — one aimed at students …

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Hands on with the Microsoft Surface 3: new 3:2 aspect ratio makes it more usable in portrait mode, no major performance issues in limited use — Microsoft's Surface 3 is a $499 tablet that could be a full Windows laptop — Microsoft is back with a brand new Surface 3 tablet, but this time things are a little different.

More: Ink, Bits, & Pixels, CNET, Guardian, Macworld and CNNMoney

Richard Nieva / CNET:

Google announces an Asus-made Chrome OS HDMI stick called Chromebit for less than $100 and new ARM Chromebook laptops from Hisense and Haier starting at $149 — Google pushes Chrome OS software, with or without Chromebooks — Google announces new Chromebook laptops and an intriguing …

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Amazon's new Dash Button hardware offers instant orders for staple products; Prime members can request an invite to get the hardware for free — Amazon's New Dash Button Hardware Offers Instant Orders For Staple Products — Amazon has new hardware called the Dash Button that allows …

Abhimanyu Ghoshal / The Next Web:

WhatsApp for Android now allows all users to make voice calls, iOS coming soon — If you've been wondering when, oh when, someone will ring you via WhatsApp so you'll get its new voice calling feature, you won't have to sit by the phone any longer. — Updating to WhatsApp version 2.12.5 via Google Play does the trick.

More: VentureBeat, Android Police, PC Magazine, CNET, PC World, 9to5Google, TechnoBuffalo, Electronista, Android Beat, AndroidGuys, SlashGear, AndroidPure, Engadget, Ubergizmo, The Verge, Digital Trends, Android Authority and OStatic blogs

Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:

Belgian data regulator finds Facebook tracks logged out, explicitly opted out, and unregistered users, thus breaching EU privacy law — Facebook ‘tracks all visitors, breaching EU law’ — Exclusive: Social network even sets a new cookie to track untracked EU users who have explicitly opted out of tracking, report says

More: Ars Technica, The Verge, AdExchanger, Inquirer, Computerworld, BGR, PandoDaily, Telegraph and SC Magazine

Tweets: @juliaangwin and @marginalutility

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Apple now inviting all third-party developers to submit Watch apps to the App Store — Apple has now opened the floodgates and is letting all developers submit Watch apps to the App Store. This means any of the 1.2 million apps can now submit updates including Watch apps (using the WatchKit framework) …

More: Apple Developer News, The Next Web, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Cult of Mac and App Advice

Katherine Finnerty / The New York Times Company:

NYT's Apple Watch app features custom one-sentence stories with images and bullet points; readers can use Handoff to continue reading on iPhone or iPad — The Times Rolls Out One-Sentence Stories on Apple Watch — The New York Times has developed a new form of storytelling to help readers catch up in seconds on Apple Watch.

More: eWeek, GeekWire, Poynter, Business Insider, International Business Times, mobihealthnews, App Advice, Capital New York, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, Network World and iDownloadBlog.com

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Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Galaxy S6 review: with solid build quality, impressive specs, useful fingerprint sensor, and gorgeous 5.1 inch 2560 x 1440 display, it's Samsung at its best — Samsung Galaxy S6 review — It's not ok to make a cheap-looking phone anymore. — Now that Apple is finally making big phones …

More: Re/code, eWeek, CNET, TechCrunch, BGR, ZDNet, PCMag Asia samsung …, AppleInsider, CNET, Expert Reviews, Christian Post, PhoneArena, Mashable, Android Beat, ITworld.com, Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, PhoneArena, InformationWeek, Tech Times, BGR, BGR and Droid Life

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Twitter Publicly Launches Curator, Its Real-Time Search And Filtering Tool For Media Outlets — Twitter this morning is publicly launching Curator, its new product that lets media organizations, publishers, and broadcasters identify, filter and display tweets and Vine videos on any screen in real-time.

More: The Twitter Blog, Re/code, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Mashable, LostRemote and SlashGear. Tweets: @xdamman

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Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook's new “Scrapbook” feature lets parents tag their children in photos, giving kids an official presence without full profiles — Facebook's New Photo “Scrapbook” Lets Parents Give Kids An Official Presence — For the first time, children under 13 are allowed to have an official presence on Facebook.

More: Facebook, Re/code, The Daily Dot, The Verge, Business Insider, The Next Web, iDownloadBlog.com and WebProNews

Erin Griffith / Fortune:

Sprinklr raises $46 million to become latest billion-dollar unicorn — Sprinklr, a New York-based marketing startup, has raised $46 million in new funding from existing investors Intel Capital, Battery Ventures and Iconiq Capital. The round, which brings Sprinklr's total funding to $123.5 million …

More: Business Wire, TechCrunch, bizjournals, Xconomy and PE Hub Blog

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Andreessen Horowitz invests another $52M in security startup Tanium at a $1.75B valuation, bringing the total invested by the VC firm to $142M — Andreessen Horowitz Invests Another $52 Million in Tanium at $1.75 Billion Valuation — Security and systems management startup Tanium said today …

More: Andreessen Horowitz, eWeek, PC World, SiliconBeat, StrictlyVC, bizjournals, darkREADING, Financial Times, SecurityWeek, VentureBeat, Fortune, Forbes, Business Wire and New York Times

Jeremy Hodges / Bloomberg Business:

HP Sues Autonomy Co-Founder Lynch in U.K. for $5.1 Billion — (Bloomberg) — Hewlett-Packard Co. escalated its more than two-year-old battle with Michael Lynch, suing the Autonomy Corp. co-founder, as well as a former chief financial officer, for $5.1 billion.

More: Beyond Search, Reuters, Re/code and Seeking Alpha. Tweets: @charlesarthur

Bob Lefsetz / The Lefsetz Letter:

Tidal is dead on arrival because listeners are cheap, it lacks a critical mass of both users and musicians, and the market is crowded — Tidal — Now let me get this straight...piracy can be eradicated if artists just band together in the name of money? That's what this is all about, cash.

More: SiliconBeat, Medium, Bloomberg View, BGR, Computerworld and Bloomberg Business. Tweets: @tomcoates

See also Mediagazer

Ben Popper / The Verge:

Jay-Z relaunches Tidal with $9.99/month standard and $19.99/month high-quality tiers, with top artists as co-owners

Lizette Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Raptr raises $14M at a valuation of more than $170M in a round led by Accel Partners to record, edit, and share gameplay with other gamers — Raptr Launches Instagram for Gamers, Raises $14 Million to Expand Service … Raptr Inc. has 46 million gamers using its technology to optimize graphics and processing speeds on their PCs.

More: Re/code, VentureBeat, PE Hub Blog, PC World and GamePolitics blogs

Eileen Yu / ZDNet:

Indian government mandates that all systems used by its public sector are deployed on open source software — Indian government mandates use of open source software — Summary:Country's Ministry of Communication and Information Technology releases new policy that makes it mandatory …

More: Data Center Knowledge, Trak.in, The Economic Times, Express Computer, NewsHub.org, The Next Web, Fudzilla.com, PC World, Mobiletor.com and ComputerworldUK.com

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:

Infinit's New Mobile Apps Might Be The Best Way To Transfer Those Pesky HD Videos — French startup Infinit just released its mobile app for both iOS and Android. In addition to providing a simple way to send files to your friends and colleagues, it is now a full-fledged AirDrop replacement as well.

More: Macworld, VentureBeat, SlashGear, GeekTime and The Next Web. Tweets: @lafrenchtech

Kim Zetter / Wired:

US Used Zero-Day Exploits Before It Had Policies for Them — Around the same time the US and Israel were already developing and unleashing Stuxnet on computers in Iran, using five zero-day exploits to get the digital weapon onto machines there, the government realized it needed a policy …

More: Electronic Frontier Foundation and PC World

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Bitly closes its bulk link-shortening ‘bundles’ service, cites ‘abuse’ and lack of interest — Bitly, famous for its near-ubiquitous URL-shortening service, has revealed that it is “sunsetting” its bundles feature due to lack of uptake, a little over four years after launch.

More: Bitly blog

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google announces new advertising options for Android app developers aimed at increasing installs, including the mobile Google Display Network — Google Expands Advertising Options For Mobile Developers Designed To Increase Installs — Google announced this morning a range of new advertising options …

More: Marketing Land, The Next Web and Inside AdWords

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

AT&T launches gigabit fiber in parts of Cupertino, with prices from $110/month, $40 more than it charges in cities where it competes with Google Fiber — AT&T's newest fiber customers to pay $40 more than Google Fiber users — There's no $70 Google Fiber in Cupertino, so AT&T can charge what it wants to.

More: AT&T, The Register, The Verge, PC Magazine, InfoWorld, SlashGear and Digital Trends

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