Techmeme: First official look at Operator from Expa, an app that lets you message a human expert to assist in making “high-consideration” purchases (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

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April 23, 2015, 2:35 PM

Top News

Stephanie M. Lee / BuzzFeed:

Apple shares list of must-have apps for Watch, including Twitter, Instagram, New York Times, Mint, Citymapper, Strava, and more, as Watch App Store goes live — Apple Thinks You Should Use These Apps On The Apple Watch — As the App Store for the Apple Watch goes live today, Apple reveals which apps it thinks are must-haves.

More: Wall Street Journal, 9to5Mac, The Verge, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacStories and Touch Arcade

Tweets: @wjrothman and @reneritchie

Thanks:@stephaniemlee

New York Times:

Apple Watch to be stocked in select fashion boutiques in Tokyo, London, LA, Paris, Berlin, and Milan on Friday — The Apple Watch Arrives in Stores (Just Not Its Own) — Rumors of the Apple Watch's unavailability have, it turns out, been slightly, if not greatly, exaggerated.

John Paczkowski / BuzzFeed:

Delayed Apple Watch Preorders Shipping Earlier Than Expected — Late May, June preorders now preparing for shipment... Apple — Apple has some good news for early adopters who ended up with an Apple Watch preorder ship date of late May or June. You may be unboxing Apple's first-ever wearable sooner than you think.

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Apple opens up the Apple Watch App Store with “more than 3,000 apps”

More: The Verge and Engadget

Kim Zetter / Wired:

How to Detect Sneaky NSA ‘Quantum Insert’ Attacks — Among all of the NSA hacking operations exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden over the last two years, one in particular has stood out for its sophistication and stealthiness. Known as Quantum Insert, the man-on-the-side hacking technique …

More: The Register and Fox-IT International blog

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Google's Wireless Service: What It Means for Consumers, Google and the Carriers — Earlier today, Google officially announced its plans to offer its own wireless service under the Project Fi moniker. — As expected, the effort taps three networks: LTE networks from Sprint and T-Mobile along with a heavy dose of Wi-Fi.

More: CNNMoney, SiliconANGLE, Fusion, Wired, Tech Times, Telecompetitor, Computerworld, Quartz, Android Police, The Pondering Primate, ABC News, The Official Google Blog, BetaNews, Refinery29, Fortune and Tech Trader Daily. Tweets: @kylebrussell

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

How Google's Project Fi pricing stacks up to the competition — Is Google's new wireless service the cheapest out there? It depends. — Google just announced Project Fi, its new MVNO wireless service for the Nexus 6. Google hopes to shake up the industry with its control of the hardware, software, and network.

More: ZDNet, Vox, The Register, Tech Times, The Verge and The Verge

Tom Fairless / Wall Street Journal:

Internal policy document reveals EU is considering creating a powerful new regulator to oversee Internet platforms, many of which are US-based — EU Considers Creating Powerful Regulator to Oversee Web Platforms — New body would oversee a swath of mainly U.S.-based Internet companies

More: The Verge, Engadget, Business Insider and The Hill

Amir Mizroch / Wall Street Journal:

European Commission to unveil “single digital market” proposal May 6, to unify laws on tax, data, copyright and more across member states, to compete with US

More: AppleInsider, theWHIR.com, POLITICO, The Sofia Globe, Reuters, Fast Company, Ars Technica, Tech City News and Reuters

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Xiaomi unveils Mi 4i for around $205 in India, with 5-inch Full HD display, 13MP camera, Snapdragon 615, and LTE — Xiaomi's New Mi4i Packs A Gamut Of High-End Features Into A $200 Smartphone — Xiaomi today took the wraps of off its newest smartphone, the Mi4i, at an event in New Delhi, India.

More: VentureBeat, The Next Web, New York Times, Android Police, CNET, ZDNet, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, AndroidGuys, Android Authority, BetaNews, Mobile Industry Review, TechnoBuffalo and The Techolic

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Google launches free tool to help AdSense publishers recommend more articles to their readers — Google Edges Further Into Hot Content Recommendation Sector — Google has rolled out a new free product designed to make it easier for Web publishers to get people to stick around on their sites longer.

More: Inside AdSense, Marketing Land, Search Engine Roundtable, AdExchanger, WebProNews and ECPM BLOG. Tweets: @rafat. See also Mediagazer

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

First official look at Operator from Expa, an app that lets you message a human expert to assist in making “high-consideration” purchases — First Look At Uber's Co-Founder's Shopping Concierge “Operator” — Operator wants to “unlock the 90% of commerce that's not on the Internet”, CEO Robin Chan tells me.

More: Bloomberg Business, PandoDaily, Medium, Tech Times, Laughing Squid, Engadget and Greylock Partners

Tweets: @wayne, @hunterwalk, @fmanjoo, @joshconstine, @travisbernard, @naveen and @shaig

Thomas Fox-Brewster / Forbes:

Samsung Galaxy S5 Flaw Allows Hackers To Clone Fingerprints, Claim Researchers — Biometric information is about as personal as data gets. But Google's Android partners are still failing to protect it, as researchers from security firm FireEye will discuss this week at RSA …

More: International Business Times, The Register, BBC, Digital Trends, International Business Times, Guardian, Electronista, Gizmodo, BiometricUpdate, Planet Biometrics.com, BGR and SamMobile. Tweets: @valaafshar

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

IAB: Search Was 50% Of US Digital Ad Spend In 2014, Desktop Still Bigger Than Mobile — The figures are in, and once again, search marketing is a powerhouse. According to the IAB, search made up 50% of all digital ad spend last year in the United States. — Over on Marketing Land …

More: IAB, ECPM BLOG, Marketing Land, Tubefilter and VatorNews. See also Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Facebook partners with Vice, Disney, Vox, The Onion, and others to develop sponsored videos — Facebook Lines Up 7 Branded-Content Video Partners Including Vice, Disney — Facebook teamed with seven media partners — including Vice Media, Disney's Oh My Disney digital division and Electus Digital …

More: Facebook, TechCrunch, GeekWire, Marketing Land, SocialTimes and Mashable

Tweets: @joshconstine and @jasonabbruzzese

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