Techmeme: LG's Urbane Android Wear watch lands in the US for $349 (Josh Lowensohn/The Verge)

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April 28, 2015, 9:25 AM

Top News

Stan Chudnovsky / Facebook:

Facebook adds video calling to Messenger in select countries including US, Canada, Mexico and parts of EU, on both iOS and Android — Introducing Video Calling in Messenger — Today, we're introducing video calling in Messenger. Now you can have face-to-face conversations with your friends …

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook's Stan Chudnovsky on building Messenger's new video calling feature, and possible future livestreaming features

More: Business Insider, Seeking Alpha and Gizmodo

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Fashion and lifestyle site Refinery29 raises $50M at $290M valuation, led by WPP Ventures and Scripps Networks Interactive — Refinery29 Joins the Big Media Startup Club, with a $50 Million Funding Round — It's no longer surprising when investors write big checks to a media startup.

More: Business Wire, TechCrunch, PE Hub Blog, VatorNews, SiliconANGLE, WWD, VentureBeat, AdAge and New York Times. See also Mediagazer

Reuters:

Tim Cook says expanding middle class is fueling iPhone sales in China as revenues increase 71% to $16.8B, beating US sales for first time — China iPhone sales boosts Apple; shares up modestly — (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) beat Wall Street's revenue and profit forecasts on Monday …

More: New York Times, 9to5Mac, Business Insider Australia and Yahoo! Finance. Tweets: @digiphile

Jordan Golson / MacRumors:

Apple Q2: $13.6B profit on $58B revenue, iPhone sales up 40% YoY to 61.2M, iPad sales down 23% YoY to 12.6M, boosts dividends, buybacks to $200B+ by March 2017

More: Apple, Quartz, TechCrunch, BGR, Business Insider, Inquirer, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, iMore, TechEye, Forbes, CNET, The Verge, Circa News, The Loop, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, Business Insider and The Verge

Tweets: @jonerlichman, @benbajarin and @tim

Eugene Kim / Business Insider:

Apple sold 12.6M iPads last quarter, marking $5.4B in sales, down 23% YOY

More: Ars Technica, TIME, Seeking Alpha, ZDNet, The Next Web, Vox and WebProNews

Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:

LG's Urbane Android Wear watch lands in the US for $349 — The first Android Wear device that will come out of the box with Google's big new software update is now on sale in the US. Google began selling the LG Urbane on its online store today for $349. The watch comes in either a silver or a gold …

More: ZDNet, 9to5Google, Droid Life, Tech Times, SlashGear, Ubergizmo, ITProPortal, AndroidSPIN, Electronista, BetaNews, Phandroid, Ausdroid, 9to5Google and Android Police

Michael McWhertor / Polygon:

Valve kills paid mods on Steam, will refund Skyrim mod buyers — Just a few days after launching paid mods on Steam through the Skyrim Workshop, Valve is removing the payment option, citing customer feedback. Valve says it will refund Steam users who purchased a Skyrim mod on Steam.

More: Steam Workshop, Bethesda Blog, International Business Times, SiliconANGLE, BBC, PCWorld, Wired.co.uk, Gamasutra, Ars Technica, Engadget, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, New World Notes, Ubergizmo, Forbes, GamesIndustry.biz and The Verge. Tweets: @therealcliffyb

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

Microsoft phones infringe on two InterDigital patents, ITC judge rules — Microsoft phones infringe patents: U.S. International Trade Commission judge — (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp lost a round in a potentially costly patent battle when a U.S. International Trade Commission judge …

More: SiliconANGLE, GlobeNewswire News Room, TechnoBuffalo, SlashGear, The Register and WMPoweruser

Jane Martinson / Guardian:

Google and eight European publishers plan Digital News Initiative to develop news business models, with $163M Google innovation fund — Google admits mistakes with news outlets as it announces new partnership — The Digital News Initiative is likely to be seen as an attempt for Google …

Kevin Tofel / ZDNet:

Lenovo announces $199 ThinkCentre Chromebox, arriving in June to integrate with Tiny-In-One workstation — Lenovo's new ThinkCentre Chromebox: The right size for small business — Summary:Lenovo's new $199 Chromebox can be out of sight on employee desks: Just attach it to the back of Lenovo's Tiny …

More: Lenovo Newsroom, SlashGear, Ausdroid, Android Central and PCWorld

Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon launches Amazon Business marketplace with exclusive merchandise and better prices, phases out Amazon Supply — Amazon Expands Business-Sales Marketplace After Three Years — After three years of testing, Amazon.com is hoping to widen the reach of its business customer marketplace site …

More: Amazon.com, The Next Web, Bloomberg Business, VentureBeat and Business Insider

Buster Hein / Cult of Mac:

Apple Watch Sport has better display than pricier models — Apple is pushing into new territory with the Apple Watch, by making it the first device to come from Cupertino that uses an OLED display. One of the reasons Apple's never brought OLED displays to the iPhone is they're more challenging to engineer than long-established LCDs.

More: DisplayMate, Engadget, 9to5Mac, App Advice, BGR, iPhone in Canada Blog, Macworld, AppleInsider, TechnoBuffalo, Gizmodo, WatchAware, MacRumors, SlashGear, Pocketnow and DISPLAYBLOG

Mike Beasley / 9to5Mac:

Best Buy changes course, will support Apple Pay in its iOS app today, in retail stores later this year — Best Buy to gain Apple Pay support in-app today, in retail stores this fall — Apple CEO Tim Cook announced today during the company's earnings call that Best Buy will gain support …

More: Best Buy Corporate, Re/code, New York Times, BGR, Ars Technica, Macworld, Digital Trends, International Business Times, Ubergizmo, Business Insider, MacRumors, iMore, The Verge, AppleInsider, Engadget, TechCrunch, iPhone Hacks and Payments News

Tweets: @bbynews and @lessien

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

With Discover joining this fall, Apple Pay will support all four major credit cards in US

Timothy Hay / Wall Street Journal:

Scanadu Raises $35 Million From Fosun, Tencent for Its Health Scanner … Scanadu Inc., a company that is aiming to bring hospital-grade diagnostic tests to consumers' smartphones, has raised a $35 million Series B round to push further into clinical trials for is Scout device.

More: VentureBeat, PE Hub Blog, SiliconANGLE, Fortune, bizjournals and TechCrunch

Wall Street Journal:

Katie Couric's show to play key role in Yahoo's push to grow video advertising and improve distribution of content through social media — Yahoo, Katie Couric Tweak the Recipe — It isn't about home-page traffic, they say, playing up the staying power of interviews thanks to social media

More: Business Insider

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