Techmeme
May 19, 2015, 1:00 PM

Top News

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Apple, Google, and leading cryptologists urge President Obama in letter to reject backdoors in smartphones and other devices  —  Tech giants urge Obama to resist ‘backdoors’ into encrypted communications  —  Tech behemoths including Apple and Google and leading cryptologists …
Daisuke Wakabayashi / Wall Street Journal:
After nearly a decade of research, Apple shelved plans over a year ago for the TV set that Carl Icahn expects it to release in 2016  —  Behind Apple's Move to Shelve TV Plans  —  Apple had dropped its TV plans, but investor Carl Icahn sees the firm entering the market next year
Rich McCormick / The Verge:
Apple releases new $1,999 27-inch Retina iMac and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Force Touch trackpad  —  Apple releases cheaper Retina iMac and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Force Touch  —  Apple is starting to bring the price down on its 5K Retina iMac, releasing a new version today that sells …
AccessNow:
Advocacy organizations from 31 countries say Facebook's Internet.org violates net neutrality, security, privacy, and threatens freedom of expression  —  Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg Regarding Internet.org, Net Neutrality, Privacy, and Security  —  We, the undersigned …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Twilio Launches IP Messaging, New Conference Call Services And High-Volume SMS Tools  —  Twilio is kicking off its Signal conference today and — unsurprisingly — the company is announcing a slew of new services for developers that use its voice, video and messaging platform.
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
LG Reveals Phablet And Budget Versions Of Its Flagship G4 Smartphone  —  LG's G4, the company newest flagship smartphone, went on sales across the first parts of the world yesterday, and today the Korean company added two variants of the device to the mix.  —  The G4 Stylus is a 5.7-inch version …
Dylan Tweney / VentureBeat:
Consumer groups update FTC complaint against Google to include allegations of adult content on YouTube Kids  —  Google's ‘kid-friendly’ app YouTube Kids shows some very grown-up videos  —  Two consumer groups have found some pretty appallingly adult content in Google's ostensibly child-friendly video app, YouTube Kids.

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Earlier Picks

Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: