Techmeme: Google on iOS and Android can now use geolocation to answer “When does this restaurant open?” or “How long is this river?” (Danny Sullivan/Search Engine Land)

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June 11, 2015, 8:15 AM

Top News

Paul Ford / Bloomberg Business:

Code: what is it, how it's evolved, and why it matters for all businesses — What Is Code? — You are an educated, successful person capable of abstract thought. A VP doing an SVP's job. Your office, appointed with decent furniture and a healthy amount of natural light filtered through vertical blinds …

More: Bloomberg Business, Poynter and Bloomberg L.P.

Tweets: @katiedrumm and @thestalwart

EU Press Room:

Antitrust: Commission opens formal investigation into Amazon's e-book distribution arrangements — The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into certain business practices by Amazon in the distribution of electronic books ("e-books").

More: BBC, Computerworld, TechCrunch, The Verge, ZDNet, The Next Web, VentureBeat, Engadget, Tech.eu and New York Times. See also Mediagazer

Xiaoyun Zhang / The Twitter Blog:

Twitter simplifies blocking multiple accounts by letting users share and import block lists — Sharing block lists to help make Twitter safer — Today we're making it possible to share block lists on twitter.com. This new, advanced feature makes blocking multiple accounts easy, fast and community driven.

Kellex / Droid Life:

Sources: New Nest Cam is a slimmed down version of Dropcam; new app has updated UI, slide-down menu, button-heavy interface — This is the Nest Cam and the New Nest App for Android — You know that story from earlier today that suggested Nest may unveil a new wireless camera at next week's event?

More: Guardian, Business Insider, TechWeekEurope UK, SlashGear, The Verge, Engadget and VentureBeat

Steve Lohr / New York Times:

Google creates and funds Sidewalk Labs, a startup developing and incubating tech to improve urban life, headed by former deputy mayor of NYC Daniel L. Doctoroff — Sidewalk Labs, a Start-Up Created by Google, Has Bold Aims to Improve City Living — Google's ambitions and investments …

More: Larry Page, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, Capital New York, The Verge, Business Insider, USA Today, SiliconBeat, The Next Web, 9to5Google, Engadget, Bloomberg Business, Business Insider and Forbes. Tweets: @amir

Nate Swanner / The Next Web:

Apple Music will stream at 256kbps, below the ‘industry standard’ 320kbps — Arriving June 30, Apple Music is going to try and curate tracks with a human touch. It won't stream them at the highest possible bitrate, though. — Apple has confirmed Apple Music's streaming bitrate is 256kbps.

More: SlashGear, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, AfterDawn.com, The Tech Portal, RAIN News, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, hypebot, TechSpot and Pocketnow. Tweets: @alexjamesfitz. See also Mediagazer

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Reddit bans ‘Fat People Hate’ and other subreddits under new harassment rules — In the wake of a new anti-harassment policy, Reddit is banning a handful of its worst communities. “Our goal is to enable as many people as possible to have authentic conversations and share ideas and content …

More: BetaNews, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, Ars Technica, BREITBART.COM, The Next Web, BuzzFeed, TechCrunch, Engadget and Gawker. Tweets: @waxpancake

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

iOS 9 code hints 1080p, 240fps, flash coming to iPhone FaceTime cameras — Code found in the first iOS 9 developer betas reveals that Apple is planning to support some significant camera features and upgrades with the new software version. Presumably planned for the next iPhone hardware version …

More: MacRumors, The Verge, Fone Arena, SiliconANGLE, Pocket-lint, MacNN, Forbes, TechnoBuffalo, TodaysiPhone.com, AppleInsider, Neowin, App Advice, PhoneDog.com and BGR. Thanks:@chancehmiller

Jeff Elder / Wall Street Journal:

Jawbone sues Fitbit over patent infringement, its second suit against Fitbit in two weeks — Jawbone Hits Fitbit With Second Lawsuit in Two Weeks — Fitness trackers from Jawbone and Fitbit are made to count heartbeats. They may soon be put to use counting lawsuits between the two rivals.

More: Digital Trends, Business Insider, VatorNews, BBC, Ubergizmo, BuzzFeed, SlashGear, ABC News, Engadget, VentureBeat and The Verge

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Matt Murphy Moves to Menlo Ventures From Kleiner — Venture capitalist Matt Murphy, who left Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers earlier this year, has found a new investing home. — Murphy will join Menlo Ventures as managing director, the Menlo Park, Calif., firm said on Thursday.

More: TechCrunch, New York Times and PE Hub Blog

Mark Brown / Pocket Gamer:

Apple's Xcode 7 allows anyone to build and test apps on iOS devices, no $99/year developer license required — Apple's new Xcode lets anyone sideload apps and emulators onto their iOS device — Freedom! — Review — Videos — Tips — The new version of Xcode …

More: bouk.co, 9to5Mac, TechnoBuffalo, Pocketnow, SiliconANGLE, AfterDawn.com, Cult of Mac and Touch Arcade

Wall Street Journal:

Critics say that startups' use of vague, unconventional, and non-GAAP financial terms inflate their valuations — Tech Startups Woo Investors With Unconventional Financial Terms — but Do Numbers Add Up? — Critics say the practice is inflating some companies' valuations

More: PYMNTS.com, Bloomberg View, The Verge and Fortune

Tweets: @jkrim, @saraheneedleman, @kevinroose, @mims, @mims and @mdudas

Chris Welch / The Verge:

iOS 9 extends Continuity to cellular connections; T-Mobile first to offer feature — iOS 9 brings more flexibility to Apple's great Continuity feature — Continuity is one of the best things about going all in on Apple hardware. With it, you can easily send and receive calls or text messages …

More: TmoNews, Computerworld, 9to5Mac, ZDNet, SiliconANGLE, iDownloadBlog.com, The Next Web, MacRumors, AppleInsider, iMore and PhoneDog.com

Ian Sherr / CNET:

Video game console maker Ouya in talks to be acquired by Razer — Video game console maker Ouya is in negotiations to sell itself, possibly to Razer — The company, whose app store was pitched as the go-to place for small and independent developers, is negotiating for all employees to remain with the company after the sale.

More: TechCrunch, VG247, VentureBeat, SlashGear, Fone Arena, Polygon, TechSpot, MacNN, Pocket-lint, Ubergizmo, Ausdroid, Android Police, Engadget, AndroidGuys and Android Central. Thanks:@nickstatt

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

Google on iOS and Android can now use geolocation to answer “When does this restaurant open?” or “How long is this river?” — [WATCH] Google's Amazing Location-Aware Search Finds Answers About Nearby Places — How tall is that tower in front of you?

More: Android Police, Business Insider, Search Engine Roundtable, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, TechnoBuffalo, Pocketnow, Liliputing, 9to5Google, BGR, Android and Me, xda-developers, Phandroid, Engadget, Ubergizmo, Local Search Forum and PhoneDog.com

Eli Blumenthal / USA Today:

Removed job listing suggests Amazon planning daily video show to drive product sales — Amazon job listing suggests company could soon launch live video shows — NEW YORK— Could Amazon be looking to expand into daily, live video shows? That appears to be the case, according to a job listing from the Internet retailer.

More: GeekWire and PC Magazine

Jessica Conditt / Engadget:

Twitch rolls out a private-message system called Whisper — Psst. We heard something about Twitch that you might enjoy. Lean in. A little closer. A little closer. Perfect: You can now send private messages to friends on Twitch, even if your buddies are watching different streams than you at the time.

More: The Official Twitch Blog, SlashGear, The Next Web and Ubergizmo

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