Techmeme: Facebook Empowers Pages To Provide Customer Support Over Private Messages (Josh Constine/TechCrunch)

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August 5, 2015, 10:15 PM

Top News

Official Android Blog:

Google announces it will provide monthly OTA security updates to Nexus devices, starting today with Stagefright fixes — An Update to Nexus Devices — Security has always been a major focus for Android and Google Play: Android was built from day one with security in mind.

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

How the Stagefright bug changed Android security — It's been 10 days since Zimperium's Joshua Drake revealed a new Android vulnerability called Stagefright — and Android is just starting to recover. The bug allows an attacker to remotely execute code through a phony multimedia text message …

More: Samsung Tomorrow, Android Police, PCWorld, BetaNews, Android Central, NPR, VentureBeat, Ubergizmo, The Register, Gizmodo, PhoneDog.com, Ausdroid, SamMobile, AndroidGuys, PhoneArena, BetaBoston, Pocketnow, Android Beat and Android Police

Mike Lennon / SecurityWeek:

Samsung announces new Android security update process, will roll out patches once a month

Sam Biddle / Gawker:

Leaked internal documents show Uber lost $20.4M in 2012, $56M in 2013, and more than $160M in the first half of 2014 — Here Are the Internal Documents that Prove Uber Is a Money Loser — Uber, Silicon Valley's prized amoral unicorn, is presumed to be a financial titan and a sure-thing IPO in the near future.

More: Remains of the Day, Re/code, Inc.com, The Next Web and Business Insider

Tweets: @danprimack, @eriks, @katie_roof, @startupljackson, @fmanjoo, @modestproposal1, @danprimack, @cdixon, @caseynewton, @steepdecline and @fmanjoo

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Samsung Kills Top-Secret Plan to Reinvent the Remote Control, Lays Off Boxee Staff — Samsung's ambitious plan to replace the TV remote is dead. — The Korean consumer electronics giant quietly shuttered an ambitious initiative last month that was internally known as “Perfect Experience,” or PX, Variety has learned.

More: The Verge, SlashGear, Consumerist and Engadget. Tweets: @whatthebit

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

Reddit Finally Bans Racist r/CoonTown And Other Hateful Communities, Updates User Policies — Reddit CEO Steve Huffman introduced an updated set of user policies Wednesday, which included details for how Reddit would be “quarantining” certain communities and banning ones which were particular awful, including the infamous r/CoonTown.

More: Reddit Help, Gigaom, Re/code, PCWorld, CNET, BetaNews, BuzzFeed, USA Today, TIME, The Next Web, New York Times, Washington Post, The Verge, Ubergizmo, ABC News, VentureBeat, Engadget and Business Insider. See also Mediagazer

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

EMC Considers a Buyout by Its Own Subsidiary VMware — Data storage and IT giant EMC is contemplating a deal under which it would be acquired by VMware, the software company in which it is a majority owner, according to sources briefed on the discussions. — That is one of several options EMC's board …

More: eWeek, Fortune, Business Insider, Light Reading and Tech Trader Daily

Tweets: @sriramk, @bradcasemore and @knieriemen

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Launches “Live” Streaming Video Feature, But Only For Celebrities — Before Periscope and Meerkat jumpstarted the mobile live-streaming craze, Facebook was already quietly working on its own way to let public figures broadcast live videos to their fans.

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Good Eggs Will Shut Down All Operations Outside San Francisco, Lay Off Nearly 140 Employees — Organic food delivery startup Good Eggs just announced that it will be closing its operations in Los Angeles, New York City and New Orleans — every city where it has a presence, except for San Francisco.

More: Good Eggs Blog, New Orleans Times-Picayune, bizjournals, AM New York, Inside Scoop SF, The New Orleans Advocate, Eater SF - All, Inhabitat and Blog of New Orleans, Gambit

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Empowers Pages To Provide Customer Support Over Private Messages — A business publicly debating customer problems on their Facebook Page's wall is a recipe for a PR disaster. So today Facebook is giving Pages more options for privately messaging people who complain.

More: Facebook, Engadget, Marketing Land, The Next Web, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, VentureBeat, Adweek, SocialTimes and Social Media Today. Tweets: @joshconstine

Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg Business:

Apple defeats bid for lawsuit alleging iMessage interfered with delivery of texts after switching to non-Apple devices — Apple Defeats Bid for Group Suit Over Texts Lost in Phone Swap — Apple Inc. won a ruling beating back a group lawsuit sought by a former iPhone user who claimed …

More: Digital Trends, CNET, iPhone Hacks, Consumerist, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, MacRumors, iLounge, AppleInsider, The Verge, Patently Apple and iPhone in Canada Blog

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Adidas acquires mobile fitness company Runtastic for $239M — Sporting giant Adidas has acquired Runtastic, a European mobile fitness startup known for its GPS fitness-tracking app of the same name, in a deal worth €220 million ($239 million). — Founded out of Austria in 2009 …

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Twitter Will Offer ‘Buy’ Buttons to as Many as 100,000 Merchants With New Shopify Deal — Twitter has been deliberate in its rollout of Buy buttons. But it's about to make a bigger splash. — The social network is in the process of integrating with Shopify and other e-commerce software companies …

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:

Fitbit shares sink more than 10% despite strong Q2 earnings of $0.21/share on $400M revenue — Fitbit shares sink 10% despite strong first report — Fitbit is reporting EPS beat of $0.21 adjusted on revenue beat of $400 million, with CNBC's Dominic Chu.

More: Fitbit, TechCrunch, MarketWatch, Financial Times, Forbes, StreetInsider.com, Tech Trader Daily, Money Morning, VentureBeat and Wearable Tech Insider. See also Mediagazer

Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:

GoDaddy beats with Q2 revenue of $394.5M, but losses widen to $71.3M, missing estimates — GoDaddy Q2 a mixed bag as losses widen — The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company reported a net loss of 46 cents per share. Analysts were expecting EPS losses of 17 cents.

More: GoDaddy, Reuters, TechCrunch, bizjournals and Reuters

Mike Beasley / 9to5Google:

YouTube ditches “301+” video view counter, introduces new method for keeping views up-to-date — YouTube announced a new plan today to finally get rid of the well-known “301+” issue that affected popular videos on the site. — As has been explained by the company in the past …

More: The Next Web, Gizmodo, Mashable, Android Police, MobileSyrup.com, SlashGear and WebProNews. Tweets: @ytcreators

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Google Fiber plans service in San Antonio, its biggest city yet — Google will compete against AT&T, which plans gigabit service for San Antonio. — Google today said it is beginning design work on a fiber network for San Antonio, Texas. With 1.4 million residents, it will be the biggest Google Fiber city so far.

More: Google Fiber Blog, TechCrunch, Android Authority, VentureBeat, KSAT-TV, CNET, TIME, Oregonian, Engadget, The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, San Antonio Current, 9to5Google, Consumerist, Android Central, Ubergizmo, Multichannel News, USA Today and ZDNet

Lena H. Sun / Washington Post:

You can now look up ER wait times, hospital noise levels and nursing home fines on Yelp — Yelp is adding a ton of health-care data to its review pages for medical businesses to give consumers more access to government information on hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis clinics.

More: Yelp Official Blog, USA Today, MedCity News, Wired, Nieman Lab, Macworld and Consumerist. See also Mediagazer

Brendan Klinkenberg / BuzzFeed:

Target tests Bluetooth beacons in 50 stores to send customers deals based on precise in-store location — Target Rolls Out New Pilot Program To Track Customers In Stores — The company is testing a network of beacons in 50 of its stores that will be able to tell where customers …

More: TechCrunch, corporate.target.com, iMore, Consumerist, GeekWire, ZDNet, MacRumors, TWICE and iLounge

Steve Dent / Engadget:

Intel targets gamers with sixth-gen ‘Skylake’ CPU launch — With mobile annihilating the mainstream PC industry, Intel knows gaming is buttering its bread. The chip giant launched its sixth-gneration “Skylake” desktop processors today with two enthusiast quad-core models: the Core I7-6700K and i5-6600K.

More: The Verge, AnandTech, BetaNews, PCWorld, Ars Technica, Seeking Alpha, WinBeta and Inquirer

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