Techmeme
January 18, 2016, 8:30 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Airbus CEO says it will provide helicopters to Uber's chopper service via pilot project launching in a few weeks  —  Airbus to Join Forces With Uber for On-Demand Helicopter Service, CEO Says  —  European aerospace company looking to expand its audience for helicopters
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp Ditches $1 Annual Fee, Tests Business Accounts But No Ads, Says CEO  —  Today at the DLD conference in Munich, Germany, the CEO of Facebook-owned WhatsApp made a couple of big announcements about how the messaging app plans to evolve to its next phase as it approaches 1 billion users …
Jillian D'Onfro / Business Insider:
AOL considering changes to its brand, including a name change, to better reflect properties like Huffington Post, TechCrunch, ad platforms, CMO Allie Kline says  —  AOL's identity crisis: The company may ditch the ‘AOL’ brand  —  Verizon-owned AOL has an image problem.
Ed Bott / ZDNet:
Microsoft updates support policy: new CPUs will require Windows 10, a list of preferred devices will support older Windows versions, but only for 18 months  —  Microsoft updates support policy: New CPUs will require Windows 10  —  In a change to its longstanding support policy …
Steve Ragan / CSO:
LastPass web design elements can enable a hard-to-detect phishing attack; company says it has released an update that mitigates most of the risks  —  ShmooCon: LastPass design elements create perfect Phishing opportunity  —  “There's a cool hacker technique called right click, inspect element...”
Wall Street Journal:
Uber won't face limits on surge pricing under NYC Council legislation; Mayor de Blasio releases $2M study saying Uber isn't to blame for worsening congestion  —  Uber Won't Face Limits on Surge Pricing Under NYC Council Legislation  —  The package of bills regarding the taxi …
BBC:
BT takeover of EE gets final Competition and Markets Authority clearance  —  BT Group's takeover of mobile phone network EE has been given final clearance by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).  —  The £12.5bn deal brings together the UK's largest fixed-line business and the largest mobile telecoms business.
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Wall Street Journal:
Truly wireless $300 earbuds from Bragi and Earin are available now, but suffer from bluetooth connectivity issues and poor sound quality  —  Review: Truly Wireless Headphones Arrive, But With a Few Strings Attached  —  Bragi Dash and Earin earbuds may usher in an era of ‘hearable’ computers, but they're also works in progress
More: MacRumors
Kevin Tofel / ZDNet:
Alexa can now read Kindle books aloud from an Amazon Echo for free  —  You won't get the tone of a professional voice actor, but Alexa can read your Kindle books aloud: Best of all, there's no charge.  —  With so much recent focus on using an Amazon Echo to control smart home devices …

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Featured Podcasts

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Hard Fork:
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The Upstarts Podcast:
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BG2 Pod:
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Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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Earlier Picks

Kareem Anderson / WinBeta:
Brad Sams / Petri: