Techmeme: Amazon Echo, initially ridiculed, could be the next must-have gadget (Farhad Manjoo/New York Times)

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March 12, 2016, 6:15 PM

Top News

Cade Metz / Wired:

Google's AI Takes Historic Match Against Go Champ With Third Straight Win — SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Google's artificially intelligent Go-playing computer system has claimed victory in its historic match with Korean grandmaster Lee Sedol after winning the third straight game in this best-of-five series.

More: Wired, The Verge, YouTube, The Verge, VentureBeat, GeekWire, VentureBeat, Phys.org, Gizmodo, Guardian, CNET, Los Angeles Times, Mark Zuckerberg, Re/code, Business Insider, Motherboard, Newsy, Ars Technica UK, Fortune, ZDNet, NPR, Engadget, Slate, kottke.org and Life Tips.

Tweets: @lowellheddings, @novapbs and @kevin2kelly

Justin Sink / Bloomberg Business:

At SXSW, President Obama advises tech industry to compromise on encryption now instead of waiting for Congress to act — Government Can't Let Smartphones Be ‘Black Boxes,’ Obama Says — Obama advises tech industry to compromise before Congress acts — President appears at South by Southwest as FBI sues Apple Inc.

Matt Apuzzo / New York Times:

Sources: Justice Department debating how to resolve standoff with WhatsApp over encryption in non-terrorism investigation — WhatsApp Encryption Said to Stymie Wiretap Order — WASHINGTON — While the Justice Department wages a public fight with Apple over access to a locked iPhone …

More: Ars Technica. Tweets: @csoghoian, @puiwingtam and @csoghoian

Steven Levy / Backchannel:

US government reigniting the crypto wars of the 90s as tech companies implement strong encryption by default post-Snowden — Why Are We Fighting the Crypto Wars Again? — The iPhone Crisis reignited a conflict that should have been settled in the 90s. The loser is our national security.

Tweets: @eff and @christophera

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

Amazon Echo, initially ridiculed, could be the next must-have gadget — The Echo From Amazon Brims With Groundbreaking Promise — Many of the world's largest technology companies have spent the last five years searching in vain for the holy grail, a machine to succeed the smartphone as the next must-have gadget.

More: CNBC, BGR, Fortune, Tech Times, Silicon Valley Business …, International Business Times, Guardian, Business Insider, Neowin, Yahoo! Finance, NBC News, TWICE, MediaShift, CNET and The Verge

Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:

Michael Goguen, longtime partner at Sequoia Capital, is out after suit unrelated to firm alleging sexual and physical abuse — Longtime VC Michael Goguen was just hit with an explosive lawsuit — Michael Goguen, a longtime partner at Sequoia Capital who joined the tony Sand Hill Road …

More: Business Insider, Re/code, Fortune and Flathead Beacon

Tweets: @sequoia, @caseynewton, @danprimack, @mariachong, @caseynewton and @sarahcuda

Amar Toor / The Verge:

AdBlock replaces ads with messages from anti-censorship activists through Saturday, in partnership with Amnesty International — Snowden, Pussy Riot, and Ai Weiwei launch AdBlock campaign to protest censorship — Ai Weiwei, Edward Snowden, and Pussy Riot have partnered with AdBlock …

More: Wired, Ars Technica, The Daily Dot, Amnesty International, Mashable, Engadget, The Drum, Billboard, bangkokpost.com, amnesty.org.uk, ABC News, Fortune, Hit & Run, CNET, Guardian, BetaNews and The Next Web

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Hands-on with Android N: Increased customization, better notifications, and more — We cover everything new we could find in Android's latest update. — The new Android N Developer Preview starts off with a warning and then gives you an option to jump into vision or emergency contact settings.

More: ZDNet

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Coming at Apple's March 21st event: 4-inch iPhone SE, 9.7-inch iPad Pro & new Apple Watch models — If Apple's most recent hardware events were about going bigger (larger iPhones, a jumbo iPad, and a new Apple TV), Apple's March 21st event is about going smaller.

More: ZDNet, Mashable, AppleInsider, Dice Insights and Pocket-lint

Ellen Huet / Bloomberg Business:

Instacart says ads from General Mills, PepsiCo, and other consumer goods makers account for 15% of its revenue — Instacart Gets Red Bull and Doritos to Pay Your Delivery Fees — The grocery delivery startup says ads from General Mills, PepsiCo, and other consumer companies account for 15 percent of revenue.

More: Re/code, The Awl, Business Insider and Consumerist

Tweets: @bendwalsh and @ellenhuet

Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Instacart cuts commissions for couriers by 50%, reduces fees per drop-off to $1.50 from $4 in SF, LA, and some other metro areas

More: Ars Technica, Business Insider, Guardian, TechCrunch, SiliconBeat, VatorNews, Fortune and GeekWire

Tweets: @scottmaustin, @mattbuchanan, @mikeisaac, @dangillmor and @caseynewton

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Microsoft launches tool to help Evernote users on Windows move their notes to OneNote — Microsoft launches OneNote importer tool for Evernote users — Microsoft today launched a OneNote importer tool that lets Evernote users bring their content to Microsoft's note-taking tool.

More: Tech Times, Fone Arena, Office Blogs, CIO.com, SlashGear, Engadget, Windows Central, The Verge, Six Colors, TechCrunch, WebProNews, Neowin, WinBeta, MSPoweruser, The Next Web, The Fire Hose and ZDNet

Mark Bergen / Re/code:

How Kyle Vogt Sold Cruise Automation to GM, Twitch to Amazon — Ten years ago, Justin Kan and Emmett Shear had just sold their app company, Kiko, and were itching for another venture. They had a concept — livestream video — but no idea how to build it. So they sent an email …

More: The Next Web, The New Stack, Haywire, Fortune, BGR, Automotive News Automaker, SiliconANGLE, Ars Technica, VatorNews, FierceWireless, TechSpot, SiliconBeat, TechCrunch, Fortune, Gizmodo, Xconomy and silicontap.com

Tweets: @williamalden, @delrey, @justinkan and @alexisohanian

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

TP-Link blocks open source router firmware in clumsy effort to comply with new FCC rule regarding RF interference — TP-Link blocks open source router firmware to comply with new FCC rule — Rules for limiting interference could prevent use of DD-WRT and OpenWRT.

More: The Next Web, The Register, Lifehacker, DSLreports and Liliputing

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