Techmeme: Google updates Chrome Web Store user data policy with stricter privacy and transparency requirements, gives developers until July 15 to comply (Emil Protalinski/VentureBeat)

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April 15, 2016, 8:00 PM

Top News

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Researchers detail how they brute forced shortened URLs from OneDrive and Google Maps to access private information; Microsoft and Google respond — Researchers Crack Microsoft and Google's Shortened URLs to Spy on People — For anyone with minimalist tastes or an inability …

More: Freedom to Tinker, Ars Technica, The Digital Reader, Daily Mail, Techdirt, Engadget, Help Net Security, Digital Trends, Motherboard, The Register, Wired.co.uk, ResearchBuzz and Gizmodo

Tweets: @dangillmor, @lennyzeltser and @dannysullivan

Emily Green / San Francisco Chronicle:

SF to send letters to 37K Uber and Lyft drivers demanding they obtain $91 business licenses if they drive in the city more than seven days per year — SF to require Lyft, Uber drivers to obtain business licenses — For the first time, San Francisco is going to require the 37,000 Lyft …

More: SiliconBeat, Consumerist, TechCrunch, Fortune, SFWeekly, Business Insider and San Francisco Chronicle. Tweets: @ryanlawler

Brandt Ranj / Business Insider:

Facebook says it won't try to influence how people vote, despite verbal jabs between Zuckerberg and Trump campaign plus staffers' internal questions — Facebook promises not to use its product to influence the US presidential election — Despite some not-so-subtle political jabs …

More: Gizmodo, The Hill, Gizmodo, CNET and Washington Free Beacon. Tweets: @neetzan

Fortune:

Sources expect fewer than ten offers from bidders by Yahoo's Monday deadline; many of the rumored 40 bidders have not even read Yahoo's sale book — Don't Believe Everything You Read on the Yahoo Sale — If you believe everything you read about Yahoo YHOO , then you'd expect the company …

More: SiliconBeat, New York Times and Business Insider

Tweets: @pkedrosky, @jyarow, @jyarow, @pkafka and @eringriffith

Richard Lai / Engadget:

Huawei VR headset announced in China, works like Samsung Gear VR but with P9, Mate 8 phones — Of course Huawei is making a Gear VR rival — Huawei may have just announced the fancy P9 and P9 Plus smartphones in London last week, but it actually saved a little surprise for its Shanghai launch today.

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Google updates Chrome Web Store user data policy with stricter privacy and transparency requirements, gives developers until July 15 to comply — Google updates Chrome Web Store user data policy, will remove violating apps and extensions on July 15, 2016 — Google today updated …

More: Chromium Blog, PCWorld, 9to5Google, The Next Web, TechCrunch and Android Central

Dave Zatz / Zatz Not Funny!:

Sling is working on AirTV box able to stream local TV channels, FCC filing shows — AirTV Streams Local Channels Directly Into Sling TV — Bypassing content licensing, Sling TV will soon cram customer's local television channels directly into the company's pay TV service via a small set-top box and antenna.

More: Digital Trends, Engadget, SlashGear, TechConnect, FierceCable and The Verge. Thanks:@davezatz. See also Mediagazer

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Mitel buys Polycom for $1.96B in enterprise communications consolidation play — As more enterprises move their communications services over to IP networks and cloud-based services, we're seeing an increasing amount of consolidation as the businesses that serve them continue to grow …

More: Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, en, Washington Post, Silicon Valley Business …, ZDNet, PE HUB, eWeek, USA Today, The Register, Bloomberg, New York Times, Fortune, Reuters, Techvibes Global News and silicontap.com

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Google adds a secure beacon feature to its Eddystone beacon format to enable private interactions — Google's Eddystone beacons offer a privacy-focused way to track your stuff — Google's bluetooth beacon hopes to bring the Internet of Things to all your things.

More: Wired, Google Developers Blog, The Verge, FierceCIO News, The Next Web, 9to5Google and GitHub

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Naked Labs unveils 3D Fitness Tracker, which uses a mirror and scale to scan your body in 3D and track changes over time; set available for preorder at $500 — Naked Labs' home fitness scanner captures your entire body in 3D — Naked Labs is unveiling what it calls the world's first 3D Fitness Tracker.

More: PR Newswire, Laughing Squid, AppAdvice.com Latest, Patently Apple, Tech Times, Mashable, Co.Design, Fox Business, Engadget and TechCrunch

Reuters:

Apple opposes unlocking iPhone in Brooklyn drug case, saying the government has not proven its help is necessary — Apple opposes U.S. appeal over iPhone in New York drug case — Apple Inc argued on Friday that the U.S. Justice Department had failed to substantiate that it needed …

More: The Verge, TechCrunch, The Verge, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, MacRumors, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, The Hill and iPhone Hacks. Thanks:@dnvolz

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Sources: Disney in advanced talks for equity stake in BAM Tech, the streaming video unit of MLB Advanced Media — Disney wants to invest in Major League Baseball's video streaming company — Disney is in talks to invest in pro baseball's video streaming business — a sign that the media giant wants …

More: Home Media Magazine. See also Mediagazer

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