Techmeme
April 19, 2016, 3:40 PM

Top News

Apple:
Apple's MacBook gets faster dual-core Skylake processors, longer battery life, 8GB memory, faster graphics, and Rose Gold finish, starting at $1,299  —  Apple Updates MacBook with Latest Processors, Longer Battery Life & New Rose Gold Finish  —  CUPERTINO, California April 19 …
Fred Lambert / Electrek:
Sources: Apple hires former Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Chris Porritt for “special projects”, a likely candidate to lead Apple's electric car initiative  —  Exclusive: Apple hires former Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Chris Porritt for ‘special [car] project’
Kevin Kelly / Wired:
Magic Leap impressions: works well close up unlike some MR/VR systems, transition back to reality is effortless; mixed reality interface demoed in short video  —  The Untold Story of Magic Leap, the World's Most Secretive Startup  —  Don't call it a lens: Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz displaying …
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
Study: 1 in 5 US households are using mobile-only internet, ditching wired broadband, compared to 1 in 10 in 2013  —  New data: Americans are abandoning wired home Internet  —  For the most part, America's Internet usage trends can be summed up in a few phrases.
Adrian Ludwig / Google Online Security Blog:
Android security 2015 annual report: Google checks 6B+ installed apps per day for malware, and fewer than 0.15% of devices using only Google Play have malware  —  Android Security 2015 Annual Report  —  Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Lead Engineer, Android Security
Dustin Volz / Reuters:
Apple refused China's request for source code within last two years, said Apple's top lawyer Bruce Sewell in congressional hearing  —  Apple refused China request for source code in last two years: lawyer  —  Apple has been asked by Chinese authorities within the last two years to hand …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Viber adds end-to-end encryption and hidden chats as messaging app privacy wave grows  —  Following WhatsApp's move to add end-to-end encryption to its platform, another big messaging company is joining the wave of apps turning on expanded privacy features.  Viber — a messaging app …
Joshua Brustein / Bloomberg:
How the Amazon Echo started as part of a secret AR project and ended up as a surprise hit  —  The Real Story of How Amazon Built the Echo  —  The talking speaker started as part of a secret augmented-reality project and ended up as a surprise hit. … Telling Jeff Bezos he's wrong is always a frightening proposition.
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Supposed pictures of 2016 Moto G show a fingerprint reader, and an extra sensor above the camera  —  The 2016 Moto G gets photographed, complete with fingerprint reader  —  See what is probably the first Motorola phone made under Lenovo's direction.  —  A supposed picture of the new Moto G …
Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
A look at the people working behind the human-assisted AI personal assistants and bots like X.ai, Clara, and GoButler  —  The Humans Hiding Behind the Chatbots  —  Behind the artificial intelligence personal assistants and concierges are actual people, reading e-mails and ordering Chipotle.
Alastair Sharp / Reuters:
The Canadian Competition Bureau drops its antitrust investigation into Google  —  Canada's competition watchdog drops probe into Google  —  Canada's Competition Bureau said on Tuesday that it was dropping an investigation into Google after saying in 2013 that it suspected the company …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Microsoft's Azure Container Service is now generally available  —  Azure Container Service, Microsoft's container scheduling and orchestration service for its Azure cloud computing service, is now generally available.  —  The service, which allows its users to choose either Mesosphere's …

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Cheap code, precious trust: Code modernization at scale  —  The promise—and challenges—of agentic software engineering, from large-scale code migration to language modernization.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Map My Client Location for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Lubricate the Inside of the Hinge', With Joanna Stern
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Lenny's Podcast:
An 86-minute guide to finding PMF | Rob Snyder (Author, The Power of Pull)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Google's Potential, AI Money Spigot Shutting?, PHP Bug & Cybersecurity's "Black October"
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Machine Gods:
Fired OpenAI Safety Researchers Speak Out + We Look Inside Pandora's Box
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
The Upstarts Podcast:
The Parking Startup That Swallowed A 100-Year-Old Giant | Metropolis CEO Alex Israel
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
AI's Spooky Season
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:40 PM ET, April 19, 2016.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Nicole LaPorte / Fast Company:

Earlier Picks

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Kara Swisher / Re/code:
Lawrence Hurley / Reuters: