Techmeme: US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper complains that Edward Snowden sped up spread of encryption by seven years (The Intercept)

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April 30, 2016, 8:10 PM

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The Intercept:

US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper complains that Edward Snowden sped up spread of encryption by seven years — Spy Chief Complains That Edward Snowden Sped Up Spread of Encryption By 7 Years — THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE on Monday blamed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden …

More: NBC News, Techdirt, TIME, Hit & Run, Slate and Digital Trends

Tweets: @dnvolz, @snowden, @guan, @ggreenwald, @ggreenwald, @theintercept and @dangillmor

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Samsung Is Working On a Standalone Virtual Reality Headset … Samsung's plans for virtual reality go beyond the company's current Gear VR headset: The company is working on a standalone virtual reality (VR) headset that will incorporate positional tracking similar to the technologies …

More: ZDNet, Engadget, The Verge, UploadVR, Fone Arena, Digital Trends, Android Authority, SlashGear, VG247, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo, Pocketnow, Pocket-lint, Quartz, PhoneDog.com, Gizmodo UK, Phandroid and GamesIndustry.biz. Tweets: @benbajarin. Thanks:@jank0

Sundar Pichai / Official Google Blog:

Sundar Pichai lays out priorities for Google in his first Founders' Letter, with machine learning and AI playing a key role — This year's Founders' Letter — Every year, Larry and Sergey write a Founders' Letter to our stockholders updating them with some of our recent highlights and sharing our vision for the future.

More: VentureBeat, SiliconBeat, SiliconANGLE, Petri, PCWorld and Bloomberg

Tweets: @sundarpichai, @guy_levin, @qhardy and @whatthebit

Anna Wiener / n+1:

A first-person narrative on the allure and anxiety of working at a Silicon Valley startup — Uncanny Valley — I would say more, but I signed an NDA. — MORALE IS DOWN. We are making plenty of money, but the office is teeming with salespeople: well-groomed social animals with good posture …

Tweets: @leighalexander, @ftrain, @xor, @qhardy, @tomkrazit, @calebgarling, @ibogost, @willoremus and @ashleymayer

Bloomberg:

Internet retailers like Adore Me, JustFab, and Birchbox are placing customers into unwanted, hard-to-cancel subscriptions, leading to complaints and lawsuits — Trapping You in a Club You Didn't Know You Joined — A $19.95 set of lacy lingerie had already cost Hailee Taylor more than $300 …

More: Boing Boing. Tweets: @shiraovide

AnandTech:

Intel's Changing Future: Smartphone SoCs Broxton & SoFIA Officially Cancelled — The past two weeks have been a busy - if not tumultuous - period for Intel. Driven by continued challenges in various semiconductor markets, culminating in weaker-than-desired earnings in the most recent quarter …

More: Neowin, Android Police, PCWorld, Fone Arena, Android Central, Liliputing, EE Times, Forbes and eWeek

Tweets: @stevesi, @withfries2 and @ryansmithat

Thanks:@ryansmithat

Scott Gilbertson / Ars Technica:

Vivaldi browser review: ultra customization and clever tab management great for power users, but no mobile version and some glitches in version 1.0 — Even at 1.0, Vivaldi closes in on the cure for the common browser — Review: Ultra customization, clever tab management breaks from Chrome, Firefox.

Neil Mawston / Strategy Analytics:

Smartwatch shipments grew 223% year-over-year in Q1 2016; Apple had 52% marketshare, down from 63% in prior quarter — STRATEGY ANALYTICS: Apple Watch Slips to 52% Global Smartwatch Marketshare in Q1 2016 — According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global smartwatch …

More: Business Insider, SlashGear, FierceWireless and MacNN

Michele Chandler / Investor's Business Daily:

Report: Yahoo reaches deal to sell 48.6-acre undeveloped site in Santa Clara to Chinese tech firm LeEco — Yahoo Reportedly Selling Huge Silicon Valley Site To Chinese Firm — Yahoo (YHOO) has reached a deal to sell a 48.6-acre undeveloped site in Santa Clara, Calif. …

More: SiliconBeat, Silicon Valley Business … and Business Insider. Tweets: @howardlindzon

Olivia Zaleski / Bloomberg:

Sources: Postmates in talks to raise $100M-$150M, aims to avoid setting too high a valuation target — Postmates Seeks Up to $150 Million as Food Delivery Competition Heats Up — Food delivery startup aims to avoid overpromising on valuation — Financial docs show revenue forecast of $225 million for '16

Joseph Cox / Motherboard:

GCHQ Has Disclosed Over 20 Vulnerabilities This Year, Including Ones in iOS — Earlier this week, it emerged that a section of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UK's signal intelligence agency, had disclosed a serious vulnerability in Firefox to Mozilla.

Tweets: @infosecplaya

Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:

YouTube responds to music industry's complaints about low artist payments, says it is more like radio than Spotify — YouTube hits back at ‘noise’ around its music payouts — It's been a bruising month for YouTube as labels, music industry bodies and artists have attacked Google's video service …

More: YouTube Creator Blog, RAIN News, Digital Music News, International Business Times, Tubefilter and hypebot. Tweets: @musically. See also Mediagazer

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