Techmeme
May 12, 2016, 1:45 AM

Top News

Mark Bergen / Recode:
Sources: Google's answer to Amazon Echo is code-named “Chirp” and expected to launch this year  —  ‘Okay, Google,’ your turn.  —  A product team at Google is working on a hardware device that would integrate Google's search and voice assistant technology, akin to the Amazon Echo, Recode has learned.
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
What's at stake in Google and Oracle's $9.3B fair use fight over Java APIs  —  Gather round tech folks, it's time for an epic rematch between two industry giants.  At stake is not just billions of dollars in copyright claims, but also a controversial legal concept that could roil the entire software industry.
Sunrise:
Microsoft will shut down Sunrise, the calendar app it bought last year, on August 31; team will work full-time on Outlook  —  As some of you might already know, we were acquired by Microsoft last year and have now moved on to work on Outlook for iOS and Android.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft removes the Wi-Fi Sense feature that shared network passwords with friends from Windows 10, cites low usage and demand  —  Microsoft is removing part of its controversial Wi-Fi Sense feature from Windows 10.  “We have removed the Wi-Fi Sense feature that allows you to share Wi-Fi networks …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook now lets you upload panoramas along with photos from 360 cameras for viewing as 360 Photos in News Feed and on Gear VR headsets; Gear VR hits 1M users  —  Those panoramas trapped on your phone will finally get a better viewing experience, both on News Feed and the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR.
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Apple denies report that it will end iTunes music downloads within the next few years  —  The future of music is streaming, not downloads.  —  But that doesn't mean Apple, the company that essentially invented the market for music download sales, is going to stop selling downloads anytime soon.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram's big redesign goes live with a colorful new icon, black-and-white app and more  —  Instagram's new icon is pink.  Well, it's pink and purple and yellow and orange.  It's definitely different.  And that's not all the company has changed today.  Instagram this morning is rolling …
Neil Cybart / Above Avalon:
Apple's R&D spend is $10B+, 6.8% of revenue in 2016, up from 2.6% of revenue in 2013, hinting at major new products, pivot from iPhone-dependent business model  —  People are focusing on the wrong thing when analyzing Apple's path forward in the face of slowing iPhone sales.
More: BGR.  Tweets: @ericjackson
Barak Turovsky / Official Google Blog:
Google Translate now lets you translate with one tap inside any app on Android, brings offline mode to iOS  —  Of the 500 million+ people who use Google Translate, more than 9 in 10 live outside the U.S. We've talked with thousands of you in India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Thailand to learn …

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