Techmeme
August 5, 2016, 6:55 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Facebook changes News Feed to automatically detect “clickbait” headlines, rank stories lower if they “withhold or distort information”  —  Facebook says it plans to marginalize what it considers to be “clickbait” news stories from publishers in its news feed …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Apple is launching an invite-only bug bounty program in September with a few dozen researchers  —  It's one of the last major tech companies to start paying for exploits  —  Apple is planning a new bug bounty program that will offer cash in exchange for undiscovered vulnerabilities in its products …
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Sources: Apple is talking to TV firms about building a TV guide for Apple TV and iOS, letting viewers browse available in-app content, play shows with one click  —  Tim Cook doesn't want to sell you TV anymore.  He wants to tell you what's on TV.  —  Last year, Apple shelved its plan to sell you TV.
Kara Swisher / Recode:
Blake Krikorian, co-founder of Sling Media and former board member at Amazon, has died at 48  —  The Slingbox founder had been involved with Microsoft, Amazon and dozens of startups  —  Blake Krikorian, longtime and much beloved Silicon Valley entrepreneur, died yesterday.
Alan Boyle / GeekWire:
Amazon unveils its first freighter “Prime Air” jet, the first of twenty to be leased from Atlas Air, in addition to the twenty leased from ATSG  —  The first freighter jet to carry the Amazon brand is primed for its public debut in Seafair's sunny skies, after making a stealthy flight …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Rackspace Hosting is in advanced sale talks with one or more private-equity firms, could reach deal this week; firm could be valued at up to $4B  —  Move comes two years after cloud-computing company says it would explore deal amid heightened competition
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Valve will license its SteamVR Tracking system used in HTC Vive to developers for free, allowing custom motion controllers for the Vive headset  —  A new Valve program will let companies use the HTC Vive virtual reality tracking system for their own hardware.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Dashlane and Google unveil OpenYOLO, an open-source API for apps to securely access passwords stored in password managers  —  Password management is one of the key defenses — or key weaknesses — when it comes to protecting your data and identity online, and today Dashlane …
Tom Brant / PC Magazine:
Xiaomi announces Cardboard-like Mi VR Play headset, wrapped in Lycra, compatible with 4.7" to 5.7"phones  —  Xiaomi is making an entry-level VR headset, and developers can buy a pre-release version of it for just $0.15.  —  Called the Mi VR Play, Xiaomi's device is smartphone-based, like the Samsung Gear VR.
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Jim Prosser, Twitter's head of corporate and policy communications, leaves for financing and loan startup SoFi  —  Twitter's communications team is changing very quickly.  —  Twitter is losing another key member of its communications team.  Jim Prosser, the company's head of corporate …

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