Techmeme
September 9, 2016, 4:05 AM

Top News

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Stale aesthetics, generic design, and absence of delight from its recent products is a threat to Apple's long-term reputation  —  Forget about the headphone jack for a second.  —  Sure, it's pretty annoying that Apple's newest iPhones — the 7 and 7 Plus, which were unveiled in San Francisco …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
As Belkin debuts $40 “Lightning Audio + Charge” dongle for iPhone 7, Apple's Phil Schiller recommends $49 Lightning Dock for simultaneous charging and listening  —  Apple's new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus ship without a headphone jack, requiring customers to use either Bluetooth or Lightning-equipped headphones.
Julia Love / Reuters:
Robert Hackett / Fortune:
White House names retired Air Force Brigadier General Gregory Touhill as first chief information security officer  —  Retired Air Force Brigadier Gen. Gregory Touhill just got a promotion.  —  The White House has named Touhill as the first ever federal chief information security officer …
Emily Schechter / Google Online Security Blog:
Chrome will start marking HTTP pages with password and credit card form fields as non-secure in January 2017  —  To help users browse the web safely, Chrome indicates connection security with an icon in the address bar.  Historically, Chrome has not explicitly labelled HTTP connections as non-secure.
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
FCC revises plan to open up set-top boxes, proposes free searchable apps be created by pay-TV providers for platforms that ship 5M units/year in US  —  The Federal Communications Commission is making huge changes to its plan to overhaul cable boxes, scrapping much of the initial idea in favor of having cable companies make new apps.
Sara Torti / Google Lat Long:
Google adds Lyft and Gett ride hailing options to Maps in the US  —  Back in March, we introduced a new way for people to find and compare the fastest ways to get around town by adding a new ride services tab when searching for directions in Google Maps.  Today, we're adding two more partners in the U.S., Lyft and Gett.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter adds read receipts, typing indicators, and web link previews to Direct Messages  —  Twitter rolled out an update to its service this morning that aims to make the social app more competitive with mobile messaging clients, including the recently upgraded iMessage arriving in iOS 10.
Alan Levin / Bloomberg:
Alphabet and Chipotle partner on Project Wing, an FAA-approved, experimental service that delivers burritos by drone to Virginia Tech students on campus  —  Most extensive U.S. trial of deliveries starting this month  —  Chipotle, Virginia Tech cooperating in FAA-approved test
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Sources: Snapchat has taken out a line of credit with Morgan Stanley and other banks  —  Snapchat isn't selling more equity right now, and it isn't talking IPO — yet.  —  Snapchat has taken out a new line of credit, according to multiple sources.  Morgan Stanley is the lead bank on the deal …
More: Digital Trends and TechCrunch.  Tweets: @mdudas
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Sources: Microsoft to host hardware event in late October to announce Surface all-in-one PC codenamed “Cardinal”; updated Surface Book, Pro expected next year  —  Microsoft's late October Fall hardware launch this year may be as much about its partners' Windows 10 devices …
Katie Benner / New York Times:
Airbnb says it will institute a new nondiscrimination policy, ask users to agree to a “community commitment”, and test reducing the prominence of user photos  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb introduced several changes on Thursday to combat discrimination in its short-term rental policy …

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Earlier Picks

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: