Techmeme: California DMV revises rules to allow testing of autonomous cars without human drivers, steering wheels, mirrors, more starting in 2018 (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge)

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October 11, 2017, 4:55 PM

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Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

Facebook unveils Oculus Go, a new $199 standalone wireless VR headset, shipping early next year with Gear VR support, integrated spatial audio, and new optics — Onstage at Oculus Connect 4 in San Jose, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new mobile headset called “Oculus Go.”

More: Oculus, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Quartz, GeekWire, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, PCWorld, Android Police, Android Authority, Oculus, BGR, VentureBeat, VentureBeat, CNET, Recode, iMore, CNET, The Verge, Business Insider, Gizmodo, The Next Web, The Verge, Engadget, Ars Technica, destructoid, The Tech Report, Mashable, New World Notes, Fortune, Fortune, Variety, Reuters, Pocket-lint, Mashable, and Polygon

Tweets: @oculus, @deantak, @lucasmtny, @stevekovach, @deantak, @benbajarin, and @benpopper

Oculus:

Facebook drops Oculus Rift's price with bundled Touch controllers to $399 — Summer of Rift had a major impact on the VR industry, and the community's response showed that the appetite for best-in-class VR hardware and games is stronger than ever. We want to continue getting VR into more people's hands …

More: TechCrunch, The Verge, Engadget, Ars Technica, Road to VR, MSPoweruser, Tom's Hardware, The Tech Report, Polygon, and VG247

Oculus:

Facebook debuts Rift Core 2.0 with redesigned Dash UI featuring dock-like hub and Home, the desktop-like space that can be shown to friends in VR, coming in Dec — Today, we announced Rift Core 2.0, a complete overhaul of Rift's core experience that lets people do more in VR than ever before.

More: Engadget, Digital Trends, TechCrunch, The Verge, Engadget, VentureBeat, MSPoweruser, and SlashGear

Tweets: @sarahmidmo, @jank0, and @ow

Facebook:

Facebook plans Venues app for '18 to let users experience events with thousands of others, shows prototype that brings inside-out tracking to standalone headset

More: Ars Technica, SiliconANGLE, Engadget, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, Engadget, Consumerist, LJ infoDOCKET, Mashable, and Pocket-lint

Nick Statt / The Verge:

Facebook debuts $900 Oculus for Business with Rift, Touch controllers, three room sensors, Oculus remote, three Rift Fits, expanded warranty, commercial license

More: VentureBeat, PCWorld, Engadget, TechCrunch, AndroidHeadlines.com, and Mashable

New York Times:

Sources: after hacking Kaspersky's network in 2014, Israel told NSA that it found Russian spies using Kaspersky software to search for US intel docs — It was a case of spies watching spies watching spies: Israeli intelligence officers looked on in real time as Russian government hackers …

Wall Street Journal:

US officials say Kaspersky antivirus tool was modified for espionage purposes to search for terms like “top secret” and that the firm must have known

More: Ars Technica. Tweets: @mla1396 and @mikd

Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:

Amazon unveils new waterproof Kindle Oasis with a 7-inch screen and support for Audible audiobooks, available to order now starting at $249.99, ships October 31 — We called Amazon's last Kindle Oasis “the perfect e-reader for the one percent.” That still describes the new Oasis, which Amazon is officially unveiling today.

More: Amazon.com, VentureBeat, The Verge, 512tech, TechCrunch, International Business Times, GeekWire, The Digital Reader, iMore, Lifehacker, ZDNet, Softpedia News, Neowin, Ars Technica, Inquirer, Gizmodo, Digital Trends, teleread.org, USA Today, SlashGear, CNBC, and Fortune. Tweets: @dcseifert

Andrew Griffin / The Independent:

In an interview focusing on augmented reality, Tim Cook says the technology doesn't exist to make quality AR smart glasses — In a wide-ranging interview, the CEO of the biggest tech company in the world explains how AR will change our lives, and why he thinks the world is actually getting better

Aamna Mohdin / Quartz:

Apple's VP of diversity Denise Young Smith says she is “a little” frustrated that “diversity” is “tagged to the people of color, or the women, or the LGBT” — Denise Young Smith is Silicon Valley's most powerful black woman. “My name was not talked about prior to maybe 5 years ago,” she says.

More: Business Insider and MacDailyNews

Tweets: @antiheroine, @erinbiba, @fivefifths, @spacekatgal, @erica_g, @ivadixit, @melaniehannah, and @laura_hudson

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Amazon's Alexa can now recognize different voices and give personalized responses — Your Echo just got smart enough to tell you apart from the people you live with — The battle of the smart speakers has become a constant back and forth between Amazon and Google.

More: CNET, VentureBeat, Engadget, TechCrunch, and 9to5Google

Pierre Omidyar / Washington Post:

Study: social media has become a direct threat to democracy as it can facilitate echo chambers, misinformation, manipulation, micro-targeting, hate speech — Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, is a philanthropist, technologist and humanitarian. He is a member of The WorldPost editorial board.

More: Connected Rights. Tweets: @pcronald, @evan_mcmullin, @brendannyhan, @mims, and @pierre

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:

California DMV revises rules to allow testing of autonomous cars without human drivers, steering wheels, mirrors, more starting in 2018 — 42 companies are now testing 285 self-driving cars in the Golden State — The California Department of Motor Vehicles will allow autonomous cars …

More: TechCrunch, The Register, BGR, Quartz, Reuters, TechCrunch, and Ubergizmo. Tweets: @andyjayhawk

Bloomberg:

Qualcomm fined $773M by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission for violating antitrust rules for at least seven years — Qualcomm Inc. was fined a record NT$23.4 billion ($773 million) by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission in the latest blow from regulators over the way the U.S. company prices mobile phone chips and patents.

More: Engadget, Android Authority, CNET, FOSS Patents, focustaiwan.tw, AppleInsider, FierceWireless, 9to5Mac, Cult of Mac, Patently Apple, and Financial Times

Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:

Cyngn (formerly Cyanogen), which raised $115M to build a more open flavor of Android, pivots to self-driving technology — Cyngn, a Silicon Valley startup that raised $115 million to build a more open flavor of the Android mobile operating system, has changed course and is now working on autonomous driving technology.

More: Silicon Valley Business … and silicontap.com

Tweets: @jrraphael and @kevinroose

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

India's Uber rival Ola raises $1.1B led by Tencent, says it's close to finalizing a $2.1B round, which source says would give company a $7B post-money valuation — It's been a long while coming but Uber's chief rival in India is finally raising a big round, and joining the billion-dollar round club at the same time.

More: Crunchbase News, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, PE Hub Blog, MediaNama, Mashable, VentureBeat, The Economic Times, CNBC, Reuters, Axios, Quartz, YourStory.com, NDTV Gadgets 360, and Financial Times

Eric Newcomer / Bloomberg:

Sources: Uber faces at least five criminal probes from US DoJ, two more than previously reported, including possible violation of price-transparency laws — Shortly after taking over Uber Technologies Inc. in September, Dara Khosrowshahi told employees to brace for a painful six months.

More: Breitbart, The Verge, Consumerist, Vanity Fair, Mashable, and Business Insider

Tweets: @susanthesquark, @ericnewcomer, @tculpan, and @pearkes

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Pornhub to start using an AI-powered system that uses facial recognition to automatically identify porn stars and tag videos — Popular “adult entertainment” site Pornhub will begin using a new AI-powered system that taps facial recognition technology to automatically identify porn stars.

More: TechCrunch, The Verge, Engadget, and The Next Web

Nick Statt / The Verge:

Facebook lets users bring their own photos and videos into its VR hangout app Spaces, where they can now create 3D objects and share them to News Feed — Facebook Spaces is getting more interactive and creative — Facebook today announced a handful of new features for its virtual reality hangout app Spaces.

More: VentureBeat, TechCrunch, and Boing Boing

Katie Roof / TechCrunch:

eShares, which helps companies track and value equity and manage corporate governance, raises $42M Series C led by Menlo Ventures and Social Capital — eShares wants to be the platform for all things equity. — From cap table management to secondary transactions, eShares' software helps businesses …

More: CNBC and Solium. Tweets: @socialcapital

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