Techmeme
December 29, 2017, 6:20 PM

Top News

Apple:
Apple apologizes for inadequately communicating battery management practices that slowed down iPhones with older batteries, will offer $29 battery replacements  —  We've been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process.
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Victor H. / PhoneArena:
LG, HTC, Motorola say they don't throttle phones with older batteries; Samsung says it doesn't throttle via software updates “over the lifecycles of the phone”  —  Two of the biggest Android phone makers - Samsung and LG - have just confirmed that they do not slow down phones …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Apple says it will issue an iOS software update in early 2018 with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery  —  Batteries are “consumable components” now  —  Apple just published a letter to customers apologizing for the “misunderstanding” …
Apple Support:
Justin Sink / Bloomberg:
In a tweet, President Donald Trump calls on the United States Postal Service to charge Amazon “much more” in postage fees  —  Latest criticism of online retailer and its CEO Jeff Bezos  —  Amazon stock opens as much as 0.6 percent lower after tweet
Financial Times:
Pavel Lerner, an executive of Bitcoin exchange Exmo who was kidnapped in Ukraine, was released after paying $1M+ ransom in bitcoins, according to a Ukrainian MP  —  An executive of a UK-registered cryptocurrency exchange kidnapped in Ukraine this week has been released after paying a ransom …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Gamers say deadly shooting of a man Thursday night by Wichita police was the result of a swatting prank  —  A 28-year-old Kansas man was shot and killed by police officers on the evening of Dec. 28 after someone fraudulently reported a hostage situation ongoing at his home.
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
SoftBank agrees to buy at least 14% of Uber from shareholders at a $48B valuation, will invest an additional $1.25B at a $67.5B valuation, documents show  —  SAN FRANCISCO — A group of Uber's largest shareholders have agreed to sell a significant stake in the ride-hailing giant at a steep discount …
Robby Payne / Chrome Unboxed:
Android apps in the upcoming Chrome OS 64 update will be able to run in the background  —  Thanks to some reader input, we've been made aware that a missing feature we discussed not long ago that is now coming soon to a Chromebook near you.  —  That feature?  Android Parallel Tasks.
Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:
Google removes Pixel C, released in December 2015, from the Google Store; Pixel C was the only Android tablet the company sold  —  Google started selling the Pixel C about two years ago as an Android flagship tablet.  The price was high, but it was a good Android tablet.  Well, as good as Android tablets could be.
Dylan / Hacker Noon:
LastPass fixes vulnerability in Authenticator Android app that let you bypass PIN/fingerprint lock to access 2FA codes; flaw was reported to LastPass in June  —  UPDATE: The issue has been fixed.  Please see below.  —  I've found a really easy way to bypass the fingerprint/PIN authentication that protects all of your 2FA codes.

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Raymond Zhong / New York Times: