Techmeme
April 12, 2018, 1:40 PM

Top News

Brian Barrett / Wired:
From two days of hearings, a list of all the 43 things Mark Zuckerberg said he or his team will follow up on for Congress  —  MARK ZUCKERBERG VISITED Capitol Hill this week, spending hours answering questions from Congress about privacy, Russia, algorithms, and more.  Also: not answering those questions.
Washington Post:
Despite a sense that something should be done about Facebook, there was little consensus from lawmakers about what and few expect swift actions from Congress  —  Two days of sharp questioning of Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg underscored how the risks posed by social media …
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
Reporter discovers Facebook keeps a permanent record of friends that users delete, and many advertisers he had not interacted with had his contact information  —  When I downloaded a copy of my Facebook data last week, I didn't expect to see much.  My profile is sparse, I rarely post anything on the site, and I seldom click on ads.
Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic:
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Davey Alba / BuzzFeed:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Source: Apple cuts HomePod orders as inventory piles up; analysts say weekly HomePod sales slipped to ~4% in smart speaker category three weeks after launch  —  Inventory is piling up, according to some Apple store workers  —  Low sales push company to cut orders with manufacturer
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
After testing 1.2K Android phones from 2017, researchers find OEMs often don't install the security patches they claim to install; ZTE and TCL each omitted 4+  —  GOOGLE HAS LONG struggled with how best to get dozens of Android smartphone manufacturers—and hundreds of carriers—to regularly push out security-focused software updates.
Tom Krisher / Associated Press:
Uber says it will start doing annual criminal background checks on US drivers and introduces new in-app features, like button to call 911, to protect riders  —  DETROIT (AP) — Uber will start doing annual criminal background checks on U.S. drivers and hire a company that constantly monitors criminal arrests …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
First look at ESPN+, the $4.99 per month direct-to-consumer streaming service, launching today within a redesigned ESPN app on iOS and Android  —  Today is the debut of ESPN+, a $4.99 direct-to-consumer subscription video service that offers a little bit of MLB and NHL action with a lot …
Nico Grant / Bloomberg:
IDC reports global PC shipments in Q1 2018 remain unchanged YoY; Gartner found a 1.4% decline due to weaker sales in Asia; HP holds on to top PC vendor spot  —  Commercial upgrades of desktops and laptops buttressed demand  —  Dell saw the greatest shipment boost of all major vendors
David Imel / Android Authority:
Source shares screenshots of Gmail's new redesign that shows aspects of Google's Material Design, a persistent sidebar for plugins, revamped Google Tasks, more  —  Earlier today, we reported that Google was about to give Gmail a major facelift.  —  This update is said to include …
Bloomberg:
Nintendo partners with San Francisco-based Scrum Ventures to find and assist developers that are making new ways to play or use the Switch  —  Gaming giant is looking for ideas to put into Nintendo Switch  —  Scrum Ventures will run the program to find relevant startups
More: Engadget and The Verge
Shirley Halperin / Variety:
Apple promotes Oliver Schusser to vice president of Apple Music & International Content, as Music surpasses 40M paid subscribers worldwide  —  Oliver Schusser is promoted to head of Apple Music Worldwide, reporting to Eddy Cue.  — Fleetwood Mac to Tour With Neil Finn …
Reuters:
Czech cybersecurity and antivirus firm Avast plans London IPO, seeking around $200M at a ~$4B valuation  —  LONDON (Reuters) - Avast, the world's largest consumer antivirus supplier by customers, said on Thursday it will apply to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange …

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More News

Shannon Vavra / Axios:
Biz Carson / Forbes:
Raymond Zhong / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge: