Techmeme
May 3, 2018, 9:50 PM

Top News

Parag Agrawal / Twitter:
Twitter urges all users to change passwords after it found a bug that stored unmasked user passwords in an internal log; no indication of breach or misuse found  —  When you set a password for your Twitter account, we use technology that masks it so no one at the company can see it.
Andrew Gebhart / CNET:
Google Assistant now works with 5,000 smart home devices, up from 1,500 in January, and adds support for Dish Hopper, Logitech Harmony remotes, and more  —  With Google's developer conference right around the corner, the search giant wants you to know that its digital assistant is quite proficient at controlling the smart home.
Thuy Ong / The Verge:
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Podcasting app Pocket Casts has been acquired by a collective that includes NPR and will continue to operate as a joint venture  —  One of the best podcast apps just got bought by some of the biggest podcast producers  —  Pocket Casts, widely considered to be one of the best mobile apps …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram confirms it has added a native payments feature to its app with a limited set of partners, letting users purchase items without leaving Instagram  —  Get ready to shop the 'Gram.  Instagram just stealthily added a native payments feature to its app for some users.
Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
Amazon abruptly halts construction of new office in Seattle as it escalates fight over proposed city council tax on large companies to build affordable housing  —  Amazon is pausing construction on a new office tower at its Seattle headquarters and may put one of its biggest future office spaces …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google opens up Advanced Protection Program, which secures Google services via physical unlock keys, to Apple's native apps like Mail, Calendar, and Contacts  —  Last October, Google launched its Advanced Protection Program for users who want to ensure the highest degree of protection …
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Amazon says there are now 40K Alexa Skills, up from 25K in December and 10K in February 2017, and makes in-skill purchases generally available in the US  —  Just six months after Amazon revealed the AI-infused Alexa service and Echo smart speaker in November 2014, it began welcoming third …
The Guardian:
Xiaomi partners with UK's Three to bring its phone to the UK and other European countries, after initially selling phones in Spain in November  —  'China's Apple' turns focus to west and is set to raise $10bn on Hong Kong stock exchange  —  The Smartphone maker Xiaomi will begin selling …
Bloomberg:
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers demonstrate GLitch, an Android exploit that uses Rowhammer attack to remotely execute code; Chrome is patched; Firefox's next patch attempt due 5/9  —  JavaScript based GLitch pwns browsers by flipping bits inside memory chips.  —  Over the past few years …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
French startup Station raises $3.25M seed round, led by Accel, for its enterprise browser that brings various web apps businesses are using into a single portal  —  French SaaS startup Station, which is setting out to build a web browser for the workplace, has raised $3.25 million in a seed round of funding led by Accel.
More: GeekWire
Mark Harris / IEEE Spectrum:
FCC filing and other public records suggest Facebook is quietly developing internet-delivering satellite tech that could rival efforts by SpaceX and OneWeb  —  Public filings suggest the social media giant is quietly developing orbital tech to rival efforts by SpaceX and OneWeb to deliver Internet by satellite
More: CNET and The Outline

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Pro tips: 5 ways to close WhatsApp leads in Zoho CRM  —  This is a guest post by Orkhan Jafarli, Growth PM at TimelinesAI.More buyers now reach out on WhatsApp before they ever fill out a form.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Models Go Rogue + Kimi K3 Freakout + A.I. Superforecasting
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Scam Held Together With Patriotism and Golden Paint', With Quinn Nelson
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Abridge's Shiv Rao: The Doctor Founder Taking On Microsoft In Healthcare AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Bots Break Containment and Hack Hugging Face Autonomously — With Alex Stamos
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Great Chat:
Too big to laugh: how tech lost its sense of humor
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:50 PM ET, May 3, 2018.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Matthew Lynley / TechCrunch: