Techmeme
May 9, 2018, 8:20 AM

Top News

Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Sources: Facebook appoints CPO Chris Cox to lead Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger apps; CTO Mike Schroepfer to oversee AR/VR, AI, blockchain, more  —  WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook's core app are getting new leaders as part of a massive executive reorg.
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Sources: Facebook launching new team of fewer than 12 to explore blockchain tech, led by David Marcus and including Instagram's VPs of engineering and product  —  What is the blockchain?  Facebook wants to find out, too.  —  What is the blockchain?  And how should Facebook be using it?
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Preview of changes and features coming in Android P: focus on “Digital Well Being” including usage dashboard, visual tweaks, gestures, and deeper AI integration  —  How the new update could help you use your phone less  —  This year, Google is doing something different with Android.
Google AI Blog:
Breakdown of how Google Duplex works, with several audio examples of how the assistant would interact over the phone, handling interruptions, elaborating, more  —  Posted by Yaniv Leviathan, Principal Engineer and Yossi Matias, Vice President, Engineering, Google
Richard Nieva / CNET:
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Walmart agrees to buy a majority stake of about 77% in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart for ~$16B  —  - Walmart said on Wednesday that it would acquire an initial stake of roughly 77 percent in Flipkart.  — The U.S. retailer will use a combination of newly issued debt and cash to finance the investment.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google adds Smart Compose feature to Gmail, which suggests phrases as you type and lets users autocomplete them by hitting tab, rolling out to all this month  —  Following a big revamp to Gmail last month, Google is adding a new machine learning feature this month.
Dani Deahl / The Verge:
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Glassdoor to be acquired by Japanese HR giant Recruit Holdings for $1.2B, will remain a “distinct and separate part” of Recruit's HR technology business segment  —  Job review site Glassdoor has agreed to be acquired for $1.2 billion by Japanese HR giant Recruit Holdings Co.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google announces that Chrome OS is getting native Linux app support; preview available on Pixelbook now and coming to more devices soon  —  Google today announced Chrome OS is getting Linux support.  As a result, Chromebooks will soon be able to run Linux apps and execute Linux commands.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple's iOS 11.4, currently in beta, introduces USB Restricted Mode that disables Lightning port after a week of not entering passcode  —  The iOS 11.4 update, currently being beta tested, includes a USB Restricted Mode that introduces a week-long expiration date on access to the Lightning port …
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
Google debuts ARCore 1.2 with Sceneform SDK, Augmented Images, and Cloud Anchors, which enables collaboration between multiple ARCore device users via the cloud  —  At the 2018 Google I/O today, Daydream product manager Nathan Martz introduced ARCore 1.2, a new version of the company's …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Microsoft May 2018 Patch Tuesday fixes 68 security issues, 21 of them critical, including one being actively exploited to hack users  —  Latest Patch Tuesday included 68 fixes, 21 of them rated “critical.”  —  Microsoft on Tuesday patched two Windows vulnerabilities that attackers …

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Swapna Krishna / Engadget: