Techmeme
May 24, 2018, 9:50 PM

Top News

Gary Horcher / KIRO:
After allegations Alexa recorded a private conversation and sent it to a person in contact list, Amazon says the case was extremely rare, is taking steps to fix  —  A Portland family contacted Amazon to investigate after they say a private conversation in their home was recorded by Amazon's Alexa …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Essential, a startup co-founded by Android creator Andy Rubin, is considering selling itself and has canceled development of a new smartphone  —  - Company cancels development of second version of smartphone  — Startup has spent over $100 million on product development
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
Apple wins $538.6M from Samsung in iPhone patent retrial: $533.3M for infringement of Apple's design patents and $5.3M for infringement of its utility patents  —  Nearly six years after a federal jury awarded Apple over $1 billion in damages against Samsung for infringing on iPhone design patents …
Rob Leathern / Facebook:
Facebook rolls out “Paid for by” disclosure labels on Facebook and Instagram for political ads in US, including issues ads that deal with 20 specific subjects  —  As we announced last month, we're making big changes to the way ads with political content work on Facebook to help prevent abuse, especially during elections.
Twitter:
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Sign up now for Techmeme's new newsletter, which goes out daily at 5pm Pacific  —  Today we're launching Techmeme's first newsletter.  Sign up here!  It goes out Sunday through Friday around 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern and, like Techmeme.com, summarizes the day's top tech news and commentary …
Jason Koebler / Motherboard:
Documents from a “bendgate” lawsuit show Apple's tests found iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were 3.3x and 7.2x more likely to bend than 5S; Apple later made changes to fix  —  Apple publicly maintained that there were no engineering issues with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus …
Bloomberg:
Sources: DOJ and CFTC have opened a criminal probe into alleged market manipulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies  —  - Justice Department opens investigation into illicit trading  — Agency is working with CFTC, which oversees crypto futures  —  The Justice Department …
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Vevo is shuttering its Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile apps and website to refocus on YouTube following resignation of several execs and significant layoffs  —  Major-label owned Vevo is giving up on plans to build its own music video platform outside of YouTube's control …
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
An API bug on T-Mobile's staff-facing website, since fixed, let anyone gain access to customer addresses, account PINs, and other details using a phone number  —  Exclusive: The exposed lookup tool let anyone run a customer's phone number — and obtain their home address and account PIN, used to contact phone support.
David Shepardson / Reuters:
US NTSB report on Uber's self-driving car that killed a pedestrian in March in AZ says the car failed to identify the pedestrian or brake until it was too late  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] self-driving vehicle that struck and killed a woman in Tempe …
AppleInsider:
Apple giving month-long free trials of its 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB iCloud storage plans to customers currently on the free 5GB tier  —  In a move designed to drive iCloud storage subscription upgrades, Apple is now promoting free month-long trials of 50GB, 200GB and 2TB plans to customers currently on the gratis 5GB tier.
More: 9to5Mac
Shannon Liao / The Verge:
Pornhub launches a free VPN, called VPNHUB, with unlimited bandwidth, available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, alongside $13/month ad-free premium VPN  —  Pornhub is launching its own VPN service today with free and unlimited bandwidth.  The VPN is supposed to help users avoid ISP throttling and geographic limitations.

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Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Garrett Camp: