Techmeme
July 18, 2018, 10:40 AM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
EU fines Google a record €4.3B (~$5B) in antitrust case for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen dominance of Google's search engine  —  Google has been hit with a record-breaking €4.3 billion ($5 billion) fine by EU regulators for breaking antitrust laws.
Sundar Pichai / The Keyword:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says Android has created more choice, not less, and that Google will appeal the EU ruling  —  If you buy an Android phone, you're choosing one of the world's two most popular mobile platforms—one that has expanded the choice of phones available around the world.
Jessica Toonkel / The Information:
Sources: Walmart is considering launching a subscription streaming video service that would undercut Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on price  —  Walmart is considering launching a subscription streaming video service to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, people familiar with the situation told The Information.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
A reporter posing as a Dublin Facebook moderator found that pages from far-right groups face looser content standards; Facebook vows to improve its training  —  A new documentary details how third-party Facebook moderators ignore the company's rules  —  An investigative journalist …
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Apple's iCloud user data in China is now being stored by a division of state-owned China Telecom  —  If you're an Apple customer living in China who didn't already opt out of having your iCloud data stored locally, here's a good reason to do so now.  That information, the data belonging …
Richard Nieva / CNET:
Google says Nest CEO to exit, sources say after employee revolt; sources: Alphabet tried selling Nest to Amazon; Nest now part of Google's home devices unit  —  Five months after Nest rejoined Google, the search giant told employees Tuesday that Marwan Fawaz will no longer be CEO of Nest …
Olivia Solon / The Guardian:
Researcher shows Venmo transactions, which are public under default user settings, reveal details including real names, comments, and dates through a public API  —  A researcher has analysed millions of public transactions to prove just how much the app reveals about our life and habits
Angela Moscaritolo / PCMag:
Google says it's building Dunant, a transatlantic cable between US and France, its second private intercontinental cable after Curie, connecting US and Chile  —  Google today announced a new private subsea cable project.  —  Expected to be operational by late 2020, the Dunant cable will cross …
Joe Fedewa / XDA Developers:
Patricia Hernandez / The Verge:
Twitch streamers describe the sometimes psychologically taxing nature of broadcasting to no one and trying to get noticed to start building an audience  —  Looking for connections in 2018  —  When John Hopstead first descended into the virtual world of Dark Souls in 2013, his mission was to save a decaying world.
Timothy W. Martin / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Samsung plans to launch a foldable-screen phone, with a 7-inch display that can be folded in half like a wallet, early next year  —  The phone will feature a roughly 7-inch display that folds in half  —  SEOUL— Samsung Electronics Co. is planning to introduce …
More: The Verge, CNET, and BGR
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour says the firm is pausing work on fixing its verification policy to focus on more important areas like election integrity  —  The company will return to the issue over the coming weeks and months  —  Twitter doesn't presently “have the bandwidth” …
Ryan Smith / AnandTech:
Consortium backed by AMD, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Oculus, and Valve announces VirtualLink spec for connecting next-gen VR headsets via single USB Type-C cable  —  While PC VR headsets are fun, no one has especially enjoyed the number of cables required to hook one up.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google rebrands Cloud Launcher as GCP Marketplace, adds outside commercial and open source Kubernetes applications  —  Cloud Launcher has long been Google's marketplace for cloud-based application from third-party vendors that lets you deploy them in Google's cloud with just a few clicks.

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Earlier Picks

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / Motherboard:
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Alex Konrad / Forbes: