Techmeme
August 8, 2018, 2:45 PM

Top News

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Magic Leap headset first look: functional and thoughtfully designed, with some advantages over competitors, but not a radical step forward nor a magical advance  —  When you write about augmented reality headsets, you're supposed to start by describing something impossible …
Scott Stein / CNET:
Magic Leap's One Creator Edition AR headset launches for select users for $2,295+ online; each device must be set up in person via white glove service Enjoy  —  The Magic Leap One AR headset is out now for $2,295, but not everywhere  —  Surprise!  But there's a good chance you still may not be able to buy it.
Jessi Hempel / Wired:
Interview with Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz as its AR headset launches, on the company's over-hyped marketing, developing for the headset, and more  —  Over the past few years, onetime supporters have grown skeptical of Magic Leap's mythical augmented-reality product.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook launches two AR games for Messenger video chat that can be played with up to six people  —  Facebook is diving deeper into in-house game development with the launch of its own version of Snapchat's multiplayer augmented reality video chat games.  Today, Facebook Messenger globally launches …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Snap reports Q2 revenue of $262.3M, up 44% YoY, vs. $249.8M est., and 188M DAUs, up 8% YoY but down from 191M in Q1; stock down 6%+  —  The Stories War has officially killed Snapchat's growth.  In Q2 2018 earnings today, Snapchat's daily user count shrank 1.5 percent to 188 million this quarter …
Marc Vartabedian / Wall Street Journal:
Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:
Docs show how Google's building its censored search engine for China, codenamed Dragonfly, using subsidiary 265.com to compile a list of sites China's blocking  —  Google analyzed search terms entered into a Beijing-based website to help develop blacklists for a censored search engine …
Karl Bode / Motherboard:
Study shows how millions of customers in the US with very slow broadband speeds are paying the same price as those with much faster speeds  —  Most Americans pay roughly the same price for their internet connection, even if their service is painfully slow.  —  Despite the ample hype …
More: reddit.com
Scott Scrivens / Android Police:
Images and video of alleged Google Pixel 3 XL production unit leak, showing a large notch on the top of the display and USB-C earbuds in the box  —  We're now just a couple of months out from the reveal of Google's latest Pixel phones, so we expected that leaks and rumors would start to intensify.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Patreon says it's acquiring white-labeled subscription service Memberful for an undisclosed sum, to be run as a separate business by its seven-person team  —  Patreon is forming a patronage empire.  Today it acquired white-labeled subscription membership platform Memberful …
Clifton Leaf / Fortune:
Salesforce names Keith Block, the company's vice chairman and president, co-CEO alongside Marc Benioff  —  Salesforce announced this evening that Keith Block, the company's vice chairman and president, would become co-CEO alongside Marc Benioff, the socially minded billionaire who has led …
David French / New York Times:
Given the malleability of the “hate speech” label, tech companies should use libel and slander legal standards when removing content like Infowars  —  “Hate speech” is extraordinarily vague and subjective.  Libel and slander are not.  —  Mr. French is a First Amendment litigator and senior writer for National Review.
John Whitehouse / Media Matters for America:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: SoftBank-backed Chinese truck-hailing platform Manbang seeks to raise $1B+ at a $10B valuation, up from April's $6B+ figure  —  Manbang Group is speaking to U.S.-based mutual funds and late-stage investors as it looks to raise $1 billion  —  Manbang Group, a Chinese truck-hailing platform …

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More News

Gizmodo:

Earlier Picks

Marrian Zhou / CNET: