Techmeme
October 8, 2018, 12:35 PM

Top News

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook debuts video chat devices for home: the $199 Portal with a 10" screen and $349 Portal+ with a 15.6" swiveling screen; preorders today, ships November  —  Facebook's first hardware product combines Alexa (and eventually Google Assistant) with a countertop video chat screen that zooms to always keep you in frame.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Project xCloud, a game streaming service designed to work across consoles, PCs, and mobile devices, available for public trials in 2019  —  Available for public trials in 2019  —  Microsoft is unveiling its game streaming service for the first time today.
Ian Cutress / AnandTech:
Intel updates Skylake-X processors with seven new CPUs ranging from 8 to 18 cores, including the $1979 i9-9980XE with up to 15% better power efficiency  —  One of the interesting things about Intel's latest generation of high-end desktop parts was the jump from ten cores at the peak to eighteen …
David Brunnstrom / Reuters:
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Google adds a new automated closed captions feature to Google Slides to create real-time subtitles from verbal presentations  —  Google is adding a new automated closed captions feature to its Google Slides presentation program, one that creates real-time subtitles from the spoken word.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Echo Show 2018 review: improved sound quality, bigger screen, and software easier to use, but no hardware shutter to block the camera, poor YouTube experience  —  New screen, same Show  —  After being confined to an audio-only experience for over two years, Amazon's Alexa assistant …
Press Association:
UK high court blocks mass legal action against Google over claims that it collected sensitive personal data from more than 4M iPhone users  —  Tech company faced claims it gathered personal data from more than 4m iPhone users  —  The high court has blocked a mass legal action against Google …

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