Techmeme: Imax closes its New York City VR center, bringing VR center closures to three; company says it won't spend on VR projects in 2019 (Janko Roettgers/Variety)

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Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:

Twitter told a user that pipe bomb suspect did not violate its rules when she reported his threats weeks ago; Twitter now says it made a mistake, apologizes — Taylor Hatmaker @tayhatmaker / 14 hours — At least two Twitter accounts linked to the man suspected of sending explosive devices …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google introduces its “.new” domain for instantly creating new docs, slides, sheets, and forms across its productivity apps — Sarah Perez @sarahintampa / 7 hours — Google Docs just rolled out a time-saving trick that's sure to be welcomed by heavy users of Docs …

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Tweets: @googledocs, @jsnell, and @_patmurray

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Imax closes its New York City VR center, bringing VR center closures to three; company says it won't spend on VR projects in 2019 — Imax continues to scale down its virtual reality (VR) ambitions: The company closed its New York-based VR Center in recent days, bringing the total number of such closures up to 3.

Tweets: @rafat

Joshua Topolsky / The Outline:

Mainstream adoption of VR hasn't happened because there's no “killer app” for VR and no one has made a simple headset that lets a novice user engage casually — We were promised better worlds, and all we got was this lousy headset. — Joshua Topolsky Oct—25—2018 01:56PM EST

More: GamesIndustry.biz. Tweets: @outline

Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:

Addressing employee concerns, Microsoft explains why it won't pull out of Pentagon's $10B JEDI contract bidding and will sell AI and other technologies to DOD — Microsoft will not pull out of the competition for a $10 billion cloud contract for the Department of Defense …

More: Microsoft on the Issues, New York Times, BetaNews, Wall Street Journal, Neowin, Business Insider, CNET, VentureBeat, MSPoweruser, Fedscoop, Nextgov, TechCrunch, and Axios

Tweets: @paul_scharre, @tonitwhitley, and @bradsmi

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: at Oct. 30 event, Apple to reveal new iPad Pros with nearly edge-to-edge screens, a USB-C port, and Face ID, a successor to the MacBook Air, and more — - Company to unveil biggest iPad Pro overhaul since 2015 debut — Mac sales dipped to lowest point since 2010 in third quarter

More: Mashable, ZDNet, Ars Technica, Neowin, MacRumors, CNET, Engadget, iPhone Hacks, and The Verge

Tweets: @markgurman and @markgurman

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Report: Twitch continues to dominate live streaming with 2.5B hours watched in Q3, but YouTube Live has seen a 10% increase to ~25% of the market since January — Sarah Perez @sarahintampa / 7 hours — Twitch continues to dominate the live streaming market, with approximately 2.5 billion hours watched …

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Twitch says it has 1M viewers at any given time, announces Squad Streaming to allow up to four people to broadcast at once, Twitch Sings game, and more

More: Twitch Blog, Variety, SludgeFeed, The Next Web, Silicon Valley Business …, Neowin, PC Gamer, IGN, Polygon, Dot Esports, Shacknews, VentureBeat, and The Verge

Tweets: @twitch, @twitch, @gassymexican, @cbenni_o, and @brgaming

Brendan Koerner / Wired:

An in-depth look at how a swatting prank led to a deadly shooting in Wichita; Tyler Barriss, the serial swatter responsible, is facing federal and state charges — THE TYPICAL WICHITA City Council meeting is a dull affair, dominated by bureaucrats droning on about street repairs, zoning codes, and general obligation bonds.

More: Wired, GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, and Longreads

Tweets: @aaschapiro, @bobmcmillan, @mjb_sf, and @briankrebs

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Snap launches Snap Camera app for Mac and Windows, brings Snapchat filters to apps including Twitch, YouTube, and Skype on the desktop — The conference call is going to be lit, fam — Snap, which likes to call itself a camera company, is bringing that camera to the desktop.

iFixit:

iFixit: iPhone XR is the spiritual “iPhone 9” with an inside that looks like a hybrid between the iPhone 8 and X; modular SIM card reader is an iPhone first — Tools Featured in this Teardown — Video Overview Introduction — Don't want to spend $1,000 on a smartphone?

More: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, TechSpot, iFixit, iPhone Hacks, CNET, SlashGear, Engadget, MacRumors, iMore, and iPhone in Canada Blog

Benjamin Wofford / Vox:

Interviews with government officials, analysts, and tech experts reveal severe vulnerabilities in many levels of the US election system, ahead of midterms — An investigation into the US election system reveals frightening vulnerabilities at almost every level.

Tweets: @selectedwisdom, @fawfulfan, @ezraklein, @ezraklein, @ezraklein, and @dangillmor

Financial Times:

Waymo has begun charging some passengers in Arizona for rides in its autonomous cars, Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat revealed during Thursday's Q3 earnings call — Waymo has begun charging passengers in Arizona for rides in its autonomous cars, making it the first self-driving car developer to launch commercial services.

More: CNET

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

Microsoft plans to bring its Xbox Game Pass subscription service to PC, Satya Nadella revealed on Wednesday's Q1 earnings call — Few details offered during off-handed earnings call announcement. — Microsoft says PC players will be able to access a version of its all-you-can-download …

More: Eurogamer.net, Neowin, Variety, Tom's Hardware, Engadget, GameSpot, and Polygon

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