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Top News

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes says Mark Zuckerberg's influence is staggering and that it is time to break up Facebook — The last time I saw Mark Zuckerberg — was in the summer of 2017, several months before the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke. We met at Facebook's Menlo Park …

Natasha Singer / New York Times:

Consumer advocacy groups file a complaint with the FTC accusing Amazon's Echo Dot Kids of collecting children's data without parental consent — Amazon barreled into the children's smart-speaker market last year with a brightly colored device called Echo Dot Kids Edition.

More: Bloomberg, Campaign for a Commercial …, CNET, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Washington Post, Politico, The Intercept, and Forbes

Alfred Ng / CNET:

Internal doc: Amazon keeps text transcripts of Alexa-triggered voice recordings deleted by users; Amazon says it is working on deleting them from subsystems

Tweets: @alfredwkng

Rita El Khoury / Android Police:

Amazon says Alexa is now compatible with 60,000 smart home devices from 7,400 brands, up from 20,000 devices in September 2018

More: Android Authority, CNET, and ZDNet

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:

Verizon report: nation states and affiliated parties carried out 23% of data breaches in 2018, up from 12% in 2017 and 19% in 2016 — Verizon's 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report highlights how nation states and espionage are becoming a worry for businesses and their data.

More: Verizon, Recorded Future, Securelist, Channel Partners, and Security Boulevard

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Inside Microsoft's Envisioning Center, which houses some of its prototype work including projection tech, AI for meetings, and desks that double as touchscreens — Every few years, Microsoft creates a video that looks at the future of productivity. This usually involves giant screens …

More: The Verge, HotHardware, How-To Geek, TechSpot, and MSPoweruser. Tweets: @backlon

Jonathan Browning / Bloomberg:

In a UK court filing, Amazon says hackers siphoned money from ~100 seller accounts over a period of six months last year — - Amazon asked U.K. court for bank details linked to hackers — Hackers break into about 100 accounts, according to documents

More: ZDNet, BBC, Dazeinfo, Inquirer, Inc42 Media, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, GritDaily, Business Insider, PYMNTS.com, and Engadget. Tweets: @mattmday

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google to add “pending transactions” payment option to the Play Store, letting users pay for apps at a retail store by showing a payment code on their device — Today, the Android platform sees more app downloads than iOS, but Apple's App Store continually dominates in terms of revenue.

More: Gizmodo, CNET, 9to5Google, Engadget, Firstpost Tech, BuzzFeed News, and PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @jillianiles

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google says it will soon weight Play Store app ratings to favor reviews from more recent releases, viewable by end users starting in August — Two years ago, Apple changed the way its app store ratings worked by allowing developers to decide whether or not their ratings would be reset …

More: Android Developers Blog, Engadget, Android Police, TechSpot, GamesIndustry.biz, Firstpost Tech, Android Authority, Slashdot, and Droid Life. Tweets: @mishaalrahman

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Google unveils Mini-apps, a “new capability” for Google Search and Assistant that delivers interactive and dynamically updated content in search results — During the Tuesday keynote that kicked off Google's I/O 2019 developer conference, the Mountain View company unveiled a slew …

More: VentureBeat

Sam Byford / The Verge:

Samsung announces the ISOCELL Bright GW1, a 64-megapixel image sensor for mobile phones, expects it to go into mass production in the second half of this year — Samsung fires new salvo in megapixel wars — Samsung has announced a new image sensor for mobile phones with a higher resolution than anything comparable on the market.

More: Samsung Global Newsroom, Engadget, Android Authority, 9to5Google, XDA Developers, SlashGear, BGR, Inquirer, Android Authority, Gizchina, and Neowin

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook relaxes blockchain ad rules, letting users promote crypto-related news, education, and events without pre-approval, after imposing a ban in 2018 — Facebook still won't let you advertise for cryptocurrencies, exchanges, binaries, or ICOs without prior approval.

More: Facebook, Blockonomi, CoinGeek, CryptoGlobe, PaymentsSource, Coinspeaker, FutureSin, Ethereum World News, Inc42 Media, CoinDesk, Micky, Reuters, SludgeFeed, CNBC, NewsBTC, SiliconANGLE, and Engadget

Tweets: @joshconstine and @thestalwart

Edgar Alvarez / Engadget:

Nike's new app, Nike Fit, will use AR to help find the right sneaker fit, expected to launch in the US in July — Nike has been experimenting heavily with augmented reality for a few years now, and the company is continuing to work on new experiences powered by the technology.

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Verge, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, CNBC, Wired, and Quartz

Tessa Wong / BBC:

Singapore passes a controversial anti-fake news law that gives the government sweeping powers to fine and police online platforms including private chat groups — Singapore has passed a controversial anti-fake news law that gives authorities sweeping powers to police online platforms and even private chat groups.

More: TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Associated Press, Silicon Republic, and Agence France-Presse

Tweets: @reaproy, @alfonslopeztena, and @tessa_wong

See also Mediagazer

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Coalition, which provides cybersecurity insurance, raises $40M Series B led by Ribbit Capital — Coalition, a cybersecurity insurance company, has raised $40 million in its latest round of funding. — Fintech investment giant Ribbit Capital led the investment with participation from Greenoaks Capital and Hillhouse Capital.

More: FinSMEs. Thanks:@thenicolenewby

AnandTech:

Intel shares its chip roadmap through 2023, says the 10nm product family will be available from the middle of this year, plans first 7nm product for 2021 — At Intel's Investor Day today, CEO Bob Swan and Murthy Renduchintala spoke to the ability of the company with respect to its manufacturing capabilities.

More: Intel Newsroom, The Verge, PCWorld, Reuters, Neowin, MSPoweruser, SiliconANGLE, Engadget, PC Gamer, and Tom's Hardware. Thanks:@iancutress

Zoë Bernard / The Information:

Sources: at least six Intercom employees have left the company over allegations that its CEO Eoghan McCabe made unwanted advances toward female employees — Eight years ago, a group of Irish entrepreneurs led by an ambitious leader, Eoghan McCabe, relocated their software startup, Intercom …

Tweets: @zoesaintbernard and @jessicalessin

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

Report: Fxmsp, a collective of Russian- and English-speaking hackers, is selling source code and network access to three US-based antivirus software vendors — Source code, network access being sold online by “Fxmsp” collective. — In a report published Thursday, researchers …

More: BleepingComputer

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Qualcomm partners with Google to create a reference design and development kit for building Assistant-enabled Bluetooth headphones with Fast Pair support — Qualcomm today announced that it has partnered with Google to create a reference design and development kit for building Assistant-enabled Bluetooth headphones.

More: 9to5Google, SiliconANGLE, and SlashGear

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

ChowNow, a food-ordering platform that helps independent restaurants accept online orders, raises $21M Series C, bringing its total raised to more than $60M — ChowNow, whose food-ordering platform makes it easier for local restaurants to accept online orders, has raised $21 million …

More: GlobeNewswire News Room and PYMNTS.com

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

Consumers want a privacy fence for smart homes, but by replacing “Works with Nest” with “Works with Google Assistant,” Google is giving them a walled garden — But in addition to the rebranding, Google announced that it will be discontinuing the Works with Nest program …

More: Stacey on IoT, Android Authority, and ProgrammableWeb.com. Tweets: @dcseifert

Nat Levy / GeekWire:

Redfin launches Redfin Direct, a feature that lets homebuyers make offers on homes directly online without an agent, starting in Boston — Redfin quietly launched a new feature that lets homebuyers without an agent make offers on homes directly through its website, bringing back an initiative …

More: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and MarketWatch

Liam Tung / ZDNet:

Microsoft says it has gained FIDO2 certification for Windows Hello, Windows 10's biometric authentication system, for the Windows 10 May 2019 update — Microsoft moves 800 million people closer to a no-password world. — Microsoft has passed another milestone on its quest to kill off passwords.

More: The Next Web, FIDO Alliance, Microsoft Tech Community, TechSpot, Digital Information World, microsoft.com, Tom's Hardware, and OnMSFT.com

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Unlike Facebook at F8, Google didn't just talk about its commitment to privacy at I/O, it showcased features that were either ready to ship or ready to demo — F8 and I/O, night and day — Mark Zuckerberg: “The future is private”. Sundar Pichai: ~The present is private~.

More: Wired, The Guardian, Axios, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, New York Times, The Verge, Softpedia News, GritDaily, Patently Apple, Forbes, and Financial Times

Tweets: @google, @jonwiley, @sivavaid, @blaiseaguera, @antoniogm, @kifleswing, @mikeisaac, @stratechery, @sundarpichai, @nytimes, @caro_milanesi, @justinschuh, @peteyvid, @johnnyryan, @chromiumdev, and @googleads

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