Techmeme
June 9, 2019, 8:35 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says its next high-end Xbox console, codenamed Project Scarlett, is coming Fall 2020 and will support 8K gaming, be 4X as powerful as the Xbox One X  —  Project Scarlett arrives in fall 2020  —  Microsoft is revealing the first details about its next-generation Xbox hardware today.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft to ship Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 with USB-C, Bluetooth, adjustable tension thumbsticks, more responsive controls, on Nov. 4 for $180  —  Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2  —  Microsoft is launching a new version of its popular Xbox Elite controller today at E3 2019.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Microsoft acquires Psychonauts-maker Double Fine Productions, demos a trailer for Psychonauts 2 which is coming to Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, and PC  —  As it did last year, Microsoft used its Xbox E3 keynote to announce its moves in bulking up its in-house gaming content.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which gives access to PC and Xbox games for $15/month and includes Xbox Live Gold; Xbox Game Pass for PC is $5/month  —  Xbox Live Gold is also included in the subscription  —  Microsoft first unveiled its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription earlier this year …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is preparing to buy self-driving car startup Drive.ai in a likely acquihire; Drive.ai has raised about $77M and was valued at about $200M in 2017  —  Apple Inc. is preparing to buy startup Drive.ai in a small deal that will bring more engineers with experience …
Joe Otterson / Variety:
Quibi to launch on April 6 2020 with a $7.99/mo ad-free tier and a $4.99/mo tier with pre-roll ads, will pay costs plus 20% for up to $6M/hour to show creators  —  Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman offered an in-depth look at their new short-form video service during …
Matt Simon / Wired:
Inside an Amazon sorting facility, where humans work alongside mobile robots, known as drives, fueling Amazon's push toward widespread same-day delivery  —  THEY CALL ME the Master of Robots—or at least they should.  I grab a flat package, hold its barcode under a red laser dot, and place it on a small orange robot.
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Autonomous truck startup Starsky Robotics runs a traditional freight business, with 36 trucks and using about half of its staff, to learn the basics of trucking  —  The fleet includes 36 regular trucks and three autonomous ones  —  More than three years ago, self-driving trucks startup Starsky Robotics …
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
WarnerMedia CEO talks about the challenges of integrating the three silos of Time Warner to achieve his goal of 70M subs for AT&T's upcoming streaming service  —  KEY POINTS  — AT&T pays more than $100 billion for Time Warner, leaving it with a debt load that one analyst describes as “terrifying.”
Andrew Myers / Stanford News:
Researchers have developed an algorithm that allows video editors to modify human speech in “talking head” videos by altering text in transcripts  —  A new algorithm allows video editors to modify talking head videos as if they were editing text - copying, pasting, or adding and deleting words.

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Earlier Picks

Kate Conger / New York Times:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: