Techmeme
August 3, 2019, 2:05 AM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Information:
Facebook to rebrand Instagram and WhatsApp to “Instagram from Facebook” and “WhatsApp from Facebook”, sources say causing surprise and confusion internally  —  In a big shift, Facebook plans to signal its control of Instagram and WhatsApp by adding its name to both apps …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Goldman Sachs posts Apple Card's customer agreement on its site, says jailbreaking and cryptocurrency, casino chip, and lottery ticket purchases are forbidden  —  Apple has revealed more details about its upcoming credit card, and the Apple Card will come with one unique restriction and one not-so-unique restriction.
Thomas Ricker / The Verge:
Google will let Android users in Europe choose their default search engine starting in 2020; inclusion on the choice screen will be determined via auction  —  Only the top-three bidders will appear alongside Google on the choice screen  —  Starting in early 2020, Google will present …
Zen Soo / South China Morning Post:
Hong Kong startup Tink Labs, which has raised $160M to provide free-to-use smartphones in hotel rooms, is shutting down in many markets, undergoing mass layoffs  —  Handy is a smartphone service operated by Tink Labs that equipped hotels globally with in-room handsets for guests Tink Labs informed employees …
Mark Harris / The Guardian:
FCC filing: Pentagon tests high-altitude balloons in Midwest for a “surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”  —  Exclusive: the high-altitude balloons promise a cheap monitoring platform that could follow multiple cars and boats for extended periods
Matt Day / Bloomberg:
Amazon says it will let users opt out of human review of the voice recordings picked up by Alexa, following similar moves by Apple and Google  —  - Alexa reviewers transcribe, annotate some voice recordings  — Apple, Google suspended human voice review programs this week
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
FTC is looking into the Amazon/Apple deal that kicked many small resellers off Marketplace, has interviewed at least one reseller of refurbished MacBooks  —  Experts say the deal raises serious antitrust concerns  —  Last year, Amazon cut a deal with Apple to bring direct iPhone sales to its platform for the first time.
Mark Wilson / Fast Company:
Interview with Snap CTO Bobby Murphy on augmented reality, visual communications, Lenses, Spectacles, and a future world in which the camera dominates  —  When Snapchat first became a phenomenon among teens in 2012, the focus understandably was on such distinguishing features as its promise …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Google to add an automated text-to-speech feature for emergency calls made via the Pixel Phone app to help relay location information to first responders  —  The new feature will automatically describe the kind of emergency and exact address to first responders

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More News

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Earlier Picks

Dell Cameron / Gizmodo:
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Jacqueline Feldscher / Politico:
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Donie O'Sullivan / CNN: