Techmeme
September 24, 2020, 2:15 PM

Top News

Sean Endicott / Windows Central:
Microsoft says a standalone, non-subscription version of Office will be released in the second half of 2021 for both Windows and Mac  —  Microsoft will release a new perpetual release of Microsoft Office in the second half of 2021.  The new perpetual release only appears in a single sentence …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon announces redesigned spherical Echo devices, including $99 Echo, $60 Echo Dot with Clock, and $50 Echo Dot, with on-board speech analysis  —  Amazon just unveiled an all-new Echo with a revamped design.  It comes in three colors and features a spherical design.
Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
Epic, Spotify, Match Group, and others form the Coalition for App Fairness to pressure Apple and other app store owners to make changes to marketplace rules  —  The Coalition for App Fairness is seeking legal and regulatory means to address how Apple, other app marketplace operators work with developers
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Ring unveils Always Home Cam, an autonomous drone that can fly around inside a house, expected to cost $249.99 when it starts shipping next year  —  The Always Home Cam is an ambitious new home security device  —  Ring latest home security camera is taking flight, literally.
Jessica Conditt / Engadget:
Amazon announces Luna cloud gaming service, going live in October for $5.99/month, with a gamepad and support for Fire TV, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android later  —  Spoiler: It's not a native iOS app.  —  4m ago  —  Luna is what happens when you take the subscription model of Prime Video …
Wired:
A look at Twitter's hack on July 15, the drastic changes it made in the immediate aftermath, and its plans to prevent an Election Day meltdown  —  On July 15, Twitter melted down.  On Election Day, that's not an option.  —  JULY 15 WAS, at first, just another day for Parag Agrawal, the chief technology officer of Twitter.
Sam Shead / CNBC:
Facebook's Oversight Board says it expects to start before the election, in mid to late October, after criticism for a perceived lack of action  —  - The independent Facebook OverSight Board has confirmed to CNBC that it plans to launch ahead of U.S. election in November.
David Shepardson / Reuters:
US federal judge says the Trump administration must either delay a ban on TikTok or file legal papers defending the decision by Friday  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said Thursday the Trump administration must either delay a ban on U.S. app stores offering TikTok for download …
John Herrman / New York Times:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out updates to Maps with a layer showing COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people, with labels to indicate trends, coming to 220 countries and territories  —  Google today announced an update to Google Maps that will bring a new COVID-19 layer to the service to help you better understand the number of cases in a given area.
Biz Carson / Protocol:
Marc Bodnick launches Telepath, a “kinder” social network with Reddit's subreddit topic structure, Twitter's in-the-moment feel, and Snapchat's ephemerality  —  The rules of the new social network Telepath are simple: Be kind.  Don't be mean.  No harassment, and no fake news.
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Sundar Pichai says Google is planning “hybrid” models for future work, to allow partial work from home as 62% of employees want to have that flexibility  —  - Most Google employees want to return to the office at some point, but not every day, according to a recent Google survey …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Deliveroo has begun preliminary talks to explore the possibility of an IPO in 2021  —  - Amazon-backed company eyes potential listing in 2021  — Food delivery companies have held up during virus pandemic  —  U.K. food-delivery startup Deliveroo has begun preliminary talks …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
NHS COVID-19, a contact tracing app created by the UK government, launches in England and Wales with Exposure Notification API from Apple and Google  —  NHS COVID-19, a contact tracing app created by the UK government, is rolling out to residents of England and Wales as of today, with the app available from the iOS App Store.

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Earlier Picks

Jeff Stone / CyberScoop:
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Bloomberg: