• Gary Horcher / KIRO: After allegations Alexa recorded a private conversation and sent it to a person in contact list, Amazon says the case was extremely rare, is taking steps to fix

• Jason Del Rey / Recode: Amazon says the Echo that recorded a private discussion interpreted background conversation as action confirmation, leading to recording and sending to contact

• Bloomberg: Sources: Essential, a startup co-founded by Android creator Andy Rubin, is considering selling itself and has canceled development of a new smartphone

• Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat: Apple wins $538.6M from Samsung in iPhone patent retrial: $533.3M for infringement of Apple's design patents and $5.3M for infringement of its utility patents

• Facebook: Facebook will check images and text, who is being targeted, and any linked websites in issue ads as it begins to apply new policies   —  Political advertising serves an important purpose.

• Twitter: Twitter to add badges and disclaimers for US federal political advertisers and require certification and account elements “consistent with online presence”

• Rob Leathern / Facebook: Facebook rolls out “Paid for by” disclosure labels on Facebook and Instagram for political ads in US, including issues ads that deal with 20 specific subjects

• Anna Hensel / VentureBeat: Facebook launches archive of political ads, containing ads for political candidates and issue ads starting in May 2018; ads kept in archive for seven years

• Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News: Sign up now for Techmeme's new newsletter, which goes out daily at 5pm Pacific   —  Today we're launching Techmeme's first newsletter.  Sign up here!

• Sponsor Post Microsoft: Making gaming accessible to all   —  Read the story behind the new Xbox Adaptive Controller, which will make gaming accessible to people with a broad range of disabilities.

• Sean Hollister / CNET: Valve says Apple revoked its approval of the Steam Link app for iOS due to “business conflicts with app guidelines” and denied Valve's appeal

• Jason Koebler / Motherboard: Documents from a “bendgate” lawsuit show Apple's tests found iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were 3.3x and 7.2x more likely to bend than 5S; Apple later made changes to fix

• AppleInsider: Apple giving month-long free trials of its 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB iCloud storage plans to customers currently on the free 5GB tier

• Janko Roettgers / Variety: Vevo is shuttering its Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile apps and website to refocus on YouTube following resignation of several execs and significant layoffs

• Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: PayPal and Google partner to integrate PayPal into Google Pay, which can be used to pay bills and more, starting later this year

• Josh Constine / TechCrunch: Snapchat now gives users the option to send their real-time location to a friend or request theirs, which shows up on the Snap Map and within message threads

• Zack Whittaker / ZDNet: An API bug on T-Mobile's staff-facing website, since fixed, let anyone gain access to customer addresses, account PINs, and other details using a phone number

• Bloomberg: Sources: DOJ and CFTC have opened a criminal probe into alleged market manipulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies   —  - Justice Department opens investigation into illicit trading

• David Shepardson / Reuters: US NTSB report on Uber's self-driving car that killed a pedestrian in March in AZ says the car failed to identify the pedestrian or brake until it was too late

• Sponsor Post eero: Another day, another cyber security threat. eero keeps your network protected.   —  VPNFilter is the latest router-based malware and is estimated to affect over 500,000 consumer routers.

• Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica: Unsealed indictment shows federal prosecutors have charged three men with crimes related to December death of a Kansas man fatally shot in a swatting prank

• Natt Garun / The Verge: YouTube brings its previously mobile-only messaging feature to the web, letting logged in users share and talk about videos in a chat window with friends

• Shannon Liao / The Verge: Pornhub launches a free VPN, called VPNHUB, with unlimited bandwidth, available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, alongside $13/month ad-free premium VPN

• Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Microsoft begins rolling out update to Mixer, its Twitch competitor, that includes a visual refresh and an expanded developer toolkit called MixPlay

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• 3 hours ago Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica: Unsealed indictment shows federal prosecutors have charged three men with crimes related to December death of a Kansas man fatally shot in a swatting prank

• 4½ hours ago AppleInsider: Apple giving month-long free trials of its 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB iCloud storage plans to customers currently on the free 5GB tier

• 5½ hours ago Josh Constine / TechCrunch: Snapchat now gives users the option to send their real-time location to a friend or request theirs, which shows up on the Snap Map and within message threads

• 5½ hours ago Jason Del Rey / Recode: Amazon says the Echo that recorded a private discussion interpreted background conversation as action confirmation, leading to recording and sending to contact

• 5½ hours ago Sean Hollister / CNET: Valve says Apple revoked its approval of the Steam Link app for iOS due to “business conflicts with app guidelines” and denied Valve's appeal

• Sponsor Post Microsoft: Making gaming accessible to all   —  Read the story behind the new Xbox Adaptive Controller, which will make gaming accessible to people with a broad range of disabilities.

• 5½ hours ago Russell Brandom / The Verge: Orlando police say its tests of Amazon's facial recognition system were limited to basic testing, and no members of the public were entered for search

• 6 hours ago Facebook: Facebook will check images and text, who is being targeted, and any linked websites in issue ads as it begins to apply new policies   —  Political advertising serves an important purpose.

• 6 hours ago Catherine Shu / TechCrunch: Sentry, which develops open source tools to help developers fix bugs, raises $16M Series B led by NEA and Accel; CEO says post-money valuation is around $100M

• 7 hours ago Joel Schectman / Reuters: Senate version of Pentagon spending bill could require US tech companies to disclose if they let US adversaries examine code in software sold to US military

• 7 hours ago Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat: Apple wins $538.6M from Samsung in iPhone patent retrial: $533.3M for infringement of Apple's design patents and $5.3M for infringement of its utility patents

• 7 hours ago Natt Garun / The Verge: YouTube brings its previously mobile-only messaging feature to the web, letting logged in users share and talk about videos in a chat window with friends

• 8 hours ago Bloomberg: Sources: Essential, a startup co-founded by Android creator Andy Rubin, is considering selling itself and has canceled development of a new smartphone

• 8 hours ago Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: Netflix topped Walt Disney Co. in market value Thursday after surpassing Comcast on Wednesday; the company's stock is up 82% in 2018   —  - Stock, up more than 80%, leads S&P 500 Index again this year

• 8 hours ago Zack Whittaker / ZDNet: An API bug on T-Mobile's staff-facing website, since fixed, let anyone gain access to customer addresses, account PINs, and other details using a phone number

• Sponsor Post Zoho: How to improve the quality of your hires: Pro-tips for Every Recruiter   —  Assess, interview, hire, repeat.  And the cycle goes on.  Hourly.  Daily.

• 9 hours ago Anna Hensel / VentureBeat: Facebook launches archive of political ads, containing ads for political candidates and issue ads starting in May 2018; ads kept in archive for seven years

• 9 hours ago Gary Horcher / KIRO: After allegations Alexa recorded a private conversation and sent it to a person in contact list, Amazon says the case was extremely rare, is taking steps to fix

• 10 hours ago Twitter: Twitter to add badges and disclaimers for US federal political advertisers and require certification and account elements “consistent with online presence”

• 11 hours ago Rob Leathern / Facebook: Facebook rolls out “Paid for by” disclosure labels on Facebook and Instagram for political ads in US, including issues ads that deal with 20 specific subjects