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1
Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
The Portal TV lets you hang out with friends using your home biggest screen
It part of a new line of Portal devices that bring the platform auto-zooming AI camera, in-house voice assistant speaker, Messenger video
chat and end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp video calls to smaller form factors.
Facebook says it also will provide a lot more clarity around
privacy — although human review of voice recordings is still turned on by default.
2
Apple Watch Series 5 review
The Apple Watch Series 5 doesn''t include any hardware additions quite as flashy as the LTE functionality and
ECG monitor it introduced with previous updates
But taken as a whole, the new features maintain the device spot at the top of the smartwatch heap.
3
Google Fi gets an unlimited plan
For the longest time, Google Fi didn''t play the unlimited calls, text and data game
That changing this week.
4
Roboticist and YouTube star Simone Giertz is coming to Disrupt SF
With 1.92 million YouTube subscribers, Giertz is best known for her
&shitty& robotic creations, including arms that serve soup and breakfast, draw holiday cards and apply lipstick — to hilariously uneven
Documents reveal how Russia taps phone companies for surveillance
Documents reviewed by TechCrunch offer new insight into the scope and
scale of the Russian surveillance system known as SORM, and how Russian authorities gain access to the calls, messages and data of customers
of the country largest phone provider.
6
Podcast app Pocket Casts is now available for free, with an optional $0.99 subscription
Previously, you had to pay a one-time fee of $3.99
to access the Android or iOS apps, but CEO Owen Grover said this approach seemed increasingly at odds with Pocket Casts& goals, and with the
vision of the public radio organizations that acquired it last year.
7
In a social media world, here what you need to know about UGC and privacy
For a brand, is it worth the effort to incorporate UGC into their
marketing strategy? And if so, how can they do it within the rules — and more importantly, in adherence with the expectations of
consumers? (Extra Crunch membership required.)
