Facebook debuts Spaces, its social VR platform that lets up to four users hang out in VR, available in beta for Oculus Rift, to expand to other VR platforms
More than three years after its acquisition of Oculus, Facebook is a product even more deeply intertwined with people's online identities.
Sources: Nintendo to launch a mini version of its SNES console in time for Christmas 2017, after the success of its mini NES console
Major factor for NES mini discontinuation. — Nintendo will follow up its smash hit NES microconsole with a mini version of the SNES, sources close to the company have confirmed to Eurogamer.
Facebook debuts Camera Effects developer platform: Frames Studio for simple picture effects, available now; AR Studio for creating masks, scene effects, in beta
Josh Constine / TechCrunch :
Microsoft now lets users use phone authentication instead of passwords to access accounts
Microsoft's Authenticator app can now save you a step when logging into anything that requires a Microsoft Account. According to a blog post from the company's identity division …
Xiaomi announces 5.15-inch Mi 6 with Snapdragon 835, 12MP dual-cameras, 6GB RAM, 3,350 mAh battery, no headphone jack, starting at $360
Xiaomi has announced its latest flagship phone, the Mi 6, at an event in Beijing. While Xiaomi drew widespread attention last year …
Spotify and Apple Music announce chat extensions for Facebook Messenger; Spotify's is available now, with Apple's coming “very soon”
Napier Lopez / The Next Web :
Interview with David Marcus on making bots easier to find on Messenger, updates to M assistant, debut of Chat Extensions to help devs add in-chat functionality
Tim Peterson / Marketing Land :
Interview with Mark Zuckerberg, outlining his vision for smartphone camera-based AR experiences in everyday situations
Trump's newly signed executive order to reform H-1B visas may make outsourcing less viable, but could bring more educated and better paid tech workers to US
SAN FRANCISCO — H-1B visa holders could get a lot more expensive and a lot better educated under a new executive order signed …
Baidu opens up self-driving vehicle platform Apollo, encompassing both hardware and software, which aims to offer fully autonomous driving by 2020
Project Apollo aims to offer fully autonomous driving by 2020 — Chinese tech giant Baidu has announced a new autonomous vehicle platform …
Facebook has reimplemented its React and Relay JavaScript frameworks, now called React Fiber and Relay Modern, with a focus on performance and extensibility
React VR is a framework for the creation … Khari Johnson / VentureBeat : Western Union's bot sends money transfers through Facebook Messenger Thanks: @lcorwin92
Facebook announces bots for Workplace in both Messenger and Group chat, new integrations with Box, Microsoft, Quip, and expanded enterprise compliance
Ron Miller / TechCrunch :
Instagram on Android gets offline mode for users to see, comment on, save, and Like content previously loaded, among other features
At Facebook's annual developer conference in San Jose, Instagram announces the Android app will be getting offline capabilities that will allow …
Docker unveils LinuxKit, a containerized kit for assembling custom Linux distributions, and the Moby Project for building customized container systems
LinuxKit provides tools for creating container-centric Linux distros, and the Moby Project helps integrate container elements Docker has released to the community
Google's Cloud Speech API, which recognizes over 80 languages and variants, comes out of beta, is now available to all developers
The same tools that handle the speech recognition features in Google Assistant can now be used by a larger audience. The Google Cloud Speech API …
Microsoft makes its Wunderlist successor, To-Do, available in preview as part of Office 365; Wunderlist will “eventually” be retired
Microsoft's ‘Project Cheshire,’ the successor to its Wunderlist to-do app, is now in public preview for many Office 365 users on a variety of devices.
Microsoft tests power throttling background apps in pre-RTM build of Windows 10 to save up to 11% battery life, currently only for Skylake and Kaby Lake systems
Tom Warren / The Verge :
A look at Retina-X and FlexiSpy, spyware companies whose surveillance software is used by ordinary people to tap each other's phones
This story is part of When Spies Come Home, a Motherboard series about powerful surveillance software ordinary people use to spy on their loved ones. Tweets: @josephfcox , @headhntr , and @evacide Twe...
Samsung S8/S8+ review: gorgeous design, build quality, great camera, but fingerprint scanner is in awkward spot, Bixby's useless, preinstalled apps are annoying
Here's What We Think About It iFixit : Samsung Galaxy S8 Teardown Steve Kovach / Business Insider : Why the iPhone 7 is still better than the Samsung Galaxy S8 Ina Fried / Axios : Putting the Galaxy S...
Sources: PetSmart is acquiring Chewy.com for $3.35B in the largest e-commerce acquisition ever
Jason Del Rey / Recode :
Apple makes iMovie, GarageBand, and iWork apps for Mac and iOS free for all users; formerly they were free with the purchase of a new Mac or iOS device
Juli Clover / MacRumors :
Biometric Exit project, which aims to face scan all visa holders as they depart the US, gets fast-tracked by the Trump administration to expand this summer
Russell Brandom / The Verge :
Oracle acquires analytics firm Moat, will keep it as an independent platform within Oracle Data Cloud
Redesigned Google Earth brings interactive guided tours and 3D maps view to Chrome browsers and Android devices, coming to iOS and other browsers later
here's what's new Gabriela Vatu / Softpedia News : Google Earth Rolls Out Huge Update, Gets Voyages, Works on Chrome Kukil Bora / International Business Times : Google Earth's new 3D imagery feature i...
Sources: home design firm Houzz is raising as much as $500M Series E at a valuation of more than $5B
This article first appeared in Term Sheet, Fortune's newsletter on deals and dealmakers. Sign up here. — Houzz, an online platform for home remodeling and design services …
How LeEco's efforts to “buy its way into marketshare” in America unraveled, from its attempted Vizio acquisition to its purchase of 49 acres in Santa Clara
In 2016, rising Chinese tech star LeEco made an aggressive move to conquer the unfamiliar US market with cheap gadgets. Tweets: @gizmodo , @rogerwcheng , @saschasegan , and @stevekovach . Thanks: @rav...
Yahoo beats expectations with $1.33B GAAP revenue in final quarter as an independent company, with Verizon sale “anticipated to complete in June”
Ken Yeung / VentureBeat :
Google Maps for iOS now lets you retrace your steps with Timeline, which has been in Google Maps for Android since 2015
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch :
Uber loses VP of Global Vehicle Programs Sherif Marakby, who came to the company last April after a 25-year career at Ford
Katie Burke / Automotive News Automakers Feed :
IBM misses with revenue of $18.2B, down 2.8% YoY, as demand for legacy products stagnates; revenue from cloud services, security software, data analytics up 12%
Narottam Medhora / Reuters :
Tumblr launches Cabana, a new app for watching videos while video chatting with friends
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch :
Peek acquires assets and hires team of rival tour and activities platform Zozi, which had raised over $44M
Sean O'Neill / Skift :
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Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements
2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.