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The iPhone 8 and its big brother, 8 Plus, will hit the street on Friday, and the reviews are in: “A solid upgrade.” “Not the future ... just a default.” “The glass back is going to be a love-it-or-hate-it feature.” And “an even better phone is on the way.” One of the most entertaining reviews is this one, by BuzzFeed’s Nicole Nguyen, who says the 8 should be called “the 7s that never was.” [The New York Times]
Amazon is working on a pair of Alexa-powered smartglasses. It has hired veterans of Google’s Glass project, and may ship them this year. “A bone-conduction audio system would allow the wearer to hear Alexa without having to insert headphones into their ears.” [Tim Bradshaw/ Financial Times]
Top U.S. venture capital firms are suing the Trump administration after it delayed a key immigration program meant to benefit foreign entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty met with Senate Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C., yesterday to urge them to save DACA. [Tony Romm / Recode]
Patreon, which lets fans pay creators of podcasts, videos and other content, has raised $60 million. One of the most interesting media startups in the last few years, the service is on track to process more than $150 million in contributions this year. [Peter Kafka / Recode]
Silicon Valley is obsessed with “ICOs” — that’s “initial coin offerings.” It’s like an IPO but with digital currency like bitcoin. Some of the more forward-thinking VCs, including Fred Wilson and Tim Draper, have been vocal believers in ICOs. “They are not simply a funding mechanism,” Wilson wrote on his blog this summer. “They are about an entirely different business model.” We explain. [Theodore Schleifer / Recode]
Hello/goodbye: Twitter is adding another longtime Google exec to its board — Patrick Pichette served as Google’s CFO from 2008 to 2015. Benchmark investor Kris Frederickson has left the firm for a competing firm; he’s the first public departure since the VC firm launched its lawsuit against former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. And debt-saddled Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday; it’s more complicated than just blaming Amazon.
Top stories from Recode
Tesla’s remote upgrades to its vehicles during Hurricane Irma are the future of tech.
We haven’t seen entire new hardware functions being made available through software upgrades — that’s going to change.
Comcast’s top government guy says Trump won’t stop many mergers
Exec David Cohen also raises some potential concerns with the Sinclair-Tribune deal.
Instagram is rapidly eating away at Snapchat’s share of new users.
Snapchat still has a bigger share of new users in the U.S. — but not for long.
Věra Jourová, an EU commissioner, is paying Silicon Valley a visit.
Video startups Zefr and Mitu have hired new leaders.
Mitu, a Latino-targeted video network, gets a new CEO; Zefr, a YouTube ad service, gets a new president.
Uber is fighting Alphabet’s request to delay the trial in its self-driving lawsuit.
The first trial is scheduled for October 10.
This is cool
Octopus’s garden apartment complex
Let's try this again: “South Park” messes with Alexa in viewers’ homes.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
