From Tesla’s Powerwall to Microsoft Build, here are the top stories from the past week of April 25-May 1.
1. Tesla’s Powerwall will let households run entirely on solar energy. The battery is rechargeable lithium-ion — it uses Tesla’s existing battery tech — and can be fixed to a wall, removing much of the existing complexity around using a local power source.
2. Microsoft announced the launch of Visual Studio Code, a lightweight cross-platform code editor for writing modern web and cloud applications that will run on OS X, Linux and Windows.
3. Kim-Mai Cutler examined the impact of Facebook’s new HQ on surrounding real estate prices. Facebook is in the best position to re-imagine what new urbanism looks like in the old heart of Silicon Valley.
4. Uber is planning to launch a same-day merchant delivery program.
5. Developers might not like it, but Facebook is strengthening privacy by removing its API for giving friends’ data to apps.
6. Darrell Etherington reviewed the Apple Watch. He explains that the Apple Watch is a design feat, no matter how you look at it.
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7. Anonymous sharing app Secret shuts down. Danny Crichton explains why Secret’s shutdown is an interesting case.
8. It was another big week for earnings. Apple had a killer quarter, but LinkedIn and Twitter shares both got crushed.
9. John Biggs checked out Cinder, a smart grill that cooks everything to perfection.
10. Microsoft announced that it’s new browser will be called Edge.
11. What if wireless power at a distance actually worked? It does. uBeam invented a way to wirelessly send energy up to 15 feet away with ultrasound.
