This week, Apple Watch deliveries officially arrived to the first pre-order customers, Q1 earnings were released and Google announced its wireless cell service Project Fi. These were our best stories of the week (4/18-4/24).
1. As Apple Watch made its debut on wrists around the world this week, we released our Apple Watch Diary and some of our early impressions.
2. Natasha Lomas analyzes reviews of the Apple Watch, writing about the potential the watch holds in “What The Apple Watch Could Be.”
3. John Biggs wrote about the downfall of Makerbot, from the 3D printing manufacturer’s triumphant CES 2014 to its recent round of layoffs.
4. Josh Constine took us through a first look at shopping concierge startup Operator, which wants to “unlock the 90% of commerce that’s not on the Internet.”
5. Facebook rolled out Android-only caller ID app “Hello” for public testing.
6. HR and benefits startup Zenefits is looking to raise a giant new round of funding. According to sources, Zenefits is about to join the club of companies worth more than a billion dollars.
7. Q1 earnings were released this week, and once again Google and Microsoft are battling for the title of the second most valuable tech company.
8. Google disclosed that about half of all requests from Chrome to Google’s servers are now served over QUIC, Google’s experimental, low-latency Internet transportation protocol designed to speed up the web.
9. After months of circulating rumors, Google announced plans to offer its own wireless cellular service, Project Fi.
10. Comcast dropped its plans to merge with Time Warner Cable. Cat Zakrzewski points out that the fall through in the merger exposes weaknesses in Comcast’s powerful lobbying arm.
11. Kyle Russell went hands on with the new PlayStation virtual reality headset.
12. Greg Kumparak showed you what Twitter, Instagram and a few other of your favorite apps look like on Apple Watch.
13. WhatsApp began rolling out its voice calling feature to iOS users. Jon Russell also took a deep dive into WhatsApp’s monthly active user numbers.