Summary: <p>Telegram's battle of the ban continues, and AWS and Google Cloud become targets. Reddit is growing like crazy, which worries us a bit, and Microsoft loses their multi-year legal fight with the US Government.</p> <p>And why autonomous boats might be here much sooner than self-driving cars. </p><p>Sponsored By:</p><ul><li> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://do.co/action">Digital Ocean</a>: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://do.co/action">Smash our promo code heresthething after you create an account, and get a credit on us! </a> Promo Code: heresthething</li></ul><p>Links:</p><ul> <li> <a title="And now there's ~20 million or so AWS/Google Cloud addresses blocked in Russia." rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/ow/status/986160447152885760">And now there's ~20 million or so AWS/Google Cloud addresses blocked in Russia.</a> — More on Russia v Telegram v The Cloud in today's briefing: - Russia demands Telegram encryption keys, they refuse - Russia blocks Telegram - Telegram uses AWS + Google Cloud - Russia blocks the cloud</li> <li> <a title="Twitch is reportedly blocked in Russia right now" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/18/17251630/russia-twitch-amazon-telegram-youtube-roskomnadzor">Twitch is reportedly blocked in Russia right now</a> — Twitch is reportedly blocked in Russia after the country’s state communications regulator announced it was blocking specific IP addresses owned by Amazon and Google. </li> <li> <a title="Telegram plays down Russian block — claiming no ‘significant’ impact yet | TechCrunch" rel="nofollow" href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/17/telegram-plays-down-russia-block-claiming-no-significant-impact-yet/">Telegram plays down Russian block — claiming no ‘significant’ impact yet | TechCrunch</a> — A court in Russia ordered a block of messaging app Telegram this week but founder Pavel Durov has shrugged off the impact of the ban 24 hours in — claiming the app hasn’t seen “a significant drop in user engagement so far.”</li> <li> <a title="Regulatory filings indicate a flurry of new iPhone (SE?) models launching soon" rel="nofollow" href="https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/18/regulatory-filings-indicate-a-flurry-of-new-iphone-se-models-launching-soon/">Regulatory filings indicate a flurry of new iPhone (SE?) models launching soon</a> — Devices typically appear in this database about a month before the products ship. These iPhone references were posted yesterday, suggesting a new iPhone launch will be debuting in early May/June.</li> <li> <a title="Amazon’s new ‘Alexa Blueprints’ let anyone create custom Alexa skills and responses | TechCrunch" rel="nofollow" href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/19/amazons-new-alexa-blueprints-let-anyone-create-custom-alexa-skills-and-responses/">Amazon’s new ‘Alexa Blueprints’ let anyone create custom Alexa skills and responses | TechCrunch</a> — Amazon this morning is introducing “Alexa Blueprints,” a new way for any Alexa owner to create their own customized Alexa skills or responses, without needing to know how to code.</li> <li> <a title="Autonomous Boats Will Be On the Market Sooner Than Self-Driving Cars" rel="nofollow" href="https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/18/04/18/2045246/autonomous-boats-will-be-on-the-market-sooner-than-self-driving-cars">Autonomous Boats Will Be On the Market Sooner Than Self-Driving Cars</a> — Startups and major firms like Rolls Royce are now looking to automate the seas and help maritime companies ease navigation, save fuel, improve safety, increase tonnage, and make more money. </li> <li><a title="Self-driving boats | Amherst | Buffalo Automation" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.buffautomation.com/">Self-driving boats | Amherst | Buffalo Automation</a></li> <li> <a title="Reddit now has more active users than Twitter" rel="nofollow" href="https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2018/04/19/reddit-now-active-users-twitter-engaging-porn/">Reddit now has more active users than Twitter</a> — That’s an increase of more than 30 percent in less than 6 months, and puts the platform in equal 11th place in our new global social media platform ranking (see chart above).</li> <li> <a title="I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place" rel="nofollow" href="http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/04/dan-mccomas-reddit-product-svp-and-imzy-founder-interview.html">I Fundamentally Believe That My Time at Reddit Made the World a Worse Place</a> — A conversation with former Reddit product head Dan McComas on the problems of growth as a metric and what Twitter is doing wrong.</li> <li> <a title="Supreme Court Tosses Out Microsoft Case on Digital Data Abroad - The New York Times" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/us/politics/supreme-court-tosses-out-case-on-digital-data-abroad.html">Supreme Court Tosses Out Microsoft Case on Digital Data Abroad - The New York Times</a> — The dispute arose from a federal drug investigation in which prosecutors sought the emails of a suspect stored in a Microsoft data center in Dublin.</li> <li> <a title="Neova | A Unique Connected Ring For Musicians by Enhancia — Kickstarter" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1618180096/neova-a-unique-connected-ring-for-musicians?ref=home_featured">Neova | A Unique Connected Ring For Musicians by Enhancia — Kickstarter</a> — Add musical effects to your play using simple and natural hand gestures. A brand new way to enhance musical performance. </li> </ul>
