Google launches News Showcase in France, partners with 65+ publishers representing 130+ outlets, and will offer “a limited amount” of paywalled content for free (Mariella Moon/Engadget)

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Google signed News Showcase deals with Bloomberg Media and The Texas Tribune, but the feature is late to launch as other US outlets balk at the terms  —  The program, which pays publishers to feature their content, is almost a year behind its intended launch timeline in the U.S.

Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Snap makes Snapchat for Web available to all users globally, including support for video calls, releases iOS 16 lock screen widgets, and more  —  Snapchat’s messaging and video chat features first made their way to browsers back in July, but only in select markets and for Snapchat+ subscribers.

Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Blizzard President Mike Ybarra says Overwatch 2 is “experiencing a mass DDoS attack” on its servers, preventing hundreds of users from joining the game’s launch  —  Overwatch 2’s early access launch has been marred by a few bugs and a massive DDoS attack preventing players from getting into the game.

Washington Post:
Internal email: Twitter appears to be rushing out a “high”-risk “Paywalled Video” feature, letting users charge to view their videos, with Twitter taking a cut  —  The tool would let video creators charge users for access.  It could come with some big pitfalls.

Jon Fingas / Engadget:
What to expect from Google’s “Made by Google” event: Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel Watch, and potentially Pixel device previews and Nest hardware  —  – Wildcards: More Pixel device previews and Nest hardware  —  Google’s fall hardware event promises to be special this year.

On Substack:
Substack launches Reader for the web with search, keyboard shortcuts, dark mode, recommendations, and an “Add RSS feed” feature for non-Substack publications  —  Revenge of RSS  —  There’s a new reading experience waiting for you at Substack.com.