10 things in tech you need to know today

Good morning! It's another pleasant day in London. Here's the tech news you need to know today.

1. There's a "significant change in mindset" coming to the way Apple launches its products. An internal memo from retail chief Angela Ahrendts leaked to Business Insider reveals that the company wants customers to avoid their local Apple Store and purchase online instead.

2. Russia hacked the White House. That's according to a report from CNN, which claims the hackers gained "access to sensitive information such as real-time non-public details of the president's schedule."

3. Google wants to book your next plumber. The search giant wants to connect users to local professionals, according to a BuzzFeed report, similar to the service that Amazon announced in March.

4. HBO's standalone streaming service is now live. HBO Now officially arrived on the Apple TV on Tuesday, and can be watched without a cable subscription. It costs $14.99 a month. (That's around £10, but it's not available in the UK yet.)

5. Uber co-founder Oscar Salazar has launched a new ride-sharing app for commuters. It hopes to make journeys to work cheaper, easier, and better for the environment.

6. CEO Marissa Mayer is doing a huge shake-up at Yahoo, bringing Tumblr more closely into the company. The blogging platform is presently run as a largely independent business unit. Tumblr CEO David Karp has been asked which senior VP within Yahoo he would like to report to, according to The Information.

7. A major snub from Apple could boost Google's revenue by billions. Apple is considering switching the default search provider on Safari - but Goldman Sachs thinks enough people would switch back to Google that the search giant could actually profit from losing the contract.

8. We've got our first look at the Apple Watch's charging stand. Photos posted on Instagram suggest the stand will fold out of the Apple Watch box.

9. There are rumours circulating that Google is interested in acquiring Twitter. These rumours tend to come up periodically, and it's not clear whether there's any truth to it - but Twitter's stock has risen 4%.

10. Jay Z has pulled one of his albums from Spotify. The rapper recently relaunched Tidal, a premium music streaming service he has acquired, so it looks like he's planning to make his music exclusive to the platform. (Meanwhile, Lily Allen claims Tidal will actually turn people to piracy.)