Techmeme
January 12, 2015, 2:00 AM

Top News

Quentin Hardy / New York Times:
Following Microsoft's new Skype Translator, Google to announce major update to Translate app, add automatic transcription for popular languages  —  Language Translation Tech Starts to Deliver on Its Promise  —  The tech industry is doing its best to topple the Tower of Babel.
Ben Thompson / stratechery:
With a broad range of products united by software, Xiaomi sells an ecosystem, not just phones  —  Xiaomi's Ambition  —  Xiaomi, the Chinese smart phone company that late last month raised $1.1 billion at a $45 billion valuation, sells way more than smartphones: Mi.com boasts over a thousand items …
Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:
How systemic discrimination and policy shaped East Palo Alto as neighboring Silicon Valley exploded in wealth and power  —  East of Palo Alto's Eden  —  What if Silicon Valley had emerged from a racially integrated community?  —  Would the technology industry be different?  —  Would we?
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft chastises Google for disclosing Windows 8.1 security hole prior to patch … Microsoft is publicly criticizing Google for releasing details about a security vulnerability in Windows 8.1 two days before the Redmond company was slated to patch the bug — saying that Google is putting users …
Brad Stone / Businessweek:
Marc Lore's new Costco-inspired e-commerce site Jet to begin limited sign-ups Feb. 20, with $49.99 annual membership fee  —  Amazon Bought This Man's Company.  Now He's Coming for Them  —  The historic downtown commercial district of Montclair, N.J., is known for its restaurants, antique shops, and art-house movie theater.
Matt Burns / TechCrunch:
Leaked Palantir document reveals uses and key clients, including several government agencies  —  Leaked Palantir Doc Reveals Uses, Specific Functions And Key Clients  —  Since its founding in 2004, Palantir has managed to grow into a billion dollar company while being very surreptitious about what it does exactly.
David Katzmaier / CNET:
4K TV makers push features like quantum dots, HDR, and curved displays to differentiate at CES  —  TVs at CES 2015 go beyond 4K  —  4K is already old hat.  The rapidly falling prices of 4K TVs are causing manufacturers push even more elaborate features to make a buck.
Johana Bhuiyan / BuzzFeed:
Flywheel, Asia's GrabTaxi, and India's OlaCabs consider taxi alliance to compete with Uber  —  Ride-Hailing Startups Discuss Global Taxi Alliance Against Uber  —  Two companies in Asia backed by Softbank Capital and one in the U.S. have discussed cross-booking and integrated apps.
Tweets: @semilThanks:@mat
Robert McMillan / Wired:
Another leap second will arrive in June, threatening the stability of UNIX and Linux systems  —  The Leap Second Is About to Rattle the Internet.  But There's a Plot to Kill It  —  The Qantas Airways computers started crashing just after midnight.  A few hours later, as passengers started flying home …
Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:
Source: neither Twitter nor its board have considered replacing Costolo, despite rumors that Adam Bain may become CEO  —  Rumors Swirl That Adam Bain Will Be The Next Twitter CEO, But Costolo's Not Going Anywhere Yet  —  Disclosure: I own less than 500 shares each of Twitter, Yahoo, and Aol stock.
More: TheStreet.com and Business InsiderTweets: @pmarca
Joshua Brustein / Businessweek:
GameStop's eluding Blockbuster's fate for now by selling physical vouchers for DLC, maintaining fat margins on used games  —  Extra Lives: Can GameStop Avoid Blockbuster's Fate?  —  Tim Brooks claims to know 98 percent to 100 percent of the people who visit his store, a GameStop on a scruffy city block in northern Philadelphia.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Top shortcuts to work your way through Zoho Cliq  —  The debate between mouse and keyboard users has been around for years.  Whether it's about efficiency, speed, or productivity, there's always this question …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
The Pull to Build: Joubin Mirzadegan on Grit and Starting Roadrunner
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The 100-person AI lab that became Anthropic and Google's secret weapon | Edwin Chen (Surge AI)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Hollywood is Truly Freaked Out." Inside the Netflix/WBD Deal with Lucas Shaw
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:00 AM ET, January 12, 2015.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Arielle Duhaime-Ross / The Verge:
Bonnie Cha / Re/code:
Justin Duino / Android Central: