Techmeme
May 6, 2015, 9:45 AM

Top News

Ryan Mac / Forbes:
A profile of Frank Wang Tao, founder of the world's biggest drone company DJI, who is worth $4.5B  —  Bow To Your Billionaire Drone Overlord: Frank Wang's Quest To Put DJI Robots Into The Sky  —  Frank Wang Tao has never been arrested.  He pays his taxes on time.  And he rarely drinks.
Thanks:@bupbin
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Zenefits raises $500M round led by Fidelity Management and TPG at a valuation of $4.5B  —  Zenefits Tagged With $4.5 Billion Valuation After Just Two Years  —  The latest software company valued at over $1 billion doesn't make a dime selling software.  —  Rather, San Francisco startup Zenefits …
New York Times:
Google Ventures' Bill Maris likens the $6M cash-out by founders of portfolio company Secret to a “bank heist” in interview  —  The Lessons Google Ventures Learned From Secret  —  For many in Silicon Valley, the rapid rise and precipitous fall of Secret, the prominent start …
Stuart Dredge / Guardian:
Facebook's Oculus Rift consumer virtual reality headset to ship Q1 2016, pre-orders to start later in 2015  —  Facebook's Oculus Rift virtual reality headset will ship in early 2016  —  After months of rumours that the first commercial model of VR headset would slip beyond 2015, company confirms the news
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google Launches Cloud Bigtable, A Very Fast NoSQL Database For The Enterprise  —  With Cloud Bigtable, Google is launching a new NoSQL database service today that, as the name implies, is powered by the company's Bigtable data storage system.  —  The added twist here is that the new service …
BBC:
EU court rules Skype's name is too similar to Britain's Sky broadcasting, preventing Microsoft from registering trademark  —  Court says Skype's name is too similar to Sky's  —  The court said Skype's logo resembled a cloud  —  Video chat software Skype's name is so similar …
Antonio Regalado / MIT Technology Review:
Sources: Apple working with US researchers to offer DNA testing via ResearchKit  —  Apple Has Plans for Your DNA  —  The iPhone could become a new tool in genetic studies.  —  Of all the rumors ever to swirl around the world's most valuable company, this may be the first that could involve spitting in a plastic cup.
Bloomberg Business:
Microsoft evaluates possible bid for Salesforce though companies are not in talks  —  Microsoft Is Said to Evaluate Possible Bid for Salesforce.com  —  Microsoft Corp. is evaluating a bid for Salesforce.com Inc., after the cloud software provider was approached by another would-be buyer, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Sources: Apple to announce new Beats at WWDC on June 8 with consumer non-beta launch late June  —  Beats revamp still debuting at WWDC, global release late-June, iOS 9 details revealed  —  According to a report today from Billboard, Apple does not have the deals in place to launch …
Matt Townsend / Bloomberg Business:
Home Depot announces it will accept Apple Pay after equipment upgrade, making it the biggest retailer to do so with more than 2K stores  —  Home Depot to Become Largest Retailer to Accept Apple Pay  —  Home Depot Inc. plans to enable Apple Inc.'s mobile-payment platform at its more than 2,000 stores …
Ina Fried / Re/code:
App Annie buys app data provider Mobidia to combine app download and usage analytics in 60 countries  —  Data Vendor App Annie Buys Mobidia, Looking to Grow, Stay Independent  —  Mobile analytics company App Annie said Wednesday it is buying Vancouver-based app data provider Mobidia in a cash and stock deal.
POLITICO:
EU's digital single market initiative doesn't take a strong stand on some essential issues, such as the need for a single telecom and digital regulator  —  EU digital single market: Death by compromise  —  The long-awaited, much-ballyhooed Digital Single Market strategy is set to be published …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft's Outlook.com will be powered by Office 365, but the name will remain the same  —  Microsoft's Outlook.com will be powered by Office 365  —  Microsoft is planning to replace the technology and interface of Outlook.com with Office 365.  Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: SunGard Data Systems prepares for IPO, seeks to raise $750M, targets $7B market valuation  —  SunGard Prepares IPO, Aims to Raise Around $750 Million  —  Software developer also plans to consider a sale  —  SunGard Data Systems Inc. is preparing for an initial public offering nearly …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Mophie's H2PRO, a $130 battery case for iPhone, protects in shallow water for up to 30 minutes  —  Mophie's latest iPhone battery case is also waterproof  —  Battery cases can prove to be a must-have for iPhone 6 owners, and the same goes for ruggedized cases that protect Apple's smartphone against the elements.
Sharon Begley / Reuters:
IBM's Watson to guide cancer therapies at 14 centers, analyzing tumors' genetic make-up with the findings of scientific papers and clinical trials  —  IBM's Watson to guide cancer therapies at 14 centers  —  (Reuters) - Fourteen U.S. and Canadian cancer institutes will use International …
Dawn Chmielewski / Re/code:
OpenTV files lawsuit against Apple alleging iTunes software violates five streaming patents  —  Interactive TV Pioneer OpenTV Sues Apple, Alleging Patent Infringement  —  Interactive television pioneer OpenTV has sued Apple, alleging that the Cupertino technology giant infringed on its patents.
Alissa J. Rubin / New York Times:
French parliament advances bill to give the government broad domestic surveillance powers with little judicial oversight  —  Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance  —  PARIS — The lower house of France's Parliament overwhelmingly approved a sweeping intelligence bill that …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference  —  Stop preparing for agents.  Start running them.  100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
Zoho:
Pro Tips: 4 tips to overcome data problems in your CRM  —  Most CRM data problems don't look like problems.  At a glance, your CRM looks fine: records exist, fields are filled, and reports run.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Meta's Muse Revival, Frontier AI Under Threat, The Rise Of Dopamine Sites
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.
Sources:
Satya Nadella on Microsoft's agent bet and AI's trust problem
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Meta's New $1300 Glasses and the Fight to Control AI
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.
Great Chat:
Doomers at Dreamforce
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Invest Like the Best:
Gabe Stengel - Building Investing Superintelligence
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
Inside the AI Startup Making Customer Support 65% Cheaper
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:45 AM ET, May 6, 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

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks