Techmeme: TweetDeck adds option to require a confirmation step before tweeting to avoid unintended tweets or DMs (Martin Beck/Marketing Land)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

May 12, 2015, 5:55 AM

Top News

Chris Urmson / Backchannel:

Google's self-driving car head says after 1.7M miles, just 11 minor accidents have resulted, none Google's fault — The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car — After 1.7 million miles we've learned a lot—not just about our system but how humans drive, too.

Justin Pritchard / Associated Press:

Of nearly 50 self-driving vehicles tested on public roads in California since September, three Google cars and one Delphi car were involved in minor accidents — AP Exclusive: Self-driving cars getting dinged in California — 3 photos — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four of the nearly 50 self-driving cars …

More: Slate, The Verge, Gizmodo, Telegraph, Associated Press, Ubergizmo, The Register, Slashdot, PC Magazine, SiliconBeat, Pocket-lint, Consumerist, SlashGear, Fusion, Tech News Today, WebProNews, International Business Times, Re/code and Washington Post. Tweets: @mikeisaac

Periscope / Medium:

Periscope update adds an option to sign up without a Twitter account using your phone number — Six Weeks In — The past six weeks have been unforgettable. Thank you for your global perspective, for your thoughtful feedback, and inspiring ideas. We've shipped three updates since our last blog post …

More: Engadget, TechCrunch, ITProPortal, Fone Arena, The Verge, BetaNews, The Next Web, 9to5Mac and Mashable

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Warner Music Says Streaming Revenue Has Passed Downloads — Here's another sign that the music industry has shifted from selling songs to selling subscriptions: Warner Music Group says that last quarter, streaming music revenue passed revenue from selling downloads.

More: Warner Music Group, Business Insider, AppleInsider, SlashGear, Patently Apple, MacRumors, Ubergizmo, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch and RAIN News

Brendan Klinkenberg / BuzzFeed:

Instagram says it erred in shutting down The Shade Room, a TMZ-style publication that had 700k followers — Instagram Says Shutting Down The Shade Room Was A Mistake — The social photo sharing service says it wrongly removed The Shade Room account, but refuses to elaborate.

Emily Guendelsberger / Philadelphia City Paper:

Reporter goes undercover as Uber driver, makes $9.34/hour, notes orientation video just 13 minutes — I was an undercover Uber driver — Two good-looking young strangers are having an amazing conversation in the backseat of my car. I'm eavesdropping so hard I nearly run a red light.

Tweets: @danieldenvir

Deborah Gage / Wall Street Journal:

Database company MarkLogic announces $102M round led by Wellington Management at a pre-money $1B valuation — Database Vendor MarkLogic Joins Billion-Dollar Club With New Funding … MarkLogic Corp. has joined the ranks of the world's most valuable private companies …

More: VentureBeat, Forbes, SiliconANGLE and Business Insider

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Rackspace Plunges 11% On Lackluster Q2 Guidance — After reporting its earnings, including a profit meet and a small revenue miss, shares of Rackspace are down sharply in after-hours trading. The cloud-focused company's guidance for its current quarter failed to match expectations …

More: ZDNet, Tech Trader Daily, The Register and Fortune

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

SEC filing shows Twitter paid a total of $86.6M to acquire Periscope and social media talent agency Niche — Twitter Paid Over $86 Million for Periscope and Niche — Twitter spent more than $86 million to acquire livestreaming app Periscope and social media talent agency Niche earlier this year.

More: CNET and International Business Times. Tweets: @sfiegerman

The White House:

White House names Princeton Computer Science professor, tech policy expert, and activist Ed Felten Deputy US Chief Technology Officer — The White House Names Dr. Ed Felten as Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer — We are excited to announce that Dr. Ed Felten is joining the White House Office …

More: Nextgov, Gizmodo, The Hill, VentureBeat, Washington Post and Threatpost

Tweets: @edfelten, @csoghoian, @edfelten44, @gaberivera and @mmasnick

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

NYT Now releases version 2.0, removes $7.99 monthly subscription, will monetize through ads instead — News Digest App “NYT Now” Drops Subscription Pricing, Offers Brand Sponsorships Instead — The New York Times said today it's ditching the paid subscription model for its mobile app NYT Now …

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:

After Several Public Google Maps Hacks, Google Forced To Suspend Map Maker To Prevent More Fake Edits — Google has temporarily suspended Google Map Maker, a service to allow the community to make edits to Google Maps similar to how Wikipedia edits work. The reason the service was suspended …

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Shopify:

Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.

Zoho:

Get your favorite apps talking to Zoho Sign with Zapier — Your business didn't come together overnight. It's something you've built, refined, and fine-tuned over time. Every tool you use has a purpose …

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.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Grit:

How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader

Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.

Subscribe to Grit.

Lenny's Podcast:

The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff

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:

OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence

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.

Hard Fork:

Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song

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.

Access:

Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour

A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.

Subscribe to Access.

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:

Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.

Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:55 AM ET, May 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.