Techmeme: Dave McClure's 500 Startups closes its third global fund with $85M, 15% below its original target (Yuliya Chernova/Wall Street Journal)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News Contact Editors

September 4, 2015, 1:15 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple's ‘Hey Siri’ Event Roundup: Upgraded iPhone 6s, Bigger iPad Pro, Revamped Apple TV + Apple Watch updates — Apple's Wednesday, September 9th event is shaping up to be one of the largest in the company's history. The Cupertino-based company is planning to unveil several major new products on stage …

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

BlackBerry acquires mobile security firm Good Technology for $425M in cash — BlackBerry acquires mobile security company Good Technology for $425M, despite their thorny past — BlackBerry has acquired mobile security company Good Technology in a $425 million cash transaction.

Amir Efrati / The Information:

Sources: Google plans to launch a special China version of Google Play as early as this fall, marking its re-entry into China, compliance with censorship laws — Google Nears Re-entry to Mainland China — After a five year absence, Google expects to return shortly to mainland China …

More: Ars Technica, Business Insider, Tech Trader Daily, FierceWireless and Android Beat

Yuliya Chernova / Wall Street Journal:

Dave McClure's 500 Startups closes its third global fund with $85M, 15% below its original target — Dave McClure's 500 Startups Closes Fund III With $85M … Startup investor Dave McClure isn't slowing down, despite changes in the public markets and the skeptical reception …

More: TechCrunch and PE Hub Blog

Mozilla Future Releases:

Mozilla rolls out first public preview of Firefox for iOS in New Zealand — Firefox for iOS Now Available for Preview — Today we are delighted to begin the roll out in New Zealand of our first public preview version of a Firefox browser for iOS. — Preview to collect feedback

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac:

Runtastic launches Moment, an analog fitness smartwatch that is waterproof up to 300 feet and has a six-month battery life, starts at $130 — Runtastic launches new ‘Moment’ wearable w/ companion mobile apps, 10 designs, 6-month battery — Runtastic, the maker of popular fitness apps …

More: VentureBeat, Engadget, The Verge, iMore, PCWorld, Pocket-lint, Apple World Today, Wearable Tech Insider and Digital Trends

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Chrome 45 performance improvements include faster load times and reduced memory usage; disabling Flash ads can increase battery life by up to 15% — Google's Latest Chrome Update Emphasizes Speed And Lower Memory Usage — Chrome started out as one of the least memory hungry browsers on the market …

Adam Shepherd / IT PRO:

Samsung unveils Car Mode for Galaxy phones with MirrorLink support, can also be used as a standalone app — Samsung introduces Car Mode for Galaxy — Samsung unveils its homebrew efforts to beat both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto — Samsung has launched its own connected car system, in an effort to catch up to Apple's CarPlay.

More: SlashGear, 9to5Google, Digital Trends, International Business Times, Tech Times, AndroidHeadlines.com and Gizmodo UK

Greg Sterling / Marketing Land:

ComScore: US smartphone penetration reaches 77% in July 2015, Facebook Messenger displaces YouTube as second most popular app — Comscore: Smartphone Penetration Above 77 Percent In US — Facebook Messenger now the second most popular app, displacing YouTube.

More: comScore, WebProNews and Fortune

Sean Portnoy / ZDNet:

Acer announces Predator 8 Android 5.1 gaming tablet with Intel Atom x7 processor, 8-inch 1920x1200 display, 2GB RAM, to go on sale in November starting at $300 — Acer bets on Android gaming with $300 Predator 8 tablet — Is the market ready for an 8-inch slate running Android 5.1 Lollipop designed for gamers?

More: Tech Times, TrustedReviews, IT PRO, GSMArena.com, AnandTech, CNET, PhoneArena, PC Magazine, TechnoBuffalo and International Business Times

Ben Bleikamp / GitHub:

GitHub announces Protected Branches to disable force pushes to selected code repositories, will be rolled out over next few weeks — Protected branches and required status checks — It's all too easy to force push to the wrong branch, overwriting someone else's changes with your own.

More: The Next Web and VentureBeat. Tweets: @kattrali and @slicknet

Julia Edwards / Reuters:

The Department of Justice revises cellphone tracking rules, warrant now required in most cases; data from non-targeted phones to be deleted within 30 days — Justice Department tightens rules on cellphone tracking devices — Some federal agencies' use of devices that track cellphone locations …

More: U.S. Department of Justice, Wired, ACLU, Ars Technica, Electronic Frontier Foundation, NBC News, Gizmodo, The Hill, Engadget, TechWorld and The Verge

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:

SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work — Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.

Zoho:

How WCAG compliance makes modern workplaces more accessible — A workplace's approach to inclusivity starts with its everyday tools. Some of them can create barriers that inadvertently shut people out.

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.

WebBrain:

WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser — Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox. Use local models or your preferred AI provider. Get started free.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Sources:

AWS CEO Matt Garman on building a $1 trillion business

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.

Cheeky Pint:

Nik Storonsky: The most uncompromising banking CEO

Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.

Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.

Big Technology Podcast:

Jensen and The Honeypot

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.

Lenny's Podcast:

Why PMs are suddenly valuable again | Tulsee Doshi (Head of Product, Gemini)

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.

Machine Gods:

The Purple Tsunami Against Data Centers

The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.

Subscribe to Machine Gods.

Invest Like the Best:

Ramtin Naimi - The State of Venture

The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.

Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:15 PM ET, September 4, 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.