Techmeme
November 17, 2015, 1:00 AM

Top News

Pandora:
Rdio to shut down the service, file for bankruptcy, with Pandora acquiring key assets for $75M in cash  —  Pandora to Acquire Key Assets from Rdio  —  Adding technology, IP and talent to accelerate development of new capabilities; Pandora hosting investor call to outline growth strategy at 1:30 p.m. PT today
Tim Peterson / Ad Age:
Pandora plans subscription-based on-demand service because ad revenue not enough to offset content costs  —  Pandora Bought Rdio Because Ads Aren't Enough to Offset Content Costs  —  Content Acquisition Costs Growing at Faster Clip Than Ad Revenue  —  Pandora is acquiring key assets of Spotify rival Rdio for $75 million.
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google's natural language search gets smarter, can now handle superlatives, ordered items, time based, and more complicated queries  —  Google's Natural Language Search Gets Smarter  —  Google is saying their search engine is getting better at understanding our natural language searches …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Twitter is testing multiple emoji reactions to tweets  —  The heart's reign of terror as the only emoji-based reaction to a tweet may be coming to an end.  Twitter user _Ninji noticed the ability to select multiple emoji from the heart, including the frown, the grimace, the party noisemaker, and the 100.
Mike Ayers / Wall Street Journal:
Oxford Dictionaries selects “face with tears of joy” emoji as 2015 Word of the Year  —  Oxford Dictionaries Selects an Emoji as Word of the Year  —  The Oxford Dictionaries has chosen its Word of the Year for 2015: An emoji depicting the “face with tears of joy.”
Sarah Buhr / TechCrunch:
Uber is testing a new feature for drivers to pick up riders headed in the same direction as them, in the Bay Area  —  Uber Drivers Can Now Pick Up Riders Headed In The Same Direction As Them  —  Going My Way?  A new Uber feature allows drivers the ability to set a destination and pick up riders headed in that same direction.
Wall Street Journal:
Facebook allows Google to crawl and index public profiles, Pages, Groups, and Events from its mobile app  —  Google Gets Surprise Ally in Mobile-App Search Push: Facebook  —  Google's effort to keep its search engine relevant in a world of mobile apps just got a boost from a big rival.
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Apple SIM gains Japanese network support through KDDI's ‘au’ brand  —  More than year after launching on iPad, Apple's flexible multi-carrier Apple SIM officially arrived in Japan on Monday with support from local telecom KDDI, which is partnering with Apple through its “au” mobile network brand.
Scott Webster / CNET:
AT&T selling Microsoft Lumia 950, Samsung Galaxy View Nov 20  —  The carrier will sell the first Windows 10 smartphone and the gargantuan tablet later this week.

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Earlier Picks

Nicole Lee / Engadget:
Jacob Demmitt / GeekWire:
Harry McCracken / Fast Company: