Techmeme: Amazon rolls out its first branded VOD subscription service, Anime Strike, with 1K+ titles, available for $4.99/month for Prime members (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

January 13, 2017, 9:20 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:

Sources: Andy Rubin to be CEO of his startup, Essential, building AI-based platform to power a suite of hardware devices, centered around Essential's smartphone — Android's creator is building a high-end smartphone to be the centerpiece of a series of AI-infused consumer gadgets. — by

Moxie Marlinspike / Open Whisper Systems:

Contrary to Guardian's report, Signal Protocol contains no “backdoor”; WhatsApp's encryption implementation is appropriate given the company's scale — Today, the Guardian published a story falsely claiming that WhatsApp's end to end encryption contains a “backdoor.” — Background

Barb Darrow / Fortune:

Microsoft buys Maluuba, a Canadian AI startup focused on natural language processing — Microsoft is buying Maluuba, a Canadian startup focused on giving software a better understanding of human language. This natural language processing technology is a key underpinning of artificial intelligence (AI.)

More: The Official Microsoft Blog, Maluuba, VentureBeat, The Register, SlashGear, ZDNet, Neowin, Xconomy, The Next Web, GeekWire, Petri, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, The Tech Portal, On MSFT, Windows Central, BetaKit, TechCrunch, MSPoweruser, and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @benbajarin and @fxshaw

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

Nintendo Switch console/tablet hybrid will launch worldwide on March 3 for $299.99, has a 6.2-inch 720p capacitive touchscreen, 32GB storage, and no region lock — Nintendo has announced the launch date and price of the Nintendo Switch at an event in Tokyo; the company's next console …

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Nintendo Switch's Joy-Con motion controllers have haptic feedback, can be used separately; left Joy-Con has a screen capture button; right one has an IR camera

More: Digital Trends, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Tech Times, Engadget, CNET, Gizmodo, Gotta Be Mobile, Business Insider, CNET, and Mashable

Tweets: @nintendoamerica and @nintendoamerica

Christopher Grant / Polygon:

Nintendo Switch will launch with an online service that will remain free until later this fall, with additional details to come later

More: Digital Trends, VentureBeat, The Verge, TechCrunch, Engadget, GamesIndustry.biz, Dealerscope, Eurogamer.net, Tech Times, iMore, and Gotta Be Mobile

Tweets: @ssf1991 and @polygon

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton stepping down, will become chairman of the board of Snap Inc., where he was an early investor — LOS ANGELES — The chief executive of Sony's underperforming entertainment division, Michael Lynton, announced Friday that he would step down to focus …

More: Hollywood Reporter, Sony Global, CNET, Quartz, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Engadget, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Tech Portal, and Fortune. See also Mediagazer

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

After failing to get 10K bitcoins for stolen NSA exploits, Shadow Brokers post farewell message, dump a cache of Windows hacking tools online — With 8 days before inauguration of Donald Trump, leak is sure to inflame US officials. — Shadow Brokers, the mysterious group …

More: eWeek, The Daily Beast, Motherboard, Heimdal Security Blog, Wall Street Journal, SiliconANGLE, BleepingComputer.com, International Business Times, MarketWatch, Engadget, Help Net Security, InfoWorld, The Register, MalwareJake, and Softpedia News

Joseph Cox / Motherboard:

Hacker steals 900GB of data from Cellebrite, the Israeli company that makes products for breaking into mobile phones — This is part of an ongoing Motherboard series on the proliferation of phone cracking technology, the people behind it, and who is buying it. Follow along here.

Avery Hartmans / Business Insider:

Report: Lyft lost $600M in 2016, up from $412M in 2015, as revenue rose to $700M, up from about $200M in 2015 — Lyft lost $600 million in 2016 in its battle with Uber for ride-hailing dominance, according to leaked financial data obtained by The Information's Amir Efrati.

More: Recode, The Information, CNBC, TalkAndroid.com, and Forbes

Tweets: @theinformation, @theinformation, @theinformation, and @amir

Jane Wakefield / BBC:

European Parliament committee recommends rules on robots, calling for mandatory kill switches, insurance, taxes, more; vote set for February — MEPs are to vote on the first comprehensive set of rules for how humans will interact with artificial intelligence and robots.

More: ZDNet, CIO.com, European Parliament, CNNMoney, TechSpot, RT, Naked Security, Tech.eu, Ars Technica UK, The Memo, The Guardian, The Register, Yahoo, Breitbart, Tech Times, Mashable, SlashGear, The Technology Chronicles, Silicon Republic, and Inquirer. Tweets: @rt_com

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Amazon rolls out its first branded VOD subscription service, Anime Strike, with 1K+ titles, available for $4.99/month for Prime members — Ecommerce giant plans additional subscription VOD channels — Amazon is rolling out its first branded on-demand subscription service for Amazon Channels …

More: TheStreet.com, Tech Times, SlashGear, Tubefilter, Fortune, The Verge, The Next Web, TechnoBuffalo, Engadget, VideoInk - Medium, Digital Trends, Liliputing, RAIN News, and TechCrunch. See also Mediagazer

Ken Yeung / VentureBeat:

App.net is shutting down its Twitter-like social platform on March 14 and open sourcing its code — In Twitter's early years, there were numerous competitors on the market, one among them App.net. Launched in 2012, the social network billed itself as being ad-free and subscription-based …

More: App.net, Silicon Valley Business …, Naked Security, Engadget, ValueWalk, Tom's Hardware, InfoWorld, Android Police, TechCrunch, and ZDNet. Tweets: @raganwald

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Chrome 56 beta, expected to be released in a week, adds native support for FLAC music format — Chrome 56 is currently in the beta channel and should hit stable in about a week. When released, it will bring support for the FLAC audio codec directly in the browser.

More: Digital Trends, Greenbot, iDownloadBlog.com, Ubergizmo, and The Verge

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: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26 — Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.

Zoho:

Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control — Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.

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

Big Technology Podcast:

OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble

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:

Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped

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:

Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain

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

Subscribe to Access.

Great Chat:

So what happens after AGI?

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.

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.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.

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.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:20 PM ET, January 13, 2017.

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.