Techmeme
January 15, 2017, 9:55 AM

Top News

Kate Conger / TechCrunch:
Cloudflare discloses 2013 National Security Letter, joins CREDO and EFF to challenge the constitutionality of the FBI's NSLs and their accompanying gag orders  —  For more than a decade, CEOs of major tech companies have opened innocuous envelopes to find letters from the FBI inside …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces Windows 10 Creators Update will include a Game Mode option to maximize gaming performance  —  Microsoft has started officially testing a new Game Mode feature in Windows 10.  Traces of the new option were found back in December, but the most recent test build of Windows 10 …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Andy Rubin's new startup, Essential, is working on a suite of consumer hardware products; source says the company aims to launch a smartphone this year  —  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.)
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
Walmart streamlines retail, web teams internal memos show; e-commerce CTO to oversee tech teams at retail stores, US CMO to lead Walmart.com & Jet.com marketing  —  Can the brick-and-mortar retailer become a tech company?  —  If Walmart is going to better compete with Amazon …
More: CNBC
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton stepping down; he will become chairman of the board of Snap, 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 …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Outgoing FCC chair Tom Wheeler uses his final public speech to make a case for maintaining net neutrality  —  The outgoing head of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, used his final public speech to make a closing argument for maintaining net neutrality, the signature achievement of his time at the agency.
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 …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Proposed Virginia Broadband Deployment Act would favor private ISPs by restricting municipal broadband deployment  —  Bill would ban muni networks where private ISPs offer 10Mbps download speeds.  —  Virginia lawmakers are considering a bill called the “Virginia Broadband Deployment Act …
Avery Hartmans / Business Insider:

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