Techmeme
December 11, 2017, 11:30 PM

Top News

TechCrunch:
Apple confirms Shazam acquisition; sources say deal was for about $400M, and Snap and Spotify also expressed interest  —  After we broke the story last week that Apple was acquiring London-based music and image recognition service Shazam, Apple confirmed the news today.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google launches three new photography apps for testing experimental technologies: Storyboard, Selfissimo!, and Scrubbies; two are on iOS and two on Android  —  Google today is launching a trio of new photo apps - a part of new series of what it has dubbed photography “appsperiments.”  (Get it?
James Vincent / The Verge:
Ex-Facebook VP of user growth and Social Capital CEO says social media is “destroying how society works” and leads to “no civil discourse, no cooperation”  —  ‘No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth.’  —  Another former Facebook executive …
John Voorhees / MacStories:
Apple announces developers can now make their apps available for pre-order  —  You may recall that when Super Mario Run was announced in 2016, customers could request notification of its release, which was a first at the time on the App Store.  Now, all developers can do something similar by offering their apps for pre-order.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:
SEC chairman Jay Clayton releases statement on cryptocurrencies, says ICOs effective for raising funds “whether they represent offerings of securities or not”  —  SEC Chairman Jay Clayton  —  The world's social media platforms and financial markets are abuzz about cryptocurrencies and “initial coin offerings” (ICOs).
Stan Higgins / CoinDesk:
Restaurant review startup Munchee halts ICO after SEC investigation, which said in cease-and-desist order that the firm's tokens were unregistered securities  —  A California-based company has refunded a $15 million initial coin offering following an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Serena Saitto / The Information:
Sources: neighborhood social network Nextdoor has raised $75M in new funding at a valuation higher than previous round's $1.1B valuation in 2015  —  Nextdoor, the social media platform for city neighborhoods, has raised $75 million at a valuation above the $1.1 billion level it reached …
Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal:
Financial-tech startup Affirm says it's raised $200M led by Singaporean sovereign-wealth fund GIC; source says at a valuation between $1.5B and $2B  —  Battling larger players getting into its core business of lending to consumers for retail purchases  —  Financial-technology startup Affirm Inc …
More: TechCrunch
Bloomberg:
Microsoft releases a free preview of its Quantum Computing Development Kit, which includes the Q# programming language, compiler, and simulator  —  Software giant releases a quantum programming language and simulator, but still has no working computer  —  In the race to commercialize …

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI that works  —  Tribe builds tech for top AI companies.  Get in touch to learn how our bench of 500+ engineers and researchers can accelerate your roadmap.
Kulkan Security:
Hire Kulkan as your penetration testing partner  —  Kulkan prioritizes deep-dive manual security reviews, dissecting your software and infrastructure to find issues that once remediated can truly reduce security risk.
Zoho:
Navigating the workday with Zoho Cliq's task management capabilities  —  As Monday dawns and I settle into my workday with a steaming cup of coffee, I brace myself for the usual storm of tasks headed my way.
Mastodon:
Donate to Mastodon  —  Mastodon gGmbH, the non-profit behind the open-source software powering the social web, relies entirely on support from users like you.  Donate directly with a credit card or through Patreon.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Magatte Wade, Unlocking Prosperity in Africa (#53)
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 04/15 - Onshoring And Halving
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 PM ET, December 11, 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.

More News

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

TechCrunch: