Techmeme
December 13, 2017, 5:50 PM

Top News

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
T-Mobile is acquiring Denver-based TV tech company Layer3 TV and says it will launch its own wireless TV service to compete with Comcast, others, in 2018  —  T-Mobile says it will launch its own TV service in 2018, expanding its competitive focus beyond the U.S. wireless giants to target major cable …
Josh Lipton / CNBC:
Apple awards $390M from its $1B Advanced Manufacturing Fund to Finisar, which makes laser chips used in iPhone X and AirPods for depth and proximity sensing  —  - Apple is investing $390 million into Finisar, which makes chips used by Apple products for depth and proximity sensing.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Patreon CEO Jack Conte says the company will “press pause” on planned change to service fee for each pledge, set to start Dec. 18, after uproar from creators  —  Patreon has called off plans to add a service fee to patrons' pledges, a proposed update that angered many users.
Nate Raymond / Reuters:
Unsealed court documents show three men have plead guilty to creating the 2016 Mirai botnet that disrupted access to major internet platforms  —  (Reuters) - A former Rutgers University student and two other men have agreed to plead guilty to computer crimes related to the creation and use …
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
Target says it plans to acquire grocery delivery platform Shipt for $550M in cash and will run it as independent unit; Shipt has 170 staff and has raised $65M  —  Target will offer same-day delivery from half of its stores by summer.  —  Another domino just fell in the wake of the Amazon-Whole Foods acquisition.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google says it's bringing Assistant to tablets running Android 6.0+ and phones running Android 5.0+ in US, UK, India, Australia, and elsewhere  —  The Google Assistant, Google's take on Siri, Cortana and Alexa without the approachable name, has long been available on most modern phones and tablets.
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Google says it's opening an artificial intelligence research center in Beijing, its first in China  —  Google has officially announced that it is opening an AI center in Beijing, China.  —  The confirmation comes after months of speculation fueled by a major push to hire AI talent inside the country.
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: Facebook plans to end program that paid ~300 publishers and other content creators to produce videos for News Feed  —  Multiple publisher sources said Facebook no longer plans to pay publishers and other video makers to produce videos for the news feed.
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Kim Willsher / The Guardian:
French government moves to ban smartphone use in primary, junior, and middle schools, affecting children age 6-15, starting in September 2018  —  Pupils, teachers and parents seem less than convinced by measure prohibiting use in primary, junior and middle schools
Johana Bhuiyan / Recode:
Uber says its head of driver product, Aaron Schildkrout, is leaving the company after three years, as the firm concludes its 180-day driver improvement campaign  —  Aaron Schildkrout joined Uber in 2015.  —  Uber's head of driver product, Aaron Schildkrout, is leaving the company after three years.
Tweets: @ericnewcomer
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Location-based VR firm Dreamscape Immersive raises $10M more to bring Series B total to $30M; Nickelodeon invests, will let its IP be used in new VR experience  —  Dreamscape Immersive, the location-based virtual reality (VR) startup headed by Disney and DreamWorks veterans …
More: The Wrap
Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:
Microsoft's Cortana gets Gmail and Google Calendar support  —  Microsoft's AI assistant Cortana is now able to integrate with Gmail and Google Calendar accounts.  Until recently, Outlook and Office 365 were the only calendar and email options for users of Cortana on devices like Windows 10 PCs …
More: Engadget
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Techstars partners with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and its chat app Viber on three-month Asia-based accelerator focused on mobile chat and related areas  —  Techstars is bringing its global accelerator program to Asia for the first time in partnership with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and its chat app Viber.
More: Techstars

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Earlier Picks

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