Techmeme
December 31, 2017, 10:05 AM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:
Apple makes $29 iPhone battery replacement price effective immediately, rather than in late January, but warns initial supplies of some batteries may be limited  —  Aiming to further stem controversy over how it handles aging iPhone batteries, Apple said Saturday that its lower replacement price …
Victor H. / PhoneArena:
LG, HTC, Motorola say they don't throttle phones with older batteries; Samsung says it doesn't throttle via software updates “over the lifecycles of the phone”  —  Two of the biggest Android phone makers - Samsung and LG - have just confirmed that they do not slow down phones …
Apple:
Theodore Schleifer / Recode:
Telegram, citing ToS, suspends public channel that incited violent anti-government protests in Iran; Telegram is a major platform with ~40M users in Iran  —  “There are lines one shouldn't cross,” says the CEO of the popular messaging app.  —  The executives of Telegram …
Justin Sink / Bloomberg:
In a tweet, President Donald Trump calls on the United States Postal Service to charge Amazon “much more” in postage fees  —  Latest criticism of online retailer and its CEO Jeff Bezos  —  Amazon stock opens as much as 0.6 percent lower after tweet
Evelyn Cheng / CNBC:
Ripple surged 50%+ on Friday and is now valued at ~$85B, surpassing Ethereum's market cap and becoming the second-most valuable cryptocurrency  —  - Officially called XRP, ripple climbed 55.9 percent to a record high of $2.23 Friday afternoon, according to CoinMarketCap.
Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
How Sweden, Norway, Finland prepare for AI-driven automation: employer-financed placement programs for those laid off, big public spending on social safety nets  —  In a world full of anxiety about the potential job-destroying rise of automation, Sweden is well placed to embrace technology while limiting human costs.
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Analysis of code from the top 10K websites on Alexa finds that 30.5% employ anti-ad blocking measures, many of which are hidden from the sites' visitors  —  It's no secret that ad blockers are putting a dent in advertising-based business models on the web.  This has produced a range of reactions …
More: TechSpot
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Gamers say deadly shooting of a man Thursday night by Wichita police was the result of a swatting prank; police in LA have arrested a man connected with it  —  A 28-year-old Kansas man was shot and killed by police officers on the evening of Dec. 28 after someone fraudulently reported a hostage situation ongoing at his home.
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Startups aim to provide an alternative route to internet access via VPNs and mesh networks, amid net neutrality repeal, but their approaches are as yet unproven  —  From VPNs to mesh networks, efforts to find an alternative route to internet access are gaining ground in Silicon Valley
Thanks:@vscpr
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
OKCupid's average App Store rating for December sinks to 2.2 stars amid backlash over new policy requiring people to use their real names  —  OKCupid's users are angry - very, very angry.  Just ahead of the new year, the company made a radical change to its policies, and now requires people …
M.G. Siegler / 500ish Words:
Amazon's “Alexa everywhere” strategy is winning the smart speaker battle and Apple's delayed and high-priced HomePod may not be able to compete  —  And what that might mean for Apple's HomePod  —  My post a couple days ago about the opportunity for Amazon Echo devices in hotels …

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Deep analysis for deep questions  —  Introducing Superagent.  A new research product from Airtable: Subagents deeply interrogate your topic and turn it into boardroom-ready reports, slides, docs, or websites.
Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Zoho:
5 ways a custom email domain and SMTP improve your Zoho Sign experience  —  Every interaction your audience has with your brand tells a story, sometimes in ways that are subtle but incredibly meaningful.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
The Pentagon vs. Anthropic + An A.I. Agent Slandered Me + Hot Mess Express
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Loyal's Celine Halioua: From Defying Doubters To Pioneering Dog Longevity
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Access:
Notion CEO Ivan Zhao on if AI is really killing software companies
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Davos: Burning Man for the Rich?
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:05 AM ET, December 31, 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

Earlier Picks

Financial Times: