Techmeme
January 30, 2018, 7:50 AM

Top News

Peter Kafka / Recode:
Facebook to show more stories from local news sources in News Feed, will identify local publishers by looking at clicks in tight geographic areas  —  It's the third big change Facebook has announced in the last month.  And at least one more is coming.  —  Facebook says it will bring …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Waymo says it will buy “thousands” more Chrysler Pacifica self-driving minivans from Fiat Chrysler, with the first deliveries starting at the end of 2018  —  Google's self-driving unit deepens its partnership with one of Detroit's Big Three  —  Waymo, the self-driving unit …
Johana Bhuiyan / Recode:
Indian ride-hailing service Ola, which counts Didi and SoftBank as investors, is launching in Australia; Europe-based Taxify also recently launched in Australia  —  Ola, which has often touted its home-field advantage over Uber, expects to expand to a number of other countries, as well.
Colin Campbell / Polygon:
Microsoft considers buying Electronic Arts says source, as it seeks to increase exclusive games lineup; acquisition rumors also include Valve and PUBG  —  How can Microsoft match Sony's stellar roster?  —  Microsoft has given Xbox head Phil Spencer a vote of confidence, promoting him to executive vice president of gaming.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Microsoft buys gaming services startup PlayFab to bolster its Azure platform  —  In the latest chapter of GAFAM's continuing bid to conquer online gaming, Microsoft has acquired PlayFab, which helps game developers launch their titles online more quickly with simplified back-end services.
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Dell considers a sale to VMware, of which it owns 80%, in a reverse merger, which would allow Dell to be traded publicly without formal IPO  —  - VMware could buy Dell in massive reverse-merger, sources say.  Dell currently owns 80 percent of VMware.
Alan Travis / The Guardian:
UK court of appeal rules mass digital surveillance powers under the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act are unlawful  —  Appeal ruling means significant parts of 'snooper's charter' legislation must be changed … Appeal court judges have ruled the government's mass digital …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft Teams gets tighter app integration, revamped command box, slash commands, and a new Store where you can search for apps by name or integration type  —  Microsoft is doubling down on app support in Microsoft Teams, its chat-based collaboration tool that competes with Facebook's Workplace and Slack.
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
GV leads $25M Series B in Hover, a computer vision startup that allows consumers to easily create 3D models of their homes via a smartphone app  —  As more and more startups aim to 3D-scan the world, the question of what consumers will actually care about enough to bring into the digital world is a tough one to answer.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple to curtail iPhone X production in the first quarter to ~20M handsets, down from ~40M initially planned, due to weak demand  —  Company will offer its first report on iPhone X sales when it reports earnings Thursday  —  Apple Inc. AAPL -2.07% is slashing planned production …

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Earlier Picks

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Tony Romm / Recode:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Catalin Cimpanu / BleepingComputer: