Techmeme
April 19, 2018, 3:50 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
An investigation of data-mining company Palantir, cofounded by Peter Thiel, which works with government agencies and law enforcement to help track US citizens  —  Peter Thiel's data-mining company is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens.  The scary thing?  Palantir is desperate for new customers.
David Ingram / Reuters:
Facebook says it will change ToS in May for 1.5B users outside EU; US, Canada to be governed by US instead of Ireland ToS, limiting GDPR impact to 400M users  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - If a new European law restricting what companies can do with people's online data went into effect tomorrow …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon introduces Alexa Blueprints that let anyone create custom Alexa skills and responses without coding  —  Amazon this morning is introducing “Alexa Blueprints,” a new way for any Alexa owner to create their own customized Alexa skills or responses, without needing to know how to code.
Cameron Johnson / Netflix Media Center:
Netflix launches 30-second preview videos shown in vertical slideshow format, available now on iOS and coming soon to Android  —  One of the best ways to know if you'll like a new series or movie is to watch a quick trailer.  Today, we are excited to introduce mobile previews …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Qualcomm is cutting ~1,500 jobs, mostly in California, in an effort to cut costs by $1B; the company employs 34K people globally  —  Company to reduce California workforce by about 1,500  —  Management acting in response to shareholder pressure  —  Qualcomm Inc. has begun cutting …
Eugene Kim / CNBC:
Aaron Tilley / The Information:
Sources: Intel to shut down its New Devices Group, which was formed in 2013 and made fitness trackers and smart glasses  —  Intel's long-failing foray into wearables and augmented reality is officially dead.  —  The chip giant's new devices group will shut down, according to people familiar with the situation.
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Google's App Engine can no longer be used for domain-fronting, which let services use its network to avoid state-level internet blocks  —  Domain-fronting is now a thing of the past  —  App developers won't be able to use Google to get around internet censorship anymore.
Stephen Schenck / Android Police:
Moto's new budget handsets: €250 G6 with dual cameras and USB-C, bigger €300 G6 Plus, €200 G6 Play with larger battery, €150 E5, €170 E5 Plus, and E5 Play  —  For smartphone fans who enjoy a good spoiler, we started the year off with a pretty substantial one …
Chloe Cornish / Financial Times:
Interview with Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's 24-year-old founder, on his “weird” 2017, which saw ether's market cap reach $125B+, the broader crypto market, more  —  Up in San Francisco's Monterey Heights district stands a modest detached house; a house that would be perfectly ordinary …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Lyft announces “multimillion-dollar” initiative to invest in environmental projects as it hopes to offset 1M+ metric tons of carbon in the first year  —  The plan is to offset over a million metric tons of carbon  —  Lyft announced a multimillion-dollar investment to become …
Bloomberg:
Facebook is building a team to design its own AI chips, according to job listings and sources, joining a trend among tech giants to lower reliance on chipmakers  —  Social network could use semiconductors for consumer devices  —  Move follows Apple's chip efforts, early work by Google
Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Sources: Netflix has considered buying movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles; it decided not to pursue LA-based Landmark Theatres due to high price  —  Netflix, the global streaming giant that has dramatically changed the TV industry and clashed with movie theater owners …
Pew Research Center:
Pew: 58% in US prefer to protect the freedom to publish rather than letting government restrict false info; 56% favor tech firms restricting false information  —  But 56% support steps from technology companies, even if it means some limits on publishing and accessing information

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More News

Stef W. Kight / Axios:

Earlier Picks

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors: