Techmeme
June 12, 2018, 8:15 PM

Top News

Sara Salinas / CNBC:
Judge rules that AT&T can complete its $85B merger with Time Warner, did not impose conditions on the approval  —  - The Justice Department sued last year to block the merger, citing concerns that AT&T, owner of satellite television provider DirecTV, could charge rival distributors …
Bloomberg:
Apple changed App Store rules last week to ban iOS developers from making databases of users' address book info and limit what can be shared with third parties  —  - iPhone maker bans developers building address book databases  — Facebook scandal shows risk of sharing data on users' friends
Dan Primack / Axios:
Sources: e-scooter company Bird is seeking to raise ~$200M in new funding at a $2B valuation; just three months ago the startup raised at a $300M valuation  —  E-scooter company Bird is seeking to raise around $200 million in new funding at a $2 billion valuation, according to multiple sources.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo:
Seattle's city council votes 7-2 to repeal its “head tax” law, less than a month after unanimously passing the contentious tax on big business  —  Less than a month after unanimously passing a contentious tax on big business, Seattle's city council has voted to repeal the so-called “head tax.”
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Instagram adds shopping tags directly into Stories, so now users can tap a shopping bag icon to learn more about buying a particular item  —  Instagram's shoppable tags are about to pop up in Stories.  The company first started testing the feature back in 2016 with a limited set of 20 partners.
Khadeeja Safdar / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook says it's rolling out a feature to let users rate e-commerce businesses and may ban or reduce ads for those with poor feedback  —  New feature lets shoppers share their experiences; negative feedback could lead to bans  —  Facebook Inc. FB 1.29% is cracking down on e-commerce businesses …
Brad Sams / Thurrott.com:
Internal document: Microsoft is planning for the next Xbox console release to arrive in 2020  —  While Microsoft may have been founded as being a software company, there is no question about it that they are a hardware company too.  With the Surface family, the Xbox, and peripherals …
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
Bipartisan group of senators move to stop Trump's deal to give ZTE a lifeline amid US export ban, by adding ZTE export ban as amendment to defense spending bill  —  White House sent top official to Capitol Hill to lobby against bipartisan effort to reverse pact to revive the Chinese telecommunications company
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
French startup Exotec Solutions raised a $17.7M Series B led by Iris Capital for its automated warehouse robots  —  French startup Exotec Solutions raised a $17.7 million funding round (€15 million) from Iris Capital with existing investors 360 Capital Partners and Breega also participating.
More: Tech.eu and PE Hub Blog
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
HTC U12 Plus review: narrow design is ergonomic and camera is good, but it's slippery, solid-state buttons are a disaster, and it lacks 3.5mm jack and adapter  —  HTC still does a lot of things well, but its new ideas miss the mark  —  It's a tough task to review an HTC phone in 2018.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Amino raises $45M Series C, with GV, Hearst Ventures, and Time Warner Investments among investors, for its fan communities and niche interests app  —  Amino has raised a big Series C round of funding — $45 million from GV, Venrock, Union Square Ventures, Goodwater Capital and Time Warner Investments …

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Earlier Picks

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch: