Techmeme
December 2, 2018, 7:00 AM

Top News

The Information:
Sources: Uber has recently held talks about possible acquisitions with scooter startups Bird and Lime  —  Uber has held talks recently with electric scooter rental startup Bird to acquire the company in what could be a multibillion-dollar deal, said several people briefed on the discussions.
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Since Satya Nadella became CEO, Microsoft has almost tripled its market cap to $850B+, and on Friday it replaced Apple as the world's most valuable company  —  Just a few years ago, Microsoft was seen as a lumbering has-been of the technology world.  —  It was big and still quite profitable …
Nick Summers / Engadget:
Profile of Chronicle: a startup incubated at Google X that uses AI and VirusTotal, with experience from Bigtable and MapReduce, to counter cybersecurity threats  —  Fifteen years ago, cybersecurity could be boiled down to a simple strategy: Secure the perimeter.
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
Apple approves Indian telecom regulator's “TRAI DND - Do Not Disturb” app that lets users block unwanted phone calls and text messages, avoiding iPhone ban  —  Fed up with years of waiting for Apple to implement anti-spam measures for iPhones, India's telecom regulator TRAI threatened …
Simone Stolzoff / The Atlantic:
PitchBook: VCs invested ~$8B in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Pakistan in first 10 months of 2018, 40% more than in all 2017  —  Entrepreneurs such as Sidra Qasim and Waqas Ali exemplify the increasing ease of accessing venture capital from the developing world.
Anna Escher / TechCrunch:
Brazil-based QuintoAndar, an online marketplace for long term rentals, raises $64M Series C led by General Atlantic, bringing the total funding raised to $95M  —  Anna Escher @https://www.twitter.com/annaescher / 8 hours  —  There's quite a bit wrong with real estate in Brazil, according to QuintoAndar founder and CEO Gabriel Braga.
More: AIM Group and Pulse 2.0
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
AT&T plans another, 3-tiered streaming service for Q4 2019 with a movie-focused entry level, a premium level with original programming, and a WarnerMedia bundle  —  AT&T may be ready to sell its stake in Hulu, the company revealed in an analyst presentation on Thursday.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram is launching a “Close Friends” list on iOS and Android to let users share Stories with a limited group of friends  —  They're Finstagram Stories  —  No one wants to post silly, racy, or vulnerable Stories if they're worried their boss, parents, and distant acquaintances are watching.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
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.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:00 AM ET, December 2, 2018.

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

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Liz Moyer / CNBC:
Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News:
Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept: