Techmeme
January 4, 2019, 9:00 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Amazon SVP Dave Limp talks about company's strategy for Alexa, says 100M+ devices with Alexa on board have been sold to date  —  More than 100 million devices with Alexa on board have been sold.  That's the all-too-rare actual number that Amazon's SVP of devices and services, Dave Limp, revealed to me earlier this week.
Wall Street Journal:
Marriott says a total of 383M records were stolen in its hack, less than the initial estimate of 500M, but 5M+ unencrypted passport numbers were accessed  —  Hotel chain says fewer total customers were affected than initially feared but analysts warn data could be intelligence trove
Bloomberg:
Hackers dump private info of Angela Merkel and hundreds of other German politicians including email addresses, phone numbers, and personal chat transcripts  —  - Leak includes emails, chat transcripts, photos, phone numbers  — Hack is ‘elaborate’ social-engineering attack, IT expert says
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
PepsiCo says it will roll out a fleet of snack-carrying robots called “snackbots” to deliver snacks and beverages on University of the Pacific's campus in CA  —  Order on the app, pick up around campus  —  Today, PepsiCo announced that it will be rolling out a fleet …
Wall Street Journal:
A pullback in spending by Chinese consumers is taking a toll on electronics makers like Apple, e-commerce companies like Alibaba, and other sectors  —  Buyers are deferring major or discretionary purchases, their confidence dented by a shaky economy and trade fight with U.S.
M.G. Siegler / 500ish Words:
Sijia Jiang / Reuters:
Internal memo shows that Huawei demoted two employees and cut their monthly pay for using an iPhone to send New Year greetings from its official Twitter account  —  HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] has punished two employees for New Year greetings sent …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Pandora's latest iOS update includes an Apple Watch app, with offline playback on Apple Watch available for Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium subscribers  —  Pandora's latest version of its iOS app includes a “brand new, built-from-the-ground-up app that's seamlessly integrated into the Apple Watch experience.”
More: MacRumors and 9to5Mac
Randy Nelson / Sensor Tower Blog:
Research: Nintendo revenues from mobile apps reached $348M in 2018, up 15% YoY, with the game Fire Emblem Heroes accounting for ~66% of 2018 sales  —  Nintendo's mobile ambitions saw the publisher reach a new record of nearly $117 million in worldwide player spending across the App Store …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok now offers lite versions of its app in ~21 countries; Sensor Tower: apps had 12M downloads since August, more than half of which came in the last month  —  Short-form video app TikTok has been growing in popularity across international markets, including in the U.S. where a merger …

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 9:00 PM ET, January 4, 2019.

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

New York Times:
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Brady Dale / CoinDesk: