Techmeme
February 9, 2019, 6:00 PM

Top News

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Spotify's bet on Gimlet and Anchor gives it a foothold into podcasting to apply its listener monetization skills without worrying about sending money to labels  —  Credit Spotify CEO Daniel Ek with honesty; in a blog post announcing a major move into the podcast space, Ek wrote:
Recode:
Gimlet's Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber on weighing remaining independent and being acquired, the days before the deal, and reach, data, and discoverability  —  Blumberg and Lieber spoke with Recode's Peter Kafka on the latest episode of Recode Media.  —  On Friday, Recode broke the news …
Washington Post:
Two sources say that after political and community opposition in New York City, Amazon executives have had internal discussions to explore alternatives for HQ2  —  Amazon.com is reconsidering its plan to bring 25,000 jobs to a new campus in New York City following a wave of opposition from local politicians …
Eric Newcomer / Bloomberg:
DoorDash says it stands behind its pay policy, which uses tips to help cover what it owes delivery drivers, similar to the policy Instacart reversed this week  —  Startups like to test boundaries.  At their best, they push technological ones.  At their worst, they breach legal or ethical limits.
Nate Oh / AnandTech:
AMD Radeon VII review: at $699, the first 7nm gaming GPU is good value when used as a high-VRAM prosumer card but for pure gamers there are better options  —  For AMD's Radeon Technologies Group, 2018 was a bit of a breather year.  After launching the Polaris architecture in 2016 …
Tweets: @ismhThanks:@iancutress
Jeff Bezos:
Jeff Bezos publishes letters from National Enquirer owner AMI that he says show threats to publish his nude photos unless he stops probing AMI's reporting  —  Something unusual happened to me yesterday.  Actually, for me it wasn't just unusual—it was a first.  I was made an offer I couldn't refuse.
More: New York Times, Bloomberg, The Intercept, The Verge, Observer, Fortune, Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Verge, Financial Times, FutureSin, USA Today, CNET, Wired, The Seattle Times, The Hill, Errata Security, Infosecurity.US, Business Insider, GeekWire, TechCrunch, Threatpost, CNBC, Bloomberg, Android Authority, Politico, Socialnomics, The Hill, The Guardian, Recode, VoIPWatch, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, New York Times, CNN, Inquirer, Mashable, YouTube, Dictionary by Merriam-Webster, The Daily Beast, Vox, Adweek, Geek.com, Boing Boing, Newser, Bloomberg, Digital Trends, SiliconANGLE, Neowin, WRAL TechWire, The Atlantic, BBC, The Verge, Firstpost, AOL, GeekWire, Fox News, Associated Press, Fossbytes, HuffPost, TechSpot, Telegraph, BostonGlobe.com, Pocketables, Gizmodo, The Register, Android Central, Ars Technica, WGN-TV, and Above the Law
Kashmir Hill / Gizmodo:
What it's like to get by without using or accessing a single product from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, blocking all five at once for one week  —  Reporter Kashmir Hill spent six weeks blocking Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple from getting her money, data, and attention, using a custom-built VPN.

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Featured Podcasts

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OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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Hard Fork:
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Lenny's Podcast:
The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
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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.
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Earlier Picks

Roger Parloff / Yahoo! Finance:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Dami Lee / The Verge:
Jason Hiner / CNET: