Techmeme
February 13, 2019, 11:05 AM

Top News

John Paczkowski / BuzzFeed:
Sources: Apple plans to hold a special services focused event on March 25 at its Apple Park campus to announce a subscription news service  —  The company is expected to show off a long-rumored news subscription service.  —  Reporting From San Francisco, CA
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple's upcoming paid news service runs into resistance from major publishers as Apple seeks about a 50% cut and likely won't share subscriber data  —  Apple plans to keep about 50% of subscription revenue from ‘Netflix for news’ service, likely won't share customer data with publishers
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Amazon now lets users create and submit custom Alexa skills for certification and publication in the US Skills Store  —  Anyone can create a trivia game and share it on the Alexa store  —  Amazon is now letting anyone create and publish Alexa skills into the Alexa skills store.
Michael Futter / Variety:
Activision Blizzard announces record $1.8B net income in 2018, but says it is laying off 8%, or ~800 of its staff, amid internal changes and unmet expectations  —  UPDATED: Activision Blizzard is laying off approximately 775 people — 8% of its 9,600-person staff — as it refocuses its efforts …
The Guardian:
Facebook criticized by health experts for allowing the rise of closed groups rife with anti-vaccination misinformation, some with 150,000+ members  —  Experts are calling on company to counter closed groups where members can post misinformation without challenge
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Jack Dorsey and Kara Swisher's live Twitter interview could have been a great conversation, but Twitter's live chat limitations made it hard to follow  —  Kara Swisher's live-tweeted interview with Jack Dorsey highlighted some of Twitter's product issues.  —  Twitter wants to be the place …
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Democratic lawmakers step up scrutiny of T-Mobile-Sprint merger, which they say reduces competition, as two days of Congressional hearings begin  —  WASHINGTON — When T-Mobile announced its intention to buy Sprint last April, the prospects for the $26 billion deal winning regulatory approval appeared strong.
Sean Captain / Fast Company:
DoorDash says 15% of customers leave no tip, the next 45% contribute less than half of “guaranteed amount”, and 80% of contractors are happy with the pay system  —  In its ideal world, food-delivery service DoorDash would pay its contractors almost nothing-relying on customer tips to cover most of the fee quoted for a job.
Phil LeBeau / CNBC:
San Diego-based autonomous trucking startup TuSimple raises $95M Series D, led by Sina Corp. and Composite Capital, at a $1B valuation  —  - It's preparing to expand its testing of self-driving semis on highways in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  —  Autonomous trucking company TuSimple …
More: Reuters and TechCrunch
Chris Williams / The Register:
Hacker claims to have posted ~617M online account details stolen from 16 hacked companies for sale on the dark web; MyHeritage and 500px confirm stolen data  —  Dubsmash, Armor Games, 500px, Whitepages, ShareThis, and more said to be up for grabs for $$$s in BTC
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Freelance services marketplace Fiverr is acquiring ClearVoice, a company that helps customers find professionals to write promotional content  —  Fiverr is acquiring ClearVoice, a company that helps customers like Intuit and Carfax find professionals to write promotional content.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Q&A with the president and COO of mobile gaming company Scopely on its business model; Scopely says it has a $400M run rate and increased revenues 80% in 2018  —  Scopely isn't the most well-known mobile game company.  But it scored a couple of hits with Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem and Star Trek …

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's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Why eIDAS 2.0 might be the EU's boldest digital move yet  —  eIDAS: The first building block of digital trust More than a decade ago, the EU introduced the eIDAS regulation (Regulation [EU] No 910/2014) …
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

Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
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.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
CNBC's Jim Cramer: Big Tech Hot Takes, NVIDIA $10 Trillion?, Building Wealth In Any Market
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.
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.
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.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Saam Motamedi from Greylock Partners
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:05 AM ET, February 13, 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

Max Willens / Digiday:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Amazon Press Center: