Techmeme
March 14, 2019, 3:10 PM

Top News

Thomas Ricker / The Verge:
Facebook says all of its services are now operational, attributes the downtime to a “server configuration change”  —  Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook all appear to be operating normally  —  Facebook is reporting all services operational after a prolonged outage that impacted all of the company's most popular apps.
New York Times:
Sources: Facebook's data-sharing deals under federal criminal investigation; an NY grand jury subpoenaed at least two device-makers who partnered with Facebook  —  Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with some of the world's largest …
Emma Haruka Iwao / Google Cloud Blog:
Google breaks world record for the most accurate value of pi, first time using cloud computing, calculating 31.4T digits after a ~112-day computation  —  Try GCP  —  Get $300 free credit to spend over 12 months.  —  Free Trial  —  TM title , and the first time the record  …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches a new cross-platform mobile SDK that allows game developers to add Xbox Live features to iOS or Android games  —  Microsoft also open to Xbox Live on the PS4 or Switch  —  Microsoft is bringing its Xbox Live network to iOS and Android devices.
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple announces WWDC 2019 will be held June 3-7 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose  —  Apple has officially announced dates and opened registration for its annual developer conference where it will likely unveil iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Valve announces an early beta of Steam Link Anywhere, a Steam Link extension that allows users to connect to their computers and play games from anywhere  —  Ahead of the Game Developers Conference, Valve is adding a couple of new features for its Steam digital game distribution platform.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Dropbox has quietly updated its website to add a three-device limit, including mobile devices, on its free storage plan  —  Dropbox has quietly added a new limitation on free accounts, putting a cap on how many devices can be linked simultaneously.  The cloud storage service offers new users 2GB for free …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google says it removed 2.3B bad ads in 2018, down 28% from 2017 and terminated ~1M bad advertiser accounts, including ~734K publishers and app developers  —  Around this time of year, Google shares how many “bad ads” it killed the year before.  And every year, the number grows.  But not this time.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Slack says it has removed 28 accounts for having a “clear affiliation with known hate groups”  —  Chat competitor Discord has faced similar issues  —  Workplace chat company Slack said today it's removed 28 accounts for having a “clear affiliation with known hate groups.”
Aamir Siddiqui / XDA Developers:
Samsung says it has begun mass production of 10nm 12GB LPDDR4X DRAM chip for smartphones, targets 34.1 GBps data transfer rates  —  Just a few years ago, smartphones launching with 1GB RAM were deemed to be sufficient for mobile computing needs.  After all, we had access to much more computing power …
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Twitter appoints a VP of People Experience and Head of Diversity and Inclusion, says its current workforce is now 40.2% female, 4.5% black, and 3.9% Latinx  —  Twitter unveiled its latest diversity report and announced a new vice president of people experience and head of diversity and inclusion.
More: Twitter
Parmy Olson / Forbes:
Profile of Peter Szulczewski, co-founder of Wish, the most downloaded shopping app worldwide with a valuation of $8.7B+, and a revenue of $1.9B last year  —  n a sun-filled San Francisco afternoon, Peter Szulczewski is climbing the stairs to the top of a Sansome Street skyscraper …
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Google is shutting down its Spotlight Stories VR film studio, part of Google's ATAP group, according to an email from the studio's executive producer  —  Google is shutting down its Spotlight Stories immersive entertainment unit, according to an email sent out by Spotlight Stories executive producer Karen Dufilho Wednesday evening.
Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:
Spotify files an anti-trust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming App Store rules limit choice and stifle competition  —  Spotify is filing a complaint against Apple with the European Commission, accusing the latter company of anticompetitive behaviour in the way it manages …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference  —  Stop preparing for agents.  Start running them.  100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
Zoho:
The 90-day recognition cliff: Why praise programs fade, and what keeps them alive  —  Recognition programs often start with enthusiasm.  Employees participate, managers share shoutouts, and teams have a new way to celebrate achievements.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce 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:
SAP CEO: AI Won't Kill Software, But It Will Change Your Job — With Christian Klein
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:
David Ellison's Paramount-Warner Empire & The Fight That Comes Next
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.
Sources:
Factory CEO on why AGI is already here
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Invest Like the Best:
Noah Shinn - Building Instinct: The Personal Agent
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
The grief, loneliness, and burnout sweeping through the tech industry right now | Molly Graham
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.
Great Chat:
Doomers at Dreamforce
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:10 PM ET, March 14, 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

Maureen Farrell / Wall Street Journal:
Aaron Tilley / The Information:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch: