Techmeme
June 25, 2019, 11:40 PM

Top News

Axios:
Apple says it has acquired autonomous driving startup Drive.ai, hiring dozens of Drive.ai engineers and, per sources, taking over its autonomous cars  —  Apple bought Drive.ai, an autonomous driving startup once valued at $200 million, Apple confirmed to Axios on Tuesday, and has hired dozens of Drive.ai engineers.
New York Times:
Sources: US tech companies, including Intel and Micron, have found ways to sell millions of dollars of products to Huawei despite the Trump administration's ban  —  SHANGHAI — A number of the United States' biggest chip makers have sold millions of dollars of products to Huawei despite …
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Bill Gates says his “greatest mistake” was Microsoft losing the platform opportunity to Android on mobile, in an interview at VC firm Village Global  —  Gates calls Microsoft's smartphones failure a “$400 billion” loss.  —  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently gave …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Researchers have discovered OSX/Linker malware exploiting an unpatched macOS flaw that would allow a malicious binary to bypass the Gatekeeper scanning process  —  Researchers find new OSX/Linker malware abusing still-unpatched macOS Gatekeeper bypass.  —  Mac malware developers have jumped …
Bloomberg:
Airbnb launches Airbnb Luxe, a new luxury tier of 2,000 listings with an average price of $14K a week to as high as $1M a week for a private atoll  —  Gone are the days of air mattresses on the floor.  Airbnb Inc. is now catering to the mega-wealthy with a new tier of luxury rentals.
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
Executives at seven of Facebook's Libra partners say the companies have only signed nonbinding agreements and have not yet paid to join the Libra Association  —  SAN FRANCISCO — One of the biggest selling points of Facebook's ambitious plans for its new cryptocurrency, Libra …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
FTC and DOJ announce their latest crackdown on robocallers, taking 94 actions against several companies and people blamed for a recent wave of spam calls  —  Federal authorities have announced its latest crackdown on illegal robocallers — taking close to a hundred actions against several companies …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils OneDrive Personal Vault, which protects folders with 2FA and is expected by year end, and ups OneDrive's $1.99/mo plan from 50GB to 100GB  —  Available to everyone by the end of the year  —  Microsoft is adding a new secured storage area to OneDrive where users can store more sensitive files.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
LinkedIn says it will change its algorithm to favor posts that cater to niche professional interests as opposed to elevating viral content  —  Linkedin will today announce algorithm changes made over the past 12-18 months to favor conversations in its Feed that cater to niche professional interests …
Kate Clark / TechCrunch:
Cameo, which lets fans pay for personalized videos from celebrities, raises $50M Series B led by Kleiner Perkins, reports suggest at a valuation of $300M  —  Instead of emailing a term sheet, Ilya Fushman paid $150 to have ‘Deep Blue Sea’ actor Michael Rapaport send the Cameo founders Steven Galanis …
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Uber to buy Seattle-based Mighty AI, which helps train computer vision models, to strengthen its self-driving car unit; Crunchbase: Mighty AI had raised $27.3M  —  Uber as soon as today expects to close its acquisition of Seattle-based “data annotation” firm Mighty AI in a bid to strengthen …
More: GeekWire
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Cobalt Robotics, which makes indoor security robots designed to work alongside human guards, raises $35M Series B; it raised a $13M Series A in March 2018  —  Cobalt Robotics, a three-year-old startup building indoor security robots designed to work alongside human guards …
More: FinSMEs

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Deep analysis for deep questions  —  Introducing Superagent.  A new research product from Airtable: Subagents deeply interrogate your topic and turn it into boardroom-ready reports, slides, docs, or websites.
Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Zoho:
Why now: Building cloud infrastructure that the UAE can rely on  —  For years, the main question in the UAE was whether organizations should adopt cloud technology.  Today, cloud adoption is no longer up for debate.
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

Hard Fork:
'Something Big Is Happening' + A.I. Rocks the Romance Novel Industry + One Good Thing
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.
Lenny's Podcast:
"Engineers are becoming sorcerers" | The future of software development with OpenAI's Sherwin Wu
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.
Cheeky Pint:
Ben Thompson from Stratechery on AI ads, the end of SaaS, and the future of media
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
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.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Billionaire Button w/ Tim Wu
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Great Chat:
No one won the AI Bowl
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 11:40 PM ET, June 25, 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

Douglas MacMillan / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

Lane Sainty / BuzzFeed:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Daniel Eran Dilger / AppleInsider:
Nick Summers / Engadget:
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: