Techmeme
November 14, 2019, 6:50 AM

Top News

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Motorola announces new Razr phone with a 6.2" touchscreen display that folds like a clamshell for $1,500, launching in January on Verizon in the US  —  The Razr returns  —  The Razr is back, but now it's an Android smartphone that can fold in half.  Motorola has officially announced its much-rumored …
Roger Cheng / CNET:
How Motorola created the foldable-screen Razr and why it claims it solved the problems faced by Samsung's Galaxy Fold, by focusing on a hinge design  —  Exclusive: Motorola, in need of a comeback, wants to reignite the excitement over foldables with a phone that's equal parts retro and cutting edge.
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Oculus CTO John Carmack says he is stepping down but will remain as a “consulting CTO”, will work on an artificial general intelligence, as a personal project  —  One of the driving forces behind Facebook's virtual reality efforts is leaving his post: Oculus CTO John Carmack …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
GitHub announces improvements to code search and notifications and unveils its first native mobile app, available in beta for iOS, with Android app coming soon  —  At its annual Universe conference today, Microsoft -owned GitHub announced a couple of new products, as well as the general availability …
New York Times:
How startups around the world, using SoftBank funds, got contractors like drivers and hoteliers to commit via unsustainable incentives, and then cut them off  —  SoftBank poured money into start-ups that use armies of contractors.  That has upended the lives of drivers, hotel operators and real estate agents around the world.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Facebook says requests from governments for user data in H1 2019 were up 16% over H2 2018 to 128,617, the highest on record, led by 50,741 demands from the US  —  Facebook's latest transparency report is out.  —  The social media giant said the number of government demands for user data increased …
Roger Cheng / CNET:
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Disney says Disney+ has seen 10M signups since launching on Tuesday  —  - For comparison, Disney-owned Hulu claimed more than 28 million subscribers in May, and Netflix claimed more than 60 million paid domestic members, and over 97 million international, in its third quarter of 2019.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Report: Google is planning to offer checking accounts to users, in partnership with banks and credit unions, starting as early as next year  —  Google is the latest big tech company to make a move into banking and personal financial services: The company is gearing up to offer checking accounts to consumers …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Docker restructures, raises $35M from Benchmark and Insight Partners, sells its Docker Enterprise business, team, and IP to Mirantis  —  Mirantis today announced that it has acquired Docker's Enterprise business and team.  Docker Enterprise was very much the heart of Docker's product lineup …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple Music launches Replay, letting subscribers look back at their favorite music in 2019, similar to Spotify's year-end review, Wrapped, but updated each week  —  Apple Music is taking on Spotify with the launch of a new feature, Apple Music Replay, that will allow subscribers to take a look back at their favorite music from 2019.
Yimou Lee / Reuters:
Foxconn posts Q3 net profit of ~$1B, up 23.3% YoY, beating analyst estimates, despite Apple's declining iPhone sales, which it relies on for ~50% of its revenue  —  TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW), a key supplier to Apple Inc (AAPL.O), posted a better-than-expected 23% rise …
Emma Grey Ellis / Wired:
A look at how scientific experts debunk “lifestyle” misinformation and bad science on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube  —  A lot of the hacks and diets on social media are bogus, or even dangerous.  These fact-checkers are using YouTube and Instagram to battle bad info.
Ashlee Vance / Bloomberg:
Inside the Arctic World Archive, where GitHub will store 200 “platters”, each with 120GB of open source software on them, to prevent loss of the software  —  The last stop for civilization before the North Pole is Svalbard, an archipelago north of mainland Norway along the 80th parallel.

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Earlier Picks

Aliya Chaudhry / The Verge:
Financial Times:
Bloomberg: