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December 4, 2019, 11:30 AM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| The Keyword: |
Larry Page steps down as Alphabet CEO; Sundar Pichai to lead both Alphabet and Google — Our very first founders' letter in our 2004 S-1 began: … We believe those central tenets are still true today. The company is not conventional and continues to make ambitious bets on new technology, especially with our Alphabet structure.
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Alphabet, New York Times, The Verge, Business Insider, The Verge, Axios, CNBC, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, CNET, Engadget, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, CNBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, Android Central, Variety, Coinspeaker, TechSpot, MediaNama, Inc42 Media, cloudpro.co.uk, Firstpost Tech, Geek.com, Gizchina, XDA Developers, Techaeris, CBS News, BBC, New York Post, Search Engine Journal, MSPoweruser, news.com.au, Associated Press, Quartz, International Business Times, SiliconANGLE, Fortune, PC Gamer, Slate, Wired, Startups News, Android Police, Newser, The Information, Search Engine Land, ABC News, NPR, The Register, Politico, AppleInsider, Ars Technica, Deadline, Silicon Valley Business …, SlashGear, The Next Web, Associated Press, Mashable, Gizmodo, Digital Trends, Android Authority, The Guardian, Wccftech, Pocket-lint, Android Headlines, Hollywood Reporter, Neowin, The Hill, KnowTechie, PhoneArena, Telegraph, VentureBeat, CNN, Thurrott, 9to5Google, GeekWire, Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, Droid Life, and CNET
Tweets: @sundarpichai, @benioff, @googlewalkout, @lutherlowe, @ericschmidt, @ow, @dhh, @jason_kint, @lutherlowe, @jonerlichman, @slpng_giants, @alliekmiller, @manukumarjain, @teddyschleifer, @tomwarren, @karaswisher, @karaswisher, @johnbattelle, @nongaap, @rdrv3, @edmundlee, @delrey, @backlon, @stshank, @shiraovide, and @mcwm
| Peter Kafka / Vox: |
| Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Language learning app Duolingo raises $30M Series F from Alphabet's CapitalG at a $1.5B valuation, more than double the valuation from its 2017 Series E — Popular language learning app Duolingo has raised $30 million in a series F round of funding from Alphabet's investment arm CapitalG.
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CNBC, Axios, and Pittsburgh Business Journal
| Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: |
Mozilla removes four Firefox extensions made by Avast and AVG after reports that they were harvesting user data and browsing histories — The four extensions, two from Avast and two from AVG, are still available on the Chrome Web Store. — Mozilla removed today four Firefox extensions …
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Extensions, security …, Inquirer, KnowTechie, Security Affairs, and Softpedia News
Tweets: @wolfiechristl, @paul__walsh, @campuscodi, and @campuscodi
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Plex launches a free, ad-supported streaming service featuring thousands of movies and shows from studios like MGM, available in ~220 countries — Plex today is launching its own ad-supported streaming service, a rival to The Roku Channel, Tubi, Crackle, Vudu's Movies on Us … | Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Amazon launches a battery-powered portable Echo speaker in India with an enclosed 4,800mAh battery, claims up to 10 hours of continuous music playback — After launching nearly a dozen Echo speaker models in India in two years, Amazon said on Wednesday it is adding a new variant to the mix …
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GeekWire, TechHive, International Business Times, Android Police, XDA Developers, Tom's Guide, Mashable, Android Central, Thurrott, TechSpot, Pocket-lint, The Verge, BetaNews, PhoneArena, Cult of Mac, Digital Trends, and Engadget
Tweets: @davezatz and @tech2eets
| Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
Google says Focus mode, a Digital Wellbeing feature for Android that mutes notifications, is rolling out to Android 9 and 10 users — At I/O 2019 in May, Google announced the latest Digital Wellbeing features to build on last year's initial launch. In testing for the past several months …
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The Keyword, TechCrunch, Engadget, CNET, Business Insider, The Verge, XDA Developers, and Android Police
| Tom Krazit / Mostly Cloudy: |
Amazon unveils Local Zones, small data centers far from main AWS regions, general availability of Outposts, and a Verizon partnership for low latency 5G gear — THE AWS TAKE ON EDGE COMPUTING — AWS CEO Andy Jassy (left) and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg (right) introduce AWS Wavelength Tuesday at re:Invent 2019.| Larry Dignan / ZDNet: |
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AWS News Blog, The Next Platform, Mostly Cloudy, Tom's Hardware, CNX Software, Forbes, and Phoronix. Tweets: @ldignan
| Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal: |
India, which is increasingly trying to shelter local companies, has erected regulatory hurdles over the past year for how US tech firms operate in the country — New barriers make world's biggest untapped digital market a slog for Walmart, Facebook; taking cues from China's protectionism
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Politico. Tweets: @matthausk, @ericbellmanwsj, @wsj, @viditb, @arifcrafiq, @dericsayers, @hoofnagle, and @parmy. Thanks:@newley
| Annie Palmer / CNBC: |
Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom and CFO Alan Pickerill are stepping down, with day-to-day work taken up by Chairman Barry Diller, after a disagreement over strategy — KEY POINTS — Expedia announced Wednesday that CEO Mark Okerstrom and CFO Alan Pickerill are stepping down from their roles at the company.
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Expedia Inc. MediaRoom, Reuters, Bloomberg, GeekWire, and Business Insider
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Kustomer, an omnichannel CRM platform for enterprise customer service, raises $60M Series E led by Coatue, bringing its total raised to ~$173M — Kustomer, a CRM startup that's taking on the likes of Zendesk, Salesforce, and many other bigger and older providers, has closed yet another round of funding …
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FinSMEs and VentureBeat
| Anna Wiener / New Yorker: |
A profile of Hipcamp, a platform for campsite booking where listings include off-grid plots, RV hookups, ski huts, farmhouses, tepees, tree houses, and cabins — Can a startup save the wilderness by disrupting it? — In Northern California, booking a public campsite is a blood sport.
Tweets: @annawiener, @erikbl, @lennysan, @gpaddymanning, @daveleebbc, and @newyorker
| Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat: |
Firefox 71 arrives with Picture-in-Picture support on Windows for all video sites, Enhanced Tracking Protection and Lockwise password manager improvements, more — Mozilla today launched Firefox 71 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Firefox 71 includes Lockwise password manager improvements …
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The Mozilla Blog, ExtremeTech, Softpedia News, SlashGear, and BleepingComputer
Tweets: @mohammadfarooq_, @firefox, @epro, and @firefox
| TechCrunch: |
SEC filing: Sequoia Capital has raised nearly $1B for later-stage US investments and ~$2.4B for venture and growth deals in China — Noted Silicon Valley venture capital fund Sequoia Capital has raised nearly $1 billion for later-stage U.S. investments and roughly $2.4 billion for venture … | Anthony Ha / TechCrunch: |
Flow, which helps companies build a cross-border e-commerce business, raises $37M Series B led by New Enterprise Associates — Flow, a startup that helps brands and retailers build a cross-border e-commerce business, has raised $37 million in Series B funding.| Mike Isaac / New York Times: |
Sources: Facebook's NPE team is exploring the creation of apps for podcasts, travel, workplace services, and newsletters, although these may never be released — The social network is exploring new product areas through a team dedicated to building the company's future.
Tweets: @caseynewton and @ceciliakang
| Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: |
Researchers achieve new cryptography milestones, including factoring the largest RSA key size ever, largely thanks to improved algorithms, not better hardware — 795-bit factoring and discrete logarithms achieved using more efficient algorithms. — 34 with 24 posters participating
Tweets: @nholzschuch, @dangoodin001, and @arstechnica
| Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Google says 80% of Android apps now encrypt network traffic by default, due to a policy introduced in Android 9, up from less than 20% a year ago — Google has announced that 80% of Android apps now encrypt all traffic by default, thanks to the increased uptake of transport layer security (TLS).| Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: |
Postmates shuts Mexico City office laying off employees; sources say at least several dozen have been laid off including people across its offices in the US — - Postmates has laid off dozens of employees and told employees in Mexico City that it's closing that office.
More:
International Business Times and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @nongaap, @modestproposal1, @trengriffin, @mattrosoff, @bruno_j_navarro, @dee_bosa, and @teddyschleifer. Thanks:@sal19
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Reddit publishes its 2019 retrospective: 430M MAUs, up 30% YoY, with 199M posts, 1.7B comments, and 32B upvotes; Bill Gates AMA had the most upvotes with 110K — In a year-end retrospective released this morning, Reddit says its user base grew 30% this year to reach 430 million monthly active users, as of the end of October.
More:
Upvoted and Business Insider
| Reuters: |
Nintendo says it has partnered with Tencent to sell the Switch in China, starting on December 10 for ~$300 — TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd said on Wednesday it will officially launch its Switch gaming console in mainland China on Dec. 10 priced 2,099 yuan ($298) with local partner Tencent Holdings Ltd.
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CNET, South China Morning Post, Engadget, CNN, and Wall Street Journal
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