Techmeme: A look at the rise of Roku, which is valued at $17B and whose stock is up 300% this year, amid escalating competition from Amazon, Google, and others (Bloomberg)

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December 13, 2019, 12:30 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox, once-codenamed Project Scarlett, is officially called Xbox Series X, and looks more like a PC than past consoles — Xbox now looks like a PC — Microsoft's next-generation Xbox is officially called Xbox Series X. Microsoft revealed the name and console design on stage at the Game Awards today.

More: Xbox Wire, GameSpot, YouTube, GeekWire, The Verge, PCWorld, The Verge, Engadget, TheStreet, Windows Central, Tom's Hardware, LaptopMag, NBC News, CNET, Windows Central, Engadget, Coinspeaker, Liliputing, The Register, KnowTechie, New York Post, Yahoo Finance, iPhone in Canada Blog, Pureinfotech, BetaNews, PC Gamer, Techweez, International Business Times, VG247, Tom's Guide, Inquirer, WinBuzzer, Wccftech, Android Central, The Guardian, CNN, Mercury News, Bloomberg, CNET, Firstpost Tech, Pocket-lint, USA Today, Thurrott, Neowin, BGR, Variety, Ars Technica, Business Insider, The Next Web, Forbes, CNET, Kotaku, Kotaku, The Verge, Mashable, GameSpot, VentureBeat, Polygon, Gamasutra, MSPoweruser, Seeking Alpha, IGN, Gearburn, and Xbox Live's Major Nelson

Tweets: @viticci, @jetscott, @agentbizzle, @tamoorh, @nuttybluerice, @cyberbeaner, @jeffrubenstein, @klobrille, @loudmouthjulia, @crecenteb, @tomwarren, and @duckomcfli

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple buys Spectral Edge, a UK startup whose tech improves the colors in photos by taking infrared shots and blending it with standard photos — - Spectral Edge technology improves colors in smartphone photos — Photograph is a key differentiator in the smartphone market

Wall Street Journal:

Trump agrees to a limited trade deal with China that could result in Apple and others avoiding a 15% tariff on their products set to begin on Dec. 15 — Plan would prevent new tariffs planned for Sunday and roll back some existing tariff rates — President Trump has agreed …

More: Bloomberg, CNET, International Business Times, MarketWatch, MacRumors, The Verge, New York Times, Bitcoinist.com, Coinspeaker, TechSpot, TechNode, Bloomberg, AppleInsider, Reuters, iMore, Tom's Guide, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, Politico, Patently Apple, Telecoms.com, CCN.com, and Fortune

Tweets: @realdonaldtrump, @arappeport, @alexplitsas, @prchovanec, @wsj, @wajahatali, @catmamgo, @anaswanson, and @rilatweets

Lauren Thomas / CNBC:

Bonobos founder Andy Dunn to leave Walmart in early 2020, two years after selling his menswear brand to Walmart for $310M — KEY POINTS — The founder of Bonobos, Andy Dunn, is leaving Walmart, roughly two years after the company acquired the money-losing online apparel retailer …

More: Vox, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times. Tweets: @philwahba

Bloomberg:

Inside Google's culture war as some employees and managers describe a “climate of fear” and the erosion of transparency that once defined the company — Restive workers see a culture in ‘total collapse.’ — Each morning, workers at Google get an internal newsletter called the “Daily Insider.”

Tweets: @rj_gallagher and @ericnewcomer

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: YouTube's premium services have 800K+ subscribers in India and are growing faster than rival paid services including Spotify, Gaana, and JioSaavn — - YouTube said to sign up more than 800,000 users in the country — India is home to the video service's most-subscribed channel

More: 9to5Google. Tweets: @bloombergquint

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: FTC is considering seeking an injunction against Facebook over antitrust concerns related to how it integrates its apps and their interoperability — Antitrust concerns lead agency to consider taking action against social-media giant as soon as January

Bloomberg:

A look at the rise of Roku, which is valued at $17B and whose stock is up 300% this year, amid escalating competition from Amazon, Google, and others — More than 30 million people use a Roku device to navigate the constellation of streaming TV services. The company's portfolio includes the …

More: Mashable. Tweets: @conviva

Reuters:

German food delivery company Delivery Hero to buy its South Korean rival Woowa Brothers for $4B — SEOUL (Reuters) - German food delivery company Delivery Hero (DHER.DE) has agreed to acquire its South Korean rival Woowa Brothers for $4 billion, Woowa Brothers said in a statement on Friday.

More: Delivery Hero and Tech.eu

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Salesforce promotes Bret Taylor to president and chief operating officer from his role of president and chief product officer; he will report to Marc Benioff — Salesforce announced today that it has named Bret Taylor as president and chief operating officer of the company.

More: ZDNet, PR Newswire, and InfotechLead

BuzzFeed News:

Facebook has filed more lawsuits against scammers this year than in all previous years combined, a legal strategy that could help it stave off regulation — When Facebook caught the New Zealand-based company Social Media Series Limited selling likes from fake users on Instagram, the tech giant did something out of character.

Tweets: @newsalliance, @scottlucas86, @scottlucas86, @sivavaid, and @sivavaid

Todd Haselton / CNBC:

iOS 13.3 bug in Communication Limits, which lets parents control who kids interact with, lets kids skirt protections; Apple says it is working on a fix — - iOS 13.3 launched this week and introduced a new feature called Communication Limits that adds new parental controls.

More: Inquirer, Thurrott, International Business Times, Engadget, Digital Trends, iPhone in Canada Blog, iPhone Hacks, SlashGear, iMore, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, The Verge, and MacRumors

Tweets: @sherman4949, @stevekovach, and @mattrosoff. Thanks:@mattrosoff

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From Mediagazer

Rajeev Syal / The Guardian:

A UK jury convicts two Iranians of assisting Iranian intelligence in a plan to “eliminate” journalists at London-based Persian broadcaster Iran International

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Bill Simmons and Spotify canceled a ChatGPT partnership after audience backlash; Ringer hosts Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins had voiced unease on air

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Source: NBC News will stop airing one hour of primetime programming on the NBC News Now streaming service, eliminating the Stay Tuned show and a handful of jobs

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More News

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

Unencrypted hard drives with payroll data, including names, bank account numbers, compensation info of 29,000 Facebook employees, stolen in a car break-in

More: Business Insider. Tweets: @thekenyeung, @moonalice, @ow, and @sarahfrier

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

DataRobot, a company creating automated machine learning models, announces that it intends to acquire Paxata, a data prep platform that previously raised $90M

More: ZDNet, FinSMEs, and DataRobot

Ernie Smith / VICE:

As Intel now deletes BIOS drivers for unsupported motherboards from its site, and browsers end FTP site support, finding drivers for older hardware gets harder

Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:

Facebook says it doesn't need to change its web tracking to comply with CCPA; source: Facebook contends its data collection doesn't count as a “sale” under CCPA

More: The News International. Tweets: @slpng_giants, @justinbrookman, and @hoofnagle

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Oracle reports Q2 revenue of $9.61B, up 0.5% YoY and short of analyst estimates of $9.65B, with Cloud Services division revenue of $6.81B, up 3% YoY

More: Oracle, SiliconANGLE, and ZDNet. Tweets: @jordannovet

Wall Street Journal:

Sources describe how ISPs like AT&T and Cox push the FCC to omit unflattering data, among other tactics, to improve scores on FCC's internet speeds report

More: Techdirt and Stop the Cap!

Tweets: @shalini, @lilliannnn, @shalini, @jrosenworcel, @gigibsohn, @karlbode, and @rsingel

Earlier Picks

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Police raided the Moscow offices of NGINX and detained employees over a copyright complaint from Rambler claiming full ownership of the NGINX web server code

More: Seeking Alpha, HackRead, Business Insider, and The Hacker News

Tweets: @crell, @swati_thn, and @garrytan

VICE:

A recent spate of Ring camera hacks were part of a podcast livestreamed to Discord called “Nulledcast” in which Ring owners were hacked and harassed live on air

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Facebook makes an initial commitment of $130M to its upcoming Oversight Board and says it will not announce the first members this year as originally expected

More: About Facebook, Wall Street Journal, Axios, BSR, Reuters, TheStreet, Digital Trends, and Social Media Today

Tweets: @klonick, @rankingrights, @cagoldberglaw, @kurtwagner8, @davidclinchnews, @joshconstine, and @digiphile

Jay Peters / The Verge:

As it did in 2018, Twitter says it will add labels to 2020 House, Senate, and governor candidates who qualify for the general election ballot

More: Twitter, TechCrunch, The Daily Dot, Geek.com, Axios, and Digital Trends

Tweets: @wboy12news and @caseynewton

Roma Slyusarchuk / The Keyword:

Google rolls out Verified SMS, which labels messages from legitimate businesses, on Android in nine countries, expands spam detection in messages to the US

More: The Next Web, Thurrott, The Verge, PCWorld, Android Authority, Digital Trends, ZDNet, XDA Developers, Droid Life, Neowin, CNET, Android Central, MSPoweruser, Android Police, Engadget, VentureBeat, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @utkarsh and @mattnavarra

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

Google brings its real-time translation mode, interpreter, to the Google Assistant app on iOS and Android globally with support for 44 languages