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January 15, 2020, 7:00 PM
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Top News

Alan Boyle / GeekWire:
Sources: Apple has acquired Seattle-based Xnor.ai, which develops low-power, edge-based AI image recognition tools, for around $200M  —  Apple has acquired Xnor.ai, a Seattle startup specializing in low-power, edge-based artificial intelligence tools, sources with knowledge of the deal told GeekWire.
James Vincent / The Verge:
In a Q&A, Jack Dorsey discusses Twitter's thinking around an edit button and says “we'll probably never do it”  —  You've got to live with your mistakes, which includes joining Twitter  —  Twitter users have been asking for the option to edit tweets ever since the service launched in 2006 …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google Smart Lock on iOS now leverages Secure Enclave to enable the iPhone's use as a physical 2FA key to sign in to Google apps via Chrome on nearby devices  —  Last year, Google announced that all Android 7+ devices can be used as two-factor authentication when signing into Gmail, Drive, and other first-party services.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft begins rolling out its Chromium-based Edge browser, available now for Windows and macOS  —  Right on schedule, Microsoft today launched its new Edge browser based on Google's Chromium open source project.  You can download Chromium Edge now for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 …
Bloomberg:
US and China sign a “phase one” trade deal that seeks to limit theft of American tech and trade secrets by Chinese companies, such as through joint ventures
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube launches Profile cards that show user's public information and comment history on the current channel, starting with Android  —  Last September, YouTube began testing a new feature called profile cards, which showed a user's public information and comment history on the current channel.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
In a tweet, Trump criticizes Apple for refusing to unlock phones of violent criminals and says his administration helps Apple “all of the time” on trade  —  - In a tweet, president Donald Trump addressed the conflict between the FBI and Apple over locked iPhones used by the suspected Pensacola shooter.
New York Times:
Sources: Apple is preparing for a legal fight with the DOJ, similar to San Bernardino, which was not legally resolved before FBI dropped the case
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Amid an antitrust probe and protests by small merchants, Jeff Bezos travels to India to announce a further $1B investment into Amazon's operations over 5 years  —  India welcomed Jeff Bezos this week with an antitrust probe.  On top of that, thousands of small merchants who typically compete …
Blake Hester / Polygon:
Former Microsoft employees and third-party developers reflect on the rise and fall of Microsoft Kinect, which was once billed as the future of Xbox  —  For a moment a decade ago, the game industry looked like a very different place  —  Joe Bertolami is looking into the future.
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
As companies comply with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA, many have insecure practices for giving users their data and some outsource user identity verification  —  A new California privacy law gives consumers the right to see and delete their data.  But getting access often requires giving up more personal details.
Nicholas Thompson / Wired:
Interview with US CTO Michael Kratsios on the government's recent regulatory framework for AI, the potential for an AI cold war with China, and more  —  In a WIRED Q&A, the US chief technology officer warns against overregulating tech, underestimating the Chinese, and losing America's lead in quantum computing.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
App Annie: consumers downloaded 204B apps in 2019, up 6% YoY, and spent $120B on apps, subscriptions, and in-app features globally  —  Consumers downloaded a record 204 billion apps in 2019, up 6% from 2018 and up 45% since 2016, and spent $120 billion on apps, subscriptions and other in-app spending in the past year.
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Productboard, a platform for product managers, raises $45M Series B led by Sequoia and Bessemer Venture Partners, source says at a $350M post-money valuation  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  He now runs one of Silicon Valley's buzziest software startups.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:00 PM ET, January 15, 2020.

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.

From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Trump says Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic trainwreck” and “CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW”, after CBS aired a Late Show rerun in which Colbert mocked Trump

Alex Ritman / Variety:
In Channel 4's 2025 Alternative Christmas Message, Jimmy Kimmel said “tyranny is booming” in the US and, on his ABC suspension, “We won, the president lost”

Henry Blodget / Regenerator:
Bari Weiss' 60 Minutes decision may have been a way to both signal that she's serious about shifting CBS' sensibility to the right and “improve” a story

More News

Yuan Yang / Financial Times:
A look at how US pressure, driven by national security and trade concerns, has led to China seeking increased technological self-sufficiency

Earlier Picks

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Visa's Plaid acquisition will pay off if Visa can leverage Plaid's fintech network and make it worthwhile for banks to build out the APIs Plaid needs
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Google acquires no-code app development platform AppSheet, which had raised ~$19M to date, with plans to migrate AppSheet services to Google Cloud
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram says it is testing letting some users access DMs from its website
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Epic says its PC game store, which serves as Fortnite's launcher, has 108M users and generated $251M in 3rd-party game sales since its debut in December 2018
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Microsoft pushes a fix for a critical flaw in a cryptographic component present in all versions of Windows; NSA says it alerted Microsoft to the bug
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