Techmeme
August 6, 2020, 10:30 AM

Top News

Heather Kelly / Washington Post:
Amanda Macias / CNBC:
Trump admin proposes a “Clean Network” effort to curb potential national security risks from China by banning “untrusted” Chinese apps from US app stores, more  —  - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a five-pronged “Clean Network” effort aimed at curbing potential national security risks from China.
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Telemedicine provider Teladoc Health signs a $18.5B deal to buy Livongo, maker of connected devices for managing diabetes and other chronic conditions  —  In a sign of the growing importance and value of digital healthcare in the world of medicine, two of the industry's publicly traded companies …
Vlad Savov / Bloomberg:
TikTok announces that it is setting up its first data center in Europe with a $500M investment in Ireland, says data of European users will be stored there  —  TikTok, the embattled video-sharing app that's found itself at the center of Washington-Beijing tensions, is setting up its first data center …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft ends its xCloud game streaming test on iOS devices, says it had to limit the app to one game and 10,000 testers “to comply with App Store policies”  —  Apple's App Store policies appear to be holding xCloud back  —  Microsoft has ended its xCloud game streaming test for iOS devices today.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Nintendo reported quarterly operating profit of $1.4B, up 428% YoY; sales of Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite consoles grew 167% YoY to 5.68M units  —  - Nintendo reported operating profit of 144.7 billion yen ($1.4 billion) in the April-June quarter, smashing analyst expectations.
Karandeep Singh / Android Police:
OnePlus is preloading OnePlus 8 and Nord series phones with Facebook bloatware that can't be uninstalled as part of the OS  —  Bloatware on Android phones has been around for so long — especially on Samsung and Huawei phones — that it's hardly even news anymore.
Eric Ravenscraft / OneZero:
Tests indicate wireless charging is much less efficient than cord charging; Pixel 4 charging tests showed wireless charging used 47% more power than cabled  —  We crunched the numbers on just how inefficient wireless charging is — and the results are pretty shocking
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Samsung and Microsoft extend their partnership to add deeper integration with Office on Galaxy Note20 devices and let users stream Android apps to Windows 10  —  The new Samsung Galaxy Note 20 devices will support Office app synchronization, new Your Phone features and Microsoft's cloud gaming functionality.
Bloomberg:
Rackspace closed ~22% down on its first day of trading, after raising $704M in its IPO, and now has a market value of $3.26B  —  - Cloud computing firm Rackspace has year's worst debut in U.S.  — Fellow Texas firm BigCommerce doubles value on its first day
More: Fortune and MarketWatch
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Intuit has agreed to acquire TradeGecko, an inventory and order management software platform for small retailers and wholesalers, sources say for $80M+  —  - Intuit is said to pay more than $80 million for TradeGecko  — TradeGecko will be integrated into Intuit's QuickBooks Online
Crystal Tse / Bloomberg:
Shares of e-commerce startup BigCommerce rose as much as 292% above its $24 IPO Wednesday; stock closed up 201% and raised $216M  —  BigCommerce Holdings Inc., which makes software for online business operations, rose as much as 292% in its trading debut after pricing its $216 million initial public offering above a targeted range.
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
California's labor commissioner has filed separate lawsuits against Uber and Lyft for alleged wage theft by misclassifying workers as independent contractors  —  The Golden State is becoming increasingly hostile to app-based ride-hailing  —  Uber and Lyft are committing wage theft …
Jay Greene / Washington Post:
Microsoft could use data culled from TikTok content, such as video of people of different ethnicities engaged in a variety of activities, to train its AI  —  More than merely appealing to the young users of TikTok, Microsoft could use the data culled from its videos to better compete against its AI rivals.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
State Department offers up to a $10M reward for info about anyone working with a foreign government to interfere in US elections via malicious cyber operations  —  This includes attacks against US election officials, election infrastructure, voting machines, but also candidates and their staff.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Epic Games raises $1.78B, which includes $250M from Sony announced last month, at a post-money valuation of $17.3B  —  Epic Games, creator and publisher of the massively popular “Fortnite” game, announced a $1.78 billion round of funding — which the company says gives it a post-money equity valuation is of $17.3 billion.

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Beyond violation rates: Are your AI evaluations measuring the right things?  —  Structured eval design can improve both the breadth of behaviors tested and the interpretability of resulting failures.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Ask an Expert: How to effectively recover stuck TDS refunds with reduced TDS reconciliation time  —  The 26AS/Form 168 gets updated quarterly and often gets checked only during the time of ITR filing.
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Can AI Keep Growing Exponentially? Let's Ask SemiAnalysis — With Dylan Patel and Jordan Nanos
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Larry Ellison's Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI's Biggest Gamble
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Training Data:
Google's AI Infrastructure Chief, Amin Vahdat, on the Physics & Economics of Frontier AI
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Andrew Huberman - The Frontier of Neurotechnology
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Sources:
Reflection's founders on building a DeepSeek of the West
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Grit:
How Vercel Is Rethinking Go-to-Market With AI | COO Jeanne Grosser
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:30 AM ET, August 6, 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.

More News

Aurora Almendral / Rest of World:
Rest of World:
Todd Spangler / Variety:

Earlier Picks

Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: