Techmeme
August 8, 2014, 11:30 AM

Top News

Reuters:
China refutes claim of government ban on Apple purchases  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) products such as laptops and tablets are not banned from Chinese government procurement lists, according to the country's chief procurement center, refuting a report claiming Apple was blacklisted on national security concerns.
Eric Johnson / Re/code:
Exclusive: Twitter-Mining News App SmartNews Raises $36 Million from Atomico and Gree  —  Japanese newsreading app SmartNews has raised $36 million in new funding, in a round led by growth-stage investment firm Atomico and mobile-social gaming company Gree.  —  The app is available on both iOS …
Mat Honan / Wired:
Stewart Butterfield set out to build a game and failed; instead, he created Flickr and Slack  —  The Most Fascinating Profile You'll Ever Read About a Guy and His Boring Startup  —  Stewart is hungry.  He's munching on potatoes smothered in chicken fat drippings, sitting by a long metal table …
Joel Stein / Businessweek:
Silicon Valley Tech Entrepreneurs: Behind the Stereotype  —  Sam Altman sits behind his desk with his knees pulled up to his chest, eating dried apricots.  He's 29, but even the most laissez-faire bartender would card him.  His hand is forever grabbing his hair while he thinks, making it stick up in Einsteinian tufts.
The Coinbase Blog:
Wikimedia Foundation Receives More Than $140,000 in Bitcoin Donations in First Week  —  Since it was founded in 2001, Wikipedia has provided tremendous value to the world by making it easy and free for anyone with an Internet connection to consume information.
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Brazil's Movile Raises $55 Million To Bring Universal Delivery Services To Latin America  —  The experiment with e-commerce and delivery services that's taking hold in the U.S. actually may see more traction in emerging markets, where big retailers had struggled because of infrastructure and logistics issues.
Tom Dotan / The Information:
Facebook in Talks with Hollywood on ‘Oculus Experiences’  —  The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset's first target market might have been video games—an obvious area of interest for new parent company Facebook.  But it may soon go Hollywood too.  —  In recent weeks, Facebook representatives …

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Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI's Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the "Artificial State" + Train of Thought
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
The $12.5 Billion Lakers, the NFL's TV Fight, and Sports Media's Big Split
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.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Nick Bostrom: Worries About AI Existential Risk Just Became More Concrete
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Training Data:
Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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Invest Like the Best:
Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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More News

Kashmir Hill / Forbes:

Earlier Picks

Nick Summers / The Next Web:
Alex Knapp / Forbes:
Reed Hastings / Facebook:
Louis Gray / Google Developers Blog: