Techmeme
December 19, 2014, 2:00 AM

Top News

Reuters:
Google will build Android Auto software directly into cars with Android M, no smartphone needed  —  Exclusive: Google aiming to go straight into car with next Android - sources  —  (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOGL.O) is laying the groundwork for a version of Android that would be built directly into cars …
Kent Walker / Google Public Policy Blog:
Google concerned by reports that MPAA is secretly working with studios to resurrect SOPA  —  The MPAA's Attempt to Revive SOPA Through A State Attorney General  —  We are deeply concerned about recent reports that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) led a secret …
Marc Rogers / Marc's Security Ramblings:
Why the Sony hack is unlikely to be the work of North Korea.  —  Everyone seems to be eager to pin the blame for the Sony hack on North Korea.  However, I think it's unlikely.  Here's why:1.  The broken English looks deliberately bad and doesn't exhibit any of the classic comprehension mistakes …
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
Richard Bilton / BBC:
BBC investigation finds Apple repeatedly not meeting its supply chain standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers  —  Apple ‘failing to protect Chinese factory workers’  —  The undercover reporter filmed workers falling asleep on 12-hour shifts
Bloomberg:
China is Planning to Purge Foreign Technology and Replace With Homegrown Suppliers  —  China is aiming to purge most foreign technology from banks, the military, state-owned enterprises and key government agencies by 2020, stepping up efforts to shift to Chinese suppliers, according to people familiar with the effort.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Longtime Internet Explorer leader Dean Hachamovitch is leaving Microsoft  —  Dean Hachamovitch is leaving Microsoft.  And yes, of course, there is an IE shirt associated with this milestone, too.  The longtime Internet Explorer leader, who led the efforts to modernize and revitalize Microsoft's web browser …
More: Learning, Re/code and The VergeTweets: @maryjofoleyThanks:@mnickelsburg
Rachel King / ZDNet:
Google launching open source Cloud Dataflow SDK for Java  —  Summary:Cloud Dataflow fills a major puzzle piece in Google's rapidly evolving and growing cloud stack as the Internet giant continues to challenge Amazon Web Services.  —  Google is looking to woo cloud developers once again …
Ginny Marvin / Search Engine Land:
Google Launches “Store Visits” Metric In AdWords, To Help Prove Online-To-Offline Impact  —  It's been well known that Google has been working on a solution to tie clicks on search ads back to in-store traffic and sales as part of Estimated Total Conversions in AdWords.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Samsung to shut down its ChatOn messaging service Feb. 1, 2015 in all markets except U.S.  —  Samsung's ChatOn service will shut down next year — but not in the US  —  After denying reports that its ChatOn service was close to being disbanded on a region-by-region basis, Samsung has announced in Korea that it's going away.
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:
GameAnalytics Scores $5.5M Series A, Hires Ex-Aol European MD As CEO  —  GameAnalytics, a free analytics platform for games developers, has leveled-up its funding.  The Copenhagen-headquartered startup, which also has a sales office in London and a development hub in Berlin, has closed a $5.5 million Series A round.
Cory Bennett / The Hill:
EFF to argue NSA's “upstream” data collection program is unconstitutional in first public court challenge Friday  —  NSA to defend Internet collection in court  —  Digital rights advocate the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is taking the National Security Agency (NSA) …
Matthew Wee / Yahoo:
The Yahoo App Adds Local News, Commenting, and More on Android and iOS in the U.S.  —  Want to know more about what's going on around you?  Today we're bringing local news to your fingertips with the Yahoo App.  As you move around the country, you'll be able to see what's going on in your area.

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Pro tips: 5 ways to close WhatsApp leads in Zoho CRM  —  This is a guest post by Orkhan Jafarli, Growth PM at TimelinesAI.More buyers now reach out on WhatsApp before they ever fill out a form.
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:
What Happens If AI Fails?, Subprime Data Center Crisis, How Bad Can SpaceX Get?
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.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI Models Go Rogue + Kimi K3 Freakout + A.I. Superforecasting
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.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Scam Held Together With Patriotism and Golden Paint', With Quinn Nelson
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Abridge's Shiv Rao: The Doctor Founder Taking On Microsoft In Healthcare AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
Too big to laugh: how tech lost its sense of humor
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
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.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:00 AM ET, December 19, 2014.

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

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Katie Benner / Bloomberg View: