Techmeme: 2015 MacBook review: weight, battery life, display, and keyboard make up for weak performance (Ryan Smith/AnandTech)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News Contact Editors

April 15, 2015, 5:25 AM

Top News

Mark Bergen / Re/code:

Memo: Google responds to EU's imminent antitrust charges, says it expects EU to open investigation into Android on Wednesday — Here Is Google's Internal Response to the Imminent EU Charges (Memo) — On Wednesday, the European Union is expected to drop the hammer on Google …

Financial Times:

Sources: EU's competition commissioner to announce that formal charges will be filed against Google, alleging traffic was diverted from rivals — Europe to accuse Google of illegally abusing its dominance — Alex Barker and Christian Oliver in Brussels and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris

More: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, ABC News, Reuters, Forbes, Washington Post, Ubergizmo, Business Insider, eWeek, The Hill, The Verge, Bloomberg Business and CNET

Tweets: @johnbattelle, @zackwhittaker and @zackwhittaker

Ina Fried / Re/code:

Nokia Agrees to Buy Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6 Billion — Nokia said late Tuesday that it plans to buy rival network gear maker Alcatel-Lucent for 15.6 billion euros ($16.6 billion) in stock. — The deal has been approved by both companies' boards but still requires regulatory and other approvals.

More: Nokia, The Next Web, Reuters, BBC, International Business Times, Engadget, CNET, The Verge, memeburn, Geeky Gadgets, SiliconANGLE, Forbes, Pocketnow, Neowin, Android Central and Bloomberg Business

Tweets: @inafried, @inafried and @disc1979

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Nokia confirms it is considering the sale of its HERE mapping business

More: Nokia, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal and Geeky Gadgets

Wall Street Journal:

Apple buys Israeli camera technology company LinX for about $20M — Apple Buys Israeli Camera-Technology Company LinX — Companies had been discussing acquisition price of about $20 million — Apple Inc. has acquired Israeli camera-technology company LinX Computational Imaging Ltd.

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, SiliconANGLE, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Refinery29, Fone Arena, ZDNet, Business Insider, The Next Web and VentureBeat. Tweets: @tim

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Beijing-based Ninebot Acquires Segway, Raises $80M From Xiaomi And Sequoia — Intriguing news from the personal transportation mobility device sector: Beijing-based company Ninebot has announced that not only will it acquire rival Segway, but it has also scored $80 million in funding …

More: Engadget, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business, Forbes and Reuters

Paul Thurrott / Thurrott.com:

Microsoft's long list of apps for iOS highlight company's commitment to the platform — Microsoft + iPhone — Just a few years ago, there was a sharp divide between fans of Microsoft and fans of the iPhone. But in this “mobile first, cloud first” world, it's now possible …

More: Daring Fireball

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

IHS report: Verizon 64GB Galaxy S6 Edge costs about $290 to build, more than Apple's iPhones, and $34 more than Galaxy S5 — Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge Is More Expensive to Build Than Apple's iPhones — Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6 Edge, is the most costly yet to build and assemble …

Peter Bright / Ars Technica:

Surface 3 review: great build quality, good battery life, poor CPU and storage performance; useful accessories are paid extras — Surface 3 review: Smaller, slower, cheaper... better? — Switching to an x86 processor has made the Surface so much better. — To understand the Surface 3, you must first understand the Surface Pro 3.

More: The Verge, The Next Web and CNET

Maria Armental / Wall Street Journal:

Shopify files for US and Canadian IPOs, hopes to raise about $100M, valuing firm at more than $1B — Canadian Software Company Shopify Files for U.S.-Canada IPO — Ottawa company raised $100 million from private investors in Dec. 2013 — Canadian software company Shopify Inc. filed …

More: Shopify's Ecommerce Blog, ZDNet, VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE, 24/7 Wall St., Reuters, Financial Post, Bloomberg Business, MarketWatch, Globe and Mail and Forbes

Ryan Smith / AnandTech:

2015 MacBook review: weight, battery life, display, and keyboard make up for weak performance — The 2015 MacBook Review — I'm still not entirely sure when it actually happened, but at some point over the last couple of years the crossover between tablets and laptops stopped being an idea and became a real thing.

More: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider and MacDailyNews

Eugene Kim / Business Insider:

NEA raised $3.1 billion, launching the largest tech VC fund of all time — New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has closed a new fund worth $3.1 billion — the largest venture fund of all time, according to an earlier story by Fortune's Dan Primack, who broke the news of the fund last year.

More: TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, PR Newswire, New York Times, bizjournals, Forbes and Xconomy

Edgar Su / Reuters:

Samsung Electronics says demand for Galaxy S6 models much higher than planned for — (Reuters) - South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) on Wednesday said demand for both the flat-screen and curved-screen models of its new flagship Galaxy S6 smartphones is “much higher” than initially planned for.

More: Seeking Alpha

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:

How the founder of The Shade Room created a lucrative ad-supported celebrity news publication on Instagram — Instagram's TMZ — The first time I heard about The Shade Room, I thought it was a reality show, or maybe a nightclub. It turned out to be neither, although I was close in spirit …

See also Mediagazer

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Play's New Program “Designed For Families” Will Highlight Pre-Approved, Kid-Safe Apps — Google today announced a new developer program called “Designed For Families” which will allow app publishers to opt into an additional review in order have their apps labeled as being “family-friendly.”

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Chinese streaming video service Letv announces its Le Superphone smartphone is headed for the US, in a profoundly unconvincing pitch — After comparing Apple to Hitler, Chinese company reveals Le Superphone — Two weeks ago, to build buzz for the Android smartphone it announced today, Chinese tech company Letv turned to Hitler.

Bruce V. Bigelow / Xconomy:

VC Funding Slows as Big Funds Crowd into Late-Stage Venture Deals — Following a December surge, when U.S. venture firms invested $7.2 billion in 342 deals nationwide, VC activity reset at a lower pace during the first quarter of 2015, according to data being released today by CB Insights.

More: CB Insights, GeekWire, Yahoo! Finance, PandoDaily, Los Angeles Times, Xconomy, Business Insider and VatorNews

Will Oremus / Slate:

A look at Twitter's homepage redesign, arriving in a few days, which caters to logged out visitors by organizing top tweets by category — Twitter for the Masses — For non-tweeters, the social network can feel clubby and confusing. Can its new home page change that? — Twitter.com is a barren wasteland.

More: Tech2 and SiliconANGLE. Tweets: @chrismessina and @howardlindzon

Wall Street Journal:

Google wants advertisers to hand over customer info like email addresses to improve search ad targeting with service similar to Facebook's Custom Audiences — Google May Offer New Way to Target Ads — Google in Talks to Let Advertisers Reach Existing Customers

More: Gizmodo, 9to5Google and NextBigWhat

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Hello Alfred, which uses existing on-demand services to automate weekly chores, raises $10.5M Series A led by NEA and Spark Capital — Hello Alfred Raises $10.5M To Automate Your Chores — Hello Alfred, a startup that taps into existing on-demand services to automate your weekly chores, has raised $10.5 million in Series A funding.

More: The Official Microsoft Blog, StreetInsider.com and VentureBeat

Carolyn Said / San Francisco Chronicle:

Over 20K now drive for Uber in the San Francisco Bay Area, more than double from a year ago, company says — Uber among region's biggest employers, but company begs to differ — More Bay Area residents drive for Uber than bag groceries at Safeway. In fact, the biggest Bay Area employers are Kaiser …

More: Uber Blog and NBC Bay Area

Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:

On-demand pot delivery service Eaze raises $10M Series A round led by DCM Ventures, with Snoop Dogg's venture fund as an investor — ‘Uber For Weed’ Startup Eaze Raises $10 Million In Funding Led By DCM Ventures — There's an Uber for everything nowadays, so why not an Uber for weed?

More: SiliconBeat, Quartz, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Digital Trends, PandoDaily, Smell the Truth, SiliconBeat, Forbes, Reuters, PE Hub Blog and Business Wire

Kim-Mai Cutler / TechCrunch:

San Francisco Supervisor, Mayor Proposes Tighter Regulations On Short-Term Rentals, Airbnb — San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell and Mayor Ed Lee are backing a new set of tighter regulations on short-term rentals and their biggest hosting platforms like Airbnb.

More: Office of the Mayor, Engadget, CBS San Francisco and San Francisco Chronicle

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.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

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.

Big Technology Podcast:

Who Wins The AI Assistant Wars? + Why Didn't Google Build Muse?

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.

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.

Lenny's Podcast:

OpenAI's Head of ChatGPT: We're entering a new era of AI (again) | Tibo Sottiaux

Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.

Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:25 AM ET, April 15, 2015.

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.