Techmeme
January 4, 2016, 8:10 PM

Top News

Paul Thurrott / Thurrott.com:
Windows 10 is Now Active on 200 Million Devices Worldwide  —  Share Tweet Pin it Reddit Share Share  —  Microsoft announced this morning that Windows 10 is now “active” on over 200 million devices worldwide.  This figure presumably includes PCs, phones, Xbox Ones, and other devices …
Nick Wingfield / New York Times:
Activision acquires assets of Major League Gaming for $46M; CEO Robert Kotick says he wants to build “the ESPN of video games”  —  Activision Buys Major League Gaming to Broaden Role in E-Sports  —  Activision Blizzard, the publisher of Call of Duty and other hit video game franchises …
James Risley / GeekWire:
Oculus says Rift pre-orders start 8AM PST on January 6, price and ship date unknown  —  Oculus Rift preorders start in less than 48 hours, but price and ship date still a mystery … It's been nearly four years since Oculus wrapped up the Kickstarter campaign for its virtual reality headset, the Rift.
Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:
Yahoo shuts down Yahoo Screen, moves video content to its digital magazines like Yahoo Music  —  Yahoo Shutters Video Service Yahoo Screen (Exclusive)  —  Yahoo has shut down Yahoo Screen, the video hub the beleaguered company launched over two years ago to unite its many original and syndicated programming under one roof.
Johana Bhuiyan / BuzzFeed:
GM invests $500M in Lyft as part of a $1B round at a $5.5B valuation, will work with Lyft on a fleet of on-demand autonomous vehicles within next 10 years  —  Lyft And General Motors Are Partnering To Bring You On-Demand Driverless Cars  —  Silicon Valley companies have given …
Evan Blass / VentureBeat:
Source: waterproof 5.1" Samsung Galaxy S7 and 5.5" S7 edge will come with microSD support, larger 3000 mAh, 3600 mAh batteries, and 12 megapixel f/1.7 cameras  —  Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge will feature microSD, water resistance, and larger batteries  —  EXCLUSIVE:
Ina Fried / Re/code:
Intel buys German drone maker Ascending Technologies  —  Intel Follows Qualcomm Into Drone Business With German Startup Purchase  —  Intel said Monday it is buying German drone maker Ascending Technologies for an undisclosed price, following rival chipmaker Qualcomm's move into the space.
Jeremy Gillula / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
EFF Confirms: T-Mobile's Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Applies Indiscriminately to All Video  —  Back in November, T-Mobile announced a new service for its mobile customers called Binge On, in which video streams from certain websites don't count against customers' data caps.1 …
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Bing Results & Ads Now Live On AOL Search  —  It was announced last year, but now it's official: “Bing powers AOL's web, mobile, and tablet search, providing paid search ads and algorithmic organic search results to AOL's properties worldwide.”  Citing comScore data, Microsoft now says that Bing is behind …
Brent Snavely / Detroit Free Press:
Fiat Chrysler will integrate CarPlay and Android Auto into its Uconnect infotainment system in some models this year  —  FCA's Uconnect to adopt Apple CarPlay, Android Auto  —  Automakers are increasingly rushing to offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in addition to their own proprietary infotainment systems to meet consumer demand.
Brittany A. Roston / SlashGear:
Lenovo expands X1 line with new Yoga convertible, tablet, updated Carbon laptop, standalone monitor, and all-in-one  —  Lenovo's X1 PC line scores new Thinkpads and more  —  Lenovo's popular X1 product lineup is getting a big expansion in coming weeks, not the least of which is the addition of yet another ThinkPad X1 Carbon.

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Earlier Picks

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Sean Portnoy / ZDNet:
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Chris Ziegler / The Verge: