Techmeme
December 7, 2016, 12:00 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky to rejoin Y Combinator as partner; Fitbit has sent job offers to 40% of Pebble staff  —  Pebble CEO Migicovsky said planning to join Y Combinator  —  Fitbit Inc., the fitness band maker, is close to buying software assets from struggling smartwatch startup …
Lauren Goode / The Verge:
Fitbit confirms Pebble software assets acquisition; Pebble is shutting down, cancels Pebble Time 2 and Core, and will issue Kickstarter refunds  —  Wearables are in a precarious state  —  Digital health and fitness-tracking company Fitbit has just officially announced that it is buying key assets …
Bloomberg:
SoftBank CEO meets with Trump, says firm will invest $50B, create 50K jobs in US; source says money to come from SoftBank's previously announced $100B tech fund  —  President-elect says investment will create 50,000 jobs  —  Son was thwarted in attempts to merge Sprint with T-Mobile
Jethro Mullen / CNNMoney:
Foxconn confirms discussions with US officials about investment to expand US operations, says details will be announced when talks conclude  —  One of Apple's biggest suppliers is in talks to invest in the United States.  —  Taiwan-based Foxconn is a giant contract manufacturer that plays …
Shirley Halperin / Billboard:
Apple says Music now has 20M+ paying subscribers, up 15% from 17M in September  —  Eddy Cue and Zane Lowe on exclusives and why their service rules hip-hop.  —  Apple has released the latest numbers for the music subscription service Apple Music.  In the 18 months since the service was launched …
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Jack Dorsey announces Square's virtual payment cards now work with Apple Pay  —  Square Cash is expanding again.  —  Back in September, Square rolled out virtual payment cards: Digital debit cards that pull directly from a user's Square Cash account.  —  Now those payment cards work with Apple Pay.
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Kantar: iPhone market share up 7 percentage points to 40.5% in US, likely due to Samsung Galaxy Note7 troubles  —  Missing headphone jack is apparently a ‘non-issue’ for Americans  —  The US smartphone market is dominated by two big brands, Apple and Samsung, and when one of them flubs its lines …
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget:
Pandora unveils its on-demand, personalized music streaming service Premium, with launch expected in Q1 2017  —  That Pandora was planning to launch a full fledged Spotify competitor was no secret.  The company said as much last year when it bought the ashes of Rdio, which had filed for bankruptcy.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Glassdoor: Facebook dethrones Airbnb as the best tech company to work for in the U.S.  —  Career website Glassdoor today released its ninth annual Employees' Choice Awards, a list of the 50 best companies to work for in the coming year.  Facebook was crowned as the number one tech company to work for in 2017, displacing Airbnb.

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Earlier Picks

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Lawrence Hurley / Reuters: