Techmeme
January 4, 2017, 4:40 PM

Top News

Ev Williams / Medium:
Medium says it's laying off 50 employees, about a third of its staff, and closing its NY and DC offices, as it refocuses on a “less proven” means to pay writers  —  We've decided to make some major changes at Medium.  —  I'll start with the hard part: As of today …
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
With Alexa, Amazon is building the operating system of the home, a strategy that's more evident with each new Alexa-integrated device announcement  —  The concept of an operating system is pretty straightforward: it is a piece of software that manages a computer, making said computer's …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
James Vincent / The Verge:
ASUS unveils 5.5-inch ZenFone 3 Zoom with dual-cameras, 5,000 mAh battery, on sale in February with pricing TBD  —  The phone has less optical zoom than its predecessor, but a a new, impressive 5,000 mAh battery  —  Asus has unveiled the ZenFone 3 Zoom — a successor to the ZenFone Zoom …
More: 9to5Google
New York Times:
Apple removed news apps made by The New York Times from its App Store in China, complying with what it vaguely described as a request from Chinese authorities  —  Apple, complying with what it said was a request from Chinese authorities, removed news apps created by The New York Times from its app store in China late last month.
Tripp Mickle / Wall Street Journal:
Apple confirms $1B investment in SoftBank's $100B technology-focused Vision Fund; SoftBank is investing $25B, and Saudi Arabia's government is investing $45B  —  Apple says fund will support ‘strategically important technologies’  —  Apple Inc. confirmed Wednesday that it plans …
Chuq Von Rospach:
Apple's sloppiness became evident in 2016 with missed ship dates, lack of significant updates, and long delays on refreshes; company needs to realign in 2017  —  This has been the winter of our discontent.  2016 was the year the tone changed.  There's always been a lot of criticism and griping …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Steve Dent / Engadget:
AT&T will conduct 5G technology trials by streaming DirecTV Now service over fixed wireless to some customers in Austin, Texas later this year  —  In a simultaneous test of wireless broadband and net neutrality, AT&T will test its upcoming 5G tech with DirecTV Now video streaming.
Bicycle Retailer and Industry News:
Garmin announces new inReach satellite communications devices, three Fenix 5 smartwatches, and addition of many apps, including Uber, to its Connect IQ Store  —  LAS VEGAS (BRAIN) — Garmin announced several new products in features as the Consumer Electronics Show prepared to open here this week.
Bloomberg:
BMW, Intel, and Mobileye partner to test 40 autonomous vehicles in urban areas starting in second half of 2017, with aim of fully autonomous cars by 2021  —  40 test sedans to operate in cities in U.S. and Europe  —  BMW, Mobileye urge industry alignment on common architecture

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.
Zoho:
Meet Zoho Social MCP: Your AI assistant can now help run social media  —  Social media management has come a long way from simply publishing posts.Today, marketers are expected to create content …
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

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Getting the Snack Right', With Chance Miller
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.
Grit:
Booking.com CEO on AI and the Future of Travel
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Acquired:
Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
Lenny's Podcast:
The playbook for building high talent density teams | Adam Ward, Head of Talent at Cursor
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Demis Steps Down, Apple's Memory Problem, Microsoft's Clever Trick
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.
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 4:40 PM ET, January 4, 2017.

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

Heather Caygle / Politico:

Earlier Picks

Dong Ngo / CNET:
Shawn Knight / TechSpot: