Techmeme
January 5, 2017, 5:40 AM

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 …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Nvidia debuts $200 4K Shield TV with built in Google Assistant, and Nvidia Spot, a mic device to offer always-on listening, coming later this year for $50  —  Nvidia has a new Shield streaming device that has 4K streaming capability, with built-in streaming support for 4K content via Netflix and other services.
Rich McCormick / The Verge:
Nvidia announces GeForce Now, a cloud-based game streaming service, is coming to Macs and PCs in March priced from $25 for 20 hours of play  —  Nvidia's GeForce Now video game streaming service, previously exclusive to its own Android-based Shield devices, is coming to PC and Mac.
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.
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 …
Sascha Prueter / Google:
Google Assistant coming to TVs running Android 6.0+ in “coming months”, and to Android Wear 2.0 and Android-powered in-car infotainment systems “over time”  —  When we announced the Google Assistant, we said that we wanted to help you get things done across a number of different places, contexts and situations.
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 …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget:
Samsung debuts two stylus-enabled 12.3" Chromebooks that run Android apps: ARM-based Plus, shipping in Feb. for $449, and Intel-based Pro, coming in Spring  —  Late last year, I lamented that Google didn't make Chromebooks a priority over the holiday season.
Jake Smith / ZDNet:
Huawei to start selling its 5.9-inch Mate 9 in the US on January 6 for $600 unlocked  —  Following Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 debacle, Huawei looks to please “phablet” smartphone fans with the Mate 9 in the US.  —  Huawei will launch its monstrous, 5.9-inch Huawei Mate 9 in the US starting January 6 …
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
HTC announces TPCast, an add-on that makes Vive wireless, available Q2 for $249, and unveils Vive Tracker, a device that lets devs track objects in VR, more  —  After living through the VR frenzy of 2016, it's almost hard to believe that HTC's Vive Pre debuted at CES just a year ago.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Vine app to shutter January 17, will be replaced with Vine Camera app; users can download their Vines before shutdown date  —  Back in October, Twitter announced that it was shutting down the popular 6-second video sharing service Vine.  After outcry from users, however …
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 …

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Heather Caygle / Politico: