Techmeme
May 5, 2017, 1:00 PM

Top News

Peter Kafka / Recode:
Sources: Amazon and Apple close to an agreement to launch Amazon video app on Apple TV; Amazon employees expect the app in Q3  —  Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook bury the hatchet.  —  Amazon and Apple may have reached a truce.  —  The tech giants, who are increasingly competing for customers' time …
Rich McCormick / The Verge:
Microsoft announces a new event on May 23 in Shanghai, confirms new hardware is coming; in a tweet Panos Panay hints at Surface update  —  Microsoft is holding an event this month, the company announced tonight, at which it says it will “show the world what's next.”
Reuters:
Sources: Justice Department opens criminal probe into Uber's use of Greyball software to evade regulators  —  The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a criminal investigation into Uber Technologies Inc's use of a software tool that helped its drivers evade local transportation regulators, two sources familiar with the situation said.
CB Insights:Uber
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Facebook says it is closing Oculus VR film studio, canceling all on-going projects, will invest in VR content produced by outside partners  —  Oculus Story Studio, the award-winning studio behind virtual reality (VR) short films like “Dear Angelica” and “Henry,” is being shut down, Facebook announced Thursday afternoon.
Bloomberg:
YouTube producing a half-dozen original series this year; source says it will spend $100M+ for 40+ ad-supported original shows and movies next year  —  Online service sees opportunity to lure big national sponsors  —  Paid Red service gets budgets matching HBO, Showtime programs
Google Research Blog:
Google details how it uses deep learning, Street View imagery to update Maps; open sources TensorFlow model for image text extraction  —  Posted by Julian Ibarz, Staff Software Engineer, Google Brain Team and Sujoy Banerjee, Product Manager, Ground Truth Team

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Give your projects a “signature” upgrade with the Zoho Sign extension for Zoho Projects  —  Well-orchestrated project management keeps people, priorities, and processes all working in sync toward a shared goal.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
AI Is Upending Law. Is That A Sign For The Rest Of Us? — With Melia Russell
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.
[trading places]:
Ben Black Akkadian Ventures🏆 | Secondaries Secrets 💎 | RAISE Conf 🎯 | Vercel $9B 🚀
a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry hosted by dave mcclure and aman verjee
Subscribe to [trading places].
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Gavin Baker - Nvidia v. Google, Scaling Laws, and the Economics of AI
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:00 PM ET, May 5, 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

Earlier Picks

Mark Scott / New York Times:
Ken Schwencke / ProPublica:
Iain Thomson / The Register: