Techmeme
December 13, 2017, 5:35 PM

Top News

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
T-Mobile is acquiring Denver-based TV tech company Layer3 TV and says it will launch its own wireless TV service to compete with Comcast, others, in 2018  —  T-Mobile says it will launch its own TV service in 2018, expanding its competitive focus beyond the U.S. wireless giants to target major cable …
Josh Lipton / CNBC:
Apple awards $390M from its $1B Advanced Manufacturing Fund to Finisar, which makes laser chips used in iPhone X and AirPods for depth and proximity sensing  —  - Apple is investing $390 million into Finisar, which makes chips used by Apple products for depth and proximity sensing.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Patreon CEO Jack Conte says the company will “press pause” on planned change to service fee for each pledge, set to start Dec. 18, after uproar from creators  —  Patreon has called off plans to add a service fee to patrons' pledges, a proposed update that angered many users.
Nate Raymond / Reuters:
Unsealed court documents show three men have plead guilty to creating the 2016 Mirai botnet that disrupted access to major internet platforms  —  (Reuters) - A former Rutgers University student and two other men have agreed to plead guilty to computer crimes related to the creation and use …
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
Target says it plans to acquire grocery delivery platform Shipt for $550M in cash and will run it as independent unit; Shipt has 170 staff and has raised $65M  —  Target will offer same-day delivery from half of its stores by summer.  —  Another domino just fell in the wake of the Amazon-Whole Foods acquisition.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google says it's bringing Assistant to tablets running Android 6.0+ and phones running Android 5.0+ in US, UK, India, Australia, and elsewhere  —  The Google Assistant, Google's take on Siri, Cortana and Alexa without the approachable name, has long been available on most modern phones and tablets.
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Google says it's opening an artificial intelligence research center in Beijing, its first in China  —  Google has officially announced that it is opening an AI center in Beijing, China.  —  The confirmation comes after months of speculation fueled by a major push to hire AI talent inside the country.
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: Facebook plans to end program that paid ~300 publishers and other content creators to produce videos for News Feed  —  Multiple publisher sources said Facebook no longer plans to pay publishers and other video makers to produce videos for the news feed.
Kim Willsher / The Guardian:
French government moves to ban smartphone use in primary, junior, and middle schools, affecting children age 6-15, starting in September 2018  —  Pupils, teachers and parents seem less than convinced by measure prohibiting use in primary, junior and middle schools
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Johana Bhuiyan / Recode:
Uber says its head of driver product, Aaron Schildkrout, is leaving the company after three years, as the firm concludes its 180-day driver improvement campaign  —  Aaron Schildkrout joined Uber in 2015.  —  Uber's head of driver product, Aaron Schildkrout, is leaving the company after three years.
Tweets: @ericnewcomer
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Location-based VR firm Dreamscape Immersive raises $10M more to bring Series B total to $30M; Nickelodeon invests, will let its IP be used in new VR experience  —  Dreamscape Immersive, the location-based virtual reality (VR) startup headed by Disney and DreamWorks veterans …
More: The Wrap
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Techstars partners with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and its chat app Viber on three-month Asia-based accelerator focused on mobile chat and related areas  —  Techstars is bringing its global accelerator program to Asia for the first time in partnership with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and its chat app Viber.
More: Techstars
Jeff Benjamin / 9to5Mac:
Apple iMac Pro in 8-core and 10-core variants will be available to order on December 14, starting at $4,999; 14-core and 18-core models are coming later  —  Apple's pro-oriented all-in-one desktop, the iMac Pro, is set to launch this Thursday on December 14, 2017.
Kif Leswing / Business Insider:

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