Techmeme
December 18, 2017, 8:20 AM

Top News

Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook is clamping down on “engagement bait”, posts that ask people for Likes or shares, by demoting them in the News Feed  —  Facebook has identified a new kind of spam: Engagement baiting.  —  Facebook is cracking down on a new type of clickbait: Posts that ask people …
Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
Inside the investigation led by the FBI to identify key perpetrators behind the Mirai Botnet, which was created initially to DDoS Minecraft servers  —  THE MOST DRAMATIC cybersecurity story of 2016 came to a quiet conclusion Friday in an Anchorage courtroom, as three young American computer …
Matthew Hughes / The Next Web:
Opera Software rebrands to Otello Corporation after selling its browser business to a group of Chinese investors in 2016  —  Reuters is reporting that Opera Software ASA — the Norwegian company best known for its web browser — is rebranding to Otello Corporation.
More: Reuters
Benedict Evans:
How Amazon's decentralized operating structure and small, independent teams that use common internal systems, are integral to the company's unending scalability  —  When you look at large manufacturing companies, it becomes very clear that the machine that makes the machine is just as important as the machine itself.
Mike Murphy / Quartz:
The number of AmazonBasics products available on Amazon.com grew from about 250 products in June 2013 to over 1,500 products now, according to Internet Archive  —  Amazon launched a house brand, called AmazonBasics, in 2009.  It was originally a way for Amazon to sell low-cost …
Reuters:
France files complaint against Amazon seeking a fine of €10M for abusing its dominant position with some suppliers  —  PARIS (Reuters) - The French government has filed a complaint with the Paris Commerce Court against e-commerce company Amazon for abusing its dominant position with some suppliers …
More: TechCrunch
Axios:
Source: Amazon in advanced talks to acquire Sqrrl, a startup that analyzes big data to detect cybersecurity threats; Sqrrl has raised nearly $30M in VC funding  —  Amazon is in advanced talks to acquire Sqrrl, a Massachusetts-based cybersecurity software company whose founders used to work for the NSA, Axios has learned.
Erin Griffith / Wired:
Behind Fitbit's gradual pivot toward personal medical devices via its b2b arm, Health Solutions, as revenue declines and competition from Apple Watch rises  —  FITBIT SPENT ITS first decade selling activity trackers.  With its latest moves, the company is starting to look less …
More: diginomica

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Zoho Mail MCP: Make your inbox work for you  —  Maya is the head of operations at a 500-person B2B software company.  She's sharp, she's busy, and she starts every morning the same way-with her coffee, laptop, inbox.Not to work.
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

Grit:
Airwallex's Jack Zhang on Fintech, Failure, and Growth
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
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.
Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI Codex lead on the new shape of product work | Andrew Ambrosino
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:
Anthropic's Mythos is Back, OpenAI Releases GPT 5.6, Apple's Price Increases
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.
Hard Fork:
'The Daily' and 'The Opinions': How A.I. Is Changing Loneliness and Taste
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Writer's May Habib: Building AI Tools For Corporate 'Normal People' The Labs Leave Behind
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:20 AM ET, December 18, 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

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Kate Conger / Gizmodo: