Techmeme
December 27, 2017, 10:00 AM

Top News

Amazon.com:
During record-breaking holiday, Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa remote were #1 and #2 top sellers with “tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices” sold  —  Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were the #1 and #2 top-selling products across all categories on Amazon
Chris Hamby / BuzzFeed:
Sources: Safran, which sells fingerprint-analysis software used by FBI, 18K+ US law enforcement agencies, didn't disclose some code was from Kremlin-linked firm  —  In a secret deal, a French company purchased code from a Kremlin-connected firm, incorporated it into its own software …
Washington Post:
Samuel Axon / Ars Technica:
iPhone X's Face ID inexplicably can't approve family purchases as Touch ID could, requiring users to enter their passwords  —  Touch ID could be used before, but iPhone X owners must enter their passwords.  —  iPhone X owners have found that Face ID isn't available as an authentication method for the …
Rick Webb / NewCo Shift:
The vision of internet pioneers that a globally connected, transparent world with free access to information is inevitably good turned out to be wrong  —  I'm sorry I was wrong.  We all were.  Last night, as I was falling asleep after a lovely Christmas, a thought popped into my head.
Lizzie Plaugic / The Verge:
US Library of Congress will no longer archive the text of every tweet, will instead archive tweets on a “very selective basis”; the archive has yet to go online  —  The Library of Congress just announced some changes to its long-running plan to archive all of Twitter.
Dave Smith / Business Insider:
HQ Trivia arrives on Android in limited beta and says its goal is full availability by January 1  —  - The app's makers say they are working to get HQ Trivia in the hands of all Android users on January 1, 2018.  —  HQ Trivia, the hottest iPhone game of 2017, previously said it would release an Android version in time for Christmas.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
WhatsApp will drop BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone support on December 31  —  WhatsApp has detailed its plans for older mobile operating systems, with less than a week before the end of the year.  The Facebook-owned app will end support for BlackBerry OS (including BlackBerry 10) and Windows Phone 8.0 (and older) on December 31, 2017.
Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Uber to sell US subprime auto-leasing business, Xchange Leasing, to car marketplace Fair.com; net book value of Xchange's 30K+ vehicles was ~$400M  —  Ride-hailing firm had planned to wind down the business after losses  —  Uber Technologies Inc. has agreed to sell …
Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
Sources: Amazon plans to expand ad offerings in 2018, especially on search and video products, and increase off platform ad sales, with ad tech firms like Kargo  —  - It also has plans to increase advertising sales off its platform, including partnering with third-party technology companies to sell partnered TV and mobile ads.

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI that works  —  Tribe builds tech for top AI companies.  Get in touch to learn how our bench of 500+ engineers and researchers can accelerate your roadmap.
Kulkan Security:
Hire Kulkan as your penetration testing partner  —  Kulkan prioritizes deep-dive manual security reviews, dissecting your software and infrastructure to find issues that once remediated can truly reduce security risk.
Zoho:
Navigating the workday with Zoho Cliq's task management capabilities  —  As Monday dawns and I settle into my workday with a steaming cup of coffee, I brace myself for the usual storm of tasks headed my way.
Mastodon:
Donate to Mastodon  —  Mastodon gGmbH, the non-profit behind the open-source software powering the social web, relies entirely on support from users like you.  Donate directly with a credit card or through Patreon.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Magatte Wade, Unlocking Prosperity in Africa (#53)
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Tue. 04/16 - What Should An AI Wearable Be: AI Pin Or Limitless Pendant?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:00 AM ET, December 27, 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