Techmeme
January 9, 2018, 4:40 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft halts AMD Meltdown and Spectre patches after reports of some AMD PCs becoming unbootable after installing recent updates  —  Microsoft blames AMD's documentation  —  Microsoft has paused distributing its Meltdown and Spectre security updates for AMD machines after reports of PCs not booting.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft on Spectre updates' speed impact: “single-digit slowdowns” on new PCs, big effect on PCs with Haswell/older chips and servers with I/O-intensive work  —  It's bad news for older Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines  —  Microsoft is taking the surprise step of detailing …
Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Sources: Facebook plans to unveil Portal, an Echo Show-like video chat device with a screen and camera, at F8 in May and ship it in second half of 2018 for $499  —  Facebook is about to jump into the consumer hardware business in a big way with a video chat device named “Portal,” …
Taylor Lorenz / The Daily Beast:
Leaked Snapchat DAU metrics from April to September 2017 show Snapchat is used mainly as a chat app, with Snap Maps' usage trailing off to ~19M since launch  —  Snapchat takes its secrecy seriously.  Very, very seriously.  —  Take the case of one former Snapchat employee.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Assistant is coming to smart speakers from a variety of companies this summer, including speakers with displays from JBL, Lenovo, LG, and Sony  —  Google Assistant is coming to a ton of speakers, some with their own screens  —  If Google's gigantic “Hey Google” …
David Pierce / Wired:
Inside Amazon's Alexa Voice Services division, which makes hardware and software development kits that help manufacturers build Alexa-enabled products  —  WHEN IT FIRST launched in 2014, Amazon's Alexa voice assistant was little more than an experiment.  It appeared first inside the Echo …
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
Wi-Fi Alliance unveils WPA3, a new set of security standards to address weak points of open Wi-Fi networks, expects it in devices this year  —  Finally, a security reprieve for open Wi-Fi hotspot users.  —  At last, Wi-Fi security — or lack of — is about to get its day in the sun.
Corinne Reichert / ZDNet:
At CES keynote, Intel CEO claims major breakthrough with new 49-qubit quantum computing chip, showcases Loihi “neuromorphic” chip, reveals VR partnerships, more  —  Intel's CES 2018 keynote focused on its 49-qubit quantum computing chip, VR applications for content …
Michelle Robbins / Search Engine Land:
Google announces that Google AMP cache will display publisher URLs and drop the Google AMP URL prefix in search results, starting in the second half of 2018  —  Google announced today that it is well on its way to solving one of the most annoying (to publishers) “features” of AMP …
Jeremy Herron / Bloomberg:
Kodak's stock spiked as much as 77% on its announcement to launch KODAKcoin, “a photocentric cryptocurrency” for better image rights management  —  Kodak's latest moment has it joining the cryptocurrency frenzy.  —  Shares in Eastman Kodak Co. jumped as much as 77 percent …
Nicole Lee / Engadget:
Lenovo unveils Mirage Solo, its first Google WorldSense VR headset, which has dual mics, 2560x1440 screen, Snapdragon 835, 4GB RAM, ships Q2 for “under $400”  —  Last year, Google announced that it would be making standalone Daydream headsets with the help of HTC and Lenovo.
More: The Verge
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Ripple countersues bank consortium R3, claiming R3's option contract for roughly 10% of the total supply of XRP, now worth ~$12B, was signed in bad faith  —  In the summer of 2016, Ripple's former CEO Chris Larsen made a fateful decision: he signed a deal with a bank consortium R3 …
Reuters:
Trump signs executive order that lets companies more easily build broadband infrastructure on federal land and buildings, in effort to improve rural broadband  —  U.S. President Donald Trump was expected on Monday to sign an executive order to make it easier for the private sector …
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Data governance startup Collibra raises $58M Series D led by Iconiq and Battery Ventures, a year after its $50M Series C round  —  Collibra, a company that wants to help firms understand data governance, announced a $58 million Series D funding round today led by Iconiq Capital and Battery Ventures.

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Earlier Picks

Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Alex Cranz / Gizmodo:
Thuy Ong / The Verge:
Reuters: