Techmeme
January 18, 2018, 11:30 PM

Top News

Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Sources: Snap laid off about 24 people across 8 teams, mostly in the content unit that curates users' videos; some staff were asked to relocate to Los Angeles  —  Snapchat parent Snap Inc. laid off roughly two dozen people across 8 different teams on Thursday, people familiar with the matter told Cheddar.
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
US Senate votes 65 to 34 to reauthorize Section 702 FISA surveillance program through 2023; bill now goes to Trump to sign  —  The Senate has voted to reauthorize a controversial legal authority that enables vast government surveillance programs, including spying operations used by the NSA.
Valentina Palladino / Ars Technica:
Twitch debuts Video Producer that lets creators pre-record, post-produce, rerun videos; brings in four of YouTube's popular gamers to create exclusive content  —  Four of YouTube's most popular gamers will produce “exclusive” Twitch content.  —  The Amazon-owned video site Twitch announced it's introducing …
Bloomberg:
A behind-the-scenes look at Travis Kalanick's fall at Uber: from Susan Fowler's blog post and Waymo's lawsuit to the fight with Benchmark Capital's Bill Gurley  —  Silicon Valley CEOs are supposed to be sacrosanct.  So how did it all go wrong at Uber?  —  A year ago, before the investor lawsuits …
Leslie Hook / Financial Times:
Uber's $8.8B deal with SoftBank closes; new board member Rajeev Misra says Uber should return focus to US, Europe, Latin America, Australia to become profitable  —  Uber's largest shareholder has called for the car-booking company to focus on recovering market share in the US and growing …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Spotify partners with eight firms, including Buzzfeed, to launch Spotlight, an initiative offering news and political programming, as it vies for radio revenue  —  Eight companies will supply coverage of news, sports, culture  —  Studio head wants ‘content that can be seen and listened to’
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp officially launches its free Android app for businesses in the US, UK, Mexico, Italy, and Indonesia, rolling out globally in the coming weeks  —  WhatsApp today officially launched its new WhatsApp Business app in select markets, including Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., ahead of its planned worldwide rollout.
Raphael Satter / Associated Press:
Researchers find hundreds of gigabytes of files online outlining Lebanon-linked effort to gain passwords and eavesdrop via bogus websites and malicious apps  —  LONDON (AP) — A major hacking operation tied to Lebanon's main intelligence agency has been exposed after careless spies left hundreds …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple says it will fix a flaw that crashes Messages app on iOS upon receipt of a malicious link in an update next week  —  A software update coming next week will fix an issue that allows a malicious link to freeze the Messages app on the iPhone and iPad, Apple confirmed to MacRumors this morning.
Iain Thomson / The Register:
Google software engineer Grzegorz Milka says in conference presentation that under 10% of active Gmail users have two-factor authentication enabled  —  Your daily dose of digital depression  —  Usenix Enigma It has been nearly seven years since Google introduced two-factor authentication …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon narrows HQ2 search to 20 cities from 238 proposals, 19 in the US and Toronto in Canada, and says it expects to make a decision in 2018  —  Amazon has selected 20 cities to move to the next phase in its HQ2 selection process, the latest twist in an unprecedented headquarters search that has turned into a national curiosity.

Sponsor Posts

Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Soxton:
AI-powered 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!
Zoho:
Why now: Building cloud infrastructure that the UAE can rely on  —  For years, the main question in the UAE was whether organizations should adopt cloud technology.  Today, cloud adoption is no longer up for debate.
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

Lenny's Podcast:
"Engineers are becoming sorcerers" | The future of software development with OpenAI's Sherwin Wu
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.
Cheeky Pint:
Ben Thompson from Stratechery on AI ads, the end of SaaS, and the future of media
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
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.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Billionaire Button w/ Tim Wu
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Great Chat:
No one won the AI Bowl
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Who's Winning The AI Race? + Software's Future — With Sridhar Ramaswamy
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 PM ET, January 18, 2018.

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

Michael Moritz / Financial Times:

Earlier Picks

Mariella Moon / Engadget: