Techmeme
February 21, 2018, 8:45 AM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt, a key battery ingredient, directly from miners for the first time, amid fears of a shortage  —  iPhone maker one of the largest end users of the metal  —  Cobalt is a key ingredient in mobile phone batteries
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
AT&T picks Atlanta, Dallas, and Waco as the first three cities to get mobile 5G service in 2018  —  AT&T is finally willing to say exactly where you'll see mobile 5G in 2018.  The carrier has confirmed that “parts” of Atlanta, Waco and its home turf of Dallas will adopt the standards-based service …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Uber launches Express Pool, which gives cheaper fares to those willing to walk to shared rides, in SF, DC, LA, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego, Denver, Boston  —  Uber's first new product in three years  —  UberPool has long occupied a weird place in the ride-hailing company's lineup of services.
RedLock Blog:
Hackers infiltrated Tesla Kubernetes consoles that were not password protected, took AWS credentials, began crypto-mining; issue now fixed  —  The Cryptojacking Epidemic  —  A few months ago, the RedLock Cloud Security Intelligence (CSI) team found hundreds of Kubernetes administration consoles accessible …
Kyle Wiggers / xda-developers:
Android P will prevent idle background apps from accessing the camera, according to code changes in the Android Open Source Project  —  Android P, the next major version of Android, could be weeks away from an official unveiling, and although its core user-facing features are still unknown to us …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Google launches AdSense Auto ads that use machine learning to optimize placement and monetization choices  —  Google is today unveiling a new ad unit for AdSense that taps into the company's big push to add more artificial intelligence into its business, and to potentially bring on more publishers …
Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
Security researchers and reporters hesitate to report vulnerabilities fearing defamation lawsuits and other legal action  —  Security researchers and reporters have something in common: both hold the powerful accountable.  But doing so has painted a target on their backs …
Daniel Palmer / CoinDesk:
Report: Venezuela debuts its Petro crypto token in pre-sale, with 82.4M available initially, amid fiat currency's hyperinflation woes and US lawmaker concerns  —  The Venezuelan government has officially launched the pre-sale of its controversial “petro” token, according to a report.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Microsoft adds game sales for over 5,000 titles to Mixer, its Twitch competitor, and will pay streamers 5% for every purchase from their channel  —  Twitch has long since allowed its streamers to generate revenue from their channels through things like subscriptions, virtual tipping and game sales.
New York Times:

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Zoho:
What's new in Zoho Tables with Apple's latest OS updates  —  Your work shouldn't slow you down when you're on the move.With our latest updates for iOS 27, we're bringing more of Apple Intelligence …
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.
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!

Featured Podcasts

Sources:
OpenAI's Dots lead on the future of ChatGPT
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Great Chat:
What does the tech industry owe San Francisco?
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.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
David George from a16z
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Big Technology Podcast:
SAP CEO: AI Won't Kill Software, But It Will Change Your Job — With Christian Klein
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
David Ellison's Paramount-Warner Empire & The Fight That Comes Next
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Noah Shinn - Building Instinct: The Personal Agent
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:45 AM ET, February 21, 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

Earlier Picks

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch: