Techmeme
May 15, 2018, 7:25 AM

Top News

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google revamps consumer storage plans, now called Google One, adds $3/mo. tier for 200 GB, drops 2 TB plan price to $10/mo., and adds free product tech support  —  Google is revamping its consumer storage plans today by adding a new $2.99/month tier for 200 GB of storage and dropping the price …
New Scientist:
Investigation: data collected by Facebook quiz myPersonality was shared with researchers over insecure site, leaving 3M+ users' details vulnerable for 4 years  —  Data from millions of Facebook users who used a popular personality app, including their answers to intimate questionnaires …
Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
Amazon says it is disappointed after Seattle passes smaller “head tax” on large companies to build affordable housing, resumes work on Block 18 office building  —  Updated below with Amazon statement.  —  The Seattle City Council unanimously passed a smaller version of the controversial …
Kate Conger / Gizmodo:
Sources: about a dozen Google employees resign in protest over the firm's continued involvement in providing image classification AI to Pentagon's Project Maven  —  It's been nearly three months since many Google employees—and the public—learned about the company's decision …
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
As SCOTUS kills law that banned gambling on sports in most states, media firms with exposure to sports streaming events, including online betting firms, win big  —  Whoever had the over on DraftKings' boss Jason Robins and FanDuel chief executive Matt King being given a potential billion dollar windfall …
Lily Katz / Bloomberg:
At CoinDesk's Consensus crypto conference in NYC, with 100+ sponsors, Lamborghinis cruise the streets and gimmicks include staged protests by mock bankers  —  John Nouri makes a living renting out exotic cars for weddings, birthdays, bachelorette parties, and now ... Bitcoin conferences?
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Ripple announces the Xpring initiative, which aims to incentivize startups, through investments, grants, and incubation, into building an ecosystem around XRP  —  It's finally happening.  Ripple is making a push to expand the use of the XRP cryptocurrency it created into new verticals …
Hannah Kuchler / Financial Times:
How Eventbrite, a major ticketing and event management platform, grew its business through many acquisitions, including last year's $200M Ticketfly acquisition  —  Julia Hartz knows that when you buy companies, you buy people.  Founders must be kept, employees embraced and customers comforted.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos says ~85% of new spending to go toward original content, plans to have about 1,000 originals total by the end of 2018  —  Netflix is sharply steering its new content spending toward original projects, with around 85% of new spending going toward original TV shows …
Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Tesla engineers discussed adding eye tracking and better sensors to Autopilot to help alert drivers, were rejected over tech's ineffectiveness and cost  —  Executives rejected adding more tech warnings to inattentive drivers, due to concerns over effectiveness and costs
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Uber will no longer require mandatory arbitration for individual claims of sexual assault or harassment by riders, drivers, or employees  —  In a surprise move, Uber said on Tuesday it is changing its long-standing policy of mandatory arbitration to exempt employees, drivers, and riders in cases of sexual harassment and assault.
More: Bloomberg, Recode, and Reuters
Vindu Goel / New York Times:
How WhatsApp is being used to spread misinformation, share fake polls, and exacerbate religious divides ahead of national elections in India  —  MANGALORE, India — Waving a giant saffron flag, Pranav Bhat last week joined a political rally for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India's ruling party …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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.
Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
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.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
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:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
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 7:25 AM ET, May 15, 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

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: