Techmeme
August 16, 2018, 12:25 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Amazon is in talks to acquire Landmark Theatres, the indie-focused chain that operates 50+ theaters in the US, backed by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner  —  - Move would mark latest incursion into brick-and-mortar world  — The indie-focused chain operates more than 50 theaters
Zach Dorfman / Foreign Policy:
Current and former US officials say CIA's communication system used for sources in China was compromised, leading to China executing ~30 US spies from 2010-2012  —  The number of informants executed in the debacle is higher than initially thought.  —  It was considered one of the CIA's worst failures …
Washington Post:
Jack Dorsey says Twitter is considering promoting alternative viewpoints in timeline, labeling bots, and redesigning the like button and follower count display  —  Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said he is rethinking core parts of the social media platform so that it doesn't enable …
Alyssa Newcomb / NBC News:
Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: President Trump has reversed classified Obama-era rules governing use of cyberweapons in an effort to loosen restrictions on such operations  —  It isn't clear what rules the president is adopting to replace the existing ones  —  President Trump has reversed an Obama-era memorandum governing …
Bloomberg:
Tencent's recent profit drop and China's freeze on game approvals shows the downsides of government patronage  —  - ‘If it can happen to Tencent, it can happen to anyone.’  — Internet giant has lost more than $170 billion in market cap  —  China long celebrated Tencent Holdings Ltd. as a national champion.
Issie Lapowsky / Wired:
A look at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Research Lab and its partnership with Facebook as it works to spot the origins of online disinformation  —  IN LATE JULY, a group of high-ranking Facebook executives organized an emergency conference call with reporters across the country.
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Uber's Q2 2018 financials: revenue rose 51% YoY to $2.7B as adjusted EBITDA losses widened to $404M, up from $304M in Q1; gross bookings rose 41% YoY to $12B  —  While Uber isn't required to disclose its financial results, Uber has done so for past few quarters as it gears up to go public next year.
Jeffrey Van Camp / Wired:
Interview with Sonos Chief Product Officer Nick Millington, who's named on 69 of its patents, on the company's early days, evolution, and future  —  NICK MILLINGTON HAD just started to feel like a successful software engineer.  It was early 2003, and at age 26 he already had a fruitful career at Microsoft.
More: socalTECH.comTweets: @johnlmacfarlane
John Herrman / New York Times:
Unlike smaller web forums, centrally run social media platforms like Twitter are just too big to nurture healthy online communities  —  In late July, President Trump aimed his Twitter account at the platform itself: “Twitter ‘SHADOW BANNING’ prominent Republicans,” he wrote.  “Not good.”
David Gorman / The Irish Times:
Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave withdraws invitation to French far right politician Marine Le Pen after having defended it in a Medium post  —  Web Summit founder rows back on Le Pen invitation ‘based on advice’  —  Updated:  —  Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave has rescinded an invitation …
Christopher Bing / Reuters:
DHS says 36 of 50 US states have installed third-party hardware to let the federal government monitor voting systems ahead of the midterms to prevent hacking  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A majority of U.S. states has adopted technology that allows the federal government to see inside state …

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More News

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Thomas Fox-Brewster / Forbes:
Nikkei:

Earlier Picks

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Gregory Barber / Wired:
Andy Kroll / Rolling Stone: