Techmeme
October 21, 2018, 7:35 PM

Top News

Fred Wilson / AVC:
Recent news serves as a reminder that operators in startups and venture capital should work to ensure their investors are not bad actors  —  I got an email from the CEO of one of our portfolio companies last week.  —  It asked a very basic question, but one that I don't recall being asked before:
The Information:
Sources: Facebook is stepping up efforts to buy a major cybersecurity firm and has approached several companies about an acquisition  —  In an effort to repair its tattered reputation around data protection, Facebook is stepping up efforts to acquire a major cybersecurity firm, according to four people familiar with the matter.
New York Times:
Sources: Saudis groomed a Twitter employee to spy on accounts of dissidents; he was investigated and fired in Dec. 2015 after Western intelligence warnings  —  Each morning, Jamal Khashoggi would check his phone to discover what fresh hell had been unleashed while he was sleeping.
Bloomberg:
Source: Plaid, which makes tools that let clients like Venmo, Coinbase authenticate accounts and see user balances, is raising $200M at a valuation of up to $3B  —  Plaid Technologies Inc. is in talks to raise $200 million and the valuation of the deal is rising as venture investors vie to bankroll the startup.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
SoftBank Group COO Marcelo Claure and Arm CEO Simon Segers talk about the present and future of Arm, IoT growth, while trying to dodge Saudi-related questions  —  SoftBank, one of the world's biggest tech companies and startup investors, believes we'll have a trillion connected devices by 2025.
More: CNN
Issie Lapowsky / Wired:
Interview with Brian Amerige, the former Facebook employee whose memo accusing the company of being a political monoculture led to fierce internal debate  —  AT ONE POINT this summer, Brian Amerige seemed destined to become the next James Damore.  —  Like Damore, the Google engineer who wrote …

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.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Introducing Zoho Sign MCP: AI-powered digital signature workflows for business  —  Ever wish you could have your AI agent send a document for signatures and track its progress for you?
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

Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lucas Shaw on Warner Bros' Limbo, Netflix's Anxiety, and Hollywood's Sort-of Comeback [7:09 PM]
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
How China Caught U.S. AI — With Grace Shao
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.
Training Data:
Building the Automated AGI Lab: Core Automation's Jerry Tworek and Rohan Anil
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Tony Xu from DoorDash
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Invest Like the Best:
Sam Altman - How to Make an Abundant Future
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:35 PM ET, October 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

Dami Lee / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:
Washington Post: