Techmeme
November 8, 2018, 9:05 PM

Top News

Sundar Pichai / The Keyword:
Google says it will make arbitration optional for individual sexual harassment claims, provide more info about investigations, expand training, and more  —  At Google we try hard to build a workplace that supports our employees and empowers them to do their best work.
David Gelles / New York Times:
Sundar Pichai on the walkout, company culture, and how, China aside, Google already operates in countries with censorship laws like “right to be forgotten”  —  Growing up in India, he slept on the floor of a house without a refrigerator.  Today, the chief executive …
Google Walkout For Real Change:
Google walkout organizers say Google made progress toward addressing their demands but it must still address systemic racism and discrimination at the company  —  Last week, 20,000 Google employees and TVCs (Temps, Vendors and Contractors) walked out to protest discrimination, racism …
Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
Disney says its new streaming service will be called Disney+ and will launch in the US in late 2019  —  - Disney's new streaming service, Disney+, will be a home for its past titles and original series, including new content from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Portal and Portal+ review: they work great for video calls using Facebook Messenger, but as general purpose smart displays, they lag behind the competition  —  Facebook's video calling device demands lots of trust for little return  —  It's not often that a new gadget gets announced and I don't immediately want to get my hands on it.
Megan Wollerton / CNET:
Davey Alba / BuzzFeed News:
Amazon staff meeting transcript: AWS CEO Andy Jassy defends Rekognition, says it's the government's duty to help specify regulations for facial recognition tech  —  Amazon executives defended the company's controversial facial recognition technology at an all-hands staff meeting on Thursday …
João Carrasqueira / Neowin:
Microsoft says it is working on a fix after a problem with its activation server causes some Windows 10 Pro PCs to deactivate their licenses  —  Some Windows 10 users are having problems with their Pro licenses today, as users on the company's Community Forums and Reddit are reporting …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Amazon makes the Alexa app, previously available on select laptops, available to all Windows 10 users via Microsoft Store  —  Available in the Microsoft Store  —  Amazon is releasing its Alexa app for Windows 10 today.  While the app has been available on select Windows 10 laptops recently …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Xiaomi opens its first UK store in London and rolls out the flagship Mi 8 Pro, alongside other products, as it continues its push into Europe  —  Xiaomi marked its official entry into the U.K. today with the launch of the Mi 8 Pro, a smartphone with a 6.21-inch screen, alongside a range of other products …
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Google hires David Feinberg, CEO of health services organization Geisinger, to lead its health initiatives; sources say he will report to AI head Jeff Dean  —  - Feinberg will work to coordinate health care efforts across many groups, including Google Brain, Nest and Google Fit.
Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:
YouTube finally arrives on the Nintendo Switch, available to download now, following Hulu  —  Nintendo has sold over 22 million Switch consoles since launch, with plans to sell another 20 million this financial year.  —  That said, Nintendo hasn't seemed too focused on building out its portfolio of non-gaming apps.
Dara Kerr / CNET:
Bird unveils a new feature called Community Mode, which lets people report badly parked and damaged scooters to the company  —  Scooter company Bird is looking for tattletales.  —  It unveiled a new feature on Thursday called Community Mode, which lets people report badly parked and damaged scooters to the company.
Tweets: @mcwm.  Thanks:@darakerr
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Interviews with current and former Google staff about its China-related projects reveal tensions between preserving its founding ideals and a desire for growth  —  CEO Sundar Pichai thinks the search engine should be willing to work with Chinese censors.  Will employees go along with the plan?
More: Quartz
Conversations with Tyler:
Eric Schmidt on growing up in Italy, years at Bell Labs, PARC, and Sun, scaling Google, polarization on social platforms, how tech will shape the future, more  —  Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / SoundCloud / RSS  —  The son of an economist, Eric Schmidt eschewed his father's profession …

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Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: