Techmeme
December 11, 2018, 8:30 PM

Top News

Shira Ovide / Bloomberg:
Congress and tech companies are failing the public with hearings that point fingers and duck questions, should instead have talks that work toward solutions  —  Both sides are failing to make tech companies accountable.  —  Here's what I learned from watching Mr. Pichai go to Washington …
Recode:
Recap of Pichai's testimony before Congress, where he said Google had 100+ people working on a Chinese search engine but has no plans to launch it “right now”  —  Here's what we learned when the search giant's CEO answered questions from the House Judiciary Committee.
Joseph Menn / Reuters:
Hardware maker Supermicro says review by an outside investigations firm found no evidence of any malicious chips in its current or older motherboards  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Computer hardware maker Super Micro Computer Inc told customers on Tuesday that an outside investigations firm …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Report: Uber operations manager sent 890-word email to execs with serious concerns about autonomous program just days before an Uber vehicle killed a pedestrian  —  Solutions that could have prevented collision were proposed  —  An 890-word email was sent to Uber's executives …
Scott Moritz / Bloomberg:
Verizon writes down the value of its AOL and Yahoo acquisitions by $4.6B in filing, amid tough competition in the digital advertising industry  —  Verizon Communications Inc. slashed the value of its AOL and Yahoo acquisitions by $4.6 billion, conceding that tough competition for digital advertising …
Ina Fried / Axios:
Abigail Geiger / Pew Research Center:
Pew: one in five US adults say they frequently get their news from social media, surpassing the number who get theirs from print (16%) for the first time  —  Social media sites have surpassed print newspapers as a news source for Americans: One-in-five U.S. adults say they often get news via social media …
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Plaid, which makes tools to let other apps connect to users' bank accounts, raises $250M Series C led by Mary Meeker, source says at a $2.65B valuation  —  - The San Francisco-based company announced its latest $250 million funding round led by venture capital veteran Mary Meeker, who is also joining Plaid's board.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Dell votes to buy back VMware tracking stock and go public again, to trade on NYSE beginning December 28 under the symbol DELL  —  Dell just announced that it has agreed to buy back the VMware tracking stock from the EMC acquisition.  The company confirmed the buy-back price of $120 per share for a total of $23.9 billion.
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Evelyn Berezin, who designed and built the first true word processors around 1970 as the founder and president of Redactron, has died at 93  —  Evelyn Berezin, a computer pioneer who emancipated many a frazzled secretary from the shackles of the typewriter nearly a half-century ago by building …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google to shut down consumer version of Google+ in Apr. 2019 instead of Aug. and retire Google+ APIs within 90 days, after finding API bug impacting ~52.M users  —  After discovering another security issue potentially impacting 52.5 million users, Google today announced that the consumer version …
Kate Clark / TechCrunch:
Sidecar, an early ride-hailing player that shut down in 2015, is suing Uber, alleging that tactics like sending “fraudulent ride requests” were used against it  —  Sidecar, an early player in the ride-hailing business, is suing Uber, claiming the billion-dollar business …

Sponsor Posts

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!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Zoho RPA named a Leader in the 2026 RPA Technology Value Matrix by Nucleus Research  —  Zoho RPA has been named a Leader in the 2026 RPA Technology Value Matrix, published by Nucleus Research …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
SpaceX's IPO Triumph, Anthropic's Fable Fumble, OpenAI's Price War
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.
Access:
A top iPhone app developer reacts to Apple's new Siri
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Hard Fork:
'Hard Fork' Live, Part 1: Satya Nadella and Cindy Cohn
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
TBC's Alex Ksendzovsky: The Neurosurgeon Using Brain Cells To Build Better AI
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
BG2 Pod:
The SpaceX IPO, Fable 5, AI Capex Update & Market Check w/ Gavin Baker, Andrew Fox & Clark Tang
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
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 8:30 PM ET, December 11, 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

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Earlier Picks

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Tom McKay / Gizmodo:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
BBC:
Matthew Hughes / The Next Web: