Techmeme: YouTube says it removed 7.8M+ videos between July and September because they broke community guidelines and deleted 1.6M+ channels and 224M+ comments (Emily Birnbaum/The Hill)

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:

Apple announces a $1B Austin campus initially for 5,000 workers, new offices in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City, and expansions in several other US cities — Apple plans to build a new $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, adding thousands of jobs, while also setting up new large offices in Seattle …

Jason Del Rey / Recode:

Instacart says it will end its partnership with Whole Foods starting in February; source: move is expected to reduce Instacart's revenue by less than 5 percent — Instacart will begin pulling the first group of workers out of Whole Foods locations in February.

More: The Instacart Checkout, TechCrunch, GeekWire, and Business Insider. Tweets: @delrey

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:

The state of technology in 2018: the enterprise market is thriving, and the consumer market is stagnant, dominated by “innovations” from a few large behemoths — This article is a bit of an annual tradition: in mid-December I summarize the state of technology,1 and appropriately enough …

More: Howard Lindzon. Tweets: @parmy and @ldignan

Arielle Pardes / Wired:

Postmates announces Serve, an autonomous rover launching soon in LA, and says it now averages 4M deliveries per month in 550+ cities — HANGING ON THE wall of Postmates' stealth R&D laboratory, there's a framed photo of an iconic scene from Star Wars, Luke Skywalker bent down beside R2D2.

More: Gizmodo, Engadget, VentureBeat, Postmates, The Verge, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Forbes, and The Spoon

Tweets: @mollywood, @nattgarun, @laurengoode, and @wired

Ryan Randazzo / Arizona Republic:

Police in Chandler, AZ have documented 20+ incidents in the past two years where people vandalized Waymo's autonomous vehicles and harassed their test drivers — Police have responded to dozens of calls regarding people threatening and harassing Waymo vans. — CONNECT

More: Telegraph, Fortune, TechSpot, Inquirer, Business Insider, and The Next Web

Tweets: @greglinden and @stevenjhsieh

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Robinhood launches checking and savings accounts in the US with a 3% interest rate and no minimum balance or fees for overdrafts or foreign transactions — Robinhood is undercutting the big banks by forgoing brick-and-mortar branches with its new zero-fee checking and savings account features.

More: CNBC, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Forbes, Fast Company, and Investor's Business Daily

Tweets: @alex, @jonathanzwhite, and @mdudas

Corbin Davenport / Android Police:

Amazon starts selling the Chromecast Ultra and third-gen Chromecast, nearly a year after it promised to sell Chromecast devices again — Amazon pulled the Chromecast from its online store in 2015, after it instated a new rule that only streaming devices that supported Prime Video could be sold.

More: TechCrunch, 9to5Google, Thurrott, Chrome Unboxed, SlashGear, Android Authority, The Verge, Android Beat, MSPoweruser, Engadget, and Ars Technica

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Google Maps adds Lime as a navigation option, with distance to the nearest bike or scooter, estimate for the cost and ride time, starting in 13 cities — Google Maps is always ready to help you get where you're going, and the latest addition to its list of features is a tie …

More: The Keyword, VentureBeat, The Verge, 9to5Google, BGR, MSPoweruser, Android and Me, GeekWire, Mashable, CNET, and Electrek

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

YouTube's annual Rewind video received 10M dislikes in about eight days, overtaking Justin Bieber's Baby to be the most disliked video — Creators help explain why — To say that this year's YouTube Rewind didn't go over well with the YouTube community would be quite an understatement.

More: YouTube, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Post, YouTube, BuzzFeed News, 9to5Google, BBC, Engadget, Mashable, Business Insider, and Neowin

Tweets: @mkbhd, @redletterdave, @youtube, @mkbhd, @loudmouthjulia, @lazarbeamyt, @mkbhd, @darknezzz13, @jazzmynejay, @keemstar, and @maryannmaria7

John Timmer / Ars Technica:

Hands-on with the ECG feature in Apple Watch Series 4: taking an ECG is easy, but old ECG traces can only be viewed on the iPhone, not the watch itself — When Apple introduced the fourth iteration of its smartwatch, the big new selling point wasn't a feature we typically associate with a watch or any sort of smart device.

More: CNBC, 9to5Mac, and Mashable

Amy Gesenhues / Marketing Land:

Facebook says it is rolling out Watch globally on desktop and Facebook Lite and expands availability of Ad Breaks, 15-second in-stream ads, to 14 more markets — Says more than 75 million daily Watch visitors spend, on average, more than 20 minutes on the video platform.

More: Facebook, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Engadget, and The Information

Tweets: @mgsiegler, @mattnavarra, @caseynewton, @caseynewton, and @sarahfrier

See also Mediagazer

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Brave ad-blocking browser moves to Chromium codebase, now supports Chrome extensions but says it won't integrate any Google-based features — Brave replaces ambitious Muon interface and goes full Chromium. Gets 22 percent speed boost in the process. — Privacy-focused browser Brave …

More: gHacks Technology News

Karen Weise / New York Times:

New York's HQ2 proposal shows the types of data Amazon collected: availability of tech experts, real estate sites, outcomes from educational institutions, more — The city and state sent loads of data to Amazon during its search for a new headquarters, offering a peek into the valuable information …

Tweets: @davidgura and @lailalalami

J. David Goodman / New York Times:

How Amazon is trying to quell opposition to its new NYC offices by hiring well-connected lobbyists and taking to the streets to hear residents' concerns

More: BuzzFeed News, The Verge, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Recode, Vox, 6sqft, The Hill, Fortune, PYMNTS.com, CNBC, New York Post, TechCrunch, The Guardian, CNBC, Curbed NY, Gizmodo, Splinter, and The Verge

Tweets: @stevekopack, @ocasio2018, @josheidelson, @ocasio2018, @ddayen, @jdavidgoodman, @jdavidgoodman, @gracerauh, @chrissmithnymag, @elephantjournal, @rwklose, @jdavidgoodman, @jdavidgoodman, and @lmatsakis

Marrian Zhou / CNET:

Amazon rolls out preview of Alexa Guard and announces Alexa security panel that lets users control home security systems from ADT, Ring, Abode, and Scout Alarm — Amazon says Alexa wants to keep your home safe. — On Thursday the company rolled out a preview of Alexa Guard …

More: Amazon Developer Services and VentureBeat

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

South African fintech startup Jumo, which specializes in microloans, savings, and insurance, adds $12.5M to $52M round from September as it expands into Asia — Months after a big round, African fintech startup Jumo has pulled in a fresh $12.5 million to add more fuel for its expansion into Asia Pacific.

More: jumo.world

Joshua Goldman / CNET:

Samsung upgrades its two-in-one Notebook 9 Pen with a new 15-inch option, updated S Pen, and a promise of 15 hours of battery life, coming in 2019 — With its updated Notebook 9 Pen two-in-one laptop, Samsung is targeting creative professionals who want the flexibility of both a laptop …

More: Samsung Global Newsroom, The Verge, The Tech Report, Neowin, TechCrunch, Liliputing, BetaNews, Windows Central, Digital Trends, Engadget, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, and AnandTech

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Google expands its parental control app Family Link to Chromebooks, gives Chromebooks with supervised accounts access to Android apps from the Play store — The kids can now use Android apps — Google has had an app called Family Link for a little over a year now, designed to give parents …

More: 9to5Google and Engadget

Nick Statt / The Verge:

Google begins letting Android users donate to select US nonprofits through the Play Store, with 100% of donations going to the organization

More: The Keyword, Firstpost, The Next Web, SlashGear, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, and 9to5Google

Gillian Brockell / Washington Post:

Tech companies should automatically turn off irrelevant ads based on info users share, such as ads for baby gear when a pregnant person has a stillborn child — Dear Tech Companies: — I know you knew I was pregnant. It's my fault, I just couldn't resist those Instagram hashtags — #30weekspregnant, #babybump.

More: BBC, Telegraph, Silicon Republic, Firstpost, Fossbytes, ZDNet, Pretty 52, Scary Mommy, GeekWire, ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, Big Think, The Independent, The Hill, Slate, BuzzFeed News, BBC, Newser, and CNBC

Tweets: @gbrockell, @robjective, @lookwhatimade, @mboorstein, @gbrockell, and @fizapirani

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Square says Appointments, its service for SMBs like salons to schedule appointments and take payments in advance, will now integrate with Instagram and Google — Square is perhaps better known for its core payments product that allows any merchant to accept card payments through a mobile device.

Eliza Brooke / Vox:

How recommendation sites like the Strategist and Wirecutter maintain readers' trust while earning revenue through affiliate links — Sites like the Strategist, Wirecutter, and BuzzFeed Reviews want to help you find the best of the best. … Say you want to buy a travel mug.

Tweets: @voxdotcom, @columbiajourn, @nishachittal, and @myurow

Kate Clark / TechCrunch:

Online design marketplace Minted, which sells stationery, art, and home decor, raises $208M Series E led by Permira, bringing total raised to $300M — Minted, a company we've been covering on this site for a decade-plus, plans to double down on its wholesale and licensing business …

Daniel Palmer / CoinDesk:

Opera releases its Android browser with a built-in Ethereum wallet, support for crypto collectibles such as CryptoKitties and ethereum-based decentralized apps — Opera has announced the public release of its “Web 3-ready” Android web browser, which notably sports a built-in cryptocurrency wallet.

More: The Next Web, The Verge, NullTX, TechCrunch, ZDNet, CryptoGlobe, and Opera Mobile

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