Techmeme
January 4, 2019, 1:35 PM

Top News

M.G. Siegler / 500ish Words:
As the law of large numbers catches up with Apple, it faces a rocky but pivotal year where it needs to transition into a services company earlier than planned  —  Yesterday's updated guidance wasn't just about China...  The results are in.  Actually, they're not in.  And that was a major problem yesterday for Apple.
Wall Street Journal:
A pullback in spending by Chinese consumers is taking a toll on electronics makers like Apple, e-commerce companies like Alibaba, and other sectors  —  Buyers are deferring major or discretionary purchases, their confidence dented by a shaky economy and trade fight with U.S.
Tim Cook / Apple:
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Bloomberg:
Hackers dump private info of Angela Merkel and hundreds of other German politicians including email addresses, phone numbers, and personal chat transcripts  —  - Leak includes emails, chat transcripts, photos, phone numbers  — Hack is ‘elaborate’ social-engineering attack, IT expert says
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
PepsiCo says it will roll out a fleet of snack-carrying robots called “snackbots” to deliver snacks and beverages on University of the Pacific's campus in CA  —  Order on the app, pick up around campus  —  Today, PepsiCo announced that it will be rolling out a fleet …
Wall Street Journal:
Marriott says a total of 383M records were stolen in its hack, less than the initial estimate of 500M, but 5M+ unencrypted passport numbers were accessed  —  Hotel chain says fewer total customers were affected than initially feared but analysts warn data could be intelligence trove
New York Times:
Los Angeles sues the company behind the Weather Channel app, which is owned by IBM, for slyly using location data for commercial purposes  —  The Weather Channel app deceptively collected, shared and profited from the location information of millions of American consumers …
Sijia Jiang / Reuters:
Internal memo shows that Huawei demoted two employees and cut their monthly pay for using an iPhone to send New Year greetings from its official Twitter account  —  HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] has punished two employees for New Year greetings sent …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Sophia Genetics, developer of AI based SaaS platform for genomic diagnostics, raises $77M Series E, bringing its total raised to $140M  —  Another sizeable cash injection for big data biotech: Sophia Genetics has announced a $77M Series E funding round, bringing its total raised to $140M since the business was founded back in 2011.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon debuts Showroom, a visual design tool that allows users to place furniture into a virtual living room, customize the décor, and then shop the look  —  Amazon just over a year ago launched its first in-home furniture brands, with private labels Rivet and Stone & Beam.
More: GeekWire
Kate Clark / TechCrunch:
Square hires Blizzard Entertainment's Amrita Ahuja as CFO three months after long-time CFO Sarah Friar exited for the CEO job at Nextdoor  —  Founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey says Square has poached Amrita Ahuja from Blizzard Entertainment, a division of the gaming company Activision Blizzard …

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More News

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Makena Kelly / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Brady Dale / CoinDesk: