Techmeme
February 10, 2019, 10:00 PM

Top News

David Pierce / Wall Street Journal:
Hands-on with AR navigation on Google Maps that the company is testing with Local Guides, a group of power users helping Google improve its Maps experience  —  The coming Google Maps augmented-reality navigation feature will look through your phone's camera to figure out where you are and show you where you are going.
Charlie Osborne / ZDNet:
US Army starts deploying FLIR's Black Hornet nano-drones that measure 6.6" across, weigh less than 33 grams, and provide HD photos and live video for soldiers  —  Black Hornets are nano-drones able to perform reconnaissance during combat operations.  —  The US Army aims to give almost …
Tim O'Reilly / Quartz:
Hoffman and Yeh's “Blitzscaling” offers practical advice for startups but presents a lot of revisionist history and ignores the perils of VC-fueled hypergrowth  —  The pursuit of monopoly has led Silicon Valley astray.  —  Look no further than the race between Lyft and Uber to dominate the online ride-hailing market.
Victor Luckerson / The Ringer:
Following major tech scandals, a look at how Stanford University is reevaluating its role in shaping Silicon Valley's future employees and leaders  —  Stanford has established itself as the epicenter of computer science, and a farm system for the tech giants.
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Fitbit launches Inspire, its first fitness tracker available exclusively through its corporate, wellness, health plan, and health systems partners  —  Fitbit has recently introduced a new activity and sleep tracker.  But unlike it's previous devices, this one is only available if your health plan or employer is signed up with Fitbit.
Mark Suster / Both Sides of the Table:
VCs raised $55B in 2018, similar to what was raised in 1999, but most of the increased funding went into growth rounds, which are effectively private IPOs  —  I've heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals.
Andrii Degeler / Tech.eu:
Milan-based automotive e-commerce startup brumbrum, which uses AI to source and price vehicles, raises €20M led by Accel to expand across Europe  —  Milan-based automotive e-commerce startup brumbrum has raised €20 million in a funding round led by Accel, with participation from Bonsai Ventures …
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Spotify's bet on Gimlet and Anchor gives it a foothold into podcasting to apply its listener-monetization skills without worrying about sending money to labels  —  Credit Spotify CEO Daniel Ek with honesty; in a blog post announcing a major move into the podcast space, Ek wrote:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Q&A with Zynga's CEO on the once-beleaguered game company's turnaround, as key acquisitions and the shift to mobile overcome declining Facebook and web games  —  Zynga went public in 2011 and it grew quickly on the strength of social games like FarmVille.  But it hit the skids in 2013, and it began going downhill.

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Earlier Picks

Kashmir Hill / Gizmodo: