Techmeme
February 15, 2019, 11:30 AM

Top News

Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Sources: the FTC and Facebook are negotiating a record multi-billion dollar fine to settle the agency's investigation into the company's privacy practices  —  The Federal Trade Commission and Facebook are negotiating over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency's investigation …
J. David Goodman / New York Times:
Amazon says it has canceled plans to build HQ2 in New York City, focusing instead on Northern Virginia and Nashville, following backlash  —  Amazon on Thursday canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from lawmakers …
Brad Stone / Bloomberg:
Natt Garun / The Verge:
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
US Copyright Office has refused a copyright claim for the “Carlton Dance”, a potential blow to performers seeking rights to dance emotes in games like Fortnite  —  A government examiner also questioned the submission of the actor's performance on ABC's “Dancing With the Stars,” …
Stefan Etienne / The Verge:
Samsung unveils 10.5-inch Galaxy Tab S5e, its lightest and thinnest tablet and the first with Bixby built-in, starting at $399, launching in the second quarter  —  It's $399 and comes in three “millennial friendly” colors  —  There isn't a single Android tablet we can currently wholeheartedly recommend …
James Vincent / The Verge:
OpenAI says it won't release the dataset behind GPT-2, its new text generator algorithm that can write, translate, and summarize text, due to fears of misuse  —  OpenAI's researchers knew they were on to something when their language modeling program wrote a convincing essay on a topic they disagreed with.
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Samsung's wearables app reveals new products including Galaxy Buds wireless earbuds, the Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch, and Galaxy Fit and Fit e fitness bands  —  An update to Samsung's wearables app has inadvertently revealed an entire lineup of new products that are presumably set to be unveiled alongside the Galaxy S10 next week.
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Samsung to open stores in LA, Houston, and Long Island on February 20, the first US retail stores to be operated by the company  —  Samsung's coming to a mall near you — if you live in California, New York or Texas.  —  The company on Thursday said it plans to open three Samsung Experience Stores …
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Sources: Facebook keeps a “lookout” list of ex-employees and users who made threats against the company, and sometimes uses its products to track their location  —  - Facebook maintains a list of individuals that its security guards must “be on lookout” for that is comprised …
Marco Chown Oved / Toronto Star:
Internal docs show Google's Sidewalk Labs plans expansion in Toronto's Port Lands, seeks share of property taxes, development fees in return  —  Google's futuristic development on the eastern waterfront, Quayside, is only the first step in an expansive and ambitious plan to build new neighbourhoods …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
PBS Lost a Billion Dollars. Now what? With CEO Paula Kerger
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 AM ET, February 15, 2019.

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

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Hugh Son / CNBC:
TechCrunch: