Techmeme
February 15, 2019, 5:55 PM

Top News

Brad Stone / Bloomberg:
After Amazon misread New York's politics, pulling out was a typical Bezos power play of belligerently confronting opposition he views as unfair or unjust  —  In retrospect, the helipad was probably a bad idea.  —  The proposed transportation hub for senior Amazon executives was supposed …
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 …
More: New York Times, The Guardian, Recode, NBC News, The Amazon Blog, Financial Times, CNBC, GeekWire, CNET, Wall Street Journal, CNET, Business Insider, The Atlantic, Continuations, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Gothamist, Bloomberg, Curbed NY, PYMNTS.com, Telecoms.com, Fortune, New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, The Intercept, Axios, Axios, Hit & Run, AOL, Mashable, Silicon Republic, Haystack.vc, Inquirer, Wired, Pocketables, Geek.com, Reuters, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Tangentialism is David Yee, CNBC, eWeek, and Reuters
Bloomberg:
Matthew Gardner / ITEP:
Amazon has made $11.2B in profits in 2018 but will pay no federal income tax and will receive a rebate of $129M due to unspecified tax credits  —  Amazon, the ubiquitous purveyor of two-day delivery of just about everything, nearly doubled its profits to $11.2 billion in 2018 from $5.6 billion …
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Uber reports Q4 revenue of $3B, up 24% YoY, gross bookings of $14.2B, up 37% YoY, and adjusted EBITDA losses of $842M, up 88% YoY and 60% QoQ  —  Uber on Friday released its latest quarterly financials, likely its last before formally filing to go public. showing continued growth and investment in areas like UberEats.
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 …
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,” …
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 …
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Pokémon Go creator Niantic agrees to settle class action with property owners for unsanctioned PokéStop and Gym placements; monetary damages up for mediation  —  After fighting over the meaning of “trespass” in the digital age, Niantic agrees to a system for resolving nuisance complaints …
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.

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference  —  Stop preparing for agents.  Start running them.  100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
Zoho:
Now supported: Moving your Docusign templates to Zoho Sign without setting them up from scratch  —  Are you switching from Docusign to Zoho Sign?  Is the thought of losing all your custom templates and having to rebuild them from scratch worrying you?
IDrive:
IDrive Autonomy: low-cost L2+ driver assistance with AI  —  L2+ driver assistance with a scalable AI stack built for automotive companies and laying the foundation for the autonomous future.

Featured Podcasts

Access:
Sam Altman on OpenAI's next model and the AI backlash
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Brian Singerman from GPx
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Training Data:
Making Cities Awesome: Peregrine's Nick Noone & Ben Rudolph
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Sarah Guo - Funding the Frontier
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
AI's third era: the rise of persistent AI coworkers | Tara Seshan (Product Lead ChatGPT Work)
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 5:55 PM 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

Earlier Picks

Marco Chown Oved / Toronto Star:
James Vincent / The Verge:
Hugh Son / CNBC: