Techmeme: Xuexi Qiangguo, a propaganda app with Snapchat-like messaging features developed by China's Communist Party, becomes top free app on Apple's App Store in China (Zheping Huang/South China Morning Post)

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An account of the rise and untimely death of Vine and HQ Trivia cofounder Colin Kroll, based on interviews with and documents from friends, police, and others — Self-taught coder Colin Kroll shot to startup fame, allowing him to live life in a fast lane — Colin Kroll, a college dropout …

Tweets: @shalini, @daiwaka, @mattrosoff, @poochmcgoo, @antoniogm, @shalini, @reaganbrad, @apblake, @shalini, @kerrymflynn, @_danielsinclair, @shalini, @mikeisaac, and @murraymatt

James Vincent / The Verge:

Seattle startup Xnor unveils a 100% solar-powered prototype AI camera with 320x320 resolution, an FPGA chip, and an object recognition algorithm loaded on board — Stick it in sunlight and it can transmit data pretty much indefinitely — A big trend in AI is the transition from cloud to edge computing.

More: Business Wire, GeekWire, XNOR, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat

Daniel Oberhaus / Motherboard:

A look at the debate surrounding the economics of popular open source software like OpenSSL, as an ever-increasing workload on maintainers risks causing burnout — A look at the complicated business of funding open source software development. — It was just before midnight on New Years Eve …

More: Beyond Search. Tweets: @sustainoss and @guypaddock

Zheping Huang / South China Morning Post:

Xuexi Qiangguo, a propaganda app with Snapchat-like messaging features developed by China's Communist Party, becomes top free app on Apple's App Store in China — - Released by China's Communist Party, the app is helping cadres learn more about its political doctrine

More: Bloomberg, New York Times, China Media Project, shanghaiist, CNN, BBC, Cult of Mac, The Guardian, and Fortune

Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority:

Leaked images of the V50 ThinQ, LG's first 5G phone, show similar design to V40 with triple camera system and rear fingerprint sensor, likely launch on Feb. 24 — We've known for a while that LG would reveal a 5G phone in early 2019, just like every other OEM apparently.

More: Android Police, The Verge, Engadget, XDA Developers, Android Central, Pocket-lint, Mashable, Neowin, Gizchina, and Gizmochina. Tweets: @evleaks

Katishi Maake / Washington Business Journal:

Virginia-based real estate data and analytics company Remine has closed $30M Series A led by Stripes Group, bringing its total raised to $48M — Fairfax-based real estate data and analytics company Remine has closed a $30 million Series A funding round, bringing its total amount raised to $48 million.

More: HousingWire, FinSMEs, and Technical.ly DC

Laura Hautala / CNET:

Report: 17K Android apps, some with 100M+ installs, collect info that can be used to create a permanent record of user's activity on the device for ad targeting — Some apps may track your activity over time, even when you tell them to forget the past. And there's nothing you can do about it.

More: ZDNet, Fossbytes, and CyberScoop

Tweets: @johnrlottjr and @rogerwcheng. Thanks:@rogerwcheng

Jon Porter / The Verge:

DJI unveils a new 3D geofencing system that will prevent the company's drones from flying too close to major airports in the UK and 32 European countries — The new restrictions form a no-fly zone in the shape of a 3D bow tie — A three-dimensional “bow tie” geofence will soon prevent DJI's drones …

More: Engadget

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Elroy Air, a maker of delivery drones that can carry up to 500 lbs, raises $9.2M in seed funding from new and existing investors Catapult, Precursor, and others — The dozens of companies vying for a foothold in the $11.2 billion drone industry — and by extension the $400 million same …

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:

Records obtained via FOIA requests and interviews with local officials reveal the unusual lengths Google goes to keep its data center construction plans secret — Last May, officials in Midlothian, Tex., a city near Dallas, approved more than $10 million in tax breaks for a huge …

More: The Verge, Newser, CNET, 9to5Google, and VentureBeat

Tweets: @lizzadwoskin, @lizzadwoskin, @mmasnick, @petejamison, @harrysiegel, @amy_liuw, @harrysiegel, @dtunkelang, @rbreich, @mikekatell, @cpassariello, @lirarandall, @yayyayskitchen, @kclars1, @aaschapiro, @markhurst, @paulkingsley7, and @hshaban

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:

Vicarious Surgical, which is building minimally invasive surgical tech that combines VR with miniature robots, has closed $10M round led by Gates Frontiers Fund — In an operating room in rural Idaho, doctors prep a patient for surgery. They make a tiny, thumb-sized incision into the patient …

More: Business Wire and FinSMEs

Jason Koebler / Motherboard:

Kids YouTube star Blippi on how he abused DMCA takedown requests to keep Harlem Shake Poop, an embarrassing viral video he starred in 2013, hidden on the web — Someone claiming to represent Blippi filed DMCA copyright takedown requests to Google in order to get an embarrassing viral video hidden.

Tweets: @jason_koebler, @arthur_affect, and @cshirky

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