Techmeme
August 7, 2019, 4:00 PM

Top News

Joseph Cox / VICE:
Source and documents show Microsoft contractors are listening to some Skype calls made using the app's translation service  —  Contractors working for Microsoft are listening to personal conversations of Skype users conducted through the app's translation service, according to a cache of internal documents …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony say they will require game publishers to disclose the odds of receiving types of in-game items from loot boxes starting in 2020  —  And a handful of publishers, too  —  The three major video game console manufacturers — Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo …
YouTube:
Live stream of Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked 2019 event in NYC  —  Time to level up.  #SamsungEvent #Unpacked http://www.samsung.com To view the YouTube streams on a desktop or laptop computer you'll need:  • Most recent version of Google Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge or Safari
Bloomberg:
FedEx says it will not renew its ground-delivery contract with Amazon when it expires at the end of this month, as the e-commerce giant emerges as a competitor  —  FedEx Corp. is snipping another tie with Amazon.com Inc. as the e-commerce giant emerges as a competitor by building its own shipping network.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Facebook is rebuilding Instagram's messaging feature using Messenger tech, with Instagram's team reporting to Messenger; Instagram's look won't change  —  - Social network takes first steps to combine messaging products  — Instagram's direct messaging team now reports to Messenger
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Webflow, a simple website builder for non-coders, raises $72M Series A led by Accel, after previously raising only $2.9M; sources say valuation is $350M-$400M  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  On his fourth attempt at building the company of his dreams …
Washington Post:
White House says it will hold a summit with tech companies on Friday to discuss violent online extremism, but does not say which companies are attending  —  The White House will host top tech companies to discuss the rise of violent online extremism on Friday, marking the Trump administration's …
Reuters:
Trump stepped up accusations against Google on Tuesday, claiming without evidence that Google worked against him in 2016 and warning he was watching it closely  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday stepped up his accusations against Google, claiming without offering evidence …
Paul Roberts / The Seattle Times:
Epik, which serves sites like Gab.com and Daily Stormer, says it will not provide 8chan with DoS or CDN services through its BitMitigate division  —  A Seattle-area web-hosting firm has reversed course and decided not to host the 8chan web forum linked to Saturday's mass shooting in El Paso.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
In a 130-page court filing, Kik says SEC's lawsuit manipulated facts and took comments out of context about its 2017 token sale, which raised $100M  —  The Takeaway:  — Kik claims the SEC took executives' comments out of context in a suit alleging the startup's 2017 token sale violated securities laws.

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.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Zoho WorkDrive named a Leader in the Nucleus Research CSC Technology Value Matrix 2026  —  Enterprise content management is evolving rapidly with about 80% of the data unstructured.  The growing challenge is not about storing information anymore.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
Substack Wants To Become A Social Network; BeeHiiv Wants To Stay Invisible
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.
Training Data:
Factory's Matan Grinberg: The Coming 'Dark Factory' Where Software Builds Itself
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:
Matthew Smith — Natural Gas: The Next Bottleneck
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:
Why Netflix is betting on systems thinkers—not specialists—in the AI era | Elizabeth Stone (CPTO)
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Kimi K3 & AI's Price War, What Happened To Google?, OpenAI's Partner Trouble
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.
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 4:00 PM ET, August 7, 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

Greg Bensinger / Washington Post:
Julia Alexander / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Abhishek Baxi / OnMSFT.com:
Jane Manchun Wong:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable: