Techmeme
November 1, 2019, 7:05 PM

Top News

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Google to acquire Fitbit at $7.35 per share in cash, valuing the company at about $2.1B  —  - The acquisition pits Alphabet against fellow tech giant Apple in the wearable fitness tracking space.  —  Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on stage during the annual Google I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2018.
More: Fitbit, Inc., The Keyword, The Verge, New York Times, Engadget, VentureBeat, Washington Post, The Register, Windows Central, Android Central, Bloomberg, The Verge, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Vox, TalkAndroid.com, BetaNews, AppleInsider, Ars Technica, Tech.co, MacRumors, New York Times, Phandroid, Michael Tsai, WebProNews, Variety, ExtremeTech, Newser, iPhone Hacks, Search Engine Land, The Hill, Cult of Mac, ZDNet, Gizmodo, Voicebot.ai, Droid Life, WinBuzzer, Neowin, TechSpot, Coinspeaker, VentureBeat, CNET, Thurrott, Crunchbase News, GeekWire, Business Insider, Gizchina, Android Police, SlashGear, Macworld, Digital Trends, Firstpost Tech, Technology Personalized, Tom's Guide, Android Authority, Mashable, iDownloadBlog.com, The Daily Caller, OnMSFT.com, XDA Developers, Fast Company, AndroidGuys, Silicon Republic, 9to5Google, KnowTechie, Pocketnow, Memeburn, PYMNTS.com, Computer Business Review, Axios, and The Daily Dot
Alex Heath / The Information:
Source: Facebook held talks to acquire Fitbit but wanted to pay roughly half of the $2.1B that Google eventually agreed to pay  —  Before Google reached a $2.1 billion deal to buy Fitbit, announced on Friday, Facebook held talks to acquire the smartwatch-maker, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Reuters:
Sources: the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has launched a review of ByteDance's acquisition of Musical.ly  —  NEW YORK/BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has launched a national security review of TikTok owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co's $1 billion acquisition …
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: NBCUniversal is considering making its ad-supported Peacock streaming service free for everyone, with an ad-free tier available for subscribers  —  - NBC is considering giving away the ad-supported version of its streaming service Peacock for free to everyone, sources say.
BBC:
Investigation finds domestic workers in Kuwait are sold using Instagram, promoted via hashtags; other apps on Play Store and App Store list people for sale  —  Drive around the streets of Kuwait and you won't see these women.  They are behind closed doors, deprived of their basic rights …
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple TV+ launches with nine original titles in 100+ countries for $4.99/month or $49.99/year with a one year free trial on the purchase of a new Apple device  —  After months of waiting, Apple's TV streaming service Apple TV+ is now live.  You can start watching on any platform that offers …
Ryan Christoffel / MacStories:
Adobe updates its Creative Cloud iOS app with 1,300 free fonts that can now be used by any iOS 13 app supporting custom fonts API  —  Today Adobe released an update to its Creative Cloud app on iPhone and iPad which introduced a set of thousands of fonts that can now be installed …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
In an earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg defends Facebook's political ads policy, estimates ads from politicians will be less than 0.5% of company's revenue in 2020  —  As Jack Dorsey announced his company Twitter would drop all political ads, Facebook CEO Zuckerberg doubled-down on his policy of refusing to fact check politicians' ads.
@jack:

Sponsor Posts

Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
8 years of PageSense: Introducing PageSense 3.0  —  PageSense was built eight years ago with a simple goal: to help businesses understand user behavior and improve conversion outcomes through experimentation.
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

The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Billionaire Button w/ Tim Wu
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Great Chat:
No one won the AI Bowl
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:
Who's Winning The AI Race? + Software's Future — With Sridhar Ramaswamy
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:
How Odd Lots' Joe Weisenthal Turned Curiosity Into a Career, and a Hit Podcast
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.
Access:
OpenAI's Fidji Simo on why ads are coming to ChatGPT
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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 7:05 PM ET, November 1, 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

Josh O'Kane / Globe and Mail:

Earlier Picks

Washington Post:
Johana Bhuiyan / Los Angeles Times:
Reuters:
Drew Harwell / Washington Post: