Techmeme
December 17, 2019, 11:00 AM

Top News

Bret Kinsella / Voicebot.ai:
Report: Amazon had revenue of $1.4M from Alexa's in-skill purchases in the first ten months of 2019, which was well short of its target of $5.5M  —  The Information published (N.B. paywall) an article this morning saying that Amazon earned $1.4 million Alexa skill revenue through the first 10 months …
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
Security engineer at Google says she was fired from the company last week after two years for sending internal browser pop-ups about labor rights  —  The latest termination at the company  —  Google has fired another employee following a showing of internal activism, marking the latest …
Paul Ziobro / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon blocks marketplace sellers from using FedEx Ground for Prime shipments indefinitely over FedEx's “delivery performance”  —  Amazon cites a decline in FedEx performance heading into the final holiday push  —  Amazon.com Inc. AMZN .47% is blocking its third-party sellers …
Luke Jones / WinBuzzer:
Microsoft opens up the Microsoft Edge Addons store for submissions ahead of Chromium Edge's launch; existing Chromium extensions to be migrated automatically  —  Developers can now submit to the Microsoft Edge Addons Store, with existing Chromium extensions migrated automatically.
Danny Palmer / ZDNet:
WhatsApp fixes bug that allowed a rogue group member to render the app unusable, forcing a reinstall and loss of group chat content  —  Researchers detail security flaw that allowed hackers to crash WhatsApp and permanently delete contents of group chats - and urge users to update the app to protect against attacks.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram expands its fact checking efforts by hiding false content behind warnings, except for politicians, and removing it from Explore and hashtag pages  —  Instagram is giving politicians the same free reign to spread misinformation as its parent company Facebook.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Adithya Venkatraman / App Annie:
Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram, all belonging to Facebook, were the most downloaded apps worldwide of this decade  —  Mobile Has Been at the Heart of Major Changes in Consumer Behaviour This Decade Throughout the 2010s we have seen our world transform.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Lime launches a weekly subscription service for frequent riders that waives the unlock fee on renting the company's e-scooters and bicycles  —  LimePass waves the unlock fee on your rentals  —  Lime just announced LimePass, a weekly subscription service that waves the unlock fee on renting …
Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu:
Odoo, the Belgian provider of open source all-in-one business software, raises $90M led by Summit Partners  —  Odoo, the Belgian provider of open source all-in-one business software, has raised a $90 million round, led by Summit Partners, to fund its fast-paced product development and continued global expansion.
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Some contractors at Google's Austin content moderation facility describe being overworked and suffering severe mental health consequences after just six months  —  These moderators help keep Google and YouTube free of violent extremism — and now some of them have PTSD
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
French startup EfficientIP, which helps fight DDoS attacks, raises $11M Series B from Jolt Capital  —  French startup, EfficientIP, a network security and automation specialist, has secured an $11 million Series B investment from Jolt Capital in Paris.  The investment will drive international expansion.
More: Tech.eu and PR Newswire

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
The new primitives of agentic software delivery  —  This goes beyond code generation.  We're connecting people, AI, and feedback across the software development lifecycle.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Introducing the new Zoho Analytics: Agentic analytics for every business  —  We're excited to announce the launch of the new Zoho Analytics!  This release marks a major shift for the product …
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

Sources:
Tobi Lütke on the AI agent revolution and future of Shopify
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Big Technology Podcast:
This AI Expert Argues We're Underestimating AI's Productivity Impact — With Ethan Mollick
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.
Machine Gods:
Inside Anthropic's IPO + How AI Agents Spy on Your Messages
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
You Can't Escape AI. Here's How to Live With It.
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:
European Defense Sovereignty Starts in the Factory: Stark's Uwe Horstmann and Johannes Schaback
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.
Cheeky Pint:
The airline CEO putting Starlink on every plane
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:00 AM ET, December 17, 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

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Davey Alba / New York Times:
Can Sezer / Reuters:
Karl Freund / Forbes: