Techmeme
May 14, 2020, 9:25 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple acquires California-based VR startup NextVR; a report in April said the deal is valued at around $100M  —  - NextVR provides virtual-reality sports content to headsets  — Apple developing virtual reality, augmented reality headsets  —  Apple Inc. confirmed it acquired NextVR …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Kuo: Apple planning a 10.8 inch iPad in H2 2020 and a new iPad mini in H1 2021, predicts AR glasses with laminated lens in 2022 at the earliest  —  - Apple could launch new iPads in the coming year, TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a new note on Thursday.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: TSMC is set to announce plans to build a 5nm chip factory in Arizona as the White House seeks to increase domestic chip production  —  Plans for TSMC's Arizona Plant Come As Trump Seeks To Cut Dependence on Asia  —  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., TSM 2.32% …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
From August, Chrome will start blocking ads that consume 4MB of network data, 15 seconds of CPU usage in any 30 second period, or 60 seconds of total CPU usage  —  Google today announced that Chrome will start blocking resource-heavy ads.  The company ads that mine cryptocurrency …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Nvidia unveils its A100 AI chip with 54B transistors and 5 petaflops of performance, about 20 times more than the previous-generation Volta  —  Nvidia unwrapped its Nvidia A100 artificial intelligence chip today, and CEO Jensen Huang called it the ultimate instrument for advancing AI.
Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
As tech giants introduce new work from home guidelines, employees are considering moving away from Silicon Valley and companies contemplate adjusting salaries  —  Sachin Dhar thought he and his fiancée had a great deal paying $2,650 per month for a one-bedroom rental in South San Francisco …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft says it will acquire Metaswitch Networks, a provider of virtualized network software whose customers include telecom companies like BT and Sprint  —  - The announcement comes less than a month after Microsoft closed the acquisition of another company focused on the telecommunications market, Affirmed Networks.
Bloomberg:
Dara Khosrowshahi, who completed 41 transactions with a total value of $12.7B as Expedia's CEO, is following the same playbook at Uber of buying competitors  —  In nearly three years at the helm of Uber Technologies Inc., Dara Khosrowshahi has focused mostly on cutting costs.
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
A coalition of 20 children's advocacy and consumer groups says TikTok has flouted an agreement it made with the FTC to protect the privacy of children  —  Twenty consumer groups said the video app had failed to make some changes it agreed to carry out last year to settle federal charges.
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
As pandemic-related budget cuts come to call centers, organizations turn to chatbots like IBM's Watson to filter calls, reducing the need for human operators  —  Covid-19 is accelerating job losses in an industry that was already automating work at a rapid pace.  —  Brian Pokorny had heard of AI systems for call centers before.
Bloomberg:
Sony says it has developed the world's first image sensors with built-in AI, which would give “intelligent vision” to cameras for retail and industrial uses  —  - Turning the chip into a tiny computer, company touts privacy  — Benefits for factory automation and retail footfall analysis
Shannon Vavra / CyberScoop:
Microsoft opens up its threat intelligence data, including file hash indicators used in email scams, to wider security community via GitHub during the pandemic  —  Microsoft is making the threat intelligence it's collected on coronavirus-related hacking campaigns public, the company announced Thursday.
Variety:
Inside AT&T's $4B bet to stand out in the streaming wars with HBO Max, which is to launch on May 27 despite 30 projects shuttering due to the pandemic  —  A starry group came together for a meeting at Courteney Cox's Malibu beach house on Oct. 5, 2019.  Had the papa­razzi gotten wind, pandemonium would have surely ensued.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitch announces an eight-person Safety Advisory Council, with both online experts and Twitch creators guiding decision making around new policies and products  —  Amazon-owned game streaming site Twitch announced today the formation of a new group that will guide decision-making around …
Vanessa Friedman / New York Times:
Amazon partners with Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America to launch a new online store featuring independent luxury designers  —  With some help from Vogue and the CFDA, the e-commerce giant is opening a new store to showcase independent designers.  Does this mark the moment the two worlds finally get hitched?

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Earlier Picks

Celia Wan / The Block:
Rich Woods / Neowin:
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Martin Matishak / Politico: