Techmeme
November 12, 2020, 10:55 AM

Top News

Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Apple HomePod mini review: has a compact design, is priced accessibly, and Siri is fast, but doesn't sound as good as similarly priced competitors  —  Apple's newest smart speaker is way more affordable but still chasing Amazon and Google  —  Two and a half years ago, Apple finally entered the smart speaker market with the HomePod.
Mike Allen / Axios:
Sources: Trump has told friends he wants to start an online media channel, which would be cheaper than cable, to undermine Fox News  —  President Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell Axios.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google will end its free unlimited Photos storage on June 1, 2021, imposing a 15GB cap, but photos and documents uploaded before then will not count against cap  —  After 15 gigs, you'll need to pony up for Google One  —  After five years of offering unlimited free photo backups at …
Will Oremus / OneZero :
Google's free unlimited Photos storage offer is an object lesson in anticompetitive behavior that helped drive startups like Everpix and Loom out of the market  —  A new policy perfectly illustrates a core issue across the industry  —  After five years of Google Photos offering unlimited …
New York Times:
Claiming they're censored by Twitter and Facebook, some conservatives say they're moving to alternatives like Parler, which has 8M users, up from 4.5M last week  —  Since the election, millions have migrated to alternative social media and media sites like Parler, Rumble and Newsmax.
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Amazon unveils Alexa Care Hub, which helps people care for aging relatives, offering an activity feed caregivers can review, and an emergency contact feature  —  - More seniors than ever are choosing to remain at home and live independently.  — Amazon wants to make it easier for caregivers to check in on their aging relatives.
Karl Bode / VICE:
With Ajit Pai likely out as chairman when FCC reverts to Democratic control, experts say Pai's likely to leave and his controversial decisions will be reversed  —  You can expect most of his more controversial decisions, like the repeal of net neutrality, to be reversed.  —  His trademark grin.
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Tencent reports Q3 revenue of $18.4B, up 29% YoY, profit of $5.71B, up 85% YoY, and online game revenue was $6.2B, up 45% YoY; WeChat MAUs were up 5% to 1.21B  —  But third quarter financial data from social media and entertainment titan Tencent instead showed that the company continues to be a profit generating machine.
More: Bloomberg and Bloomberg
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
From 2020's Singles' Day sale, which was extended to 12 days from 24 hours previously, Alibaba and JD.com report around $115B in sales across their platforms  —  - Alibaba set a new sales record for the annual Singles Day shopping event.  — Singles Day is typically a 24-hour shopping event …
Bloomberg:
Venezuela, in the depths of a financial crisis, has seen usage of P2P payments app Zelle, owned by seven US banks, surge as people turn to USD for transactions  —  When Federico Suárez made an overnight trip to Valencia last month to visit his boyfriend, the 24-year-old Caracas-based lawyer was in the mood to splurge.
Bijan Stephen / The Verge:
Twitch apologizes to streamers for its mishandling of music copyright, saying it was unprepared for a surge of copyright takedown notices that started in May  —  In a blog post, the platform explained why it sent that weird email last month  —  Twitch published a blog post today …
David Craddock / Shacknews:
Interview with Xbox boss Phil Spencer on volunteering to take over the division, launching a console during a pandemic, and Microsoft's gaming ambitions  —  The ‘Xboss’ of Xbox reflects on his early years at Microsoft, the circumstances that led to him volunteering to lead Microsoft's Xbox division …

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More News

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Financial Times:

Earlier Picks

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Charlie Osborne / ZDNet:
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Rishi Iyengar / CNN:
Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech: