Techmeme River

August 21, 2017, 3:50 PM

August 21, 2017

2:47 PM •	Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat: Google's Android O is named Oreo, rolls out soon to Nexus/Pixel devices; update includes background activity limits, picture-in-picture, notification channels
2:37 PM •	John Herrman / New York Times: After wave of neo-Nazi bans, tech firms' censorship policies were shown again to be arbitrary, not derived from moral awakening or newfound sense of civic duty
1:04 PM •	Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: Sources: Spotify's plan to skip a traditional IPO and list directly on NYSE draws scrutiny from the SEC, as NYSE's direct listing rule-change is still pending
11:40 AM •	Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet: Cisco buys hyperconvergence software startup Springpath for $320M to bolster its data center infrastructure portfolio
10:55 AM •	Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair: A look at challenges facing Verizon's Oath as the integration of NYC's AOL and SV's Yahoo struggles along, after 2,100 were laid off in mid-June
8:30 AM •	Kirsten Korosec / The Verge: Inside Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle technology startup in which Ford pledged to invest $1B
6:35 AM •	Sarah Anne Lloyd / Curbed Seattle - All: Chinese bike-sharing startup Ofo enters US with Seattle launch
5:00 AM •	Mark Scott / Politico: Sources: after Article 50 was triggered to start Brexit, the European Investment Fund, a key source of capital for many EU VC funds, stopped backing UK VCs
3:25 AM •	Jon Fingas / Engadget: HTC cuts Vive VR headset's price by $200, to $599, to remain competitive with Oculus Rift
3:10 AM •	Peter Bright / Ars Technica: Intel unveils first 8th gen processors, dubbed “Kaby Lake refresh”, based on an updated Kaby Lake architecture, claims 40% performance increase over 7th gen
1:30 AM •	Ellen Pao / The Cut: An excerpt from Ellen Pao's book “Reset”: This is how sexism works in Silicon Valley. My lawsuit failed. Others won't.

August 20, 2017

11:10 PM •	Giuseppe Stuto: How iMessage came to dominate messaging among US teens, with studies showing ~70% use it, and where Apple may go to disrupt apps like Snapchat and Messenger
9:35 PM •	Christine Chiang / Brave New Coin: ZeroEx raises $24M in an ICO for 0x protocol that enables the trading of Ethereum's ERC-20 compliant tokens without the need of centralized exchanges
8:00 PM •	Russell Brandom / The Verge: Researchers: October's Mirai botnet attack on Dyn DNS service was incidental; original target was PlayStation Network name servers used by Dyn
6:25 PM •	Stan Higgins / CoinDesk: Decentraland, a virtual reality world project that uses blockchain tech to track ownership of digital plots of land, raises $25M via ICO
4:51 PM •	Brian Heater / TechCrunch: Microsoft kicks off Xbox One X pre-orders today with a limited ‘Project Scorpio’ edition
4:25 PM •	Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: Researchers demo using a hidden chip in a replacement smartphone screen to log keyboard input, install malicious apps, and take pictures
2:50 PM •	Li Yuan / Wall Street Journal: Chinese tech firms, such as Didi Chuxing and NetEase, often advise women not to reply to job ads, with NetEase noting “the job is tough and stressful”
12:15 PM •	Pan Yue / China Money Network: Cambricon, a Chinese AI chip developer, raises $100M Series A led by Chuangye Investment Management, with Alibaba arm, Lenovo Capital, and others participating
9:40 AM •	Rachael King / Wall Street Journal: How Cisco lost key customers to Arista Networks, turning Arista CEO Jayshree Ullal, who was once close to John Chambers, into a fierce rival
7:05 AM •	Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed: Twitter starts sorting popular tweets by topic in the Explore tab on iOS and Android
4:30 AM •	Reuters: Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka resigns, blaming a “continuous drumbeat of distractions” and a long-running dispute with the founders over company strategy
1:55 AM •	Taylor Cromwell / Bloomberg: How US restaurant chains are enlisting Facebook, Amazon, and adopting new tech like chatbots and digital payments, to make ordering and paying for food easier

August 19, 2017

11:35 PM •	Andrew Liptak / The Verge: Alleged press render of completely redesigned Nest thermostat leaks, the first redesign since it launched in 2011
9:15 PM •	Ken Schwencke / ProPublica: The Daily Stormer receives DDoS protection from CDN service BitMitigate, whose founder says he believes in free speech and wants to promote his company
6:55 PM •	Ramin Setoodeh / Variety: In interview, Netflix's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos says the streaming service will spend $7B on original content in 2018
4:35 PM •	Tom Metcalf / Bloomberg: Bill Gates' stake in Microsoft dipped to around 1.3% after $4.6B stock gift to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in June, his largest stock donation since 2000
2:07 PM •	Kara Swisher / Recode: Sources: former General Electric chairman Jeff Immelt is now favored by a majority of Uber's board to become CEO; a vote is likely in the next two weeks
10:55 AM •	Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal: US court of appeals rules online ToS are binding irrespective of whether users read them, no matter how long or hard to read companies like Uber make them
3:50 AM •	Jon Russell / TechCrunch: Tencent reports $15.7B Q2 revenues and a record quarterly profit of $2.7B, up 70% YoY, as company's mobile game revenue tops PC, propelled by Honour of Kings
1:55 AM •	Wall Street Journal: Sources: government review of AT&T's $85B takeover of Time Warner has reached an advanced stage, as AT&T lawyers discuss merger conditions with the DoJ

August 18, 2017

11:10 PM •	Reuters: Following President Trump's Monday order, the United States Trade Representative formally launches probe into China's alleged theft of US intellectual property
9:55 PM •	Mark Bergen / Bloomberg: Google is testing new tools with NYT and FT to boost subscriptions for publishers; tools may include changes to “first click free”, payment, targeting options
8:40 PM •	David McCabe / Axios: US lawmakers and advocates on both the left and right are increasingly calling for regulating Google, Facebook, and Amazon
7:05 PM •	Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Google is rolling out autoplaying AI-generated silent 6-second previews for videos in search results, while on Wi-Fi in Android Chrome and Google apps
4:45 PM •	Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Immersv, a mobile 360 and VR ad platform, raises $10.5M Series A led by Rogers Venture Partners with participation from HTC Vive, Initial Capital, and more
3:50 PM •	Kurt Wagner / Recode: Facebook VP Deb Liu talks about Marketplace expansion plans including adding ticket sales and listings from local car dealers and real estate agents
2:50 PM •	Sara Fischer / Axios: In less than a month, over 29M unique viewers have watched Stay Tuned, NBC News' daily Snapchat Discover show
2:00 PM •	BBC: China launches a court to handle Internet-related disputes; first civil case handled in 20 minutes, with parties communicating with judge online
1:15 PM •	Ryne Hager / Android Police: Google will livestream official Android O launch on August 21st; teaser file name suggests it will be called Oreo
12:15 PM •	Lyor Cohen / YouTube Blog: Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Global Head of Music, on promoting new artists, copyright safe harbors, and how ads and subscriptions can thrive together
11:12 AM •	Jordan Fabian / The Hill: Donald Trump authorizes elevation of US Cyber Command to the status of Unified Combatant Command, triggering a review of whether it should be separated from NSA
10:55 AM •	Jordan Palmer / Android Police: Asus Tango-powered ZenFone AR review: good camera, nice screen, but annoyingly bad battery life and Tango disappoints with a pathetically small number of apps
9:40 AM •	Anousha Sakoui / Bloomberg: Sources: movie studios, including Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures, in talks with Apple, Comcast to offer movie rentals within weeks of theatrical release
9:25 AM •	Dieter Bohn / The Verge: Essential Phone review: edge-to-edge screen is great, good performance and battery life, but has a mediocre camera, an unproven module system, and no 3.5mm jack
7:00 AM •	Electronic Frontier Foundation: When internet intermediaries like GoDaddy, Google, and CloudFlare bar neo-Nazis, dangerous precedent is set for silencing legitimate voices
2:55 AM •	Aloysius Low / CNET: Asus launches six ZenFone 4 dual-camera phones with the flagship ZenFone 4 Pro, Selfie and Selfie Pro for selfie enthusiasts, and budget-range Max and Max Pro
12:45 AM •	Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed: Travis Kalanick files reply to fraud lawsuit, says Benchmark ambushed him in a public and personal attack, and that the case should be privately arbitrated
12:20 AM •	Sijia Jiang / Reuters: Lenovo posts Q1 loss of $72M on $10.01B revenue as PC shipments decline 6% YoY; company's mobile business narrowed losses to $129M on $1.75B revenue

August 17, 2017

9:55 PM •	Instagram: Instagram can now automatically turn photos you're replying to in direct messages into a sticker, adds split-screen reply option by tapping on the sticker
8:50 PM •	Federico Maggi / TrendLabs Security Intelligence Blog: Researchers find indefensible vulnerability in CAN protocol that controls airbags and sensors including antilock brakes in all modern vehicles
8:45 PM •	Kerry Flynn / Mashable: Social network Gab, popular among the far right, says it has raised $1M+ via crowdfunding as Google removes the app from Play Store for hate speech
7:50 PM •	Alex Konrad / Forbes: As GitHub hits $200M in revenue, CEO Chris Wanstrath tells staff during all-hands meeting that he will step down after CEO search and become executive chairman
6:55 PM •	Tom Warren / The Verge: Apple adds new setting in iOS 11 beta that temporarily disables Touch ID, brings up option to call 911 when iPhone users tap power button five times quickly
5:20 PM •	Robert Hackett / Fortune: Bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain and exchange Bitstamp add support for Ethereum
4:25 PM •	Chris O'Brien / VentureBeat: Social network Gab, popular among alt-right, says it has raised $1M+ on crowdfunding platform StartEngine
3:50 PM •	Heather Mack / Wall Street Journal: ThoughtSpot raised $60M Series C-1 round led by Lightspeed Ventures for its SpotIQ content recommendation AI software, bringing the total raised to $160M
3:00 PM •	Maxwell Tani / Business Insider: Internal memo: Mic is laying off 25 staffers, primarily from its news and editorial departments, as it shifts focus to video and visual journalism
2:15 PM •	Janko Roettgers / Variety: Reddit now allows users to upload videos; videos can be up to 15 minutes long, with file sizes of less than 1 GB
1:40 PM •	Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: B2B data platform ZoomInfo was acquired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners for $240M
1:20 PM •	Skype Blogs: Microsoft launches preview of redesigned Skype desktop client, adds new features including @mentions, message reactions, media gallery, and enhanced group calls
12:40 PM •	Eben Novy-Williams / Bloomberg: Nielsen is launching a new division, Nielsen Esports, to quantify the rapidly growing industry for teams, sponsors, advertisers, and publishers
12:25 PM •	Stephanie Condon / ZDNet: Box announces Google Cloud Vision API integration, available today in private beta
12:05 PM •	Thuy Ong / The Verge: Facebook will limit the spread of stories in News Feed that feature either fake video play buttons or videos of only a static image
11:55 AM •	Brian Heater / TechCrunch: Ripcord raises $40M Series B after raising $9.5M Series A in March for its end-to-end paper record digitization service
11:45 AM •	Tim Peterson / Marketing Land: Facebook starts offering in-stream-only video ad units that will play as users watch videos on Facebook
11:35 AM •	Jon Russell / TechCrunch: Alibaba leads $1.1B investment in Indonesia-based e-commerce firm Tokopedia
11:25 AM •	Cate Cadell / Reuters: China issues warning to Alibaba's Taobao.com, other e-commerce marketplaces to remove VPN tools selling on their platforms
10:50 AM •	Justin Duino / 9to5Google: Alleged renderings of LG V30 show off handset from multiple angles
10:05 AM •	Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: Sprint opens Essential Phone pre-orders with a $260 discount, only offers black versions, and says units will ship by August 28
9:00 AM •	Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg: Alibaba's Q1 beat estimates as revenue rose 56% YoY to $7.4B, with revenue rising 58% in core ecommerce, almost 50% in cloud, and 30% in media
7:05 AM •	Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Google adds Q&A section to Maps on Android and mobile search, letting businesses answer questions

August 16, 2017

11:35 PM •	Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed: Tim Cook says Apple will make two separate $1M donations, to Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League, in an email to staff about Charlottesville
11:05 PM •	John Mannes / TechCrunch: SEC filing shows Andrew Ng, Google Brain founder and former Baidu chief scientist, is raising a $150M AI fund
9:45 PM •	Economist: James Damore's memo made giant, unfounded logical leaps and ignored important evidence that didn't support his conclusion
8:40 PM •	Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed: Apple Pay and PayPal disable support for several sites that promote or sell items glorifying white supremacy
7:10 PM •	Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Google acquires AIMatter, a startup that has built a neural network-based AI platform and SDK to detect and process images quickly on mobile devices
6:43 PM •	Kate Conger / Gizmodo: Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince says firm has stopped protecting Daily Stormer from DDoS attacks, explains his discomfort with policy reversal in email to staff
5:37 PM •	Russell Brandom / The Verge: After sustained pressure, CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince says the firm has stopped protecting Daily Stormer from DDoS attacks
5:30 PM •	Billboard: Spotify says it has begun to remove white supremacist acts that were flagged three years ago as “hate bands” by the Southern Poverty Law Center
4:55 PM •	Jordan Novet / CNBC: Cisco narrowly beats Q4 estimates with $12.1B revenue, vs. $12.06B est., down 4% YoY, as service revenue rose 1% YoY to $3.1B

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