Techmeme River
Techmeme River
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
12:45 PM
iFood, the Brazilian technology conglomerate Movile's food delivery platform, raises $400M from existing investors Naspers and Innova Capital
TechCrunch
12:36 PM
DeepMind's health subsidiary, maker of an app called Streams that helps with diagnosing specific conditions, is moving under the newly-formed Google Health unit
CNBC
12:21 PM
Facebook launches a career development site called Learn with Facebook, with free lessons on subjects like job interviewing and digital marketing
Fortune
12:20 PM
Cognigo raises $8.5M Series A led by Israel-based crowdfunding platform OurCrowd for its AI-driven data protection platform
TechCrunch
12:15 PM
WhatsApp to distribute $50K each to 20 projects from 11 countries to research spread of misinformation on the platform; WhatsApp won't provide any user data
Poynter
12:10 PM
Google's Project Fi gets updated with an optional always-on VPN and a smarter way to switch between WiFi and cellular connections based on signal strength
TechCrunch
12:00 PM
Google CFO Ruth Porat expects the company, which currently has more than 7,000 employees in New York, to double its staff in the city over the next 10 years
Wall Street Journal
11:45 AM
Sources: Yahoo Finance is launching a subscription service, Yahoo Finance Premium, in Q1 2019 that a source says will likely cost $100+/month
Axios
10:30 AM
Poynt, a developer of smart payment terminals and an open operating system for payment terminals, raises $100M Series C
TechCrunch
10:00 AM
Amazon selects New York City and Arlington, Virginia for its new headquarters, receiving $1.5B in performance-based incentives from NY and $573M from VA
US Day One Blog
9:45 AM
Pandora launches Podcast Genome Project in beta, combining its Music Genome technology with human editorial oversight to offer podcast recommendations
TechCrunch
9:35 AM
Snapchat introduces Friendship Profiles highlighting close relationships, custom Bitmoji merchandise, and Bitmoji Stories
Engadget
9:25 AM
NetEase Cloud Music, a music streaming service by Chinese games and publishing giant NetEase, raises $600M from investors including Baidu and General Atlantic
TechCrunch
9:00 AM
Netskope, which helps businesses secure their data, web apps, and cloud infrastructure, raises $169M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners at a $1B+ valuation
Fortune
8:25 AM
Leaked court documents show that Italian authorities have given up catching Phineas Fisher, the person who hacked the government spyware maker Hacking Team
Motherboard
7:45 AM
Source: Waymo plans to launch the first commercial driverless car service in early December; it will operate under a new brand competing with Uber and Lyft
Bloomberg
7:25 AM
Flipkart Group CEO Binny Bansal resigns after probe into allegations of serious misconduct
Livemint
5:40 AM
Q&A: AMD CTO Mark Papermaster on the company's strategy for its EPYC server processor line and its chiplet approach of combining 7nm CPU dies with 14nm IO dies
AnandTech
2:25 AM
US officials and cybersecurity firms looking for evidence of foreign interference say Russian hackers mostly sat on the sidelines during the midterm elections
Wall Street Journal
12:50 AM
Apple says its T2 chip in newer Macs will run a diagnostic after some repairs that may make the computer inoperable if not repaired by Apple or its network
The Verge
Monday, November 12, 2018
11:15 PM
A look at how Palantir, which keeps losing money, is trying to turn around its business ahead of a long-delayed IPO by cutting costs and hiring more salespeople
Wall Street Journal
10:35 PM
In a letter shared by Sen. Ron Wyden, Facebook admits it ignored warnings from government-approved auditor in 2013 that its device partners may misuse user data
New York Times
9:31 PM
Sources: New York City and Northern Virginia will be the homes for Amazon's second and third “headquarters”; the announcement is expected as soon as Tuesday
Wall Street Journal
9:00 PM
Some Google services were temporarily unreachable for some users due to internet traffic being misdirected; Google believes cause was external, will investigate
Wall Street Journal
7:05 PM
Intel says it will make its XMM 8160 5G modem available to manufacturers in H2 2019, six months ahead of schedule, with devices using it shipping in H1 2020
ZDNet
6:45 PM
GM says it will allow non-GM branded vehicles on its Maven peer-to-peer car sharing platform by mid-2019
TechCrunch
6:10 PM
Google open-sources AI algorithms that its researchers say can distinguish between voices with 92% accuracy
VentureBeat
5:45 PM
Acer Chromebook Spin 13 review: with fantastic build quality, great performance, comfortable keyboard, and good battery life, it bests the pricier Pixelbook
Android Authority
3:50 PM
Firefox debuts Price Wise, an experimental price-tracking plug-in that lets users add products from Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Walmart, Home Depot to a watch list
VentureBeat
3:00 PM
France's Macron releases an international pact on cyber warfare and security principles that over 50 nations have signed, but not the US, Australia, or China
Axios
2:53 PM
Airbnb and eBay say they will end their forced arbitration policy for sexual harassment claims
BuzzFeed News
2:40 PM
YouTube CEO warns of unintended consequences of EU's Article 13 and says YouTube may have to block videos in the EU to avoid liability under the new directive
YouTube Creator Blog
1:55 PM
Google says Gboard on Android can now use AI to suggest GIFs, emoji, and stickers that are “related to your conversation”, available globally in English
The Keyword
1:30 PM
As companies seek more direct ways to engage customers, ad agencies like WPP face increased competition from tech consultants like Accenture, Deloitte, and IBM
Wall Street Journal
1:14 PM
Snap VP of Content Nick Bell, who joined the company in 2014 to lead Discover, says he's leaving amid a planned reorg under Chief Strategy Officer Jared Grusd
Cheddar
12:50 PM
BlaBlaCar will offer a bus service and is acquiring Ouibus, the bus division of France's national railway company SNCF, and also announces $114M in new funding
TechCrunch
11:50 AM
Infineon to acquire Dresden-based Siltectra for €124M, will use startup's Cold Split technology to split wafers, thus doubling the number of chips on them
Electronics Weekly
11:45 AM
Apple's main supplier for Face ID tech, Lumentum, has slashed its revenue forecasts by about 17%; Apple's stock drops ~5% amid concerns of weak iPhone sales
Reuters
10:55 AM
Kofax to acquire Nuance's imaging division for $400M as it continues building up its AI-based tools for automating repetitive or mundane back-office tasks
TechCrunch
10:40 AM
Smart speakers changed audio consumption habits and boosted sales of smart home devices, but hopes for adoption in areas like shopping have not panned out yet
Recode
10:20 AM
Framer, an Amsterdam-based UI prototyping platform, raises $24M Series B led by Atomico, with Accel and AngelList participating
VentureBeat
9:55 AM
Facebook agrees to cooperate with France in an informal examination of its content moderation practices and give the government access to its internal processes
TechCrunch
9:20 AM
Sources: Imran Khan, formerly second-in-command at Snap, is working on a new e-commerce startup due to launch next year
Recode
8:30 AM
Netflix execs talk about plans to boost international growth, want to experiment with lower-priced subscriptions in countries with lower per-capita income
Bloomberg
7:55 AM
Clearbanc, which provides $5K to $10M loans to startups for online marketing in exchange for revenue share, says it has raised $70M in seed and Series A rounds
TechCrunch
7:15 AM
Sources: Samsung to launch the flagship Galaxy S10 in February, while Galaxy S10 with 5G support and its foldable phone called Galaxy F will launch in March
Yonhap News Agency
5:05 AM
A look at nascent efforts to stream video games, as latency seems set to drop even lower with the proliferation of data centers and 5G rolling out
Wall Street Journal
2:25 AM
Regulatory filing shows SoftBank Group seeks to raise ~$21B in an IPO for its Japanese mobile telecom unit on December 19 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Reuters
1:55 AM
Report: 1,594 US startups received initial VC funding in the first 9 months of 2018, down 40% from 2015, while median seed round was $2M, ~4X the 2013 average
Wall Street Journal
1:30 AM
Profile of Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, who resisted taking VC money for over a decade before finally agreeing to deals with Accel and Sequoia Capital
Bloomberg
1:10 AM
A ruling against a shareholder of Tencent's WeBank put 12.6M shares up for auction on Taobao, which, as of Nov. 2017, had processed ~610K such judicial auctions
South China Morning Post
12:35 AM
UK's Privacy International files complaints against Oracle, Acxiom, Criteo, Quantcast, Tapad, Equifax, and Experian over potential GDPR violations
The Register
12:00 AM
ResMed, best known for its sleep apnea equipment and software, to acquire cloud-based electronic health records manager MatrixCare for $750M
ZDNet
Sunday, November 11, 2018
11:23 PM
Cloud-based IT management startup Apptio says it has agreed to be bought by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for about $1.94B in cash
Reuters
11:23 PM
Waitlisting apps like Yelp's Nowait are increasingly popular with customers and businesses but critics wonder if the convenience is worth the privacy trade-offs
CNET
10:50 PM
A look at the tug of war between the data driven tech team and the relationship-oriented Hollywood team at Netflix
Wall Street Journal
10:15 PM
Overwolf, a platform to help devs create extensions and services for video games, from analytics to coaching, raises $16M Series B led by Intel Capital
VentureBeat
9:40 PM
Researchers warn so-called “perceptual” ad blockers, which aim to visually recognize ads on a page to block them, are ineffective and create new attack vectors
Motherboard
9:05 PM
Sue Gordon, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, explains the need for a new partnership between the intelligence agencies and Silicon Valley
Wired
8:30 PM
Andrew Moore, Google Cloud's new head of AI, on mistakes companies make in adopting AI, working with US military, and China's importance to Google's AI plans
MIT Technology Review
7:55 PM
Qualtrics had 2017 revenue of $289.9M; with the $8B acquisition, Accel and IVP's stakes are each worth $1B+, and the Smith family's stake is ~$2.6B after taxes
Forbes
7:30 PM
Expanded CFIUS powers to review financing deals in vaguely defined “emerging technologies” prompt fears that it may slow down tech investments from China
The Guardian
6:55 PM
Don MacAskill, CEO of Flickr-owner SmugMug, on why the service will end Flickr's free 1TB storage and delete all but the last 1,000 photos from free accounts
CNET
6:21 PM
SAP announces it will buy user experience management platform Qualtrics, which had planned to go public later this month, for $8B
Axios
5:05 PM
Bitcoin evangelist and educator Andreas Antonopoulos reflects on the first 10 years of blockchain
Bitcoin Magazine
4:10 PM
Nested, a UK-based online real estate agent that provides a cash advance to new home buyers before they sell their old home, raises £120M in equity and debt
TechCrunch
3:19 PM
Sources: Facebook pressured Palmer Luckey to say he supported libertarian Gary Johnson despite his years-long support of Trump; Luckey's exit package was $100M+
Wall Street Journal
2:25 PM
How Alibaba turned Singles' Day into a multi-billion dollar sales event bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined
Fortune
1:20 PM
A look at the heated debate raging in the Bitcoin Cash community ahead of the contentious hard fork that may split the cryptocurrency's blockchain on Nov. 15
CoinDesk
11:50 AM
Alibaba sold $30.8B worth of goods during the 24-hour Singles' Day shopping event, topping the 2017 Singles Day sales of $25.3B
CNBC
10:25 AM
Cloudflare launches Android and iOS apps for its privacy-focused DNS service 1.1.1.1
TechCrunch
7:55 AM
Microsoft XO18 roundup: Microsoft acquires game studios inXile and Obsidian, announces 91M+ MAUs for Minecraft, and says Minecraft Marketplace has 77 partners
VentureBeat
1:50 AM
Changing viewing habits and a desire for more ad revenue are prompting YouTube creators to post ever longer videos
Wired
Saturday, November 10, 2018
11:00 PM
How Quanttus, a startup borne out of research to measure blood pressure with a watch, failed but seeded health teams at big tech companies with its alumni
CNBC
6:20 PM
Microsoft says mouse and keyboard support for the Xbox One is coming on November 14
CNET
3:45 PM
Profile of Ivy Ross, Google's VP of design, who is working to make Google's hardware design aesthetic “human, optimistic and bold”
WIRED UK
12:45 PM
Lime launches a global recall of scooters from one of its manufacturers after determining that the scooters could break apart while in use
Washington Post
10:45 AM
As the Trump administration reinstates economic sanctions, major US banks are bracing themselves against cyberattacks from Iran
CNN
8:00 AM
A detailed look at SIM swapping, a complex form of mobile phone fraud often used to steal cryptocurrency and other items of value
Krebs on Security
1:55 AM
Profile of philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, who worries that Silicon Valley is undermining democracy and whose book tour was well-received by its tech elite
New York Times
12:10 AM
Louisville, KY to hold four-year test of self-guided drones that, given GPS coordinates of shootings, take pictures and videos ahead of first responders
The Atlantic
Friday, November 9, 2018
11:30 PM
Harris poll: 22% of Americans say they trust Facebook with their personal information, 48% view Facebook more negatively than they did six months ago
Fortune
9:15 PM
Turin-based Deltatre acquires IP video software maker Massive Interactive for $127M to challenge Disney and Endeavor in online sports streaming services
Financial Times
8:10 PM
US Cyber Command launches its new initiative to publicly share unclassified malware samples it has discovered by uploading multiple files to VirusTotal
ZDNet
7:55 PM
CoStar buys Cozy, a startup helping landlords screen tenants, market properties, and collect rent, for $68M to improve its rental listings site Apartments.com
GeekWire
7:35 PM
Twitter has quietly locked millions of suspicious followers that the company had purged in July and which had reappeared, according to Twitter, due to a bug
Reuters
7:00 PM
Apple confirms that some iPhone X screens don't respond or respond intermittently when touched, offers free screen replacements for those affected
Bloomberg
6:25 PM
A US agency said hackers may have accessed partial SSNs, immigration status, tax information, and more in an October breach of healthcare.gov
TechCrunch
6:10 PM
Romania threatens to fine investigative non-profit RISE Project €650/day and up to €20M unless it reveals corruption investigation sources, citing GDPR
OCCRP
5:15 PM
Report: BlackBerry is in talks to buy cybersecurity company Cylance for as much as $1.5B
Reuters
4:51 PM
Facebook to end forced arbitration for sexual-harassment claims, require execs at director level or above to disclose if they are dating someone in the company
Wall Street Journal
4:27 PM
Facebook has quietly released an app for iOS and Android called Lasso, designed to compete with TikTok, that lets users create short videos
The Verge
3:17 PM
As part of its deal with Apple, Amazon will only allow authorized resellers on its site, kicking independent Apple device refurbishers off its platform
Motherboard
3:00 PM
PayPal says it will cancel accounts of Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes, Tommy Robinson and a number of anti-fascist groups like Atlanta Antifa and Antifa Sacramento
The Verge
2:45 PM
SEC fines the owner of decentralized cryptocurrency exchange EtherDelta $388K, prompting fears of further enforcement action against crypto trading platforms
CoinDesk
1:40 PM
LinkedIn says it is testing a new events tool with a select group of users in SF and NYC with plans to roll out the feature globally in the next few months
VentureBeat
1:00 PM
Utah resident Austin Thompson, aka @DerpTrolling, pleads guilty to DDoS attacks on EA's Origin, Sony Playstation and Valve's Steam gaming services in Dec. 2013
TechCrunch
12:30 PM
Giphy unveils its short-form video platform and showcases the 118 finalist videos from the first Giphy Film Fest, held earlier this week
Engadget
11:55 AM
Medium CEO Ev Williams says he will be raising more money; Medium has raised $132M, has 90M MAUs, and publishes 20K articles per day
Business Insider
11:40 AM
Amazon signs a deal with Apple, will start selling its latest devices, except the HomePod, in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and India
CNET
11:20 AM
The New York Times is digitizing its 5M-7M photo archive using Google AI to recognize text describing the photos and will use Google's storage services
CNET
10:57 AM
LinkedIn says its e-learning portal LinkedIn Learning now has more than 11,000 enterprise customers, adds interactive Q&A features and third-party content
TechCrunch
10:16 AM
Sources: Mary Meeker is seeking to raise around $1.25B for her new growth fund
Business Insider
9:25 AM
IoT security company ForeScout Technologies acquires Netherlands-based industrial security company SecurityMatters for $113M
ZDNet
8:20 AM
Secret Service warns via internal alert that Informed Delivery, USPS's service to view scans of incoming mail, is being used to commit identity theft and fraud
Krebs on Security
6:20 AM
Apple supplier Finisar, a laser chip maker that received $390M from Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Fund, acquired by optical product company II-VI in $3.2B deal
Financial Times
4:45 AM
GitHub says it now hosts over 100M repositories and supports 31M developers, who collectively have created over 1.1B contributions
VentureBeat
2:45 AM
Alipay strikes an eight-year deal with European soccer governing body UEFA allowing Alipay to be accepted at tournaments including Euro 2020 and Euro 2024
CNBC
2:10 AM
Study using Wehe app, which detects net neutrality violations, finds that Sprint is throttling Skype across the US and almost exclusively on Android phones
Bloomberg
12:10 AM
Wall Street is now selling more data, such as social media sentiment and geospatial mapping, and less analysis, as only about 21% of research emails are opened
Wall Street Journal
Thursday, November 8, 2018
10:55 PM
SEC filings show that GE has sold 63% of its shares in Pivotal, reducing its stake from 20.8% to 7%, and earning it $173M
CRN
10:05 PM
Microsoft says it has fixed an issue deactivating licenses on some Windows 10 Pro machines, says update will be automatically applied over next 24 hours
ZDNet
9:35 PM
Dropbox reports Q3 revenue of $360.3M, up 26% YoY, beating expectations, says it had 12.3M paid users, up from 10.4M a year ago; stock closes up 3%+
Business Insider
9:05 PM
Cisco partners with AWS to provide companies with hybrid cloud solutions for Kubernetes on AWS, available next month
CNBC
8:20 PM
Interviews with current and former Google staff about its China-related projects reveal tensions between preserving its founding ideals and a desire for growth
Bloomberg
7:50 PM
Google hires David Feinberg, CEO of health services organization Geisinger, to lead its health initiatives; sources say he will report to AI head Jeff Dean
CNBC
7:05 PM
Google walkout organizers say Google made progress toward addressing their demands but it must still address systemic racism and discrimination at the company
Google Walkout For Real Change
6:40 PM
Amazon staff meeting transcript: AWS CEO Andy Jassy defends Rekognition, says it's the government's duty to help specify regulations for facial recognition tech
BuzzFeed News
6:20 PM
Bird unveils a new feature called Community Mode, which lets people report badly parked and damaged scooters to the company
CNET
5:30 PM
Yelp reports Q3 revenue of $241M, missing analyst estimates of $245M, and issues weak Q4 guidance; stock down more than 28%
CNBC
5:00 PM
Disney says its new streaming service will be called Disney+ and will launch in the US in late 2019
CNBC
4:05 PM
Coinbase says it is adding Brave browser's Basic Attention Token to its retail trading platform, less than a week after listing it on Coinbase Pro
CoinDesk
3:50 PM
David Attenborough, the legendary BBC broadcaster, will provide the voiceover for Netflix's eight-part series Our Planet, to be released in April
The Guardian
3:40 PM
HTC brings Vive Focus, its standalone VR headset available in China, to North America and Europe for $599 with an Advantage service option costing $749
The Verge
3:30 PM
Facebook says it has removed 14M+ pieces of terrorist content this year and median time to take action is less than 2 minutes in Q3 2018
Facebook
2:55 PM
Sources: Chinese bike-sharing company Hellobike is looking to raise $400M from SoftBank and others; spokesman says Hellobike's valuation is now over $2B
Reuters
2:00 PM
President of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers says Amazon's AbeBooks has apologized and will not drop booksellers as scheduled on Nov. 30
New York Times
1:25 PM
Google says Chrome 71, which arrives next month, will warn users about unclear billing charges and subscription signups
9to5Google
12:50 PM
YouTube finally arrives on the Nintendo Switch, available to download now, following Hulu
TechCrunch