Techmeme
September 6, 2017, 9:15 PM

Top News

Washington Post:
Facebook says it sold ~$100K of ads on politically divisive topics to Russia-linked accounts from 6/15-5/17; sources say FB told Congress ads targeted US voters  —  Representatives of Facebook told congressional investigators Wednesday that it has discovered it sold ads during …
Alex Stamos / Facebook:
Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:
Federal judge dismisses libel suit against Techdirt from Shiva Ayyadurai, who claims he invented email, due to difficulty in defining email  —  Judge: Techdirt articles were opinionated and hyperbolic, but not libel.  —  A federal judge in Massachusetts has dismissed a libel lawsuit filed earlier …
Shannon Liao / The Verge:
Twitter begins rolling out its Night Mode feature on Twitter.com, following iOS and Android apps  —  Twitter.com launched its Night Mode feature on desktop today, although the feature has yet to roll out to all accounts.  The feature has already been available on iOS and Android since last year.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft to hold Surface keynote during its annual Future Decoded event next month; sources say it's expected to unveil at least one new Surface device  —  Microsoft's Surface chief will hold a keynote speech in London at the end of October.  The software giant is holding its annual Future Decoded event …
STAT:
Investigation finds IBM's Watson for Oncology program, pitched as an AI-based system for cancer care, falls far short of the expectations IBM created for it  —  It was an audacious undertaking, even for one of the most storied American companies: With a single machine, IBM would tackle humanity's …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Symantec: “Dragonfly” hacker group has penetrated operational networks of multiple US and European energy companies that control key parts of the power grid  —  Intrusion into power companies' operational networks is a dramatic escalation.  —  Nation-sponsored hackers have penetrated …
Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: Amazon and Apple are competing with Warner Bros. and others for rights to the James Bond franchise and are willing to pay as much as the studio  —  The franchise, and its future, are up for grabs as Agent 007 is being viewed as one of the last untapped brands that could be a game changer.
David Meyer / Fortune:
Facebook says ad reach estimates from Adverts Manager are based on how many could see the ad, not an area's population, explaining discrepancy with census data  —  Facebook's advertising metrics have again been called into question, after Pivotal Research Group senior analyst Brian Wieser pointed …
Tony Romm / Recode:
House passes bipartisan SELF-DRIVE Act, which is now heading to Senate and would let companies test as many as 100,000 new self-driving cars on US roads  —  It's still an early win for companies like Ford, Google and Uber.  —  The U.S. House approved a bill on Wednesday that could soon pave …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
T-Mobile's unlimited data family plans with two or more lines now include free Netflix, following AT&T bundling free HBO with its Unlimited Plus plan  —  If you've got an unlimited data family plan at T-Mobile, you'll soon be getting free Netflix to go along with it.
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Survey of wealthy technologists reveals support for left-leaning social policies, like wealth redistribution, but a rejection of regulation and labor unions  —  Silicon Valley has long preferred to remain aloof from national politics, but the Trump era has altered that stance.
Liana B. Baker / Reuters:
Sports e-commerce firm Fanatics confirms it has raised $1B led by SoftBank's Vision Fund, valuing it at $4.5B, and will use the funds to expand internationally  —  New York (Reuters) - Sports e-commerce firm Fanatics has closed a $1 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp's Vision fund …
More: Fortune
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:
Apple's refusal to approve Indian government's anti-spam Do Not Disturb app, which lets users report spam calls or texts, is frustrating telecom regulators  —  Apple Inc.'s refusal so far to approve the Indian government's anti-spam iPhone app is infuriating regulators …

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
Are you ready for the era of agentic AI?  —  Tech leaders are always talking about what's next, and right now, agentic AI is dominating the discourse.  Equip yourself with the info you need in this recorded webinar.
Tribe AI:
State of AI: Adoption, Challenges and Recommendations  —  Examining the current state of AI, the key challenges organizations face, and practical recommendations for utilizing AI integration alongside other best practices.
Zoho:
Unveiling AI-powered updates in Zoho Sheet  —  In 2024, we, the Zoho Sheet team, dedicated ourselves to research and development in order to introduce new features that enhance productivity, data management, collaboration, and other functionalities.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
Why COULDN'T Apple Make An iPhone In The US?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Derek Thompson (Writer, The Atlantic) and Zach Weinberg (Co-founder & CEO, Curie.Bio) Discuss the Tariff Withdrawal and America's Future
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Hard Fork:
Big Tech's Tariff Chaos + A.I. 2027 + Llama Drama
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Great Chat:
The bull case for domestic manufacturing
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Why DOGE is killing the agency that keeps banks from ripping you off
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI's CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:15 PM ET, September 6, 2017.

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