Techmeme
January 31, 2018, 8:30 AM

Top News

Saheli Roy Choudhury / CNBC:
Samsung posts record Q4 profit of $14.15B driven by chip sales, while its mobile business saw a 3.2% YoY profit decline to ~$2.25B  —  - Samsung Electronics recorded an operating profit of about $14.15 billion for the December quarter — in line with guidance.
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Samsung confirms it is manufacturing ASIC chips, which are used to mine cryptocurrencies; the ASIC industry is dominated by China's Bitmain and Canaan Creative  —  Fresh from toppling Intel as the planet's biggest seller of chipsets, Samsung has confirmed that it has begun manufacturing ASIC chips …
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook says it's banning all ads for cryptocurrencies, ICOs, and binary options to avoid “misleading or deceptive promotional practices”  —  It's an “intentionally broad” policy aimed at stopping scammers.  —  Facebook is banning all ads that promote cryptocurrencies …
Red Hat:
Red Hat to acquire Kubernetes and containers startup CoreOS for $250M  —  With CoreOS, Red Hat doubles down on technology to help customers build, run and manage containerized applications in hybrid and multicloud environments  —  Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider …
Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg:
Line Corp., creator of Japan's biggest messaging app, is expanding into cryptocurrency trading, insurance, and other financial services  —  Japan's biggest messenger creates a financial holdings company  —  Line applied for cryptocurrency exchange license in Japan
Bloomberg:
Sources: US DoJ and SEC are investigating whether Apple violated securities laws concerning its disclosures about update that slowed iPhones with old batteries  —  The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether Apple Inc. violated securities laws concerning …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google says it removed 700,000+ apps from the Play Store last year for policy violations, up 70% YoY, credits new machine learning techniques for the increase  —  Google today shared details of Google Play's efforts to protect Android users with its teams of engineers, policy experts …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon rolls out SMS messaging feature for Alexa devices that lets users send text messages via voice, currently only available to Android users in US  —  Amazon announced today it's launching a new messaging feature for Alexa devices in the U.S. that will allow you to send texts - yes …
Becky Peterson / Business Insider:
Dustin Moskovitz's productivity startup Asana raises $75M Series D led by Al Gore's Generation Investment Management; sources say at a $900M valuation  —  - The collaboration and productivity application company Asana raised $75 million in a series D, the company announced Tuesday.
Matthew Leising / Bloomberg:
Source: US regulators subpoenaed Bitfinex and subsidiary Tether amid doubts that Tether's USDT, which the firm says is pegged to USD, has sufficient reserves  —  Firms say they routinely get ‘legal process’ from regulators  —  Tether has yet to verify that it holds $2.3 billion in reserve
Kyle Stock / Bloomberg:
Nuro exits stealth after unveiling an autonomous delivery vehicle prototype, has raised $92M from investors including Banyan Capital and Greylock Partners  —  A secretive startup has unveiled its new grocery-getter, one of many automakers that are leaving people out of the equation.
Jeff Teper / Microsoft Tech Community:
Microsoft updates iOS Office apps with real-time co-authoring, iPad drag and drop support, universal link support, and OneDrive support for the iOS Files app  —  Today's post was written by Jeff Teper, corporate vice president for OneDrive, SharePoint and Office.
Bloomberg:
Fujifilm buys control of Xerox to form an $18B company, marking an end to the iconic American giant's independence  —  Joint venture to eliminate 10,000 jobs globally in revamp  —  Deal will end independence of U.S. firm formed in early 1900s  —  Fujifilm Holdings Corp. is buying control …
Blair Hanley Frank / VentureBeat:
Astound announces $11.5M Series A and launches out of stealth to help large enterprises automate employee service requests using AI  —  EXCLUSIVE:  —  A new startup called Astound emerged from stealth today with a big vision: to cut down on service requests using artificial intelligence to drive automation.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Snap debuts new styles for its Bitmoji called Bitmoji Deluxe, now offers 40 skin tones, up from 25, twice as many hair colors, and 50 hair treatment options  —  Now you can customize your Snapchat Bitmoji avatar with 40 skin tones, 50 hair colors, 50 hair treatment options and more so it looks …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Webpass, the wireless home broadband company Google Fiber acquired in 2016, is exiting the Boston market, one of eight cities it served  —  Google Fiber isn't just stalling; now it's shrinking  —  Webpass, the wireless home broadband company that Google Fiber acquired in 2016, is exiting the Boston market.
More: 9to5Google

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
Introducing AI Forms: Create optimized forms with AI in Zoho Forms  —  The future of form creation isn't coming, it's here.  Forget everything you thought you knew about building online forms.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 12/23 - The Revenge Of Google Glass?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:30 AM ET, January 31, 2018.

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

Theodore Schleifer / Recode:
Jeff Cox / CNBC: