Techmeme
February 10, 2019, 10:00 PM

Top News

David Pierce / Wall Street Journal:
Hands-on with AR navigation on Google Maps that the company is testing with Local Guides, a group of power users helping Google improve its Maps experience  —  The coming Google Maps augmented-reality navigation feature will look through your phone's camera to figure out where you are and show you where you are going.
Charlie Osborne / ZDNet:
US Army starts deploying FLIR's Black Hornet nano-drones that measure 6.6" across, weigh less than 33 grams, and provide HD photos and live video for soldiers  —  Black Hornets are nano-drones able to perform reconnaissance during combat operations.  —  The US Army aims to give almost …
Tim O'Reilly / Quartz:
Hoffman and Yeh's “Blitzscaling” offers practical advice for startups but presents a lot of revisionist history and ignores the perils of VC-fueled hypergrowth  —  The pursuit of monopoly has led Silicon Valley astray.  —  Look no further than the race between Lyft and Uber to dominate the online ride-hailing market.
Victor Luckerson / The Ringer:
Following major tech scandals, a look at how Stanford University is reevaluating its role in shaping Silicon Valley's future employees and leaders  —  Stanford has established itself as the epicenter of computer science, and a farm system for the tech giants.
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Fitbit launches Inspire, its first fitness tracker available exclusively through its corporate, wellness, health plan, and health systems partners  —  Fitbit has recently introduced a new activity and sleep tracker.  But unlike it's previous devices, this one is only available if your health plan or employer is signed up with Fitbit.
Mark Suster / Both Sides of the Table:
VCs raised $55B in 2018, similar to what was raised in 1999, but most of the increased funding went into growth rounds, which are effectively private IPOs  —  I've heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals.
Andrii Degeler / Tech.eu:
Milan-based automotive e-commerce startup brumbrum, which uses AI to source and price vehicles, raises €20M led by Accel to expand across Europe  —  Milan-based automotive e-commerce startup brumbrum has raised €20 million in a funding round led by Accel, with participation from Bonsai Ventures …
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Spotify's bet on Gimlet and Anchor gives it a foothold into podcasting to apply its listener-monetization skills without worrying about sending money to labels  —  Credit Spotify CEO Daniel Ek with honesty; in a blog post announcing a major move into the podcast space, Ek wrote:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Q&A with Zynga's CEO on the once-beleaguered game company's turnaround, as key acquisitions and the shift to mobile overcome declining Facebook and web games  —  Zynga went public in 2011 and it grew quickly on the strength of social games like FarmVille.  But it hit the skids in 2013, and it began going downhill.

Sponsor Posts

Microsoft:
6 AI Trends to Watch in 2025  —  Explore insight from Microsoft on key AI advancements that will shape our work and daily lives in the coming year.
Genesys:
The Levels of Experience Orchestration  —  What's your vision for the future of customer experience?  See how AI can transform your business - and take you to the next level.
Zoho:
How listening to employees builds better workplaces  —  A workplace where employees feel heard is a workplace that thrives.  Employee listening goes beyond collecting feedback; it's about understanding, valuing …
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 01/09 - The Wildfire App Everyone In LA Has Been Using
The day's tech news, every day. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:00 PM ET, February 10, 2019.

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

Kashmir Hill / Gizmodo: