Techmeme
January 16, 2020, 9:10 AM

Top News

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Internal memo: Mozilla lays off ~70 after its 2019 plans to boost revenue streams outside of search, like new subscription products, did not pan out  —  Mozilla laid off about 70 employees today, TechCrunch has learned.  —  In an internal memo, Mozilla chairwoman and interim CEO Mitchell …
Alan Boyle / GeekWire:
Sources: Apple has acquired Seattle-based Xnor.ai, which develops low-power, edge-based AI image recognition tools, for around $200M  —  Apple has acquired Xnor.ai, a Seattle startup specializing in low-power, edge-based artificial intelligence tools, sources with knowledge of the deal told GeekWire.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Fitbit confirms it has begun the rollout of blood oxygen monitoring feature to some of its wearables  —  Fitbit's devices from recent years have blood oxygen monitoring (SpO2) hardware, but they haven't used it — until now.  Users on Reddit and elsewhere have noticed that their Versa …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft begins rolling out its Chromium-based Edge browser, available now for Windows and macOS  —  Right on schedule, Microsoft today launched its new Edge browser based on Google's Chromium open source project.  You can download Chromium Edge now for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
In a tweet, Trump criticizes Apple for refusing to unlock phones of violent criminals and says his administration helps Apple “all of the time” on trade  —  - In a tweet, president Donald Trump addressed the conflict between the FBI and Apple over locked iPhones used by the suspected Pensacola shooter.
New York Times:
Yuan Yang / Financial Times:
Bloomberg:
Kim Hart / Axios:
PitchBook: West Coast's share of total US VC deal value dropped to 50.2% in 2019 vs. 62.3% in 2018; 78% of funding went to CA, NY, and MA, up from 75% in 2018  —  Venture capital investment is seeping out from Silicon Valley to the rest of the country, but the West Coast still dominates the market by a wide margin.
Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic:
As tech becomes the dominant force in the modern economy, Silicon Valley's culture since 1970s of nimble startups successfully challenging incumbents is fading  —  For decades, whole regions, nations even, have tried to model themselves on a particular ideal of innovation, the lifeblood of the modern economy.
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
As companies comply with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA, many have insecure practices for giving users their data and some outsource user identity verification  —  A new California privacy law gives consumers the right to see and delete their data.  But getting access often requires giving up more personal details.
Adam Bluestein / Marker:
Tom Schmidt / Dragonfly Research:
A look at the role of liquidators in the decentralized finance ecosystem, who make money by liquidating under-collateralized loans on crypto lending platforms  —  Over the past two years, a number of decentralized lending protocols, including MakerDAO, Compound, dYdX, and others …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
The staffing formula for India's 10-minute gig economy  —  Leaving for an early morning meeting, but the dog ate your toothbrush?  That's how the quick commerce market was born in the post-COVID era.
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:
Microsoft Build 2025
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Spotlight On:
Tines's Eoin Hinchy on rejecting the playbooks
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Gustav Söderström - How Spotify Thinks
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on how AI can save the web, not destroy it
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Grit:
From Scaling Cisco to Seeding AI: John T. Chambers on Speed, Strategy, and Reinvention
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Microsoft CPO: If you aren't prototyping with AI you're doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada
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 9:10 AM ET, January 16, 2020.

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

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Alex Konrad / Forbes:

Earlier Picks

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
James Vincent / The Verge:
Abner Li / 9to5Google: