Techmeme
November 21, 2017, 11:35 AM

Top News

Keith Collins / Quartz:
Android phones send nearby cell tower address data to Google even when location services are disabled; Google says it will end the practice by end of November  —  Many people realize that smartphones track their locations.  But what if you actively turn off location services, haven't used any apps …
Stan Higgins / CoinDesk:
Tether, a service that offers dollar-backed digital tokens, says tokens worth $30M were stolen by hackers and it has suspended its back-end wallet service  —  Tether, the company behind a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency widely used in the market's exchange trade, is claiming that its systems …
Paul Mozur / New York Times:
Skype has been unavailable on Apple and third-party Android app stores in China for nearly a month  —  SHANGHAI — One of the last foreign-run tools for online communication in China appears to be in trouble with the authorities there.  —  For almost a month, Skype, the internet phone call …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple's HomePod speaker, which has limited features compared to Amazon's Echo, started as a side project and was cancelled and revived several times  —  The Apple speaker started as a side project, was cancelled and revived several times and can't do as many things as the Echo.
CNBC:
DoJ files antitrust suit to block AT&T/DirecTV's $85B proposed acquisition of Time Warner, says merger would lessen competition and result in higher prices  —  The Department of Justice is suing to block AT&T's $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner.  “Today's DOJ lawsuit is a radical …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
AWS launches AWS Secret Region for US intel agencies and their partners working with “secret” classified data, to complement its air-gapped Top Secret Region  —  Amazon today announced that its AWS cloud computing service now offers a new region that's specifically designed …
Tamara Chuang / Denver Post:
Colorado fines Uber $8.9M after investigation found Uber allowed drivers with suspended or revoked licenses and felony convictions  —  Competitor Lyft also was investigated but no violations were found  —  Colorado regulators slapped Uber with an $8.9 million penalty for allowing 57 people …
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
FCC unveils its plan to repeal net neutrality rules, a move that would give ISPs broad powers to determine which websites and online services customers use  —  Federal regulators unveiled a plan Tuesday that would give Internet providers broad powers to determine what websites and online services their customers can see and use.
More: RecodeTweets: @joshconstine
Alfred Ng / CNET:
Justice Department charges Behzad Mesri, an Iranian citizen, for allegedly hacking HBO and demanding a $6M bitcoin ransom in July  —  The Department of Justice announced charges against the hacker who ruined HBO's summer.  —  In July, a hacker leaked scripts for popular HBO series …
More: ABC News and The Verge
Reuters:
Uber to buy up to 24K SUVs from Volvo equipped with autonomous technology in a non-exclusive deal from 2019 to 2021; Uber will add its own self-driving tech  —  STOCKHOLM/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Uber plans to buy up to 24,000 self-driving cars from Volvo, marking the transition of the U.S. firm …

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:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
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:
Fri. 12/20 - Gemini Flash Thinking
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 11:35 AM ET, November 21, 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