Techmeme
January 8, 2018, 9:20 PM

Top News

Pali Bhat / The Keyword:
Google consolidates its payment offerings, including Android Pay and Google Wallet, under a single brand: Google Pay  —  If you've ever paid for groceries with Android Pay, used Chrome to automatically fill in your payment info, or purchased an app on Google Play, then you've already experienced …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: AT&T has walked away from a deal to sell smartphones made by Huawei, a partnership that was expected to be announced on Tuesday at CES  —  Reversal is set back for Chinese electronics giant's hopes to crack U.S. market  —  AT&T Inc. T .24% has walked away from a deal …
Janko Rottgers / Variety:
HTC unveils Vive Pro VR headset with 2880x1600 resolution, a 78% increase over current Vive, and wireless adapter, so customers can lose the wired PC connection  —  HTC used its virtual reality (VR) keynote at CES in Las Vegas Monday to unveil an updated version of its Vive virtual reality headset …
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
James Damore, author of controversial diversity memo who was fired by Google, files class action suit claiming it discriminates against white male conservatives  —  James Damore, a former Google engineer who was fired in August after posting a memo to an internal Google message board arguing …
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Apple releases macOS 10.13.2 supplemental update and iOS 11.2.2 with security improvements to Safari and WebKit to mitigate Spectre vulnerability  —  Apple just released iOS 11.2.2 with some Safari and WebKit improvements to mitigate the Spectre vulnerability. macOS is also receiving an update.
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Oculus to launch the Mi VR in China, which will be similar to Oculus Go but with partner Xiaomi providing software for the headset instead of Facebook  —  The new headset comes thanks to a partnership with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi.  —  Facebook is taking a major step toward its goal …
TechCrunch:
Sources: Telegram to launch Telegram Open Network on new blockchain with native Gram cryptocurrency, ICO pre-sale of $500M, with only real fiat currency buy-ins  —  Encrypted messaging startup Telegram plans to launch its own blockchain platform and native cryptocurrency, powering payments on its chat app and beyond.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Assistant is coming to smart speakers from a variety of companies this summer, including speakers with displays from JBL, Lenovo, LG, and Sony  —  Google Assistant is coming to a ton of speakers, some with their own screens  —  If Google's gigantic “Hey Google” …
Sara Salinas / CNBC:
GoPro issues weak guidance, drops CEO cash compensation to $1, will cut staff by 20%, exit drone business; CEO says he'd consider selling firm; stock down ~15%  —  GoPro lowered fourth quarter guidance Monday and confirmed layoffs of at least 250 employees.  —  Shares were halted in premarket trading.
Thuy Ong / The Verge:
PMA/Airfuel developer Powermat joins rival and Qi developer Wireless Power Consortium; Powermat CEO says Qi is now the dominant wireless charging standard  —  Powermat was pushing its own wireless charging standard, but has now signed on with the competition
Roger McNamee / Washington Monthly:
Facebook and Google's influence on the US election and Brexit calls for regulations for more transparency, letting users own their data and social graphs, more  —  An early investor explains why the social media platform's business model is such a threat—and what to do about it.
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed:
Facebook says it's sunsetting M as a standalone concierge bot, but its context-based suggestions will live on inside Messenger conversations  —  Facebook's standalone concierge bot M will soon be no more.  —  On Jan. 19, Facebook is sunsetting the initial version of M, which has been available in closed beta since fall 2015.
Variety:
Facebook has signed a multi-year, multi-territory licensing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, allowing users to upload and share media from the catalog  —  Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Facebook on Monday announced the signing of a licensing agreement.  —  The multi-territory …
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
After breach exposing millions of parents and kids, toymaker VTech handed a $650K fine by FTC  —  VTech, the maker of smart toys whose poor security practices exposed data from millions of parents and children, has been slapped on the wrist by the FTC to the tune of $650,000 and probation.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
HP, Asus, Acer, and others plan to integrate Alexa into some of their Windows 10 desktops and notebooks this year  —  Amazon Alexa will soon arrive on Windows PCs, creating new competition for Microsoft's built-in Cortana voice assistant.  —  Hardware makers HP, ASUS …

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:
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 9:20 PM ET, January 8, 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

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: