Techmeme
February 21, 2018, 4:25 PM

Top News

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:
YouTube and Facebook remove conspiracy videos claiming Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg was an actor but, in many cases, only after promoting them  —  - YouTube promoted a video featuring a conspiracy theory claiming that one of the survivors of the school shooting last week in Parkland, Florida, is a paid actor.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton invests $50M in newly-formed Signal Foundation, a non-profit which will maintain Signal app, and joins as its executive chairman  —  IN THE FOUR or so years since it launched, end-to-end encrypted messaging app Signal has become the security community's gold standard …
Yoel Roth / Twitter:
Twitter updates API guidelines to limit simultaneous actions across accounts, such as “any form of automation” to post “substantially similar” content  —  Keeping Twitter safe and free from spam is a top priority for us.  One of the most common spam violations …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Uber launches Express Pool, which gives cheaper fares to those willing to walk to shared rides, in SF, DC, LA, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego, Denver, Boston  —  Uber's first new product in three years  —  UberPool has long occupied a weird place in the ride-hailing company's lineup of services.
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Intel begins rolling out updated patches for Spectre flaws in Skylake, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake processors, after first patches caused some systems to crash  —  All 6th, 7th, and 8th generation Core processors now have microcode available.  —  Intel reports that it has developed …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Nest adds Google Assistant support to its Cam IQ security camera and launches new $5/month tier for Nest Aware service with five days of video uploading  —  An update to the Nest Cam IQ will let you manage smart home devices with your voice  —  Smart home company Nest today announced …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Google unveils recommendations for Android enterprise customers: select Android 7+ devices from BlackBerry, Google, Huawei, LG, Motorola, Nokia; Samsung omitted  —  Google's Android Enterprise Recommended program includes a big chunk of the Android device field, but omits Samsung.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Qualcomm unveils new Snapdragon 845 standalone AR/VR reference headset with eye and body tracking, faster graphics, and higher battery efficiency  —  Qualcomm has revealed its Snapdragon 845 Xtended Reality (XR) platform for both mobile virtual reality and augmented reality mobile headsets.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is in talks to buy long-term supplies of cobalt, a key battery ingredient, directly from miners for the first time, amid fears of a shortage  —  iPhone maker one of the largest end users of the metal  —  Cobalt is a key ingredient in mobile phone batteries
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Amazon opens applications for second Alexa Accelerator program cohort, in partnership with TechStars, with option to work in London, the first non-US location  —  Amazon continues to tap into the developer community to expand the ubiquity of its Alexa voice-based assistant, and it's taking the strategy international.
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Inside competition between multiple firms, such as Google, GM, and Uber, over mapping for self-driving vehicles, with many keen to stop Google from dominating  —  Self-driving cars need painfully detailed data on every inch of street.  Can automakers solve the problem without the reigning superpower of maps?
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Roku beats estimates with Q4 revenue of $188.26M, up 28% YoY, as active accounts rose 44% YoY to 19.3M, and predicts 2018 loss of $40M-$55M; stock down 15%+  —  Roku had a blowout holiday quarter: The company was able to handily beat analyst expectations, thanks largely to a big increase of its advertising revenue.
Jonathan Keane / Tech.eu:
Paris-based machine vision startup Prophesee, formerly known as Chronocam, raises $19M Series B led by unnamed investor with participation from Intel and others  —  Prophesee, the machine vision startup formerly known as Chronocam, has raised $19 million in initial funding for its Series B round led …

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Meet Airtable ProductCentral  —  The unified solution for managing your entire product development process in the AI era.
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.
Zoho:
Zoho Forms for successful Black Friday sales  —  Black Friday is a retail frenzy that can significantly impact your bottom line.  To make the most of this shopping bonanza, you need a strategy that not only attracts customers …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 11/04 - Apple Buying And Investing In Things
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 4:25 PM ET, February 21, 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

Zack Whittaker / ZDNet:
Jon Fingas / Engadget:

Earlier Picks

RedLock Blog: