Techmeme
August 16, 2018, 7:45 PM

Top News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it's ending legacy API support, used by third-party apps like Tweetbot, due to “technical and business constraints”  —  It's hard to be a fan of Twitter right now.  The company is sticking up for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, when nearly all other platforms …
New York Times:
Sources: about 1,000 Google employees have signed a letter demanding more transparency following reports of Google developing a censored search engine for China  —  Hundreds of Google employees, upset at the company's decision to secretly build a censored version of its search engine for China …
Erin Pearson / The Age:
Unnamed Melbourne-based 16-year-old pleads guilty to repeatedly breaching Apple's systems and downloading 90GB of sensitive files  —  A Melbourne private schoolboy who repeatedly broke into Apple's secure computer systems is facing criminal charges after the technology giant called in the FBI.
Dan Primack / Axios:
DoorDash raises $250M at a $4B valuation, says it met or exceeded most of metrics set during its March Series D and had 250% YoY growth in delivery volume  —  Food delivery startup DoorDash on Thursday said it has raised $250 million in new venture capital funding at a $4 billion post-money valuation.
Zach Dorfman / Foreign Policy:
Current and former US officials say CIA's communication system used for sources in China was compromised, leading to China executing ~30 US spies from 2010-2012  —  The number of informants executed in the debacle is higher than initially thought.  —  It was considered one of the CIA's worst failures …
Ryan Nakashima / Associated Press:
Google revises help page that describes how its “Location History” setting works, clarifying that it still tracks location even if the setting is turned off  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has revised a help page that erroneously described how its “Location History” setting works …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google announces Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids, an open spec that lets hearing aid makers add direct audio streaming to Android from assistive devices  —  Today's hearing aids increasingly overlap and share the same functionality as Bluetooth headphones.
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Sony says it has sold 3M PlayStation VR headsets since their fall 2016 launch, up from 2M at the end of 2017  —  Sony announced that it has sold 3 million PlayStation VR (PSVR) headsets as of the end of July, showing that its popularity has declined little since the fall 2016 launch.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Amazon is in talks to acquire Landmark Theatres, the indie-focused chain that operates 50+ theaters in the US, backed by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner  —  - Move would mark latest incursion into brick-and-mortar world  — The indie-focused chain operates more than 50 theaters
Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: President Trump has reversed classified Obama-era rules governing use of cyberweapons in an effort to loosen restrictions on such operations  —  It isn't clear what rules the president is adopting to replace the existing ones  —  President Trump has reversed an Obama-era memorandum governing …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook says it's begun removing content violating its drug policies and has blocked hundreds of search terms and search suggestions associated with drug sales  —  Facebook's role in the opioid crisis could become another scandal following yesterday's release of harrowing new statistics from the Center for Disease Control.
Marguerite Reardon / CNET:
In Senate hearing, Ajit Pai says he doubted claims FCC's comment system was taken down by an attack, but says IG asked him to keep quiet until the full report  —  FCC chairman Ajit Pai was on the defense Thursday during a Senate oversight hearing when he was questioned about why he didn't correct …
Bloomberg:
Tencent's recent profit drop and China's freeze on game approvals shows the downsides of government patronage  —  - ‘If it can happen to Tencent, it can happen to anyone.’  — Internet giant has lost more than $170 billion in market cap  —  China long celebrated Tencent Holdings Ltd. as a national champion.

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Earlier Picks

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Arjun Panchadar / Reuters: