Techmeme
November 28, 2018, 12:35 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google rebrands Project Fi to Google Fi and adds support for iPhones and the “majority” of Android devices  —  Looks like the MVNO is here to stay  —  Three years after it first launched, Google is making its cell service a little more official today.
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on December 5 regarding claims the company is biased against conservatives  —  Google chief executive Sundar Pichai is set to testify to Congress in December, facing off against lawmakers for the first time at a hearing …
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
The DOJ indicts eight men on charges related to a global ad fraud scheme discovered with the help of about 15 tech companies, including Google and White Ops  —  In August 2017, the FBI organized a secret meeting of digital advertising and cybersecurity experts in a secure room in a Manhattan federal building.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
DOJ indicts two Iranian nationals for creating and deploying the SamSam ransomware, which caused $30M in losses and had 200+ victims  —  U.S. federal prosectors have indicted two Iranian nationals for creating and deploying the notorious SamSam ransomware.  —  Faramarz Shahi Savandi, 34 …
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed News:
Ex-Facebook staffer Mark Luckie posts 2,500-word memo detailing Facebook's “black people problem”, originally shared internally before his last day in November  —  In a 2,500 word internal memo released publicly this morning, former Facebook employee Mark S. Luckie delivered …
Larry Cermak / The Block:
Steemit, a social network that rewards users with its own cryptocurrency, says it's laying off nearly 70% of its team, after its currency declined 96%  —  Steemit, the company behind a blogging website that uses the Steem blockchain and cryptocurrency to reward publishers and curators …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Starting next year, YouTube says its original content will be free and supported by ads, instead of being behind a premium paywall  —  YouTube has concluded that its investments in original programming should have a home on the free, ad-supported side — not just tucked behind a paywall.
Wall Street Journal:
Amazon says it's starting to sell text analysis software to mine medical records for info that doctors and hospitals can use to improve treatment and cut costs  —  The move is the latest by a technology company to tap the health care market  —  Amazon.com Inc. AMZN .01% is starting …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google says Fast Pair, its Bluetooth pairing spec, now pairs Bluetooth accessories across devices sharing a Google account and will support Chromebooks in 2019  —  Earlier this month, Google released a Fast Pair Validator app on the Play Store to help Bluetooth manufacturers support Android's seamless Bluetooth pairing solution.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Source: Corel, the Canadian developer of apps like CorelDraw and WordPerfect, is acquiring virtualization specialist Parallels in deal expected to close in Dec.  —  Some consolidation is afoot in the world of business software.  TechCrunch has learned from multiple sources that Parallels …
More: GeekWire and Thurrot
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Nintendo says consumers spent $250M on its consoles from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday in the US, led by the Switch  —  U.S. shoppers provided a nice boost to Nintendo's balance sheet last weekend.  —  The gaming giant reported Wednesday that consumers spent $250 million on Nintendo products from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.
David Floyd / CoinDesk:
Tether reopens account verification for new customers and allows redemption of fiat currency, after suspending its wallet service in Nov. 2017 following hack  —  Tether Ltd., the controversial issuer of the tether stablecoin (USDT), which aims for parity with the U.S. dollar …
Tom Krazit / GeekWire:
AWS debuts AWS Ground Station, a cloud service for satellite operators, says it will construct new ground-based facilities to allow high data speeds from space  —  Space is hard, and getting data to and from orbiting satellites can be even harder.  Amazon Web Services just launched …
Tom Krazit / GeekWire:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Source: Imran Khan, former chief strategy officer at Snap, raises $17.5M for his new e-commerce startup led by Lightspeed Venture Partners  —  Imran Khan, former chief strategy officer at Snap Inc., has raised $17.5 million for his new e-commerce startup, according to a source familiar with the deal.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram begins rolling out a tool that describes photos for visually impaired users using AI or user descriptions  —  They'll know what they're seeing  —  Instagram announced today that it's rolling out new features that'll make the app easier to use for people with visual impairments.
Eric Lam / Bloomberg:
Filing: Mike Novogratz's merchant bank Galaxy Digital reports $136M loss for the first nine months of 2018, due to losses on Ether, Bitcoin, and XRP  —  The bad year for traders at Mike Novogratz's cryptocurrency merchant bank got even worse in the third quarter — and that was before the market fell out of bed this month.
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Philippines-based Voyager, telecom PLDT's new fintech business, says it raised $215M, with $175M coming from Tencent and KKR  —  One of the year's largest fintech investments in Southeast Asia has closed after Philippines-based Voyager announced it raised $215 million.

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