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December 14, 2018, 8:00 AM
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Top News

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Spammers are emailing businesses, schools, and other locations in the US, Canada, and New Zealand, demanding bitcoin as ransom to not detonate a supposed bomb  —  Spammers are sending a wave of threats to businesses, schools, and other locations in English-speaking countries across the world …
Sam Levin / The Guardian:
Some current and former fact-checkers say Facebook has ignored their concerns, that they have been used for PR, and that they have lost trust in the company  —  Journalists paid to help fix Facebook's fake news problem say they have lost trust in the platform
Bloomberg:
In a court filing, Apple argues that China's ban on the sale of some iPhones, which it is appealing, would force it to settle its licensing battle with Qualcomm  —  Apple Inc. said a Chinese ban on the sale of some models of the iPhone will force it to settle a long and bitter licensing battle …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple is notifying artists that it is removing their ability to post to Apple Music Connect and is removing previously posted content from Artist Pages  —  Apple Music Connect appears to slowly be going the way of iTunes Ping.  Apple has started notifying Apple Music artists that it is removing …
Kent Walker / Google:
Google says it won't sell general-purpose facial recognition APIs before working through “important technology and policy questions”  —  More than 400 million people in the world have diabetes.  A third of them have diabetic retinopathy, a complication that can cause permanent blindness.
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Sources: Facebook is in talks with pay TV channels, including HBO, Showtime, and Starz, about selling their streaming TV services on its platform  —  The world's biggest social network wants to get into the pay TV business — by taking a page from Amazon.  —  Facebook is readying …
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
Instacart says it will end its partnership with Whole Foods starting in February; source: move is expected to reduce Instacart's revenue by less than 5 percent  —  Instacart will begin pulling the first group of workers out of Whole Foods locations in February.
Kate Clark / TechCrunch:
Amsterdam-based e-scooter startup Dott, founded by former Ofo exec Maxim Romain, raises €20M led by EQT Ventures and Naspers  —  The funding extravaganza may be approaching its end for scooter “unicorns” Lime and Bird, but smaller startups in the micro-mobility space have continued …
More: Tech.eu and VentureBeat
Amy Gesenhues / Marketing Land:
Facebook says it is rolling out Watch globally on desktop and Facebook Lite and expands availability of Ad Breaks, 15-second in-stream ads, to 14 more markets  —  Says more than 75 million daily Watch visitors spend, on average, more than 20 minutes on the video platform.
Arielle Pardes / Wired:
Postmates announces Serve, an autonomous rover launching soon in LA, and says it now averages 4M deliveries per month in 550+ cities  —  HANGING ON THE wall of Postmates' stealth R&D laboratory, there's a framed photo of an iconic scene from Star Wars, Luke Skywalker bent down beside R2D2.
Ina Fried / Axios:
Apple announces a $1B Austin campus initially for 5,000 workers, new offices in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City, and expansions in several other US cities  —  Apple plans to build a new $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, adding thousands of jobs, while also setting up new large offices in Seattle …
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
YouTube's annual Rewind video received 10M dislikes in about eight days, overtaking Justin Bieber's Baby to be the most disliked video  —  Creators help explain why  —  To say that this year's YouTube Rewind didn't go over well with the YouTube community would be quite an understatement.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:00 AM ET, December 14, 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.

From Mediagazer

Scott Nover / Washington Post:
The New York Times wins four Pulitzers, the most of any news organization in 2025; The Washington Post wins two, and ProPublica wins the public service prize

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
The White House says “no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made” and it is exploring options for “Making Hollywood Great Again”

Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: Paramount delayed and altered a Daily Show-branded initiative to encourage people to run for local office, as it placates the Trump administration

More News

Michael del Castillo / Forbes:
Stablecoin project Basis, backed by Bain Capital, GV, and a16z, confirms it is closing due to regulatory issues and will return the $133M capital raised

Earlier Picks

New York Times:
Inside France's plan to teach children about the downsides of internet, including spotting trustworthy info on Twitter, with 30,000 teachers trained per year
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Robinhood launches checking and savings accounts in the US with a 3% interest rate and no minimum balance or fees for overdrafts or foreign transactions
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