Techmeme
December 17, 2018, 9:45 AM

Top News

TMZ:
Colin Kroll, a co-founder of Vine and the CEO and co-founder of HQ Trivia, has died at 34; police source says a drug overdose is suspected  —  Colin Kroll, the CEO and co-founder of HQ Trivia, has died of an apparent drug overdose ... TMZ has learned.  —  Law enforcement sources tell TMZ …
Washington Post:
Leaked report prepared for Senate analyzes Russian disinformation that supported Trump across millions of posts on YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, more  —  The report, a draft of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is the first to study the millions of posts provided …
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
In a major real-estate expansion in New York City, Google says it will invest $1B+ in a new 1.7M square foot campus in Google Hudson Square in Manhattan  —  Search giant joins Amazon, Apple in growing outside the West Coast; addition of 7,000 jobs a ‘conservative estimate’
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Facebook Messenger adds native support for looping Boomerang videos, a Selfie mode with automatic background blur, and AR stickers for photos and videos  —  Stickers are also getting AR support  —  Facebook today announced a host of new camera features for its Messenger app.
Siobhan Roberts / New York Times:
Profile of Stanford computer scientist Donald Knuth, author of The Art of Computer Programming, a Bible of its field with more than one million copies in print  —  Donald Knuth, master of algorithms, reflects on 50 years of his opus-in-progress, “The Art of Computer Programming.”
Hilary Potkewitz / Wall Street Journal:
How Calm has overtaken Headspace, which dominated the meditation app category, after winning the App Store's 2017 iPhone App of the Year award  —  A pair of apps preach relaxation to millions of customers—but still badly want to beat each other  —  The two smartphone apps taking meditation …
Devjyot Ghoshal / Quartz:
Inside Grab's efforts to map roads in 100 cities across Southeast Asia by next year; Grab's mapping team has grown to 250, of which 100 are based in India  —  In 2017, many months before its merger with Uber made it Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing app, Grab realized it had a “rendezvous” problem.
Wall Street Journal:
To increase profits in its retail business, Amazon is asking brands with cheap but heavy or bulky items to change packaging and ship from their own warehouses  —  Online giant pushes for changes in product packaging, quantities to improve earnings  —  Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -4.01% …
Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:
AI Index Report for 2018 shows global growth of the field, a sharp rise in papers published from China, and an increase in VC funding of AI startups  —  The AI Index 2018 report is out, and if you're interested in AI enough to read this newsletter, you really should read the report through for yourself.
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Test shows that Android phones like LG G7 ThinQ, OnePlus 6, and Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note 8 can be unlocked via facial recognition using 3D-printed head models  —  Facial recognition is cropping up everywhere.  From shopping malls to the workplace, it's likely something is scanning your face every day.

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
See how your customer experience priorities compare  —  TELUS Digital surveyed leaders about the tech they're investing in, the KPIs they're tracking and their plans for outsourcing.  Get the results.  No form fill required!
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
Zoho Sign at Kenya's Digital Trust Forum 2025 organized by Evrotrust and Geda  —  Kenyan businesses and government services are adapting to digital alternatives to explore opportunities in the nation's newly launched ten-year Digital Master Plan.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
The Nintendo Switch 2
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Trump vs The Media, Round 2, with Sara Fischer
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Spotlight On:
Graphite's Merrill Lutsky on Revolutionizing Code Review for the AI Era
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Darren Farber - The Business of Defense
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
CEO Matt Bromberg on ending Unity's 'war' against its customers
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Diggnation:
GTA 6, Helicopter Joysticks, AI Psychics, and Live Show Regret
Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht give you their unique, sometimes awkward, and always hilarious take on the edges of the internet.
Subscribe to Diggnation.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:45 AM ET, December 17, 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

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: