Techmeme
January 7, 2019, 5:25 PM

Top News

Roger Cheng / CNET:
HTC unveils Vive Pro Eye, a new VR headset with eye-tracking capabilities, coming in April, and teases the Vive Cosmos, a new consumer-friendly headset  —  HTC wants to make it easier for everyone to get into virtual reality.  And it hopes to do it through the Vive Cosmos.
CoinDesk:
Coinbase says it's halted Ethereum Classic transactions, withdrawals, and deposits, after a 51% attack on the cryptocurrency led to coin double-spending  —  Crypto exchange Coinbase has halted all ethereum classic transactions, withdrawals and deposits due to a series of blockchain history reorganizations on the network.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google expects Assistant to be on 1B devices by end of Jan., up from 500M last May, says global active users up 4x YoY, and feature phones will get Assistant  —  Active users have quadrupled since last year, but Google won't disclose a concrete number  —  As CES kicks off …
Financial Times:
Sources: SoftBank has radically scaled back plans for fresh investment in WeWork, is now planning a $2B investment, down from $16B considered late last year  —  Japan's SoftBank has radically scaled back plans for fresh investment in WeWork, the lossmaking shared-office provider …
Matthew Hughes / The Next Web:
GitHub now gives users of its free plan access to unlimited private repositories, but those repos are limited to three collaborators apiece  —  Due to a scheduling error, we published this story one day before the embargo lifted.  This feature isn't live yet, but Github will formally unveil it tomorrow.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Samsung announces Notebook Odyssey gaming laptop with Nvidia RTX 2080 graphics and a 15.6-inch 1080p display at 144Hz with G-Sync support  —  Almost every PC maker has tried their hands at gaming laptops, but what's surprising about Samsung is that it's never quite gotten it right.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Vizio says it is adding support for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to its SmartCast enabled TVs, which can now be controlled using Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant  —  Apple is reportedly gearing up for a new streaming TV service to rival Netflix, Amazon and Google this year, but in the meantime …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Kroger partners with Microsoft, rolls out a pilot project in two stores with digital shelves, guided shopping, personalized ads, and “pick-to-light” shelf tech  —  Microsoft and Kroger are taking a leaf out of Amazon's book by building futuristic “connected” grocery stores.
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Key By Amazon, formerly Amazon Key, adds garage and business delivery, new locks, and Ring compatibility  —  Alexa may be front and center for Amazon's play this CES, but the just unloaded a whole bunch of news about Amazon Key.  The list includes a name change to the more passive Key By Amazon …
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A federal appeals court said, in a 3-0 decision, that a Virginia politician violated the Constitution by temporarily blocking a critic from her Facebook page  —  (Reuters) - A federal appeals court said on Monday a Virginia politician violated the Constitution by temporarily blocking a critic …
Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE:
Akamai acquires Portland-based identity management provider Janrain to boost its security portfolio and complement its Bot Manager service  —  A week into 2019, Akamai Technologies Inc. has already made its first acquisition of the year.  —  The cybersecurity and content delivery heavyweight today announced …
Henry T. Casey / Laptop Mag:
HP announces Chromebook 14, its first AMD-based Chromebook with a 14" screen, AMD A4/A6 CPU, integrated Radeon R4/R5 GPU, and 4GB of RAM, starting at $269  —  HP's new Chromebooks for CES 2019 include the first-ever AMD processor powered model, the HP Chromebook 14 (db0020nr).

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
Introducing the UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation  —  UiPath's new platform empowers enterprises to experience the full power of AI to transform industries
Zoho:
The power of asynchronous communication: Striking the right balance in the workplace  —  Asynchronous communication may have surged during the transition to remote work, but as the years passed and teams returned …
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:
OpenAI Backtracks
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:
How to fight Apple and (maybe) win, with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney
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.
Invest Like the Best:
David Senra - The Focused Few
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Grit:
HubSpot CEO on the Future of SaaS, AI, & Leading Through Change
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside Devin: The world's first autonomous AI engineer that's set to write 50% of its company's code by end of year | Scott Wu (CEO and co-founder of Cognition)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Hard Fork:
The Dangers of A.I. Flattery + Kevin Meets the Orb + Group Chat Chat
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:25 PM ET, January 7, 2019.

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

Earlier Picks

Amy Nordrum / IEEE Spectrum:
Valentina Palladino / Ars Technica: