Techmeme
January 15, 2019, 4:55 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo announces it will use Apple Maps to power map and address-related searches, using Apple's MapKit JS framework  —  Apple's MapKit JS has a big, new user  —  DuckDuckGo has spent the last few years making the case that it's the search engine …
Michael Liedtke / Associated Press:
Netflix raises prices for US subscribers by 13%-18%, its biggest hike ever, immediately affecting new subscribers, over next three months for existing customers  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix is raising its U.S. prices by 13 percent to 18 percent, its biggest increase since the company launched its streaming service 12 years ago.
Kerry Flynn / Digiday:
Roku has added Alex Jones' Infowars as a channel, six months after Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Spotify, and others banned it from their platforms  —  Roku may have given itself a brand safety issue.  The streaming service has added Infowars, the live show hosted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as a channel.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft partners with Walgreens, which will migrate infrastructure to Azure and roll out Office 365 to staff while jointly developing new health care tech  —  A week after unveiling a plan to reinvent grocery shopping with Kroger, Microsoft announced another major retail partnership …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Source: Tim Cook told employees at all-hands that Apple replaced 11M iPhone batteries under the $29 replacement program in 2018, up from an average of 1-2M  —  Jean-Louis Gassée, on Apple's earnings warning: … I'm pretty sure Gassée's back-of-the-envelope estimate of the number of batteries replaced was way too low.
Daniel Victor / New York Times:
A simple picture of an egg, posted by an anonymous Instagram user, has set the record for most likes, with over 40M, surpassing Kylie Jenner's 18M record  —  There's nothing special about the egg.  Seems like a fine enough egg.  But more than 22 million people have liked it, dethroning Kylie Jenner's birth-announcement post.
Campbell Brown / Facebook Media:
Facebook says it will invest $300M over the next three years to support local news in the US, and expand the Local News Subscriptions Accelerator globally  —  Last year, we worked to better understand what kind of news people want to see on Facebook.  We've also asked our partners …
Douglas Busvine / Reuters:
German court dismisses Qualcomm's latest patent lawsuit against Apple, says the patent in question was not violated by the installation of its chips in iPhones  —  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A patent lawsuit filed by Qualcomm Inc against Apple Inc was thrown out by a German court on Tuesday …
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Katrina Brooker / Fast Company:
A behind-the-scenes look at Masayoshi Son's investment strategy, which is driven by the belief that computers will run the planet more intelligently than humans  —  Billionaire Masayoshi Son-not Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg-has the most audacious vision for an AI-powered utopia where machines control how we live.
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Smartsheet acquires Seattle-based Slope, which helps companies manage the creative project production process, for an undisclosed sum  —  Smartsheet didn't have to go far to make its second acquisition.  —  The Bellevue, Wash.-based publicly-traded work collaboration software company has swooped up Slope …
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
District court judge rules that authorities don't have the right, even with a warrant, to force suspects to unlock devices via biometrics, similar to passwords  —  A California judge has ruled that American cops can't force people to unlock a mobile phone with their face or finger.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Investigation finds ads on Instagram for several services selling fake followers or automated notification spam for luring in followers  —  Instagram has been earning money from businesses flooding its social network with spam notifications.  Instagram hypocritically continues to sell ad space …

Sponsor Posts

Termina:
AI Powered Diligence at Scale  —  VCs and founders deploy Termina AI Scans on >12% of all known series A+ deals to uncover hidden risks and opportunities.  Explore how you too can invest and build better companies with AI.
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:
Gamification: A simple way to enjoy getting more work done  —  Work doesn't have to be boring.  Gamification transforms everyday tasks into exciting challenges, making employees feel more engaged and motivated.
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:
E2EE For All!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Why Trump can't be trusted with Congress' new anti-deepfake bill
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 months--one of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder & CEO of StackBlitz)
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.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen Breaks Down the Global Impact of Trump's New Tariffs
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Generative Now:
Dan Shipper: The First MultiModal Media Company
A podcast from Lightspeed dedicated to highlighting the stories, strategies and insights behind today's most exciting AI companies.
Subscribe to Generative Now.
Spotlight On:
Nebius's Arkady Volozh on What it Takes to Build Infrastructure Needed for the AI Era
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:55 PM ET, January 15, 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

Eleanor Cummins / Popular Science:
Dell Cameron / Gizmodo:
CNBC:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Nitasha Tiku / Wired: