Techmeme
March 5, 2019, 6:05 PM

Top News

Brian Barrett / Wired:
How Corning is working to create truly bendable, ultra-thin glass, as Samsung and others announce folding phones with plastic polymer screens  —  Foldable phones like Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Huwaei's Mate X are coming, whether you're ready or not.  In fact, they're coming whether they're ready or not.
Whitson Gordon / iFixit:
2018 MacBook Pros include a longer screen cable, a part prone to fail on earlier models, requiring screen replacements, an issue Apple never acknowledged  —  In 2018, a number of MacBook Pro users—with models from 2016 onwards—discovered a serious design flaw that causes the screen to fail …
Washington Post:
T-Mobile acknowledges that its executives' patronage of Trump's Washington hotel, spending ~$195K, increased sharply after announcement of merger with Sprint  —  T-Mobile's patronage of President Trump's Washington hotel increased sharply after the announcement of its merger with its Sprint last April …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Echo owners can now ask Alexa to control their Roku devices via a new skill, months after a similar capability came to Google Assistant-powered devices  —  Roku this morning announced its devices will now be compatible with Amazon's Alexa.  Through a new Roku skill for Alexa …
Aliya Ram / Financial Times:
Report: 40% of 2,830 AI startups in Europe do not use AI programs in their products; ~8% of EU startups were AI companies in 2018, up from ~3% in 2015  —  Two-fifths of Europe's artificial intelligence start-ups do not use any AI programs in their products, according to a report that highlights the hype around the technology.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
A look at how Spotify plans to crack the podcast market: making it easier to find podcasts, investing in creation tools, exclusive original content, and more  —  Spotify has been on a media blitz to hype up its plans.  Most everyone involved in the deals, including Spotify CEO Daniel Ek …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple acquired the patent portfolio of failed smart home security startup Lighthouse AI, including those related to visual authentication, late last year  —  Apple has recently acquired a handful of patents from Lighthouse AI, a defunct home security camera company.
Megan Wollerton / CNET:
August View wireless video doorbell unveiled with 1440p recording, 24/7 live video streaming, and rechargeable battery, available for $230 from March 28  —  August just introduced a new device to its lineup — the $230 August View.  Available in the United States beginning March 28 …
Jessica Davies / Digiday:
The Financial Times has acquired a majority stake in Amsterdam-based tech blog and events company The Next Web  —  The Financial Times has bought a controlling stake in consumer publisher The Next Web, marking its first acquisition in continental Europe.  —  The FT didn't disclose the terms …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
The servers running social robot Jibo, which had raised ~$76M in total and shipped to the public in 2017 for $899, are being shut down forever  —  RIP, Jibo  —  The servers running Jibo, a connected home robot, are about to be shut down, and the robot has started informing its owners with a bittersweet message.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Comedian Miel Bredouw's fight with Barstool Sports after they posted her video without credit shows how Twitter's copyright system can hurt creators  —  “It's insane to me that the platform is allowing them to do this.”  —  Earlier today, Los Angeles-based writer and comedian Miel Bredouw claims …
Stefanie Eschenbacher / Reuters:
Amazon and Mexico's central bank are working on CoDi, a mobile payments system that lets consumers make payments using QR codes; testing begins this month  —  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's central bank is in talks with Amazon.com Inc to launch a new government-backed mobile payment system …
More: PYMNTS.com
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:
Berlin-based insurance tech startup Wefox Group, which runs Wefox and One, raises $125M Series B to help it become an all-in-one insurance platform  —  Wefox Group, the Berlin-based ‘insurtech’ startup behind the consumer-facing insurance app and carrier One and the insurance platform Wefox, has raised $125 million in Series B funding.
Thanks:@sohear
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
San Jose-based Functionize raises $16M Series A from Canvas Ventures to automate software testing with AI  —  Functionize, a San Jose, California-based startup developing a cloud-based platform that autonomously susses out software bugs, today announced that it has raised $16 million in series …
More: FinSMEs and PE Hub Blog
Tom Cardoso / Globe and Mail:
Google to ban political ads in Canada ahead of federal election, says complying with new ad transparency rules required by Bill C-76 would be too challenging  —  Google is banning political advertising on its platforms ahead of the Canadian federal election because of new ad transparency rules …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Matterport raises $48M to ramp up its platform for 3D imaging of interior and enclosed spaces, sources say at a pre-money valuation of $325M  —  The growth of augmented and virtual reality applications and hardware is ushering in a new age of digital media and imaging technologies …
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
SurveyMonkey acquires Amsterdam-based website and app survey company Usabilla for $80M in cash and stock  —  SurveyMonkey announced today that it has acquired Usabilla, an Amsterdam-based website and app survey company, for $80 million in cash and stock.  —  Zander Lurie, CEO at SurveyMonkey …

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
5 common accounting mistakes  —  This is a guest post by Yaali Bizappln Solutions.  A lot of businesses manage their customers and finances on separate platforms.  This disconnect often leads to missed invoices …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 11/22 - An LLM Siri But... Only The Year AFTER Next?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:05 PM ET, March 5, 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

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Ben Collins / NBC News:

Earlier Picks

Brian Armstrong / The Coinbase Blog:
Politico:
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: