Techmeme
March 20, 2019, 1:50 PM

Top News

EU Press Room:
The European Commission has fined Google €1.49B for “abusive practices in online advertising” and breaching EU antitrust rules  —  The European Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules.  Google has abused its market dominance by imposing …
Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says it will start asking Android users in Europe to choose their preferred web browser and search apps in response to EU Commission antitrust concerns  —  For nearly a decade, we've been in discussions with the European Commission about the way some of our products work.
Apple:
Apple launches new AirPods with hands-free “Hey Siri” and more talk time for $159, with wireless charging case for $199, available to order today  —  New AirPods Are Powered by the New H1 Chip and Feature 50 Percent More Talk Time, Hands-Free “Hey Siri” and the Option of a Wireless Charging Case
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Report: Apple approved production of its wireless charging AirPower mat earlier this year, after announcing it in 2017 with a 2018 launch date  —  The Wall Street Journal today reports that Apple approved production of its long-awaited wireless charging mat AirPower earlier this year …
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Oculus announces $399 Rift S, a replacement for the original Rift developed alongside Lenovo, with a higher-res display and improved optics, available in spring  —  After years of high-profile onstage announcements, Oculus has decided to quietly deliver the successor to its flagship Rift …
New York Times:
Facebook announces that it will stop allowing ad targeting of race, gender, and age groups in the housing, jobs, or credit categories by the end of the year  —  After years of criticism, Facebook announced on Tuesday that it would stop allowing advertisers in key categories to show their messages …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Facebook begins rolling out threaded messages to Messenger users around the world, activated by long-pressing on a message  —  Facebook Messenger aficionados, good news: It just got easier to respond to your best buds' messages with hot takes.  —  Facebook today announced that message replies …
More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, and iPhone HacksTweets: @davezatz
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google's Stadia could be the future of gaming but the announcement left questions unanswered, like cost and subscription, launch date, or available games  —  A lot of questions remain unanswered  —  “The future of gaming is not a box,” according to Google.  “It's a place.”
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Michelle Toh / CNN:
Profile of Connie Chan, a16z's first partner promoted from within, who has built a reputation for sourcing deals with startups like Pinterest and Lime  —  Hong Kong (CNN Business)For years, venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz stood by a steadfast rule: to become a general partner at the firm …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple says it will support three media literacy programs in the US and Europe that aim to combat fake news and train young people to seek reliable news sources  —  Just days before Apple's big March 25th event where it will unveil a new subscription news service, the company has revealed plans …
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
Instagram's new in-app shopping feature could help customers make serendipitous impulse buys, something Amazon is not especially strong at  —  Amazon's failure in “discovery shopping” is Instagram's opportunity, as its users can now shop inside the app.  —  Instagram took a big step …
Emma Sandler / Digiday:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Epic Games will give away $100M in grants, varying between $5,000 and $500,000, to fund creative projects that use its Unreal Engine 4 toolset  —  'This is our way of sharing Fortnite's unbelievable success.'  —  Epic Games today announced a new grant initiative that will dole out $100 million …
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Blameless, which offers a site reliability engineering (SRE) platform for enterprises, comes out of stealth with $20M from investors including Accel  —  Sight Reliable Engineering (SRE) is an extension of DevOps designed for more complex environments.  The problem is that this type of approach …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Opendoor, which buys homes from sellers directly to sell at a profit, raises $300M led by General Atlantic, sources say at a $3.8B valuation  —  Last month, we reported that Opendoor — the startup that is taking on the real estate industry with its own platform for buying up homes and selling …
More: Opendoor and FortuneTweets: @sheila
ABC:
Sources: Uber used a spyware program code-named Surfcam to steal drivers from an Australian rival by tracking their cars online and scraping driver details  —  Four Corners By Sean Nicholls, Peter Cronau and Mary Fallon  —  International rideshare giant Uber used a secret spyware program …

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