Techmeme
July 17, 2019, 3:40 PM

Top News

European Commission:
The European Commission launches a formal antitrust investigation into possible anti-competitive conduct by Amazon in its dual role as marketplace and retailer  —  The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Amazon's use of sensitive data …
Davey Alba / BuzzFeed News:
Google's vice president of public policy, Karan Bhatia, tells US Senate that the company has “terminated” Project Dragonfly, its Chinese search engine project  —  At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Google's vice president of public policy, Karan Bhatia …
CNBC:
Microsoft says AT&T will use its Azure and Office 365 suite for its 250,000 staff in a non-exclusive deal; source says multi-year deal is worth $2B+  —  KEY POINTS  — All AT&T Communications employees will use Microsoft 365, which includes Windows 10 and Office 365.
Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch:
As part of World Emoji Day, Apple and Google share designs for around 60 new emoji, many focused on representation around disability  —  Tomorrow is World Emoji Day.  Why is there a World Emoji Day?  No idea!  But it's tomorrow!  —  To recognize the day, Apple and Google have both shed …
Michael McWhertor / Polygon:
Nintendo announces an updated Switch console which, it says, will last up to nine hours on a single charge; FCC filing suggests it has a new SoC and storage  —  It's the same old Switch, just longer lasting  —  Nintendo is updating the original version of the Switch to offer better battery life …
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
As FaceApp goes viral again, many are wary of the image-altering app's weak privacy policy, the fact it's based in Russia, and that photos are sent to the cloud  —  App was launched by Russian developer in 2017 and uses AI to change people's features  —  The developer of a popular app …
Hayley Peterson / Business Insider:
Amazon says Prime Day surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales combined, with users buying 175M items, up from 100M in 2018  —  - Amazon says Prime Day sales this year surpassed the combined sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year.  — Amazon said it sold with more than 175 million items …
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Reflecting on VidCon, it's clear that influencers' command of social media foreshadows future power in politics and elsewhere  —  As social media expands its cultural dominance, the people who can steer the online conversation will have an upper hand.  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. …
John Markoff / New York Times:
Neuralink, which has received $158M in funding including $100M from Elon Musk, hopes to begin testing its brain-computer interface on humans by Q2 of 2020  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk aspires to make inserting a computer connection into your brain as safe and painless as Lasik eye surgery.
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
A look at privacy-focused DuckDuckGo, which has ~1% share of the search engine market but says it handles ~40M searches a day, up 3x over the past two years  —  PAOLI, Pa. — Gabriel Weinberg is taking aim at Google from a small building 20 miles west of Philadelphia that looks like a fake castle.
Reuters:
Review of 33 high-profile blockchain projects within the financial sector and interviews with execs shows the limitations of blockchain and its weak adoption  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two years ago Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) and Citigroup Inc (C.N) announced a new blockchain system they said would make payments …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace Turo raises $250M Series E from IAC at a $1B+ valuation, bringing its total raised to nearly $450M  —  Car-sharing startup Turo has raised $250 million in a Series E round of funding from IAC, the internet media company that owned and spun out Match.com and OkCupid.
Brian Merchant / Columbia Journalism Review:
To duck accountability, “on background” has become the default method by which Silicon Valley disseminates information, often abetted by tech journalists  —  One of the most pernicious tools that Silicon Valley uses to control the flow of information to the public is decidedly low-tech: briefing reporters “on background.”
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Google has banned Chinese app developer CooTek from its ad platforms and Play Store, removing 60+ CooTek Android apps for bombarding users with disruptive ads  —  Google is banning CooTek, a publicly traded Chinese app developer, from its Play store and ad platforms after BuzzFeed News …

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Meet Airtable ProductCentral  —  The unified solution for managing your entire product development process in the AI era.
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:
Zoho Forms for successful Black Friday sales  —  Black Friday is a retail frenzy that can significantly impact your bottom line.  To make the most of this shopping bonanza, you need a strategy that not only attracts customers …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 11/04 - Apple Buying And Investing In Things
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 3:40 PM ET, July 17, 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

BBC:
Nitasha Tiku / Wired:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Tony Romm / Washington Post: