Techmeme
December 16, 2019, 7:15 PM

Top News

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Some contractors at Google's Austin content moderation facility describe being overworked and suffering severe mental health consequences after just six months  —  These moderators help keep Google and YouTube free of violent extremism — and now some of them have PTSD
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix shares detailed overseas subscriber numbers for the first time in a filing, and says 90% of total subscriber growth came from outside the US since 2017  —  Streaming service is disclosing detailed subscriber information by region for operations outside of the U.S. for the first time
Karl Freund / Forbes:
Intel acquires Israel-based AI chip maker Habana Labs for $2B  —  Senior Analyst, Machine Learning and HPC  —  In a strategic move in its datacenter AI plans, Intel has announced that it will acquire Israeli chip startup Habana Labs for $2B.  Intel had reaffirmed its plans to deliver …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram will preemptively flag potentially offensive captions, in addition to comments, aiming to nudge users to reconsider their words without censoring them  —  Earlier this year, Instagram launched a feature that would flag potentially offensive comments before they're posted.
Jia Tolentino / New Yorker:
How social media and apps like FaceTune led to a widespread pursuit of a generic “Instagram Face” look, enabled by non-invasive cosmetic medical procedures  —  How social media, FaceTune, and plastic surgery created a single, cyborgian look.  —  This past summer …
Corbin Davenport / Android Police:
Google halts Chrome 79 rollout on Android, which was ~50% complete, after the misconfigured update wiped user data from many apps using Android's native WebView  —  Chrome 79 started rolling out on desktop and mobile platforms a few days ago.  Unfortunately, a bug has cropped up that wipes data …

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:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
How EQ plays a defining role in workplace communication  —  What if everyone you worked with had a psychic ability to understand how you're feeling and respond accordingly?  Wouldn't that be great?
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

Invest Like the Best:
Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback - Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Diggnation:
Quitting Booze, Quitting Alexa, and AI Tries to Replace Us All
Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht give you their unique, sometimes awkward, and always hilarious take on the edges of the internet.
Subscribe to Diggnation.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Saudi Arabia Enters The AI Race
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Grit:
How Matt Murphy Made Marvell Essential to AI and Cloud
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
How Palantir built the ultimate founder factory | Nabeel S. Qureshi (founder, writer, ex-Palantir)
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:15 PM ET, December 16, 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

Tom Simonite / Wired:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg: