Amazon selects New York City and Arlington, Virginia for its new headquarters, receiving $1.5B in performance-based incentives from NY and $573M from VA
I've been thinking about your regret minimization … Sissi Cao / Observer : Amazon's HQ2 in Long Island City Will Make These 5 Residential Nightmares Worse Patrick Sisson / Curbed : Amazon HQ2 subsidie...
Sources provide a behind-the-scenes account of Amazon's HQ2 selection process, say the company made the decision to split HQ2 in two in September
For months, cities vied for Amazon's second headquarters while some executives were realizing that no single place would fulfill its requirements
Amazon to receive incentives of $1.5B+ over ten years based on creating 25K jobs in Queens, but politicians object, with some saying they will fight the deal
On the west side of Manhattan … Lydia DePillis / CNN : Ocasio-Cortez breaks with Cuomo and de Blasio on Amazon welcome Jeff Jeffrey / Silicon Valley Business Journal : The Amazon effect: Losing cities...
A look at the likely factors behind Amazon's decision to choose Crystal City, VA, as one of its HQ2 locations and how it may affect the region
Washington Post :
Critics say Amazon's promises to bring jobs and spur economic development aren't enough to make up for the concessions it has received for its new headquarters
Greetings from New York City … Robert McCartney / Washington Post : Amazon HQ2 to benefit from more than $2.8 billion in incentives from Virginia, New York and Tennessee Ben Casselman / New York Times...
Samsung unveils 8nm Exynos 9820 chipset with a dedicated NPU for on-device AI and 8K video recording, likely to be used in next year's Galaxy S10
Samsung is betting on a dedicated NPU to introduce a host of AI-enabled features in its upcoming flagship. — Huawei was the first to roll …
Netflix is testing cheaper, mobile-only subscriptions “in a few countries” including Malaysia, where it is half the price of its next cheapest package
Netflix is testing a cut-price mobile-only subscription as it explores new packages aimed at widening its appeal in Asia and other emerging markets.
Tyler Barriss, the serial swatter responsible for the fatal Kansas hoax call, pleads guilty to federal charges, will serve between 20 and 25 years in prison
A California man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making dozens of hoax phone calls during which he reported fake crimes …
The Windows 10 October 2018 Update is finally re-released, after data loss bugs caused it to be pulled; Microsoft says it's focusing on improving code quality
Tom Warren / The Verge :
Podcasting app Pocket Casts, which was recently acquired by a public radio collective, launches a redesign and introduces new features on iOS and Android
Pocket Casts 7 has a new look and adds requested features — Several months after the podcast app Pocket Casts was acquired by a mix …
Uber launches rider loyalty rewards program with upgrades to nicer cars, access to premium support, and waiver on cancellations if rebooked within 15 minutes
Uber's new loyalty program incentivizes you not to check Lyft or the local competitor. Riders earn points for all the money …
Microsoft fixes a zero-day escalation of privilege bug in Windows after Kaspersky Lab researchers noticed multiple cyber-espionage groups exploiting it
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet :
Microsoft acquires AI and bot developer XOXCO for an undisclosed amount; XOXCO built Howdy.ai, a commercially available bot for Slack for scheduling meetings
Microsfot is acquiring XOXCO, a conversational-AI development firm known for its Howdy.ai bot tools for Slack.
Google Chrome Lab releases Squoosh, an open source web app that can compress and reformat images to create lighter web pages
Squoosh helps websites cut image file sizes and helps Google promote its WebP image-compression format. — Google Chrome Labs has released Squoosh …
AmazonBasics Microwave review: looks and works pretty much like a regular microwave, with some Alexa integration via Echo, and is good value at $60
Amazon's new “smart” microwave with Alexa is a microwave. It's not magic. — Yes, you can use your voice instead of pressing buttons.
Snap says it's responded to subpoenas from the DOJ and SEC about its IPO, following a suit alleging Snap misled the public on how Instagram affected its growth
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have subpoenaed Snap Inc (SNAP.N) …
Internal Facebook survey shows just 52% of its staff are optimistic about its future, down 32% from last year, amid scandals and a sharp stock decline
Employee surveys show weaker optimism about future, confidence in platform's mission — Facebook Inc.'s FB .77% difficult year is taking …
In written response to Senate Intelligence Committee, Facebook says free speech and privacy will inform any decision to return to China
Facebook Inc. said if it ever returns to China, the company will do it in a way that preserves rights to free expression and privacy — issues that make such a move almost impossible today.
Intel unveils Neural Compute Stick 2 for developing AI algorithms and computer vision systems locally using its Movidius Myriad X AI chip, for $100
Ahead of its first AI developers conference in Beijing, Intel has announced it's making the process of imparting intelligence into smart home gadgets …
UiPath, which develops AI-based bots that automate mundane enterprise tasks, says its total Series C was $265M, up from $225M in September
UiPath, a startup that works in the growing area of RPA, or robotic process automation — where AI-based software is used to help businesses run repetitive …
AI needs to be taught everyday common sense, not just pattern recognition, to overcome the limits of deep learning and produce safer, more useful devices
FIVE YEARS AGO, the coders at DeepMind, a London-based artificial intelligence company, watched excitedly as an AI taught itself to play a classic arcade game. Tweets: @manan , @went1955 , and @manjus...
Ford partners with Walmart and Postmates to test autonomous grocery delivery in Miami-Dade County
Ford is partnering with Walmart and Postmates to test the business of delivering goods like groceries and pet food using self-driving vehicles. — The pilot project is focused on Miami-Dade County …
Bain Capital Ventures closes new funds totaling $1B for startups in SaaS, infrastructure, security, commerce, financial tech, and healthcare
Bain Capital Ventures announced today that it has raised $1 billion in investment capital to target startups from the earliest to growth stages.
Most period-tracking apps are designed more to aid marketers and medical companies in collecting health data for ad targeting than for women
The golden age of menstrual surveillance is great for men, marketers, and medical companies. — A cartoon cloud told me I might be pregnant. Tweets: @kait_tiffany , @jamespmcleod , @nishachittal , @p...
Tencent beats expectations with Q3 profit of $3.39B, up 30% YoY, on revenue of $11.59B, up 24% YoY, with big gains in advertising and payment services
Shan Li / Wall Street Journal :
Amazon Fire TV Recast review: seamless integration with Fire TV and Alexa, reliable streaming, but is limited to two concurrent streams, doesn't include antenna
Chris Welch / The Verge :
Google's plan for a smart city in Toronto is facing resistance from privacy activists, who are fighting against the commodification of their city's data
The world's most ambitious “smart city,” known as Quayside, in Toronto, has faced fierce public criticism since last fall … Tweets: @theintercept , @leahwestyow , @kenanmalik , @seanmmcdonald , @aasch...
Nigerian internet provider Main One Cable Co says it accidentally caused the problem that misrouted some Google traffic through China on Monday
ServiceTitan, which builds a software platform for home services businesses, raises $165M Series D, at a $1.65B valuation, led by Index Ventures
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Flipkart Group CEO Binny Bansal resigns after probe into allegations of serious misconduct
Spotify will roll out its Apple Watch app in the coming week but without key features like the ability to stream music on LTE or download songs
Sam Rutherford / Gizmodo :
Israel-based XM Cyber, which provides an automated service to simulate, validate, and remediate advanced persistent threats, has raised a $22M Series A
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
DeepMind's health subsidiary, maker of an app called Streams that helps with diagnosing specific conditions, is moving under the newly-formed Google Health unit
Christina Farr / CNBC :
Facebook, Google, and Twitter are partnering in a new coalition, Tech Together to Fight the Opioid Crisis, to help those struggling with addiction
Kevin Martin / Facebook :
Waymo CEO says its driverless car service will be available first in Phoenix and will charge individuals as well as businesses that want to shuttle customers
Wall Street Journal :
Spotify launches in 13 markets across the Middle East and North Africa, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, with a fully Arabic user experience
IAB data shows digital ad spending in the first half of 2018 reached $49.5B, up 23% YoY, with mobile accounting for 63% of the total, up from 54% last year
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch :
Amazon says it has more than 10,000 employees working on its Alexa virtual assistant and Echo devices, up from 5,000 in September 2017
Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal :
Lime to launch a car sharing service in Seattle this week, starting with a fleet of 50 vehicles and quickly ramping that up to 1,500 cars by early 2019
Joshua Brustein / Bloomberg :
Sources: Bitmain claimed it had $1.25B in 2017 profits during the pre-IPO $400M+ Series B in June of 2018, while its IPO prospectus says it earned just ~$700M
Financial Times :
Ridecell, a SaaS platform for self-driving, ride-hailing, and other mobility companies, raises Series B extension, closing the round at $60M
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
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2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
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