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As Google rolls out Duplex, Alibaba demos a similar conversational AI that, it says, is already handling millions of customer package delivery queries per day
Berlin-based vacation rental price-comparison startup HomeToGo, which has raised $150M to date, acquires assets of failed vacation rental search engine Tripping
Kaspersky: networks of 8 Eastern European banks were hacked by people entering the premises and planting physical devices like Raspberry Pis and USB drives
FortressIQ, which applies a new AI technique called imitation learning to process automation, raises $12M Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners
Sources: Bird plans to raise at its current $2B valuation and Lime at a valuation of $2B-3B, lower than their initial asks, amid tougher-than-expected economics
Australian watchdog ACCC posts regulation recommendations regarding digital platforms, like Google: monitor handling of ads and news, ban default browsers, more
YouTube says over 200M people view gaming content each day globally, and 50B+ hours of gaming videos were viewed in the past year
Huawei CFO's arrest at behest of US prompts fears of retaliatory arrests as Trump administration's response to strategic tech challenges from China disappoints
As US Army launches Army Esports, a new gamer recruitment initiative, a look at its long collaboration with the gaming industry using tools like Marine Doom
Most studies on the side effects of screen time have relied on self-reported data, an unreliable methodology that has been a major problem in nutrition research
Facebook bans sexual solicitation including vague suggestive statements, sexualized slang, and using sexual hints such as mentioning sexual preference
UK-based Boku, a carrier billing services provider, says it has acquired Danal, a US-based mobile identity and authentication service, and will pay up to $68M
By putting Edge on Chromium and planning to invest in the engine, Microsoft is showing it is committed to the web as a platform for the future of apps
Sources: Uber has confidentially filed for an IPO; filing indicates it could go public as soon as the first quarter of 2019
US export controls could slow China's ambitions to mass produce cutting-edge chips because the Chinese chip plants rely on US and other foreign equipment makers
Amazon says Alexa can now better recognize context, such as playing the right song after an inaccurate request or launching a skill without hearing its name
theverge.com · 12 hours ago
Google publishes its plans for Mountain View's North Bayshore development which includes 3.12M square feet of offices and up to 8000 residential units
Epic's PC and Mac games store, announced last week, is now live with Epic's own Fortnite and Unreal Tournament, Hades from Supergiant Games, with more to come
StarVR suspends its month old developer program with a $3,200 headset as it delists from Taipei exchange and its major shareholder, Starbreeze, runs out of cash
Tumblr's initial embrace of pornography helped it grow users, but it has since been phased out following Yahoo acquisition
Amazon robots caused bear repellent explosions both in 2018, when one punctured a can and hospitalized dozens, and 2015, when another ran over a can in Texas
wired.com · 12 hours ago