Techmeme

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:Afiniti, which uses AI and behavioral science to better match customers with customer service agents, quietly raises $130M Series D at a $1.6B valuation  —  Ingrid Lunden @ingridlunden / 7 hours  —  Artificial intelligence…

Alex Konrad / Forbes:Envoy, which sells an iPad-based visitor management product, raises $43M Series B led by Menlo Ventures and plans new smart office products by end of year  —  Larry Gadea says he knew his startup Envoy was truly taking off when he…

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:Lyft acquires UK-based AR startup Blue Vision Labs and unveils its first Ford test vehicle for its Level 5 self-driving initiative  —  The company has acquired the AR startup Blue Vision Labs and unveiled its first Ford test…

Julian E. Barnes / New York Times:Sources: US Cyber Command targets Russian operatives to deter them from spreading disinformation, in first known overseas cyberoperation to protect elections  —  WASHINGTON — The United States Cyber Command is targeting…

Anna Escher / TechCrunch:Predictive sales tool People.ai, which tracks every communication touchpoint between sales teams and customers, raises $30M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz  —  Anna Escher @https://www.twitter.com/annaescher / 7 hours  — …

Eudora Wang / China Money Network:Chinese cloud-based HR SaaS company Beisen raises $100M+ Series E from Matrix Partners and Hong Kong-based investment firm Genesis Capital  —  Chinese cloud-based human resource software as a service (SaaS) firm Beisen has…

Nitasha Tiku / Wired:Three recent books argue that big tech became powerful not because of “software disruption” but by ducking regulation, squeezing workers, strangling competitors  —  A FEW YEARS after the Great Recession, you couldn't scroll through…

The Verge:Android: a visual history of Google's OS on its 10th anniversary  —  Google's Android operating system has undergone a pretty incredible metamorphosis since it debuted on the T-Mobile G1 on October 22nd, 2008.  A decade might seem like a long…

Reuters:Verizon Q3 beats estimates with net addition of 295K subscribers, net income of $4.92B on total operating revenue of $32.61B  —  (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) on Tuesday beat Wall Street estimates for net new phone subscribers who…

Nilay Patel / The Verge:Apple says iOS 12.1 will fix a bug that resulted in smoother-looking photos taken by the iPhone XS and XR's front camera, thus improving selfie quality  —  Beautygate no longer  —  Ever since the iPhone XS came out, there's been…

Ryan Browne / CNBC:Uber will invest $260M and introduce a £0.15 per mile charge on each trip to help all of its London drivers switch to electric cars by 2025  —  - Uber will invest £200 million to tackle air pollution in Britain's capital, the company…

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:Repl.it, a startup letting users write and ship code from their browsers, raises $4.5M Series A led by a16z, with YC, Paul Graham, and others participating  —  - Repl.it is a start-up whose technology lets software engineers…

BBC:Taxi company Addison Lee says it is partnering with Oxbotica to produce detailed maps of London, with an aim to launch self-driving taxis in the city by 2021  —  Would you trust a taxi with no driver?  —  Taxi firm Addison Lee is betting its…

Nilay Patel / The Verge:iPhone XR review: competitive price for Apple's latest processor and cameras with a great battery life, but comes in only one size and the display is not great  —  Big screen, small compromise  —  Video by Phil Esposito & Becca…

Wall Street Journal:SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son cancels speaking engagement at Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative, but may still attend the event  —  Mr. Son becomes latest executive to cancel plans after the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi …