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The Verge : Alt-right commentator Laura Loomer handcuffed self to Twitter NYC door to protest her ban from the service; NYPD cut cuffs at Loomer's request after a few hours   —  'They may have banned me from Twitter but now I'm handcuffed to Twitter'  —  Earlier this afternoon, alt-right Jewish commentator … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2BHAlpZ

Liz Moyer / CNBC : SEC settles with Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled on charges of promoting ICOs without disclosing payments; Mayweather to pay $600K+ in fees, Khaled to pay $150K+   —  Pro boxer Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled pumped up initial coin offerings without telling investors … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2DRoIOG

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk : Coinbase Pro says it is adding Zcash to its professional trading platform in the US, UK, European Union, Canada, Singapore, and Australia   —  Crypto exchange Coinbase Pro is adding privacy coin zcash to its listings.  —  The platform announced Thursday that customers can transfer zcash … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2P99Z3F

Katie Roof / Wall Street Journal : Vista Equity Partners takes majority stake in Wrike, a work management platform that says it has nearly a $100M run rate, source says at a valuation of ~$800M   —  Software company is said to be valued at nearly $800 million  —  Vista Equity Partners has taken a majority stake in Wrike Inc., a workplace management software startup. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2rcS4zF

Gabe Rivera / Techmeme News : Techmeme now publishing paid and free “Leaderboards” showing the most influential reporters around a specific news topic   —  Today Techmeme has begun publishing Topic Leaderboards, which list the top authors and publications covering 24 topic areas such as cloud computing, autonomous vehicles … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2BHMJpU

Today Techmeme has begun publishing Topic Leaderboards, which list the top authors and publications covering 24 topic areas such as cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, and cryptocurrency, with additional topics to come. While this information will interest reporters and editors, it will be especially useful to communications professionals who need a way to identify the reporters covering a particular technology news category, or founders and other startup employees who have the same need. How Topic Leaderboards are ranked These new leaderboards are ordered to highlight the most influential and prolific authors covering a specific topic area. In this way, they're similar in format to the leaderboards we've offered for years, which ranked authors and publications for all Techmeme news rather than individual topics. We're therefore calling these new lists leaderboards as well, and they now reside at the same URL . However, there's a key difference in how these new le...

Wall Street Journal : Memo: the White House plans to host a roundtable on December 6 to discuss innovation with tech executives, including Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, and others   —  Guest list includes heads of Microsoft, Google, Qualcomm, Oracle  —  The Trump administration will hold a roundtable discussion … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2ShZLQl

Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept : Sources detail the measures Google took to keep Dragonfly under wraps, including shutting out some members of the security and privacy teams from key meetings   —  The secrecy surrounding the work was unheard of at Google.  It was not unusual for planned new products to be closely guarded ahead of launch. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2KKgtVS

Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios : GM's President Dan Ammann to become CEO of self-driving car unit Cruise; current Cruise CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt will stay on as unit president and CTO   —  General Motors on Thursday announced that company president Dan Ammann will take a new job as CEO of its self-driving unit, Cruise. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2FXvipI

Kate Clark / TechCrunch : Lyft closes its acquisition of bike-rental startup Motivate, says it will invest $100M in NY's Citi Bike, tripling the number of bikes available to 40K by 2023   —  Lyft has finally given us a glimpse of its forthcoming line of shareable bikes, which the ridesharing company says will be available … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2KKcMzu

In a regulatory filing today, SoftBank Group said it has set an indicative price of 1,500 yen ($13.22) per share for the initial public offering of its domestic telecoms unit next month. This means the offering is potentially worth 2.4 trillion yen (about $21.16 billion), making it one of the largest IPOs ever. The price is the same as the tentative one SoftBank disclosed in a previous filing earlier this month . The IPO is set for Dec. 19 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and its final price will be determined on Dec. 10. The record for the largest IPO is currently held by Alibaba Group, which raised a total of $25 billion in 2014. If there is enough demand for SoftBank Group’s shares, a overallotment can potentially increase its offering’s total by 240.6 billion yen (or about $2.12 billion), bringing it closer to the amount Alibaba raised. One interesting aspect of this initial public offering is SoftBank Group’s efforts to reach retail investors. For example, brokerages have run televi...

Sorry folks. If you wanted to buy a ticket to Startup Battlefield Africa 2018  you’re out of luck. We’re sold out. However, you could be one of the lucky few to score a free ticket to our day-long startup-pitch extravaganza in Lagos, Nigeria on 11 December. We have a limited number of tickets available, so apply for your free ticket here — before they’re all gone. Don’t miss 15 of the continent’s top early-stage startup founders as they launch their companies on a global stage in front of a live, enthusiastic audience. Choosing the Startup Battlefield competitors from hundreds of applications was no easy feat — a testament to the depth and creativity of the region’s growing startup scene. A quick reminder of how Startup Battlefield works. The 15 teams compete in three preliminary rounds — five startups per round. They get only six minutes to pitch and present a live demo to a panel of expert technologists and VC investors. After each pitch, the judges have six minutes to grill t...

Despite strong reviews and a fan petition , Netflix said today that it is cancelling “Daredevil” after three seasons. This is the latest Marvel series, after “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist,” that Netflix has cancelled recently, and is a sign that Marvel TV and Netflix’s multi-series agreement, signed in 2013, may be hitting some bumps. Centered around a blind lawyer-turned-superhero in New York City, played by Charlie Cox, “Daredevil” was the first series released as part of the Marvel -Netflix deal in 2015. This leaves “Jessica Jones” and “The Punisher” as the two remaining Marvel series on Netflix. Netflix said in a statement sent to Deadline, which first broke the news , that “we are tremendously proud of the show’s last and final season and although it’s painful for the fans, we feel it best to close this chapter on a high note. We are thankful to our partners at Marvel, showrunner Erik Oleson, the show’s writers, stellar crew, and incredible cast including Charlie Cox as Daredevil ...

A flurry of digital-first insurers are betting they can surpass industry incumbents with a little help from technology and a lot of help from venture capitalists. The latest to land a massive check is Bright Health , a Minneapolis-headquartered provider of affordable individual, family and Medicare Advantage healthcare plans in Alabama,  Arizona ,  Colorado ,  New York City ,  Ohio  and  Tennessee. The company, founded by the former chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare Bob Sheehy; Kyle Rolfing, the former CEO of UnitedHealth-acquired Definity Health ; and Tom Valdivia, another former Definity Health executive, has brought in a $200 million Series C. The funding values Bright Health at $950 million, according to PitchBook — more than double the $400 million valuation it garnered with its $160 million Series B in June 2017. Sheehy, Bright Health’s CEO, declined to comment on the valuation. New investors Declaration Partners and Meritech Capita...

NASA is ready to send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in more than 40 years. It won’t be doing it alone, however. The agency is enlisting nine companies, large and small, to compete for a combined maximum contract value of $2.6 billion over the next 10 years. NASA released the list of names today, including aerospace stalwart Lockheed Martin, along with Astrobotic Technology, Deep Space Systems, Draper, Firefly Aerospace, Texas Intuitive Machines, LLC, Masten Space Systems, Inc., Moon Express and Orbit Beyond — all American companies. “Today’s announcement marks tangible progress in America’s return to the Moon’s surface to stay,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a press release. “The innovation of America’s aerospace companies, wedded with our big goals in science and human exploration, are going to help us achieve amazing things on the Moon and feed forward to Mars.” Baby steps. The teams will start with lunar payload missions, which could kick off as ear...