Matt Humrick / AnandTech:
Qualcomm announces X50 5G modem, enabling 5Gbps downloads and arriving in products in 2018, and says smartphones with X16 gigabit LTE modems coming in 2017  —  Qualcomm made three announcements about connectivity products today at it 2016 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong.

Matt Pressberg / The Wrap:
Netflix is abandoning plans to launch in China for now because of challenging regulations, but will still license content to existing online service providers  —  Streaming giant cites challenges in “regulatory environment for foreign digital content services”

Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
IBM reports Q3 revenue of $19.2B, flat YoY; cloud as a service annual run rate now at $7.5B, up 66% from last year  —  IBM's strategic imperatives—new businesses that are getting investment—are starting to offset slower units.  —  IBM reported a better-than-expected third quarter …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook Messenger suggests what to talk about with “Conversation Topics” feature  —  Facebook Messenger may have already hit the billion-user club this past summer, but the company is always looking for new ways to increase app usage.  The latest attempt is the introduction of “conversation topics” …

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Voyager and Microsoft Ventures invest $9M in business text messaging platform Zipwhip  —  With the proliferation of so many messaging apps, from Facebook Messenger to WhatsApp to Snapchat, it may seem like SMS texting is not relevant anymore.  —  Zipwhip's latest fundraising round certainly proves that theory wrong.

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Razer acquires audiovisual icon THX as it explores growth beyond the games industry  —  Razer, the company that develops hardware and services for gamers and the world of gaming, has made an acquisition to catapult it to more platforms and more people: The company has acquired THX …

Matthew Lynley / TechCrunch:
Netflix beats expectations, adding 3.2M global subscribers vs. 2M expected and 370K domestic subscribers vs. 304K for the quarter; stock up over 20% after hours  —  Netflix is finally breaking off from its slowing subscriber growth trend as it posted a huge quarter that beat both its own, and Wall Street's, expectations.

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that 5-7M ex-Galaxy Note7 orders will convert into iPhone 7 sales, predominantly iPhone 7 Plus  —  Apple appears to the be the primary beneficiary of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall blunders, with replacement devices also prone to catching fire which eventually resulted …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Flights will now tell you when fares are likely to increase and help you find cheaper tickets  —  Google's airfare search destination Google Flights already offered a variety of features aimed at helping you find low-cost tickets, but today it's rolling out one more …

Alan Travis / Guardian:
UK court rules that bulk personal data collection by GCHQ from 1998 to 2015 was illegal under ECHR, but collection is now compliant after 2015 government avowal  —  Investigatory powers tribunal says agencies operated secret regimes to collect vast amounts of communications data for 10 years

Lauren Goode / The Verge:
Lenovo Yoga Book review: a great looking thin and light device with long battery life, but has few useful ports, a weak processor, and needs software refinement  —  Awkward.  That's the word that comes to mind when I think of all of the 2-in-1, “convertible” laptops that have come to market in recent years …

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Cisco buys YC-backed meeting app Worklife for an undisclosed sum, plans to continue to provide it as a free standalone service  —  Cisco announced today that it was acquiring Worklife, a member of the Y Combinator winter 2015 class, for an undisclosed sum.  —  Worklife was founded with the idea …

Miranda Katz / Backchannel:
Three years after Tracy Chou asked “Where are the numbers?”, diversity reports are routine, but tech companies show modest gains  —  If you want to make tech less white and male, you need numbers.  But data didn't exist until one pissed-off engineer took action.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
With 5M MAUs, streaming startup Pluto TV raises $30M at $140M valuation from ProSieben, Scripps Networks, others to expand to Europe, buys Berlin-based Quazer  —  Pluto TV, a video streaming service targeting cord cutters by offering a TV-guide like experience that connects you to hundreds …