For nearly a month, Skype has been unavailable to many Chinese consumers, The New York Times reports. “Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, still functions in China, and its fate in the country is not yet clear,” it writes. “But its removal from the app stores is the most recent example of a decades-long push by China’s government to control and monitor the flow of information online.”

Bloomberg looked into Apple’s year-long effort to design a smart speaker, and it wasn’t pretty. While Amazon cornered the market with its Echo product line, “Apple dithered over its own speaker,” Bloomberg writes. “The project was cancelled and revived several times … and the device went through multiple permutations (at one point it stood 3 feet tall) as executives struggled to figure out how it would fit into the home and Apple’s ecosystem of products and services.”

Inc. tells the tale of Topix, and how the publisher achieved success by paying top platforms like Facebook and Google for traffic. “Through an automated ‘trading desk,’ the company promotes each piece to hundreds of different demographics on Facebook as well as Yahoo, MSN, Outbrain, and Taboola,” Inc. writes. “When they find a receptive cohort, they ‘press the bet’ by pumping more money into it.”

On Dec.18, Bloomberg is planning to launch a Twitter network, which will exist as the first 24-hour social news network on Twitter, Axios reports. Brand partners include Goldman Sachs, Infiniti, TD Ameritrade, CA Technologies, AT&T and CME Group, while “the average price point of the partnerships is $1.5 to 3 million, leading to Bloomberg securing eight figures in revenue in its first year,” according to Axios.

Twitter is testing a feature that would make it easier for users to tweetstorm, the company said this week. “The test first surfaced in September, but Twitter is now confirming the experiment, which is currently live only to people who are part of Twitter's Experiments Program,” Mashable reports. “The latest version of the feature …allows users to add multiple tweets to a single thread using a new ‘+’ icon in the tweet composer.”

Apple’s first smart speaker won’t be ready for the holidays, it turns out. “The production process needs ‘a little more time’ to bake,” TechCrunch reports, citing a statement from Apple. As such, “We’ll start shipping in the US, UK and Australia in early 2018,” a company spokesperson tells TC.

Spotify just bought Stockholm-based online music studio Soundtrap for a reported $250 million. “Spotify has made nine acquisitions since the start of 2016,” Business Insider notes. “The biggest deal to date is music data service Echo Nest, which cost Spotify about $60 million.”

Google just unveiled a revamped Maps app with more easily recognizable markers, and context-aware information. “If you’re prone to getting disoriented using public transit, or get frustrated searching for a gas station during a road trip, the update makes it easier to know where you’re going,” Lifehacker reports.

Vimeo has started supporting high dynamic range (HDR) content. “HDR, for the uninitiated, is a technique used to enhance the contrast of colors, making shadows and highlights more distinctive -- blacks appear blacker, and whites appear whiter,” Venture Beat reports. “It’s ultimately about making videos appear more lifelike, as they are more in tune with what the human eye would see in the real world.”

Amazon just launched the Echo family, Prime Music and Alexa Voice services and skills in Canada, Engadget reports. “It will also gain local knowledge and skills from Air Canada, TD Bank, Telus, CBC, Manulife and around 10,000 others this year,” Engadget writes. “Canadian developers can build their own skills and apps using Amazon's Alexa Skills Kit (ASK).”