Techmeme: Sen. Al Franken asks Uber CEO Travis Kalanick for answers on privacy, God view tool, discipline for Emil Michael, and tracking journalists (Al Franken)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News Contact Editors

November 20, 2014, 4:47 AM

Top News

Al Franken:

Sen. Al Franken asks Uber CEO Travis Kalanick for answers on privacy, God view tool, discipline for Emil Michael, and tracking journalists — Dear Mr Kalanick: — I am writing in regard to reports of recent comments and actions by top Uber executives concerning journalists.

More: Robert Scoble, Haywire, USA Today, PandoDaily, PC World, Politico, CNET, The Next Web, Engadget, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Mashable, VentureBeat, Bloomberg Politics, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, PandoDaily and Fortune

Tweets: @robhof, @tbiz, @dannysullivan, @isaach, @ktbenner, @declanm, @thecolonial and @qthrul

See also Mediagazer

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Firefox drops Google as default search engine, signs five-year deal with Yahoo — Today, Yahoo and Mozilla announced a five-year partnership that would make Yahoo the default search engine for Mozilla's Firefox browser on mobile and desktop. The agreement also sets the stage …

More: The Mozilla Blog, Re/code, Slate, Engadget, BetaNews, ZDNet, The Technology Chronicles, GeekWire, Ubergizmo, 9to5Google, gHacks Technology News, VentureBeat, internetnews.com, ReadWrite, TechCrunch, The Next Web, The Tech Report and CNET

Tweets: @dannysullivan and @dangillmor

Danny Sullivan / Marketing Land:

Default search engine for Firefox in Europe remains Google, Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China — Mozilla CEO: It Wasn't Money — Yahoo Was The Better Strategic Partner For Firefox — Mozilla CEO Chris Beard says when presented with deals of “equivalent economics” to power search in Firefox, Yahoo was the better partner.

More: The Mozilla Blog, Yahoo, Business Insider, Ars Technica, Search Engine Land, MacNN, PCMag Australia Feed, OStatic blogs, New York Times, TechOne3, Mashable, VentureBeat, SEO Book, PC World, The Register, TechSpot and Marketing Land

Cromwell Schubarth / Silicon Valley Business Journal:

Data virtualization firm Primary Data comes out of stealth, announces $63M funding, brings on Steve Wozniak as chief scientist — Primary Data emerges from stealth at Demo with Woz as chief scientist — The Los Altos company raised about $63 million in funding to help in their plan …

More: Gigaom, ZDNet, eWeek, PE Hub Blog, Wall Street Journal, The Register and VentureBeat

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Developers In China Can Now Make Money Via Google Play Apps (But Not In China) — Google has announced that developers based in China can now make money from apps listed on the Google Play Store. The update covers 130 international markets but not China itself, however.

More: Android Developers Blog, Android Police, The Next Web, Tech in Asia, New York Times, VentureBeat and 9to5Google

Andrew Grush / Android Authority:

Report: Google hopes to launch Play app store in China, moderating its approach with Beijing

More: The Information and Seeking Alpha

Joshua Goldman / CNET:

Parrot's Bebop smartphone-controlled drone will be available Dec. in the US for $499 — Parrot Bebop drone lands in December for $499 — The company's new smartphone-controlled quadcopter, first announced in May, is finally flying into stores. — If you're dying for a more affordable …

More: Parrot news, TechCrunch, ITProPortal, RTTNews, Tom's Guide, Yahoo Tech, Mashable, PCMag Australia robotics …, SlashGear, Gizmodo and MacRumors

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Apple Relabels “Free” Download Buttons On iTunes And Mac App Store To “Get” Following Pressure from EC — Across the iTunes and Mac App Stores today, a minor but also notable change is taking place with regard to how Apple is marketing its iOS and Mac applications.

More: 9to5Mac, Re/code, Six Colors, Ubergizmo, TechnoBuffalo, The Verge, InvestorPlace, Pocketnow, iMore and Mashable

Joe Mullin / Ars Technica:

Cisco expects to pay $188M to Rockstar, the Apple-owned patent licensor — Cisco is preparing to dole out a serious chunk of cash to settle its patent lawsuit with Rockstar, a patent-holding company created out of the ashes of Nortel, a Canadian telecom. — The $188-million pre-tax charge …

Jessica Guynn / USA Today:

Facebook shuttle bus drivers vote to join Teamsters union — SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook shuttle bus drivers voted late Wednesday to join the Teamsters union. — The vote was 43-28. — The union drive was part of a growing campaign in Silicon Valley to secure better pay and working conditions for service workers.

More: Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg, Valleywag, CBS San Francisco and Business Insider. Tweets: @claudiakincaid

Mike Lennon / SecurityWeek:

Cloud security firm CipherCloud raises $50M Series B led by Transamerica Ventures — CipherCloud Lands $50 Million To Protect All Things Cloud — Cloud security firm CipherCloud today announced that it has closed a massive $50 million round of funding led by Transamerica Ventures.

More: silicontap.com, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Financial Times, The Diversity Blog, bizjournals, Reuters and Gigaom. Thanks:@wiredmike

Tim Higgins / Bloomberg:

Apple still committed to bringing jobs to Mesa, Arizona, plans to repurpose the sapphire plant — Apple Sticking With Arizona Plan After Supplier Falters — Apple Inc. (AAPL) has told officials in Mesa, Arizona, that it's committed to bringing jobs and manufacturing to the area …

More: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Cult of Mac, MacRumors, App Advice, MacNN, iMore, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, PadGadget, MacDailyNews, iLounge, iPhone in Canada Blog, Re/code, The Register, TechnoBuffalo and TUAW

Jordan Kahn / 9to5Google:

Google acquires RelativeWave, makes its mobile prototyping software Form, normally $79, free for Mac — RelativeWave acquired by Google, makes its mobile app prototyping software free for Mac — RelativeWave, the company behind the mobile app prototyping software Form, today announced it's joining Google.

More: RelativeWave, TechCrunch, VatorNews, iDownloadBlog.com, Android Authority and The Next Web

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Airware's Drone Operating System Gets Strategic Investment, Tech, Clients From GE Ventures — Dull, dirty, and dangerous. Those are the tasks robots are best for, but it also describes jobs with General Electric's Field Services division, inspecting wind turbines and oil pipelines.

More: Wall Street Journal, GE Ventures, bizjournals and SiliconANGLE. Tweets: @joshconstine. Thanks:@mayarahkonen

Jeffrey Burt / eWeek:

Qualcomm to Build ARM-Based Server Chips — Qualcomm, the world's top mobile chip maker, is ready to get into the crowded ARM-based server chip business. — At the company's annual analyst day Nov. 19 in New York, CEO Steve Mollenkopf said company engineers have been working on the technology “for some time.

More: ZDNet, Tech Trader Daily, Gigaom, Nasdaq, The Register and CNET

Eduard Kovacs / SecurityWeek:

Advanced Variant of “NotCompatible” Android Malware a Threat to Enterprises — Mobile security firm Lookout has been monitoring the evolution of the Android Trojan dubbed “NotCompatible”, and they say the latest version of the malware is sophisticated enough to pose a threat to protected enterprise networks.

More: The Official Lookout Blog, darkREADING, Computerworld, Infosecurity Magazine, Inquirer, The Register and Help Net Security

Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider:

Apple partnering with Rubicon Project to sell iAds through company's automated marketplace — Apple Is Planning To Turn Around iAd By Venturing Into Programmatic For The First Time — Apple's mobile advertising unit iAd is moving into programmatic advertising for the first time by partnering …

More: Re/code, SlashGear, AppleInsider, MacDailyNews and Seeking Alpha

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Salesforce Slips On Weak Guidance, Despite Beating On Both Revenue And Profit In Its FQ3 — In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, Salesforce reported revenue of $1.383 billion, non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.14, a GAAP net loss of $38.92 million, and a GAAP loss per share of $0.06.

More: Re/code, Fortune, Tech Trader Daily and Business Insider

Mark Hearn / 9to5Google:

Motorola's $25 Keylink will help you find your misplaced smartphone with the push of a button — Between the release of the Moto X, Droid Turbo and taking on a new taskmaster, Motorola Mobility has been extremely busy. With no signs of slowing down, the former Google company just announced …

More: Engadget, The Official Motorola Blog, Geek Beat, TechCrunch, Electronista, Android Police, Gizmodo, The Verge, AndroidGuys, Pocketnow, Android Central and Android and Me

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:

SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work — Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.

Zoho:

Introducing Zoho TouchPoint: Every handshake deserves a next step — Here's a scene you've probably experienced. You spend a day at an event, talk to dozens of people, and come home with a stack of business cards.

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

WebBrain:

WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser — Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox. Use local models or your preferred AI provider. Get started free.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Machine Gods:

The 10 Biggest Losers from Jensen Huang's Fall + The METR Report That Scared Us

The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.

Subscribe to Machine Gods.

The Upstarts Podcast:

The $1.4B Startup Deciding What You See When You Shop Online | Sequen's Zoë Weil

Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.

Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.

Great Chat:

Too soon to call it a vibe shift?

A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.

Subscribe to Great Chat.

Big Technology Podcast:

Storm Clouds Ahead For Apple?, Debating Amazon's Bee Frontier, AI as UI

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.

Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Encore: Chuck Klosterman on Why Football Owns TV (and Why It Won't Forever)

Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.

Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.

Invest Like the Best:

Zach Reitano - Building Ro and Why Healthcare Should Be 50% of GDP

The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.

Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:47 AM ET, November 20, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.