Techmeme
January 30, 2017, 3:00 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: White House draft proposal aims to overhaul foreign work visas, requires firms to try to hire Americans first, prioritizes visas for most highly paid  —  President Donald Trump's clash with Silicon Valley over immigration is about to become even more contentious.
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Fitbit to cut six percent of its staff, or about 110 jobs, following a disappointing Q4 with 6.5M devices sold  —  As anticipated, wearable leader Fitbit kicked off the week by announcing a six-percent reduction in global work force, following disappointing fourth quarter financials.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Starbucks unveils a virtual assistant that takes your order via messaging or voice  —  Starbucks is embracing the trend towards voice-based computing with the launch of a new feature in its mobile app called My Starbucks barista, which allows customers to order and pay for their food and drinks just by speaking.
Scott Rosenberg / Backchannel:
How Paper fits into the enterprise strategy at Dropbox, which is now on pace for $1B+ in annual revenue, according to CEO Drew Houston  —  To recapture its mojo, the decacorn is expanding from your file cabinet to your office.  —  Dropbox became a darling company of the cloud computing startup wave by keeping users' files in sync.
More: TechCrunch and Reuters
Matthew Lynley / TechCrunch:
Dropbox debuts Smart Sync tool to make opening files stored only in the cloud just like opening any normal file, available to Dropbox Business customers today  —  Dropbox today released Smart Sync, its tool that allows users to access files stored online in Dropbox accounts automatically …
Matthew Lynley / TechCrunch:
In response to Trump's travel ban, tech execs, investors, and firms including Lyft and Google pledge donations to ACLU as well as other non-profits, initiatives  —  Tech executives are offering to match donations to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) following the enactment …
Matthew Dessem / Slate:
Kalanick's work with Trump and tepid travel ban response prompt #DeleteUber backlash after company suspends surge pricing at JFK Airport amid taxi work stoppage  —  There are a lot of reasons to not use ride-hailing app Uber: shoddy labor practices; attempts to strong-arm local governments …
BuzzFeed:
Clarence Williams / Washington Post:
123 of 187 of Washington DC police CCTV network video recorders were infected with ransomware, unable to record between January 12 and 15  —  Hackers infected 70 percent of storage devices that record data from D.C. police surveillance cameras eight days before President Trump's inauguration …
Katharine Schwab / Co.Design:
Bloomberg:
Hugo Barra played a key role in Xiaomi's India expansion, a business that now accounts for $1B/year revenue, but other global efforts he oversaw largely stalled  —  Barra departs Beijing smartphone maker to lead Facebook VR  —  Xiaomi struggled with global expansion, competition at home
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
Crowdfunding advocates express concern about crowdfunded startups failing to comply with the 2012 Jobs Act  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Ryan Feit left behind his lucrative career at a private equity firm to chase the dream of crowdfunding.  —  Mr. Feit, a 33-year-old graduate of the Wharton School …

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