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January 18, 2018, 9:10 PM
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| Alex Heath / Cheddar: |
Sources: Snap laid off about 24 people across 8 teams, mostly in the content unit that curates users' videos; some staff were asked to relocate to Los Angeles — Snapchat parent Snap Inc. laid off roughly two dozen people across 8 different teams on Thursday, people familiar with the matter told Cheddar.
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The Information, 9to5Mac, Android Police, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Business Insider, CNBC, Tubefilter, and Seeking Alpha
| Colin Lecher / The Verge: |
US Senate votes 65 to 34 to reauthorize Section 702 FISA surveillance program through 2023; bill now goes to Trump to sign — The Senate has voted to reauthorize a controversial legal authority that enables vast government surveillance programs, including spying operations used by the NSA.
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Digital Trends, Motherboard, Reuters, CNN, CNBC, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Business Insider, and Engadget
Tweets: @randpaul, @senwarren, @senkamalaharris, @snowden, @sensanders, @aclu, @aclu, @senatemajldr, @emptywheel, @chadpergram, @zackwhittaker, @eff, and @eff
| Bloomberg: |
A behind-the-scenes look at Travis Kalanick's fall at Uber: from Susan Fowler's blog post and Waymo's lawsuit to the fight with Benchmark Capital's Bill Gurley — Silicon Valley CEOs are supposed to be sacrosanct. So how did it all go wrong at Uber? — A year ago, before the investor lawsuits …
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SiliconBeat, Vanity Fair, Business Insider, Slate, Quartz, Gizmodo, Bloomberg.com, New York Magazine, and CNBC
Tweets: @tomgara, @jwherrman, @mekosoff, @tomgara, @ekp, @taylorlorenz, @business, @jwherrman, and @eringriffith
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Apple redesigns App Store web interface to match design of iOS 11 App Store with larger images, focus on curation and reviews, and more — Apple today has rolled out a major redesign for the App Store web interface. The new redesign replaces the dated and clunky interface that previously housed the App Store on the web...
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Macworld, iMore, MacRumors, TechCrunch, Ubergizmo, and The Mac Observer
| Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
Spotify partners with eight firms, including Buzzfeed, to launch Spotlight, an initiative offering news and political programming, as it vies for radio revenue — Eight companies will supply coverage of news, sports, culture — Studio head wants ‘content that can be seen and listened to’
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Press, The Verge, TechCrunch, On MSFT, and Reuters
Tweets: @mattmittenthal, @alexeheath, @joshconstine, @tictoc, @jamesliamcook, and @kerrymflynn
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
WhatsApp officially launches its free Android app for businesses in the US, UK, Mexico, Italy, and Indonesia, rolling out globally in the coming weeks — WhatsApp today officially launched its new WhatsApp Business app in select markets, including Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., ahead of its planned worldwide rollout.| Raphael Satter / Associated Press: |
Researchers find hundreds of gigabytes of files online outlining Lebanon-linked effort to gain passwords and eavesdrop via bogus websites and malicious apps — LONDON (AP) — A major hacking operation tied to Lebanon's main intelligence agency has been exposed after careless spies left hundreds …
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Electronic Frontier Foundation, Engadget, Gizmodo, Motherboard, The Register, Forbes, The Verge, Axios, and Reuters
Tweets: @eff, @abirghattas, @empiricalerror, @yeh1a, @ap, and @sulomeanderson
| Leslie Hook / Financial Times: |
Uber's $8.8B deal with SoftBank closes; new board member Rajeev Misra says Uber should return focus to US, Europe, Latin America, Australia to become profitable — Uber's largest shareholder has called for the car-booking company to focus on recovering market share in the US and growing …
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TechCrunch, Crunchbase News, Bloomberg, CNBC, Associated Press, BBC, Forbes, Business Insider, and CNET
Tweets: @isv_damocles, @gamoid, @financialtimes, and @mikeisaac
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
Apple says it will fix a flaw that crashes Messages app on iOS upon receipt of a malicious link in an update next week — A software update coming next week will fix an issue that allows a malicious link to freeze the Messages app on the iPhone and iPad, Apple confirmed to MacRumors this morning.
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BuzzFeed, Graham Cluley, 9to5Mac, Daily Mail, BBC, InvestorPlace, HackRead, TechnoBuffalo, iPhone Hacks, AppAdvice.com, MSPoweruser, The Verge, Silicon Republic, iDownloadBlog.com, BleepingComputer.com, Fortune, The Verge, Neowin, iMore, Mashable, iDownloadBlog.com, Tom's Guide, iDownloadBlog.com, Business Insider, Forbes, Tech Times, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Memo, TechSpot, BGR, PhoneDog.com, Engadget, The Mac Observer, MacDailyNews, Cult of Mac, and SlashGear. Tweets: @cheesecakeufo
| Todd Bishop / GeekWire: |
Amazon narrows HQ2 search to 20 cities from 238 proposals, 19 in the US and Toronto in Canada, and says it expects to make a decision in 2018 — Amazon has selected 20 cities to move to the next phase in its HQ2 selection process, the latest twist in an unprecedented headquarters search that has turned into a national curiosity.
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Axios, CNNMoney, New York Times, Business Insider, Amazon.com, New York Times, miamiherald, Xconomy, CBS Los Angeles, Mashable, TWICE, CNET, Hit & Run, Forbes, Recode, Retail Dive, Fortune, Digital Commerce 360, Engadget, The Ringer, CityLab, TechSpot, The Register, Digital Trends, AppleInsider, TechCo, VentureBeat, Washington Post, iPhone in Canada Blog, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, Technical.ly Philly, The Verge, Nextgov, BetaKit, Washingtonian, Reuters, CBS New York, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Inman, Bloomberg, Newser, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, Press Association, and CNBC
Tweets: @nycmayor, @mayorbyronbrown, @ceciliakang, @harrymccracken, @masterdevwi, @geekwire, and @nbcnews. Thanks:@johnhcook
| Vlad Savov / The Verge: |
As smartphones drop the 3.5mm jack, the headphones market is becoming a fragmented mess; USB-C headphones remain pricey as implementation varies across OEMs — Into the uncertain wilderness of wireless and digital connections, we go — At CES this year, I saw the future of headphones, and it was messy.
Tweets: @backlon and @zio_excel
| Iain Thomson / The Register: |
Google software engineer Grzegorz Milka says in conference presentation that under 10% of active Gmail users have two-factor authentication enabled — Your daily dose of digital depression — Usenix Enigma It has been nearly seven years since Google introduced two-factor authentication …
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ExtremeTech, Tom's Guide, and Gizmodo
| Chris Welch / The Verge: |
Instagram updated with optional feature that displays when you were last active, visible by default to users who have talked with you via direct message — You can turn it off... for now — Instagram is continuing to build out its messaging section with a new feature that's already found …
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MacRumors, The Next Web, BuzzFeed, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada Blog, Engadget, and Lifehacker
| Ted Greenwald / Wall Street Journal: |
IBM beats with Q4 revenue of $22.5B, up 3.6% YoY, the first YoY rise in 23 quarters, vs. $22.1B expected; $1.1B loss from one-time $5.5B tax overhaul charge — A $5.5 billion charge related to the new U.S. tax law pushes fourth-quarter results into the redSponsor Posts
Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
From content collaboration to content intelligence: Zoho WorkDrive's 2025 journey — As 2025 draws to a close, we're reflecting on a year marked by meaningful progress, purposeful innovation, and continuous learning at Zoho WorkDrive.
From content collaboration to content intelligence: Zoho WorkDrive's 2025 journey — As 2025 draws to a close, we're reflecting on a year marked by meaningful progress, purposeful innovation, and continuous learning at Zoho WorkDrive.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Big Technology Podcast:
Sam Altman: How OpenAI Wins, AI Buildout Logic, IPO in 2026?
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.
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Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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Lenny's Podcast:
The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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