Techmeme
January 16, 2019, 2:00 PM

Top News

Washington Post:
Documents and eyewitnesses say T-Mobile execs have been frequently staying at Trump's D.C. hotel as VIPs as T-Mobile seeks approval for its $26B Sprint merger  —  Last April, telecom giant T-Mobile announced a megadeal: a $26 billion merger with rival Sprint, which would more than double T-Mobile's value …
Heather Kelly / CNN:
Evan Spiegel says Snap CFO Tim Stone, who joined the company from Amazon eight months ago, has resigned but will remain until February 5 to help with transition  —  San Francisco (CNN Business)Snap is losing another high-profile executive.  Chief Financial Officer Tim Stone told Snap …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Pew survey of US Facebook users: 74% didn't know the company compiles lists of their interests and traits to target ads; 51% were uncomfortable with this  —  A study by the Pew Research Center suggests most Facebook users are still in the dark about how the company tracks and profiles them for ad-targeting purposes.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Lenovo is partnering with Verizon to reintroduce the Motorola Razr phone with a foldable screen, at a price starting at ~$1,500  —  Motorola seeks to revive flip phone that was dethroned by the iPhone a decade ago  —  The Motorola Razr phone is making a comeback.
Rachel Yang / Variety:
Roku says it is removing two Infowars channels on its platform after criticism from users and a rebuke from some Sandy Hook families  —  Roku has taken the Infowars channel off its platform after the streaming device faced criticism for carrying the controversial program hosted by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Joseph Cox / Motherboard:
Following AT&T and T-Mobile, Sprint says it will stop selling customers' real-time location data to third-parties but didn't provide a timeframe  —  After AT&T and T-Mobile said they would stop selling their customers' phone location data to third parties, Sprint followed suit.
CoinDesk:
Ethereum's long-anticipated Constantinople fork has been delayed after an audit firm discovered a critical flaw in one of the planned changes  —  Ethereum's long-anticipated Constantinople upgrade has just been delayed after a critical vulnerability was discovered in one of the planned changes.
Nick Summers / Engadget:
Unity updates ToS so that any third-party software, like Improbable's SpatialOS, can be used with its game engine, following last week's fracas  —  Everything is back to normal.  Sort of.  —  Unity has had a change of heart.  The company is updating its Terms of Service so that any third-party software …
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
YouTube updates its policies, says it prohibits harmful and dangerous challenges and pranks following stunts like the Bird Box and Tide Pod challenges  —  YouTube to creators: don't  —  YouTube has a new message for creators looking to participate in dangerous or potentially harmful stunts …
Kate Conger / New York Times:
Data from Portland's 4-month scooter program, which capped the number of scooters to ~2K and recorded 700K+ rides, shows scooters often replaced short car trips  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The e-scooter boom began in Santa Monica, Calif., about 16 months ago.  Electric scooters …
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Summary of the first six days of the FTC vs Qualcomm trial, which saw witnesses from Apple, other companies, and IP experts from consultancies and universities  —  The US Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday presented its last witnesses and evidence in its case against Qualcomm.
Akanksha Rana / Reuters:
Enterprise-focused technology provider Infor raises $1.5B from Koch Equity and Golden Gate Capital, following a $2B raise in early 2017  —  (Reuters) - Cloud technology company Infor Inc said on Wednesday it received an investment of $1.5 billion from shareholders Koch Equity Development LLC and private equity firm Golden Gate Capital.
Douglas Soltys / BetaKit:
Bold Commerce, which builds apps for e-commerce platforms like Shopify, raises $22M Series A led by Whitecap Venture Partners and Round13 Capital  —  Winnipeg-based e-commerce solution developer Bold Commerce announced today the close of a $22 million CAD Series A funding round, led by Whitecap Venture Partners and Round13 Capital.

Sponsor Posts

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Featured Podcasts

Sources:
Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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The Upstarts Podcast:
Bringing Back Mammoths And Building Noah's Ark 2.0 | Colossal's Ben Lamm
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Great Chat:
The launch industrial complex
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Can AI Keep Growing Exponentially? Let's Ask SemiAnalysis — With Dylan Patel and Jordan Nanos
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
Larry Ellison's Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI's Biggest Gamble
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Google's AI Infrastructure Chief, Amin Vahdat, on the Physics & Economics of Frontier AI
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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Dami Lee / The Verge:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire: