Techmeme
February 1, 2019, 8:30 PM

Top News

Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Snopes pulls out of Facebook partnership, says Facebook's closed, manual fact-checking entry system is too labor intensive and fails to benefit the whole web  —  Snopes is no longer debunking misinformation in partnership with Facebook.  In a statement published Friday …
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Source: Spotify in advanced talks to acquire popular podcast producer Gimlet for $200M+; Gimlet would be Spotify's first purchase of an original content maker  —  Spotify wants to break out of the music streaming business.  Gimlet, the company behind shows like Crimetown and Reply All, can help.
Nitasha Tiku / Wired:
Google's internal 2018 employee satisfaction survey: 74% of staffers “positive” that the top exec team can effectively lead in the future, down from 92% in 2017  —  GOOGLE IS A data-obsessed company, but the recent cascade of employee activism can be hard to quantify.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Court filing: widow of crypto exchange QuadrigaCX founder says it can't access most of $137M worth of coins in cold wallets to which only founder had the keys  —  Troubled Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX owes its customers $190 million and cannot access most of the funds, according to a court filing obtained by CoinDesk.
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Huawei's Mobile World Congress invite hints that the company will show off a foldable 5G smartphone on February 24  —  Whether gimmicky or great, foldable devices will get their time in the spotlight this year  —  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is traditionally the year's biggest show …
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Sources: Alphabet's Verily is looking for partners to co-develop shoes with embedded sensors to track the wearer's movement, weight, and detect falls  —  - Alphabet's Verily has been showing off a prototype of shoes that can track weight, movement, and potentially even detect falls.
Todd Haselton / CNBC:
Apple apologizes for Group FaceTime bug, says it's now fixed and a software update will re-enable the feature next week, promises better bug reporting practices  —  - Apple apologizes for a massive FaceTime bug that let people eavesdrop on others, even if they never answered a FaceTime call.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Apple restores Google's internal iOS apps after certificate misuse punishment  —  Apple has blocked Google from distributing its internal-only iOS apps on its corporate network after a TechCrunch investigation found the search giant abusing the certificates.
Casey Newton / The Interface:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
Days after saying it is reconsidering plans for a Wisconsin plant, Foxconn now says the plan is back on after its Chairman's “personal conversation” with Trump  —  At some point  —  Days after Foxconn's Louis Woo told Reuters that the company is no longer planning to build …
Amazon.com, Inc.:
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Twitter says it removed thousands of malicious accounts that originated in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela for spreading disinformation about the 2018 midterms  —  Twitter revealed Thursday that it had removed thousands of malicious accounts thought to have originated in Iran …
Vindu Goel / New York Times:
400K+ items, making up about a third of Amazon's ~$6B in annual sales in India, may disappear from Amazon India, while it works to meet new compliance rules  —  NEW DELHI — On Friday, Indian consumers will wake up to an emptier, more expensive version of Amazon's shopping service.

Sponsor Posts

Okara:
Meet Okara, the AI platform that doesn't train on your data  —  Chat with 30+ open-source models (Llama, Kimi, Qwen, DeepSeek) through encrypted infrastructure.  Used by teams handling proprietary code and strategy.
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
Zoho Books Launches CT600 & Final Accounts Filing for Micro-Entities in the UK  —  Tax compliance is the fulcrum of accounting and Zoho Books has come a long way in helping different business structures in the UK stay compliant with their tax obligations.
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.

Featured Podcasts

Access:
Home robots are coming faster than you think, with Sunday's Tony Zhao
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
An Intro to Data Centers
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Big Technology Podcast:
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis: AI's Next Breakthroughs, AGI Timeline, Google's AI Glasses Bet
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.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Vinod Khosla and Keith Rabois from Khosla Ventures
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:30 PM ET, February 1, 2019.

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.

More News

Earlier Picks