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February 4, 2019, 6:10 PM
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Alphabet:
Alphabet Q4: revenue of $39.3B, up 22% YoY, net income of $8.9B, CPC down 29%, and paid clicks on Google properties up 66% YoY; stock down 3%  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - February 4, 2019 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.
Sara Salinas / CNBC:
Alphabet's traffic acquisition costs hit $7.44B for Q4, up from $6.58B in Q3, and ad revenue grew 20% YoY to $32.6B, amid competition from rivals like Amazon  —  - Traffic acquisition costs as a percent of advertising revenue came in at 23 percent, matching analyst estimates and falling right in line with previous quarters.
Tweets: @lexnfx.  Thanks:@mattrosoff
Mark Zuckerberg:
On Facebook's 15th anniversary, Zuckerberg says it will spend more on safety and security in 2019 than it had revenue at its IPO, pans critics' “negative” focus  —  Fifteen years ago today, I launched the first version of the Facebook website from my college dorm.
Vox:
15 influencers, including Jonah Peretti, Ro Khanna, Brooke Binkowski, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Warner, and Kara Swisher, weigh in on Facebook on its 15th birthday
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Slack says it has submitted a confidential draft IPO filing with the SEC  —  Slack confidentially filed to go public, according to a press release published Monday.  —  Slack is one of a number of tech IPOs expected in 2019, including Uber, Lyft and Airbnb.  —  Here is the full release from Slack:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google announces Live Transcribe, a near-real time transcriber, and Sound Amplifier; both are Pixel 3 accessibility features and available as apps on Play store  —  It's also releasing a Sound Amplifier feature — both only on Android  —  Google is announcing two new features for Android phones today …
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
After the death of a British teen, Instagram head announces plans to debut “sensitivity screens” to blur images of self-harm unless users click to reveal them  —  Facebook-owned app promises changes to better shield users from self-harm images  —  Instagram will introduce …
Erik Schatzker / Bloomberg:
How a US-based manufacturer of an “indestructible” smartphone screen helped FBI in its Huawei sting after the Chinese giant allegedly tried to steal its secrets  —  The sample looked like an ordinary piece of glass, 4 inches square and transparent on both sides.
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Crypto exchange Kraken acquires British trading startup Crypto Facilities in a deal worth at least $100M, says it is raising $100M from its largest customers  —  The cryptocurrency exchange Kraken says it has paid “nine figures” to acquire Crypto Facilities, a British trading firm that specializes in derivatives.
Jessica Guynn / USA Today:
Filing: Amazon names Rosalind Brewer, Starbucks' COO and board director, to its all-white board, making her its second black director and the first since 2009  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com has named its first black director after facing growing pressure to diversify the all-white board overseeing …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Instant Tethering, launched in 2017 to let Chrome OS easily share a Pixel's cell connection, is coming to dozens of non-Google Chrome OS and Android devices  —  Google introduced Instant Tethering in 2017 to let Chrome OS devices automatically share an Android phone's cellular connection.
Nat Levy / GeekWire:
New filing: Amazon spent $1.65B on acquisitions in 2018, headlined by Ring and PillPack deals  —  Amazon spent $1.65 billion on acquisitions in 2018, according to a new regulatory filing from the company.  That makes it the second most acquisitive year in the company's history by dollar volume …
More: TechCrunch.  Tweets: @jasonlk.  Thanks:@toddbishop
New York Times:
The Instagram egg account, with 10M+ followers, was started by an advertising professional; a Hulu ad based on the egg debuted Sunday promoting mental health  —  He works in advertising.  —  When Chris Godfrey learned in early January that the record for “likes” on an Instagram post was held …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
US court overturns FCC's attempt to deny tribal residents broadband subsidies, says FCC failed to provide evidence and ignored harm of limiting broadband access  —  Court: FCC failed to provide evidence and ignored harm to broadband access.  —  A federal appeals court has overturned Ajit Pai's attempt …
Yuji Nakamura / Bloomberg:
Amid a relatively weak-looking lineup of games for 2019, Sony reports operating income in games fell 14% YoY to ~$666M for the holiday quarter; stock drops 8%+  —  Sony Corp. reported weaker profits in the PlayStation business and cut its annual revenue forecast, triggering the steepest share decline in almost three and a half years.
More: Gamasutra

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From Mediagazer

New York Times:
Sources: the White House directed FBI Director Kash Patel to personally oversee the probe into NYT reporting about Air Force One, before subpoenas were issued

The Guardian:
Christopher Nolan says there's a “disdain” for AI, the idea that it “replaces” human creativity is “nonsense”, and he expects it to be useful in “imaging tools”

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Lionsgate's Michael crosses $1B at the global box office, its first film to reach the milestone, per Rentrak, reviving Hollywood's last major independent studio

More News

Earlier Picks

Jez Corden / Windows Central:
Microsoft will announce Xbox Live SDK, which will enable cross-platform play on iOS, Android, Switch, Xbox, and Windows PCs, at GDC 2019
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