Techmeme
February 28, 2019, 8:50 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Sources: Facebook told crypto exchanges that it hopes to launch its own coin for WhatsApp, pegged to a basket of fiat currencies, in the first half of the year  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Some of the world's biggest internet messaging companies are hoping to succeed where cryptocurrency start-ups …
YouTube Creator Blog:
YouTube says it will disable comments on almost all videos featuring minors, improve classification of comments, and continue to ban harmful accounts  —  We know that many of you have been closely following the actions we're taking to protect young people on YouTube and are as deeply concerned as we are that we get this right.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Amazon announces Project Zero, an invite-only program to let brands autonomously flag and remove counterfeit listings of their products from Amazon  —  Amazon wants to cut down on fake listings  —  Amazon announced a new initiative today called Project Zero, a new effort that the online retailer …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon launches Amazon Day, a new option that lets Prime members pick a day of the week for delivery  —  Amazon this morning launched a new delivery option for Prime members that will allow them to control when their orders arrive, Amazon Day.  The option lets shoppers pick a day of the week to take delivery of their recent orders.
J. David Goodman / New York Times:
Sources: Gov. Cuomo has talked with Amazon execs, including Bezos, to try to lure Amazon back to NYC; a full-page ad coming Friday in the NYT will urge the same  —  [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]  —  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who was staggered …
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Tesla says it is shifting all sales globally to online, resulting in some store closures and layoffs but allowing vehicle prices to be lowered by ~6% on average  —  Tesla is moving all of its sales online, a dramatic shift in its sales strategy that will result in the closure of stores …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
In letter to Sen. Warner, Facebook says teens were ~18% of users of its Research app over its lifetime; Facebook had said publicly that teens were less than 5%  —  Facebook has changed its story after initially trying to downplay how it targeted teens with its Research program …
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Strategy Analytics: Apple shipped 22.5M Apple Watch units in 2018, accounting for about half of global smartwatch shipments  —  Fresh statistics from research firm Strategy Analytics show Apple retained its position as the clear leader in the smartwatch sector, with Apple Watch capturing 51 percent …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Irish Data Protection Commission report: watchdog received 2,864 complaints in 2018 after May 25, when GDPR came into force, compared to 2,642 for all of 2017  —  A report by the lead data watchdog for a large number of tech giants operating in Europe shows a significant increase …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter says in the coming months it will test a Hide Tweet feature that allows users to hide replies to their tweets that others can view through a menu option  —  Twitter has confirmed it's developing a new “Hide Tweet” option, but has yet to provide detail about its launch plans for the feature.
Tom Krazit / GeekWire:
Microsoft unveils Azure Sentinel, a new cloud service that allows customers to view and respond to security alerts and threats across corporate networks  —  Ahead of next week's big RSA security conference, Microsoft plans to introduce a new cloud service Thursday that will help customers manage …
Fred Imbert / CNBC:
Report: both Uber and Lyft plan to give some of their most-active or longest-serving drivers a cash award with an option to put it toward stock in their IPOs  —  - Uber's plan would give some drivers either a cash bonus or the option to use that money to buy shares at the IPO price, the report says.
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Sources: autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai is seeking potential buyers; Drive.ai was valued at around $200M in 2017  —  One of the better known autonomous vehicle startups, Drive.ai, has been looking for a buyer.  The firm hired investment bank Jefferies as an adviser …
Alex Feerst / OneZero:
Interviews with 15 content moderators from YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms on their day-to-day work, how the job has affected them personally, and more  —  Tech platform trust and safety employees are charged with policing the impossible.  They open up to Medium's head of trust and safety.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Facebook says Workplace by Facebook, its Slack rival, now has 2M paid users and is in use at 150 companies with over 10K users each including Walmart and Nestle  —  With Slack gearing up to go public and now seeing daily active users of 10 million with 85,000 organizations using …

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Earlier Picks

Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
The Seattle Times:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: