Techmeme: Africa-focused music streaming service Boomplay raises $20M, bringing the total raised to $25.5M, says it has 42M MAUs and is adding ~2M users/mo (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

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Sources: Apple Music has been growing at a monthly rate of 2.6% to 3%, had 28M users in US in February, compared to Spotify's 26M users and growth of 1.5% to 2% — Apple's music-streaming service has surpassed Spotify's in paid U.S. subscriptions yet lags its Swedish competitor globally.

More: MacRumors, Android Authority, USA Today, Ars Technica, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, The Mac Observer, CNBC, BGR, iPhone Hacks, and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @ow, @tomwarren, @wsj, @pkedrosky, and @carlquintanilla

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Kelsey Piper / Vox:

Google says it is dissolving its week-old AI ethics board, following controversy over several of the board members — The controversial panel lasted just a little over a week. — This week, Vox and other outlets reported that Google's newly created AI ethics board was falling apart amid controversy …

More: Reuters, BBC, The Register, Financial Times, VentureBeat, Android Police, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, 9to5Google, EnterpriseAI, CBS San Francisco, Forbes, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Telecoms.com, IT PRO, Tech.co, BetaNews, ZDNet, MediaNama, DEVCLASS, TechSpot, Silicon Valley Business …, Inquirer, Pocketnow, Neowin, CNBC, CNN, The Hill, Engadget, Beyond Search, Boing Boing, Bloomberg, Seeking Alpha, CNET, The Verge, TechCrunch, Slashdot, and Axios

Facebook: Luciano Floridi. Tweets: @floridi, @albertwenger, @techreview, @dylanmatt, @derricknaacp, @ohmdee, @mjg59, @schemaly, @kelseytuoc, @joshuabrustein, and @grady_booch

Jaeson Schultz / Talos Blog:

Cisco's Talos unit finds 74 groups on Facebook, with around 385,000 members in total, whose members buy and sell hacking tools, stolen card info, more — This blog was written by Jon Munshaw and Jaeson Schultz. — Cisco Talos is continually working to ensure that our threat intelligence …

More: Engadget, NBC News, TechCrunch, Threatpost, Axios, BBC, The Hill, CyberScoop, BleepingComputer, Telegraph, The Verge, The Ringer, Ars Technica, and Wired

Tweets: @oneunderscore__ and @josh_emerson

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Google pilots a row of ads on the Android TV home screen of Sony smart TVs, NVIDIA Shield TV, others; users say they cannot disable the ads — Users are reportedly not enjoying Google's “pilot program.” — Google is trying out a new “Pilot Program” that puts a row of advertisements on the Android TV home screen.

More: XDA Developers, The Verge, XDA Developers, Zatz Not Funny!, Inquirer, Sony USA, CNET, AFTVnews, Business Insider, and Android Central

Tweets: @blowdart, @geekyranjit, @gabriel__lewis, @sub8u, @marypcbuk, @stevesi, @mistydemeo, and @ericajoy

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EU Press Room:

EU charges Valve and five game publishers with geo-blocking games, says they prevented cross-border sales in violation of EU antitrust rules — The European Commission has informed Valve, owner of the “Steam” video game distribution platform, and five videogame publishers …

More: Reuters, VentureBeat, Engadget, BetaNews, VentureBeat, Gamasutra, Steam Database, The Verge, SlashGear, TechCrunch, Forbes, PC Gamer, GamesIndustry.biz, Slashdot, and Blue's News

Tweets: @eu_competition, @hshaban, and @ow

Sam Kim / Bloomberg:

Samsung says it expects Q1 operating income of $5.5B, down 60% YoY, its worst drop in more than four years, as chip prices fall and smartphone sales slow — - Chip buyers working through inventories, pushing prices down — Sluggish smartphone demand also hurts bottom line at Samsung

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Ian Goodfellow, known as the father of an AI approach known as generative adversarial networks, has joined Apple in a director role, coming from Google — - Ian Goodfellow joined Apple's Special Projects Group as a director of machine learning last month. — Prior to Google …

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

How Eva Galperin, who leads EFF's Threat Lab, is advocating for people affected by stalkerware, which gives a bad actor full access to another's device — OVER THE LAST year, Eva Galperin says she's learned the signs: the survivors of domestic abuse who come to her describing how their tormentors seem …

Tweets: @evacide, @eff, @leakissner, and @a_greenberg

CNN:

Netflix's DVD service still has 2.7M US subscribers, many of them in urban areas with good broadband, using it for the rich catalog not available via streaming — (CNN)Remember when Netflix used to be a DVD-by-mail company? Well, for 2.7 million subscribers in the US, it still is.

Tweets: @bigbadjock

Kendra Chamberlain / FierceWireless:

Samsung says it has started the mass production of its Exynos line of 5G modem and RF chips — Samsung says it's now mass-producing its Exynos line of 5G modem and RF chips for mobile 5G solutions. — The Exynos multi-mode chipsets include the Exynos Modem 5100, which Samsung announced in August 2018 …

More: ZDNet, Samsung Global Newsroom, TechRadar.com, GSMArena.com, Ubergizmo, BGR, Firstpost Tech, SamMobile, Gizmochina, and SiliconANGLE. Tweets: @samsung

Washington Post:

Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, announce a divorce settlement that will leave him with 75% of their Amazon stock and all voting power — In a tweet Thursday, MacKenzie Bezos said that her divorce from Jeff Bezos was finalized and that she would give her ex-husband voting control of her Amazon shares.

More: CNBC, Washington Post, Vox, Digital Commerce 360, GeekWire, Reuters, Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Slate, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Fast Company, Business Insider, and New York Times

Tweets: @mackenziebezos, @jeffbezos, @mims, @karaswisher, @buzzfeednews, @ebboyd, @brianstelter, @eriqgardner, @pkcapitol, and @teddyschleifer

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Africa-focused music streaming service Boomplay raises $20M, bringing the total raised to $25.5M, says it has 42M MAUs and is adding ~2M users/mo — While Spotify dukes it out with Apple and other big tech names to target high-end users in mostly developed markets, a startup out of China …

More: PR Newswire. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Snapchat debuts Snap Games platform that lets users play real-time multiplayer games with six-second unskippable ads and rewards — Snap is unlocking a new revenue stream while giving you something to do in between chats and Stories. Today Snapchat debuts its Snap Games platform that lets …

More: Snap Inc., Engadget, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, Snap Inc., Memeburn, Social Media Today, Tubefilter, PYMNTS.com, USgamer.net, iDownloadBlog.com, The Verge, TechSpot, Gizmodo, Mashable, BGR, VentureBeat, Digital Trends, Gamasutra, and CNBC

Tweets: @jonrussell and @joshconstine

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Casey Newton / The Verge:

Snap announces App Stories, letting developers insert Stories into their own apps, and Snap Audience Network, which will extend its ad platform to other apps

More: Recode, Marketing Land, Axios, TechCrunch, and Engadget

Tweets: @ssscorvus, @mikeisaac, and @caseynewton

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