Techmeme
July 22, 2019, 11:15 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple is in advanced talks to buy Intel's smartphone modem chip business in a deal valued at $1B+ covering staff and a portfolio of patents  —  Apple Inc. AAPL 2.29% is in advanced talks to buy Intel Corp. INTC 2.15% 's smartphone-modem chip business, according to people familiar with the matter …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Microsoft says it will invest $1B in OpenAI, beginning a partnership to jointly develop new AI technologies for the Azure cloud platform  —  Microsoft today announced that it would invest $1 billion in OpenAI, the San Francisco-based AI research firm cofounded by CTO Greg Brockman …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Flaw in Facebook's Messenger Kids let kids invite a parent-approved user into a group chat even if that user wasn't authorized to chat with others in the group  —  ‘We recently notified some parents... about a technical error,’ a Facebook representative said
Stacy Cowley / New York Times:
Equifax will pay at least $650M and potentially significantly more to end an array of state, federal, and consumer claims over the 2017 data breach  —  The credit bureau Equifax will pay at least $650 million and potentially significantly more to end an array of state, federal and consumer claims …
Jason D. Rowley / Crunchbase News:
Commission-free trading app Robinhood raises $323M Series E led by DST Global at a $7.6B post-money valuation, has raised a total of $862M to date  —  Unless you were some hotshot finance person in the 1980s, you probably only recently started using your mobile phone to place trades.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Profile of Jeff Williams, Tim Cook's heir apparent as CEO, who is broadly regarded as a strong choice for the top job within Apple  —  Jeff Williams co-created the Apple Watch and runs the company's global operations.  Can he also handle design—and everything else?
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Uber is testing a $24.99/month subscription pass that includes a fixed discount on rides, free Uber Eats delivery, and free rides on JUMP bikes and scooters  —  Uber is actively testing a monthly subscription pass that combines rides, Eats, bikes and scooters.
Washington Post:
Leaked documents show Huawei secretly helped North Korea build its wireless 3G network, raising the question of whether it violated US export controls  —  Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese tech giant embroiled in President Trump's trade war with China and blacklisted as a national security threat …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Inside FTC's 16-month Facebook probe that ended in a $5B fine; sources: FTC initially considered imposing more direct liability for Zuckerberg and a bigger fine  —  Facebook's $5 billion fine from the FTC illustrates the challenges facing a 105-year-old Federal agency tasked with watching …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Slack updates its desktop app for Windows and macOS, which is still built on Electron, claims it now launches 33% faster and uses 50% less RAM than before  —  Slack's desktop app has been rebuilt for Windows and macOS  —  Slack is unveiling a new version of its desktop app for Windows …
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
Apple debuts watchOS 5.3, fixing Walkie-Talkie vulnerability, and iOS 12.4 with improvements to Apple News+ and a way to wirelessly migrate data to a new iPhone  —  A little over two months ago, Apple released the first beta versions of iOS 12.4 and watchOS 5.3 — late point releases for its 2018 iPhone …
Arielle Pardes / Wired:
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Square launches a Photo Studio service for all online merchants, not just Square customers, that lets them send in a product to be photographed for $9.95  —  For $9.95, any online merchant — not just those that use Square's suite of products — can send in a product and have it robotically photographed.
Jay Greene / Washington Post:
Microsoft settles with the SEC and the DOJ for $26M over potential bribery and corruption related to software sales in Hungary  —  The deal with the U.S. Justice Department and the SEC resolves claims the software giant violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Sources: Bird is raising a Series D round led by Sequoia Capital at a $2.5B valuation; Sequoia led Bird's $300M Series C in June 2018  —  Bird is raising a Series D round led by Sequoia Capital at a $2.5 billion valuation, TechCrunch has learned.  Sources, however, did not indicate the size of the round.
More: New York TimesTweets: @yoda and @yoda
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
David Marcus' congressional testimony shows the Libra Association may take a much more hands-on approach towards regulatory compliance than initially envisioned  —  Under pressure from regulators, Facebook is rethinking Libra's design.  —  David Marcus, the head of Facebook's new Calibra payments division …
Reuters:
Frenzied trading debut of STAR Market, China's Nasdaq-style board, added $44B in market cap across 25 companies, 16 of which more than doubled their IPO prices  —  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Trading on China's new Nasdaq-style board for homegrown tech firms hit fever pitch on Monday …

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Earlier Picks

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: