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November 1, 2019, 6:00 PM
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| Lauren Feiner / CNBC: |
Google to acquire Fitbit at $7.35 per share in cash, valuing the company at about $2.1B — - The acquisition pits Alphabet against fellow tech giant Apple in the wearable fitness tracking space. — Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on stage during the annual Google I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2018.
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Fitbit, Inc., The Keyword, The Verge, The Keyword, New York Times, Android Police, The Register, Washington Post, Windows Central, The Verge, TechCrunch, Android Central, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, BetaNews, Vox, TechCrunch, TalkAndroid.com, Tech.co, Phandroid, Michael Tsai, AppleInsider, Ars Technica, MacRumors, WebProNews, New York Times, The Daily Caller, TechSpot, Variety, CNET, Newser, Digital Trends, ExtremeTech, GeekWire, iPhone Hacks, Search Engine Land, The Hill, Cult of Mac, ZDNet, Gizmodo, Voicebot.ai, Droid Life, WinBuzzer, Neowin, Coinspeaker, VentureBeat, Thurrott, Crunchbase News, Business Insider, Gizchina, SlashGear, Macworld, Firstpost Tech, Technology Personalized, Tom's Guide, Android Authority, Mashable, iDownloadBlog.com, OnMSFT.com, XDA Developers, Fast Company, AndroidGuys, Silicon Republic, 9to5Google, KnowTechie, Pocketnow, Memeburn, PYMNTS.com, Computer Business Review, Axios, and The Daily Dot
Tweets: @google, @anildash, @tiffanycli, @lpolovets, @neilcybart, @benbajarin, @justinbrookman, @daiwaka, @rosterloh, @backlon, @raztweets, @ilvestoomas, @edmundlee, @tomwarren, @geoffreyfowler, @neilcybart, @scalzi, @markdeloura, @stevekovach, @counternotions, @realdanstoller, @stevekovach, @natashanyt, @a_w_gordon, @daniel_rubino, @mcfaul, @lamonicabuzz, @_am1t, @tonyromm, @marshallk, @alfredwkng, @lexnfx, @tonyromm, @zerohedge, @amberkanwar, @tupp_ed, @lutherlowe, @krazyfrog, @eringriffith, @jonerlichman, @mathowie, @kkiyer90, @owensdamien, and @disappoptimism
| Alex Heath / The Information: |
Source: Facebook held talks to acquire Fitbit but wanted to pay roughly half of the $2.1B that Google eventually agreed to pay — Before Google reached a $2.1 billion deal to buy Fitbit, announced on Friday, Facebook held talks to acquire the smartwatch-maker, according to two people familiar with the situation.
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The Verge, CNET, The Next Web, The Keyword, CNBC, SiliconANGLE, FinSMEs, 9to5Google, The Daily Dot, and Seeking Alpha
Tweets: @amir, @alexeheath, @nickwingfield, @charlesarthur, and @mikeisaac
| Reuters: |
Sources: the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has launched a review of ByteDance's acquisition of Musical.ly — NEW YORK/BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has launched a national security review of TikTok owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co's $1 billion acquisition …
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New York Times, Axios, Quartz, Bloomberg, Digital Trends, Financial Times, CNBC, The Hill, BBC, MIT Technology Review, The Guardian, PYMNTS.com, Fast Company, New York Post, Reclaim The Net, WinBuzzer, Android Central, The Verge, CNET, Variety, and Seeking Alpha
Tweets: @nytimes, @pkafka, @profcarroll, @oneunderscore__, @matthewstoller, @karissabe, @gwbstr, @gaberivera, @hawleymo, and @marcorubio
| Alex Sherman / CNBC: |
Sources: NBCUniversal is considering making its ad-supported Peacock streaming service free for everyone, with an ad-free tier available for subscribers — - NBC is considering giving away the ad-supported version of its streaming service Peacock for free to everyone, sources say.
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Digital Trends, The Verge, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Android Central, CNET, Seeking Alpha, and iDownloadBlog.com
Tweets: @sherman4949, @pkafka, @sherman4949, @rosskimbarovsky, @mgsiegler, and @jamiepastore9. Thanks:@mattrosoff
| Kyle Orland / Ars Technica: |
At Blizzcon, Blizzard president gives vague apology over the Hearthstone Hong Kong protests response, says he accepts “accountability,” promises to “do better” — Brack accepts “accountability,” promises to “do better” without offering details on how.
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The Verge, VentureBeat, Engadget, New York Times, CNET, VentureBeat, Kotaku, PC Gamer, Polygon, and GameSpot. Tweets: @shannon_liao
| BBC: |
Investigation finds domestic workers in Kuwait are bought and sold online through Instagram, promoted via hashtags, and other apps on Play Store and App Store — Drive around the streets of Kuwait and you won't see these women. They are behind closed doors, deprived of their basic rights …
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BBC, Boing Boing, and The Mac Observer
Tweets: @slpng_giants, @aronlund, @martinpatience, @khalidalbaih, @blmohr, @moonalice, @maariaris, @matthewstoller, @cahill_lou, and @bbcworld
| Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire: |
Satya Nadella says Microsoft won Pentagon's JEDI contract by focusing on customer's needs and company's unique tech capabilities, and staying out of politics — Microsoft's surprise victory last week in a protracted competition to build the Pentagon's war cloud has some critics asking whether politics played any role in the outcome.| Ryan Christoffel / MacStories: |
Adobe updates its Creative Cloud iOS app with 1,300 free fonts that can now be used by any iOS 13 app supporting custom fonts API — Today Adobe released an update to its Creative Cloud app on iPhone and iPad which introduced a set of thousands of fonts that can now be installed …
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Adobe Blog, 9to5Mac, The Verge, AppleInsider, Engadget, The Mac Observer, and iMore
Tweets: @adobedesign, @viticci, @viticci, @iryantldr, and @benricem
| Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: |
Apple TV+ launches with nine original titles in 100+ countries for $4.99/month or $49.99/year with a one year free trial on the purchase of a new Apple device — After months of waiting, Apple's TV streaming service Apple TV+ is now live. You can start watching on any platform that offers …
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MacRumors, Daring Fireball, Android Authority, AppleInsider, AppleInsider, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, iMore, MacRumors, Apple, AppAdvice.com, Telegraph, iDownloadBlog.com, Variety, CordCutters, Bloomberg, Engadget, CNBC, Gotta Be Mobile, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, The Next Web, iMore, Yahoo Finance, Windows Central, Bloomberg, Thurrott, 9to5Toys, Polygon, and MacDailyNews
Tweets: @appleinsider and @bzamayo
| Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge: |
New York State Supreme Court dismisses Uber's lawsuit challenging NYC's law that capped the number of ride-hail drivers that operate in the city — Taxi driver groups call it a ‘victory’ — Uber's lawsuit challenging New York City's first-in-the-nation law capping the number of ride-hail drivers … | Jeremy Bogaisky / Forbes: |
China-based autonomous flying taxi startup Ehang files for a US IPO, says its revenues declined 15.6% YoY to $4.7M in H1 2019, as losses increased 42% to $5.5M — Deputy editor for Industry; eyes on the skies — EHang, a Chinese company that is preparing to launch what could be the first …
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The Verge, TechCrunch, Crunchbase News, and SEC
| Google Maps Help: |
Google says it has started rolling out incognito mode for Google Maps on Android, in which users' activity will not be saved to their Google Account — When you turn on Incognito mode, your activity in Maps—like the places you search or get directions to—won't be saved to your Google Account.
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Engadget, KnowTechie, Yahoo Finance, 9to5Google, Android Central, Android Police, Slashdot, Android Authority, and SlashGear
| @jack: |
[Thread] Twitter will stop accepting all political and issue ads on its platform globally starting on November 22 — We've made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons...🧵
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OneZero, Digital Trends, CNN, The Guardian, The Next Web, Inc42 Media, Marketing Land, infosecurity-magazine.com, Social Media Today, Slate, The Mozilla Blog, Politico, Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, and The Startup
Tweets: @willoremus, @jack, @jack, @aoc, @willoremus, @jack, @jalter, @jack, @nedsegal, @herrmanndigital, @davidakaye, @jack, @hillaryclinton, @om, @mcclure111, @mcclure111, @charlottejee, @fabiochiusi, and @jack
| Josh Constine / TechCrunch: |
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