Techmeme
November 14, 2019, 7:10 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is considering bundling News+, Apple TV+, and Apple Music as soon as 2020 to attract subscribers, meaning less money for News+ publishers  —  - Company keeps rights to bundle News+ service with TV+, Music  — Move may woo more subscribers, but lower publishers' News+ cut
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Apple signed on 200,000 subscribers to Apple News+ in its first 48 hours in March but has since struggled to add customers  —  - Apple signed on 200,000 subscribers to Apple News+ in its first 48 hours in March, but has been stuck in neutral since that time, according to people familiar with the matter.
CNBC:
Amazon says it has filed a protest of the Pentagon's decision to award the JEDI contract to Microsoft, claiming “unmistakable bias”, and “errors” in process  —  - Oracle and IBM were removed from the competition earlier this year, and last month Amazon was knocked out.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google says it is now rolling out support for RCS messages in the Android Messages app to all of its users in the US  —  Google today announced that it is now rolling out to all of its users in the U.S. support for Rich Communication Services messages (you can think of it as the next generation of SMS) …
CNBC:
Sources: the 50 AGs investigating Google are preparing to expand their antitrust investigation beyond Google's ad business into search and Android businesses  —  - The 50 attorneys general investigating Google are preparing to expand their antitrust investigation into the company's search …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Toronto-based password manager 1Password raises $200M Series A led by Accel, its first external round of funding in its 14-year history  —  1Password, a Toronto-based password manager, announced today it has raised $200 million in a massive Series A funding round that was led by Accel.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Motorola announces a new Razr phone with a 6.2" touchscreen display that folds like a clamshell, launching in January on Verizon in the US for $1,500  —  The Razr returns  —  The Razr is back, but now it's an Android smartphone that can fold in half.  Motorola has officially announced its much-rumored …
Roger Cheng / CNET:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram says it is expanding its test making Like counts private to the rest of the world beyond Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand  —  Instagram is making Like counts private for some users everywhere.  Instagram tells TechCrunch the hidden Likes test is expanding to a subset of users globally.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple Research app is now available to download for iPhone and Apple Watch; US users can enroll in three health studies  —  Following the announcement at the September event, the Apple Research app is now available to download for iPhone and Apple Watch.  Users in the United States can sign …
Samantha Cole / VICE:
Pornhub says PayPal is no longer supporting payments for Pornhub, affecting over a hundred thousand performers using the site as a source of income  —  \u003Cp\u003E Late Wednesday night, Pornhub announced that PayPal is no longer supporting payments for Pornhub—a decision that will impact thousands …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Google search launches an experimental feature on mobile that will use AI to let users check their pronunciation of unfamiliar American English words  —  Speak into the microphone to be schooled by Google  —  Google search is launching a new feature that will let users check their pronunciation …
Sarah Emerson / OneZero:
On-demand transcription service Rev lets freelancers listen to “unclaimed” audio or video files, which can contain personal info or even trade secrets  —  Gig workers warn that more than 40,000 transcribers could access private customer information, including job details
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft plans to launch its xCloud game streaming service in the US in 2020, with plans to expand xCloud preview to Canada, India, Japan, and Western Europe  —  More countries are getting access to xCloud next year, too  —  Microsoft is planning to launch its xCloud game streaming service in 2020 …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Salesforce says it will use Microsoft's Azure for its Marketing Cloud service, signaling a thaw in a complicated relationship  —  - Salesforce will deploy its Marketing Cloud service on Microsoft's Azure public cloud infrastructure.  — Salesforce already uses Amazon Web Services …
Bloomberg Law:
New Jersey says Uber owes it about $650M in unemployment and disability insurance taxes because Uber has been misclassifying drivers as independent contractors  —  Uber Technologies Inc. owes New Jersey about $650 million in unemployment and disability insurance taxes because the rideshare company …
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Oculus CTO John Carmack says he is stepping down but will remain as a “consulting CTO” and will work on an artificial general intelligence as a personal project  —  One of the driving forces behind Facebook's virtual reality efforts is leaving his post: Oculus CTO John Carmack …
George Anadiotis / ZDNet:
Siren, which helps build knowledge graphs from enterprise data, raises $10M Series A led by Atlantic Bridge  —  Siren promises the benefits of knowledge graphs, without the hassle of reinventing your existing data management and infrastructure  —  Graph databases are amazing, but the knowledge graph is in your data already.
New York Times:
How startups around the world, using SoftBank funds, got contractors like drivers and hoteliers to commit via unsustainable incentives, and then cut them off  —  SoftBank poured money into start-ups that use armies of contractors.  That has upended the lives of drivers, hotel operators and real estate agents around the world.

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