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November 21, 2019, 9:15 AM
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Scott Spencer / The Keyword:
Google announces new political ad rules, limits microtargeting to age, gender, and general location categories, will start enforcing them in UK within a week  —  We're proud that people around the world use Google to find relevant information about elections and that candidates use Google …
New York Times:
Google's limits on microtargeting of political ads for state and federal candidates shakes up ad plans and frustrates both Democrats and Republicans  —  The company said the ads would not be directed specifically to audiences based on their public voter records or political affiliations.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
PayPal to acquire Honey, a comparison shopping and rewards platform that has 17M MAUs, for ~$4B  —  PayPal announced today it has agreed to acquire Honey Science Corporation, the makers of a deal-finding browser add-on and mobile application, for $4 billion, mostly cash.
Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:
Uber plans to test letting riders and drivers in the US record audio of their trips “soon”, as a similar pilot program debuts next month in Brazil and Mexico  —  Uber plans to record audio during rides in the United States as part of a new security feature, its latest push …
Kate Conger / New York Times:
Uber has been testing video recording of some trips in Texas, Florida, and Tennessee since July; riders, drivers can send video to Uber after safety incidents  —  The company says it is increasing the recording of rides to settle disputes between drivers and passengers and to improve safety.
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Tim Cook and Apple did not correct Trump after he took credit for opening a Texas manufacturing plant that has been in operation since 2013  —  President Trump said on Wednesday that he opened a facility that makes computers for Apple.  It's been operating since 2013.
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:
Apple says it has begun construction of its $1B Austin, Texas office campus, opening in 2022, as Trump tours the nearby Mac Pro production plant  —  Apple has announced that it has begun construction of its new Austin, Texas, campus, on the day that President Trump is due to tour the Mac Pro production line a short distance away.
NBC News:
President Donald Trump hosted an undisclosed dinner with Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel at the White House in October, Facebook confirmed on Wednesday  —  The meeting took place during Zuckerberg's most recent visit to Washington, where he testified before Congress about Facebook's new cryptocurrency Libra.
New York Times:
Google has hired IRI Consultants, an anti-union consulting company, signaling the feud between some activist employees and management has escalated  —  After nearly two years of unrest, the company appears to be cracking down on employee activism.  —  Google has hired an anti-union consulting firm …
Buster Hein / Cult of Mac:
Guilherme Rambo, who has published scoops about unreleased Apple products by examining beta software, says Apple locked his dev account with no stated reason  —  Guilherme Rambo, one of the top Apple secret-spillers, says Apple locked him out of his developer account, preventing …
Amnesty International:
Amnesty International says Facebook and Google's omnipresent surveillance is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and is a danger to human rights  —  Facebook and Google's omnipresent surveillance of billions of people poses a systemic threat to human rights …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Alphabet's Loon signs deal with Telefonica to provide internet to remote parts of the Amazon  —  Alphabet-owned Loon, the high-altitude balloon company that is using its stratospheric technology to provide internet connectivity on Earth, has signed a new commercial agreement with Telefonica-owned Internet para Todos (IpT).
More: Engadget and Loon Blog
Thomas Germain / Consumer Reports:
How outdoor ad networks like Five Tier let clients plan and target billboard ads based on mobile phone data about passersby such as gender, age, race, and more  —  How the most intrusive parts of the web are expanding into the real world, complete with data collection and targeted ads
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Sonos has acquired voice assistant startup Snips for $37M, says it has sold 6.1M speakers in 2019, reports fiscal Q4 revenue of $294.2M, up 8% YoY  —  The company grew its 2019 revenue by 11%, but saw losses rise in Q4 due to increased R&D spending  —  Smart speaker maker Sonos is getting ready …
Matthew Gault / VICE:
Apple tells Congress it is losing money on its device repair services, but critics say that Apple is being deliberately vague and may be misleading public  —  \u003Cp\u003E In July, Congress pressed Apple on its repair policies, which Motherboard and others have repeatedly shown to be anticompetitive …
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
On-demand transcription service Rev faces backlash from its contractors after cutting their take to 30 cents for each dollar spent on some jobs, from 45 cents  —  Rev was just a small start-up offering online transcriptions.  Now it's the latest symbol of a gig-economy company whose workers are fed up.
April Glaser / Slate:
Blind users on Facebook say they are frustrated that the platform is consistently buggy for them, and the company isn't doing enough to fix accessibility gaps  —  The social network wants to be accessible.  Blind users and former Facebook workers say it isn't doing enough.

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From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
R. Bruce Dold, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune, where he became editor-in-chief and publisher, is dead at 70

More News

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple launches $129 Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max, now with a physical button that launches the camera app

Earlier Picks

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google launches Google Earth tools that let users create and present virtual tours, with attached text, images, and videos, for specific places
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple launches Apple Music for Business, letting businesses play music in retail locations with Apple providing human-curated playlists and recommendations
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