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December 4, 2019, 6:40 PM
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WeSmirchTop News
| Paresh Dave / Reuters: |
Instagram says it will now require birthdates from new users, in order to improve safety features for minors and better target ads for age-restricted products — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's Instagram said it will require birthdates from all new users starting on Wednesday …
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Instagram, Digital Trends, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, The Hill, TechCrunch, SlashGear, KnowTechie, MSPoweruser, Neowin, CNET, Engadget, The Verge, CNET, and BBC
Tweets: @timmarchman, @chrismessina, @tomgara, @wongmjane, @sarahfrier, @wongmjane, and @karissabe
| Jason Schreier / Kotaku: |
Sources: Microsoft is planning a cheaper, disc-free Xbox, codenamed Lockhart, to go alongside its high-end Project Scarlett console — In June, Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, a new iteration of the Xbox that the company said would “set a new bar for console power, speed and performance.”
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Windows Central, CNET, GeekWire, Business Insider, The Verge, Engadget, Thurrott, Digital Trends, IGN, Tom's Guide, Gamasutra, TechSpot, BGR, VG247, USgamer.net, Wccftech, Neowin, OnMSFT.com, Gematsu, GamesIndustry.biz, TweakTown News, Geek.com, SlashGear, and MSPoweruser
Tweets: @tomwarren, @smetaldave64, @balroggameroom, @tomwarren, @jasonschreier, and @benjisales
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
BMW reverses its decision to charge $80/year for Apple's CarPlay, saying it will offer it free in some models and for a one-off $300 fee in others — BMW in early 2018 decided to begin offering BMW customers CarPlay access for a subscription fee rather than a one-time fee …
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Autocar, The Verge, 9to5Mac, Ars Technica, Engadget, autoblog.com, Cult of Mac, and AppleInsider. Tweets: @ianstechyt
| Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech: |
An in-depth look at Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 865 and 765 chips, and why Snapdragon 865 does not come with an integrated 5G modem — We're here in Maui for the second day of Qualcomm's fourth annual Snapdragon summit, for what is probably the most exciting part of the event …
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PCMag, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Android Police, Engadget, iMore, 9to5Mac, SiliconANGLE, The Verge, VentureBeat, The Verge, Gizmodo, ZDNet, and Wired
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Plex launches a free, ad-supported streaming service featuring thousands of movies and shows from studios like MGM, available in ~220 countries — Plex today is launching its own ad-supported streaming service, a rival to The Roku Channel, Tubi, Crackle, Vudu's Movies on Us …
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Plex, 9to5Mac, The Streamable, Android Police, Android Authority, Gizmodo, TechSpot, The Verge, Digital Trends, and Windows Central. Tweets: @film_girl
| Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Language learning app Duolingo raises $30M Series F from Alphabet's CapitalG at a $1.5B valuation, more than double the valuation from its 2017 Series E — Popular language learning app Duolingo has raised $30 million in a series F round of funding from Alphabet's investment arm CapitalG.| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Reddit publishes its 2019 retrospective: 430M MAUs, up 30% YoY, with 199M posts, 1.7B comments, and 32B upvotes; Bill Gates AMA had the most upvotes with 110K — In a year-end retrospective released this morning, Reddit says its user base grew 30% this year to reach 430 million monthly active users, as of the end of October.
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Upvoted, CNET, Mashable, Digital Trends, and Business Insider
Tweets: @reddit, @brianmanzullo, and @davidspinks
| Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
Google says Focus mode, a Digital Wellbeing feature for Android that mutes notifications, is rolling out to Android 9 and 10 users — At I/O 2019 in May, Google announced the latest Digital Wellbeing features to build on last year's initial launch. In testing for the past several months …
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The Keyword, TechCrunch, Engadget, Digital Trends, Android Police, Business Insider, The Verge, Thurrott, MSPoweruser, CNET, and XDA Developers
| Annie Palmer / CNBC: |
Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom and CFO Alan Pickerill are stepping down, with day-to-day work taken up by Chairman Barry Diller, after a disagreement over strategy — KEY POINTS — Expedia announced Wednesday that CEO Mark Okerstrom and CFO Alan Pickerill are stepping down from their roles at the company.
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Expedia Inc. MediaRoom, ZDNet, Bloomberg, PYMNTS.com, GeekWire, Reuters, and Business Insider
| Victoria Song / Gizmodo: |
Craigslist, which launched in 1995, finally gets an official app, available now on iOS and in beta on Android — Craigslist has long been a staple of the internet since it first launched in 1995—but surprisingly, it hasn't had an official app in the decade or so since the smartphone era began.
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Engadget, GeekWire, iMore, KnowTechie, TechCrunch, Cult of Mac, Droid Life, and Mashable
Tweets: @jowens510, @nathanblawrence, and @caseynewton
| Caroline Haskins / VICE: |
Internal and public documents portray efforts by Amazon's Ring to entice police with parties and batches of 40+ free Ring doorbells for promoting the service — This is the second of a three-part series exploring how Ring transformed from start-up pitch to the technology powering Amazon's …
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New York Post and The Verge
Tweets: @jason_koebler, @jason_koebler, @carolineha_, @katiedrumm, @josephfcox, @jason_koebler, and @acluofil
| Fair Tax Mark: |
Fair Tax Mark report on Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix over the past decade finds they have collectively avoided $100B+ in taxes — The Fair Tax Mark will later this week release a new report, The Silicon Six and their $100 billion global tax gap … | Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Amazon launches a battery-powered portable Echo speaker in India with an enclosed 4,800mAh battery, claims up to 10 hours of continuous music playback — After launching nearly a dozen Echo speaker models in India in two years, Amazon said on Wednesday it is adding a new variant to the mix …
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GeekWire, Engadget, TechSpot, International Business Times, Gizchina, XDA Developers, Android Central, Android Police, Tom's Guide, iPhone Hacks, TechHive, Cult of Mac, Mashable, Thurrott, BetaNews, Pocket-lint, PhoneArena, Digital Trends, and The Verge
Tweets: @davezatz and @tech2eets
| Li Yuan / New York Times: |
Huawei's reputation in China, once unimpeachable, has been dented by a labor dispute over severance pay with an employee, who was recently freed from jail — When an executive wrote about her house arrest in Canada, an outcry about a former employee's treatment arose on social media.| Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal: |
India, which is increasingly trying to shelter local companies, has erected regulatory hurdles over the past year for how US tech firms operate in the country — New barriers make world's biggest untapped digital market a slog for Walmart, Facebook; taking cues from China's protectionism
Tweets: @ericbellmanwsj, @wsj, @viditb, @arifcrafiq, @dericsayers, @matthausk, @hoofnagle, and @parmy. Thanks:@newley
| TechCrunch: |
SEC filing: Sequoia Capital has raised nearly $1B for later-stage US investments and ~$2.4B for venture and growth deals in China — Noted Silicon Valley venture capital fund Sequoia Capital has raised nearly $1 billion for later-stage U.S. investments and roughly $2.4 billion for venture … | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Kustomer, an omnichannel CRM platform for enterprise customer service, raises $60M Series E led by Coatue, bringing its total raised to ~$173M — Kustomer, a CRM startup that's taking on the likes of Zendesk, Salesforce, and many other bigger and older providers, has closed yet another round of funding …
More:
SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, and FinSMEs
| Mike Isaac / New York Times: |
Sources: Facebook's NPE team is exploring the creation of apps for podcasts, travel, workplace services, and newsletters, although these may never be released — The social network is exploring new product areas through a team dedicated to building the company's future.
Tweets: @ceciliakang, @puiwingtam, and @caseynewton
| Todd Feathers / VICE: |
A look at the problems caused by spyware on student devices, marketed as a way to prevent shootings, without any independent research to support the claims — It was another sleepy board of education meeting in Woodbridge, N.J. The board gave out student commendations and presented budget requests.
Tweets: @josephfcox and @vice
| Neha Malara / Reuters: |
Slack reports Q3 revenue of $168.7M up 60% YoY, beating analyst estimates, and a net loss of $87.8M, says its paying customers grew to 105K, up 30% YoY — (Reuters) - Slack Technologies Inc (WORK.N) forecast disappointing current-quarter revenue and profit on Wednesday as its messaging platform wrestles with stiff competition.
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ZDNet, Wall Street Journal, Business Wire, Financial Times, MarketWatch, and Benzinga
| Will Oremus / OneZero: |
A study by Avaaz may have overstated the problem of false stories on Facebook, but it also revealed cracks, loopholes, and limitations in Facebook's systems — And in 2021. And 2022. — hree and a half years after the pope endorsed President Donald Trump (or didn't), Facebook has put in a lot of work to clean up its News Feed.| Anthony Ha / TechCrunch: |
Flow, which helps companies build a cross-border e-commerce business, raises $37M Series B led by New Enterprise Associates — Flow, a startup that helps brands and retailers build a cross-border e-commerce business, has raised $37 million in Series B funding.| Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post: |
A further 21 women are suing Lyft, alleging they were raped or sexually assaulted by drivers, following 14 women who filed a similar complaint in September — The lawsuit filed in California says Lyft failed to protect passengers and didn't take its duty to screen drivers seriously enough.| Anna Wiener / New Yorker: |
A profile of Hipcamp, a platform for campsite booking where listings include off-grid plots, RV hookups, ski huts, farmhouses, tepees, tree houses, and cabins — Can a startup save the wilderness by disrupting it? — In Northern California, booking a public campsite is a blood sport.
Tweets: @erikbl, @lennysan, @gpaddymanning, @newyorker, @daveleebbc, and @annawiener
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