Techmeme
January 10, 2020, 4:50 AM

Top News

Mark Zuckerberg:
Zuckerberg gives up annual personal challenges, shares his goals for the next decade including a new private social platform, AR/VR, and new forms of governance  —  Every new year of the last decade I set a personal challenge.  My goal was to grow in new ways outside my day-to-day work running Facebook.
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Lime says it is laying off about 14% of its workforce, roughly 100 employees, and shuttering operations in 12 markets as it seeks to become profitable this year  —  Scooter company Lime is laying off about 14% of its workforce (roughly 100 employees) and shuttering operations in 12 markets …
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
MalwareBytes: an Android phone offered free by Assurance Wireless as part of the US Lifeline Assistance program comes pre-installed with Chinese malware  —  For years, low-income households have been able to get cheap cell service and even free smartphones via the U.S. government-funded Lifeline Assistance program.
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Amazon warned holiday shoppers that Honey, a browser extension for comparison shopping and rewards acquired by Paypal for $4B in November, was a “security risk”  —  The retail giant warned holiday shoppers that Honey, a popular browser extension, was a “security risk.”  Honey denies the claim.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Brochure shows a surveillance vendor is offering spying capabilities to local police via hidden cameras in tombstones, vacuum cleaners, and baby car seats  —  A surveillance vendor that works with U.S. government agencies, such as the FBI, DEA, and ICE, is marketing spying capabilities …
Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
Microsoft releases “Project Artemis”, a tool that scans online chats for patterns that may indicate a predator is grooming children for sexual abuse  —  Microsoft released a new tool Thursday that scans online chats for people seeking to sexually exploit children.
Emma Williams / Microsoft 365 Blog:
Microsoft announces a Walkie Talkie feature and off-shift access controls for Teams, SMS sign-in for Azure Active Directory, shared device sign-out, more  —  Companies at the forefront of digital transformation recognize how critical it is to enable all of their people with the right technology and tools.
Susan Decker / Bloomberg:
Medical technology company Masimo sues Apple, claims it infringes on 10 patents and has stolen its tech related to blood oxygen level and heart rate monitoring  —  - Medical technology company says Watch uses stolen secrets  — Apple accused of stealing technology for non-invasive monitors
Biswarup Gooptu / The Economic Times:
Source: Tiger Global invests $200M in Bangalore-based education app Byju's at a $8B valuation, up from ~$5.7B in July 2019; Byju's says it has 40M users  —  New York-based Tiger Global Management has invested $200 million in education app Byju's, valuing the Bengaluru-headquartered company at about $8 billion.
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook says it won't back down from allowing lies in political ads but will give users the option to see fewer political ads in their feed and in Instagram  —  The company was under intense pressure to adjust its policies.  But in this presidential election year, no big changes are planned.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Verizon eliminates bundles and contracts for Fios line of TV, broadband, and phone services, will now sell them as standalone products via “Mix & Match on Fios”  —  Verizon — feeling the pain of customer cancellations over high pay-TV prices — is killing off bundles …
Jason D. Rowley / Crunchbase News:
Research: more VC deals were struck around the world in 2019 than in any other year, though the total dollar volume of deals dropped slightly from 2018  —  In VC pitch meetings, startups are typically expected to show a chart that looks like a hockey stick: up and to the right with an increasing rate of change.
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Researchers estimate streaming companies lost about $9.1B to password piracy and sharing in 2019 and say losses will rise to $12.5B in 2024  —  In 2019, companies lost about $9.1 billion to password piracy and sharing.  —  On Dec. 9, Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge took aim at the …
Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo:
Facebook updates its hate speech policy to ban statements denying the existence of marginalized groups and an additional eight specific dehumanizing comparisons  —  There are a few things Facebook's proven, time and again, that it can't get quite right—like keeping its user data under wraps …
David Gilbert / VICE:
Facebook moderators in Ireland say company policies, including tracking toilet breaks and setting unrealistic quality standards, add to their trauma  —  Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox?  Sign up here.  —  DUBLIN — When Valera Zaicev began working in Dublin …

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Earlier Picks

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge: