Techmeme
January 10, 2020, 7:30 PM

Top News

Jillian D'Onfro / Forbes:
Alphabet's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond is leaving on January 31; company says he will not be receiving an exit package  —  Alphabet's controversial chief legal officer, David Drummond, is leaving the company, effective January 31.  —  Drummond, an employee of nearly 20 years …
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
The Information:
Sources: Quibi's projections from 2019 show the upcoming streaming service is expected to spend ~$1.5B in its first year; Quibi has raised $1.4B so far  —  If there's one thing to be said for Quibi, the short-form streaming service coming from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman this spring …
Bloomberg:
Sources: SoftBank-backed Oyo has let go of 1,800 staff: 5% of its 12K employees in China and 12% of its 10K staff in India, plans to cut 1,200 more in India  —  - Oyo's ructions present yet another headache for SoftBank  —  Oyo Hotels is firing thousands of staff across China and India …
DJ Pangburn / Fast Company:
No known arrests or prosecutions stemmed from San Diego's 7-year facial recognition program, which compiled 65K face scans; the program ended Dec. 31, 2019  —  Since 2012, the city's law enforcement agencies have compiled over 65,000 face scans and tried to match them against a massive mugshot database.
Emily A. Vogels / Pew Research Center:
Pew survey of 4,272 US adults: ~21% use a smart watch or fitness tracker, with women more likely than men to say they regularly use these devices (25% vs 18%)  —  As 2020 begins - and health-related New Year's resolutions take effect - roughly one-in-five U.S. adults (21%) …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Uber to end operations in Colombia on January 31, after courts side with the local competition authority, which found that Uber broke market rules  —  - Uber will end operations in Colombia at the end of the month after local competition authorities found it to have violated market rules.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
PayU to acquire India-based PaySense at a valuation of $185M and will merge it with its credit business LazyPay; the combined entity will be valued at $300M  —  PayU is acquiring a controlling stake in fintech startup PaySense at a valuation of $185 million and plans to merge …
Lauren Goode / Wired:
A look at sexual health and wellness companies at CES 2020, where they were allowed to exhibit their products for the first time  —  Sexual health and wellness companies were allowed to exhibit their wares for the first time this year.  —  If there was ever a metaphor for the newfound …

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More News

Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo:
Biswarup Gooptu / The Economic Times:
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Mark Zuckerberg:
Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Emma Williams / Microsoft 365 Blog:
Mike Isaac / New York Times: