Techmeme
January 21, 2020, 8:35 PM

Top News

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:
Sources: analysis shows a message from Saudi Crown Prince MbS' WhatsApp account to Jeff Bezos in 2018 included file “highly” likely to have hacked Bezos' phone  —  Exclusive: investigation suggests Washington Post owner was targeted five months before murder of Jamal Khashoggi
Joseph Menn / Reuters:
Sources: Apple dropped plan to encrypt backups of devices in iCloud about two years ago, after the FBI complained that the move would harm investigations  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) dropped plans to let iPhone users fully encrypt backups of their devices …
Netflix IR:
Netflix Q4 revenue grew 31% YoY to $5.467B and net income rose to $587M, surpassing 100M paid memberships outside the US; global paid net additions totaled 8.8M  —  Fellow shareholders, We had a strong finish to 2019, with Q4 revenue growing 31% year over year, bringing full year 2019 revenue …
Preetika Rana / Wall Street Journal:
Source: Uber is testing a feature letting drivers in three California cities set fares on rides from the airport; drivers can charge up to 5x the Uber fare  —  Move gives drivers more control in response to state's gig-economy law  —  SAN FRANCISCO— Uber Technologies Inc. UBER 1.30% …
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Federal court reverses $10.1M judgment against Nintendo in case involving the Wii remote, calling iLife Technologies' patent for motion sensing tech “abstract”  —  Judge says 1999 patent idea was too “abstract” to be protected in the first place.  —  Remember the Nintendo Wii?
Emily Birnbaum / The Hill:
SCOTUS declines to review Facebook facial recognition case, meaning FB will likely face a class-action suit alleging its photo-tagging feature violated IL law  —  The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up a high-profile court battle over whether users can sue Facebook …
Reuters:
France has agreed to suspend this year's digital tax until the end of 2020 as part of trade negotiations with the US  —  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he had a “great discussion” with U.S. President Donald Trump over a digital tax planned by Paris …
BBC:
Disney+ to launch on March 24 in the UK and other parts of Europe, a week earlier than originally planned, for £5.99 per month or £59.99 per year  —  The new streaming service Disney+ is to launch on 24 March in the UK, a week earlier than originally planned.
Reuters:
Facebook says it plans to hire 1,000 workers in the UK this year, with over half in technology, bringing its total in the UK to over 4,000  —  LONDON (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) will hire 1,000 people in London this year in roles such as product development and safety as it continues to grow …
Sumukh Rao / Technology Personalized:
Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 720G, 662, and 460 chipsets with support for Wi-Fi 6 and NavIC, India's homegrown GPS  —  Qualcomm has introduced three new Mobile Platforms today for smartphones at an event in New Delhi, India, and the new chipsets cater to three different segments right …
Megan Cassidy / San Francisco Chronicle:
How social networks cite the Stored Communications Act, a privacy law from the '80s, to withhold information that might exonerate defendants in criminal cases  —  By the time the FBI raided Omar Ameen's Sacramento apartment in August 2018, his extradition back to Iraq seemed all but inevitable.
Mike Minotti / VentureBeat:
Stillfront Group, a Sweden-based group of gaming studios, is acquiring mobile gaming studio Storm8 for $300M, of which $75M will be in Stillfront shares  —  Stillfront Group announced today that it is acquiring 100% of Califonia mobile gaming studio Storm8.

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Hannah Kuchler / Financial Times:
New York Times: