Techmeme: West Virginia governor to sign a bill that would allow voters with physical disabilities to vote via smartphone in 2020, becoming the first US state to do so (Kevin Collier/NBC News)

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February 3, 2020, 7:45 AM

Top News

Benedict Evans:

Now that tech has connected most of the world, a look at the opportunities and issues this creates for the 2020s — We connected (almost) everyone There are 5.5bn adults on earth, 5bn have a phone and 4bn have a smartphone

More: Kinjal Shah. Tweets: @johnrentoul, @benedictevans, @benedictevans, @sub8u, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @benedictevans, @jamescrabtree, @dr_roedel, @ricmac, @ggarvin, @meedabyte, @competitionprof, @caro_milanesi, @ruskin147, @samruchlewicz, @mohamed, and @sebprovencher

Sam Byford / The Verge:

Alleged leaked video shows off Samsung's folding Galaxy Z Flip — Samsung's next foldable should be coming this month — Samsung's next folding phone is likely to be announced this month, and what appears to be the first hands-on video with the device has just appeared online.

Justin Villamil / Bloomberg:

Uber suspends 240 accounts of users in Mexico who came into contact with two drivers who possibly had the coronavirus, to help contain its potential spread — Uber Technologies Inc. has suspended 240 user accounts in Mexico to contain the potential spread of coronavirus.

More: Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, Memeburn, and Gizmodo

Tweets: @uber_mex, @jonrussell, and @sergioaved

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:

As Apple closes its offices, stores, and contact centers in China, Ming-Chi Kuo lowers Q1 iPhone shipment forecasts by 10% due to Wuhan coronavirus outbreak — Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has lowered his iPhone shipment forecast by 10 percent to 36-40 million units in the first quarter of 2020 …

More: CNBC, AppleInsider, iMore, Tom's Guide, International Business Times, SiliconANGLE, iPhone Hacks, Firstpost Tech, Nikkei Asian Review, iClarified, Business Insider, and iAfrikan

Brian Barrett / Wired:

Profile of the popular password management app Dashlane, which has raised $110M last spring and is airing its first ever Super Bowl ad — A company you've never heard of is spending millions of dollars to let you know it can make your online life easier. — This year's crop …

More: IGN. Tweets: @martinsfp

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Financial services giant Worldline to acquire Ingenico, the point-of-sale terminal provider that controls 37% of the market globally, for $8.6B — Some consolidation is afoot among the payments behemoths of Europe, as they continue to go head-to-head with smaller, newer fintech companies eating …

More: INGENICO GROUP, Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Times, and CNBC. Tweets: @ingridlunden

Emma Goldberg / New York Times:

How doctors and nurses are using TikTok to demystify the medical profession by sharing info on topics like sex education, vaping, coronavirus, and nutrition — They have M.D.s, but are they up for this challenge? — For decades, sex education in the classroom could be pretty cringey.

Tweets: @nytscience, @nytscience, and @nythealth

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google Photos trials an $8/month subscription program that sends 10 prints of automatically-selected pics from the previous month; users get to choose a theme — In September, Google Photos added large canvas prints, as well as individual prints. Google Photos is now trialing a “monthly photo prints” subscription program.

More: Engadget, MSPoweruser, XDA Developers, Memeburn, PCMag, TechRadar.com, and Android Police

Tweets: @kyunbit and @rajupp. Thanks:@technacity

Julian Bajkowski / iTnews:

Profile of Klarna, a Sweden-based payments company offering post-purchase financing to consumers, as it launches in Australia after adding $200M in new funding — Orchestrating a humane exit from dependency on legacy credit card tech. — When it comes to launching new tech at the Commonwealth Bank …

More: Finextra, Inside Retail, ZDNet, iTnews, Nasdaq, PR Newswire, Which-50, Motley Fool Australia, Sydney Morning Herald, Klarna US, Business Insider Australia, and The Age

FinSMEs:

Justworks, which offers HR tools like health benefits access, payroll, and compliance support to SMBs, raises $50M Series E, bringing its total raised to $143M — Justworks, a NYC-based HR technology company, closed a $50m Series E funding. — The round, which brought total funding to $143m …

More: Justworks and Cheddar. Tweets: @justworkshr

Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal:

Gaana, the most popular music-streaming service in India, has 152M monthly users, over half of Spotify's global user base, double Apple Music's global count — Gaana, which means ‘song’ in Hindi, has used its large library of local music and low prices to beat the competition

More: PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @newley, @anshikashukla_, @satyan, and @miten

Rebecca Heilweil / Vox:

UK startup Exscientia and a Japanese pharmaceutical firm claim to have created the first human trial-ready drug using AI, which took under a year to develop — An OCD drug created via AI will be tested on humans. — The British startup Exscientia claims it has developed …

More: Yahoo Finance, TechSpot, and Exscientia

Tweets: @pareekhjain, @exscientialtd, @hadip, @zina_chatzidim, @rossdawson, and @mdudas

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:45 AM ET, February 3, 2020.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Tim Wu / New York Times:

WBD merging with either Netflix or Paramount should be challenged by US antitrust authorities and would be bad for US streaming market competition

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney nominates former Apple COO Jeff Williams to its board; he retired from Apple in November after overseeing the design team, supply chain work, and more

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

Email: USA Today EIC Caren Bohan has abruptly left the company, the second editor in chief to do so in less than two years; she became EIC in September 2024

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More News

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:

Israel-based serverless computing startup Nuweba raises $10.2M in an expanded seed round, bringing its total raised to $15M

More: PR Newswire. Tweets: @blumbergcapital

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Whip Media Group, the parent company of TV and movie tracking app TV Time, raises $50M Series D, bringing its total raised to $115M

Tweets: @tinch

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Doubtnut, an India-based startup which wants to teach math and science concepts through short videos, raises $15M Series A led by Tencent, says it has 13M MAU

More: Tech in Asia, Livemint, MENAFN.COM, Entrackr, YourStory.com, The Economic Times, DealStreetAsia, VCCircle, and Inc42 Media

Peter Eavis / New York Times:

WeWork names commercial real estate veteran Sandeep Mathrani as its new CEO; SoftBank's Marcelo Claure will continue as WeWork's executive chairman

More: Wall Street Journal, Silicon Republic, Reuters, Inc42 Media, PYMNTS.com, WeWork, Business Insider, Financial Times, CNBC, and CNN

Tweets: @drorpoleg, @vincentorleck, @brandonhoffmanc, @uwsgeezer, @briansozzi, @ellenhuet, @miriamgottfried, @eliotwb, @kerrymflynn, and @stevekopack

Kevin Collier / NBC News:

West Virginia governor to sign a bill that would allow voters with physical disabilities to vote via smartphone in 2020, becoming the first US state to do so

More: Washington Post, Yahoo Finance, New York Post, and Gizmodo

Tweets: @campuscodi and @schestowitz

Sanam Yar / New York Times:

A look at MSCHF, a group behind viral stunts like an astrology app to pick stocks or “holy water” sneakers, which has raised ~$11.5M in funding since fall

Tweets: @dgisserious, @nytstyles, @mikkipedia, and @jenn_rtr

Earlier Picks

Ilya Khrennikov / Bloomberg:

Yandex launches a new online service in Moscow called Lavka, which delivers orders in 15 minutes using bike couriers and small warehouses spread across the city

Tweets: @cristinagberta, @csertoglu, @leonidragozin, @evangershkovich, and @matt_townsend

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

India-based InterviewBit, which offers an online computer science program and lets its students pay part of the fee after getting a job, raises $20M Series A

More: Anmol Newsletter, Tech in Asia, Entrackr, Livemint, Business Standard, BW Disrupt, Deccan Herald, YourStory.com, ThePrint, The Hindu BusinessLine, Inc42 Media, and VCCircle

Tom Simonite / Wired:

A look at a secretive team of quantum researchers at Alphabet's X, who are focused on creating new algorithms and applications to run on quantum computers

Tweets: @yale_qi, @glenngabe, @scottthurm, @gregoryjbarber, @tsimonite, and @nxthompson

Andrea Noble / Route Fifty:

FCC approves $20.4B Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to deploy rural broadband but Democratic FCC commissioners warn it won't help many areas that need internet

More: CNET, Federal Communications …, and Engadget

Tweets: @routefifty and @fcc

VICE:

Ajit Pai says FCC has concluded “that one or more wireless carriers apparently violated federal law” by selling user location data and will consider fines

More: AppleInsider, The Overspill, PYMNTS.com, The Verge, Ars Technica, Mashable, Federal Communications …, iMore, Reuters, Engadget, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, The Daily Dot, and Input

Tweets: @mdudas, @mcmillen, @josephfcox, @dangillmor, @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @vice, @dellcam, @dellcam, @dellcam, @karlbode, and @karlbode