Techmeme: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook account for ~18% of the S&P 500 index by market value (Stan Choe/Associated Press)

Top News

Sources: The Trump admin has bought access to a database tracking locations of millions of phones in the US and is using it for immigration and border control — Commercial database that maps movements of millions of cellphones is deployed by immigration and border authorities

More: 9to5Mac, Vox, Yahoo Finance, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, iMore, The Verge, VICE, Input, The Mac Observer, and Mashable

Tweets: @ggreenwald, @alistairmbarr, @ericgarland, @justinhendrix, @rebeccaballhaus, @mhackman, and @cfarivar

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Instagram has internally prototyped an Instagram Partner Program that will let IGTV creators earn money by showing ads alongside their videos — Instagram may finally let IGTV video makers earn money 18 months after launching the longer-form content hub. Instagram confirms to TechCrunch …

More: TechCrunch, The Next Web, Adweek, The Verge, Mashable, The Next Web, Digital Trends, Social Media Today, Input, Tubefilter, TechRadar.com, Firstpost Tech, Cult of Mac, and Engadget

Tweets: @wongmjane, @joshconstine, @ranimolla, @wongmjane, and @tailosivetech

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CNBC:

Uber's stock is up ~10% after the company announced a Q4 loss that was narrower than expected and moved its profitability forecast forward — - Uber's revenue growth picked up in the quarter. — During the fourth quarter, Uber faced tighter regulations impacting its business in London and California and continued to slash costs.

More: The Verge, TechCrunch, Input, SiliconANGLE, Digital Trends, Wccftech, Channel NewsAsia, Yahoo Finance, and New York Times. Tweets: @cnbc

Uber:

Uber reports Q4 revenue of $4.1B, up 37% YoY, gross bookings of $18.1B, up 28%, and net loss of $1.1B; gross bookings from Uber Eats were $4.37B, up 71% YoY — Revenue of $4.1 billion, growing 37% year-over-year or 39% on a constant currency basis — Rides Adjusted EBITDA of $742 million, with continued margin expansion

More: TechCrunch, CNET, TechSpot, Financial Times, CNBC, Reuters, Ars Technica, PYMNTS.com, CCN.com, Axios, Nasdaq, Engadget, and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @bizcarson, @dhh, @lorakolodny, @mjmcardle, @entirelyamelia, @ianguider, @madbastardsall, @danielledigest, @kateconger, @briansozzi, @susanlitv, @sameerpatel, @sfiegerman, @faizsays, @eringriffith, and @mikeisaac

Stan Choe / Associated Press:

Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook account for ~18% of the S&P 500 index by market value — NEW YORK (AP) — Now that they've already taken over our lives, big tech companies are taking over the stock market. — The five biggest U.S. stocks — Apple, Microsoft …

Tweets: @benbajarin and @whatthebit

AnandTech:

64-core AMD Threadripper 3990X CPU review: great for rendering and scientific computing but has the same performance as AMD's 32-core CPU for other applications — The recent renaissance of AMD as the performance choice in the high-end x86 market has been great for consumers, enabling a second offering at the top-end of the market.

More: Wccftech. Thanks:@anandtech

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Paystand, which is building a blockchain-based platform to make commercial B2B transactions as easy as Venmo payments are for consumers, raises $20M Series B — Paystand has raised $20 million to modernize commercial payments using its blockchain-based platform so that paying a corporate bill …

More: Business Wire, CoinDesk, The Block, Ledger Insights, FinSMEs, Finextra, and Cointelegraph

Joe DeBlasio / Google Online Security Blog:

Google says starting with Chrome 82 in April, it will gradually start blocking “mixed content downloads”, which are non-HTTPS downloads started on secure pages — Today we're announcing that Chrome will gradually ensure that secure (HTTPS) pages only download secure files.

More: Threatpost, XDA Developers, Engadget, gHacks Technology News, Softpedia News, SlashGear, ZDNet, BleepingComputer, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @estark37 and @glenngabe

Wall Street Journal:

NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange abandons potential eBay takeover deal after a backlash from investors — Investors had pushed back against move to acquire e-commerce company — The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange abandoned its pursuit of eBay Inc. EBAY 2.36% …

More: SiliconANGLE and PYMNTS.com

Sophia Kunthara / Crunchbase News:

India-based baby product retailer FirstCry has raised $150M from Softbank, bringing the Japanese conglomerate's stake to ~40% and its total investment to $300M — India-based baby product retailer FirstCry has raised another $150 million from Softbank, bringing the Japanese conglomerate's total investment …

More: Entrackr, The Financial Express, and DealStreetAsia

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Sources: ViacomCBS is building a new ad-supported streaming service that will build on CBS All Access, and an ad-free version that includes Showtime — - ViacomCBS is preparing to throw its hat into the streaming wars after consummating a merger on Dec. 31.

More: Gizmodo, Cult of Mac, IndieWire, iDownloadBlog.com, Variety, The Verge, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Tom's Guide, 9to5Mac, WebProNews, Engadget, and The Streamable

Tweets: @sherman4949, @frankpallotta, @getfandom, @stevekovach, @tvgrimreaper, @great_katzby, @loudmouthjulia, @sherman4949, @richlightshed, and @azalben. Thanks:@mattrosoff

See also Mediagazer

Ben Lane / HousingWire:

HouseCanary, which develops software to automate residential real estate valuations, raises $65M Series C, bringing its total raised to $130M — Series C funding round grows fintech's total funding to $130 million — It seems that investors have some interest in automating real estate appraisals.

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Bangalore-based education app Byju's raises a round from General Atlantic, which, source says, invested $200M, following a $200M raise from Tiger Global in Jan. — Indian education firm Byju's said on Friday that General Atlantic, an existing investor in the startup, has pumped additional money …

More: The Economic Times, BloombergQuint, and Inc42 Media

Mark Harris / TechCrunch:

Facebook and Google seek FCC permission to activate a portion of the PLCN undersea cable, excluding Hong Kong and China's section amid ongoing regulatory battle — Tech giants' high-speed internet link to Hong Kong has become politically toxic — Google and Facebook seem to have resigned themselves …

More: Nikkei Asian Review, Associated Press, and TechRadar.com

Tweets: @you_shu_china, @casey_lau, @senrickscott, and @boycotthegemony

Robert Stevens / Decrypt:

Blockchain data management startup Fluree says it has signed a contract with US Air Force to securely share data within the military and with US allies — The US Air Force has signed a contract with blockchain data management company Fluree to more securely track and share information within the military.

More: Computerworld

Theodore Schleifer / Vox:

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter workers contributed ~$270K to the Bernie Sanders campaign, more than any other presidential candidate, in Q4 2019 — Sanders, an avowed democratic socialist, has been highly critical of tech companies. Their employees don't seem to mind.

Tweets: @pinboard, @bykowicz, @teddyschleifer, @teddyschleifer, and @teddyschleifer

Bloomberg Law:

FCC announces proposals to pay satellite companies $9.7B to quickly free up C-band spectrum for 5G, and another $3.3B-$5.2B to pay for costs — Listen — Intelsat SA and other satellite providers would share as much as $14.9 billion under a proposal from federal regulators to compensate …

More: CNET, Input, Light Reading, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, and Federal Communications …

Tweets: @keepintouch1, @technology, and @blaw

David Shepardson / Reuters:

Appeals court declines to reconsider a ruling upholding the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules, rejecting requests from over a dozen states and tech groups — (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court said late on Thursday it will not reconsider an October ruling that largely upheld the repeal …

More: The Daily Caller, Engadget, and WebProNews

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