Techmeme: FCC advances rules requiring ISPs to get customer approval before sharing their data with advertisers and others (Todd Shields/Bloomberg Business)

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March 31, 2016, 9:45 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:

John Doerr to Step Aside From New Venture Funds at Kleiner Perkins, Become Chair — A change at the storied venture capital firm could usher in an accelerated transition to a new generation of investors. — Venture capitalist John Doerr will step away from some management duties at his firm …

More: KPCB Partners, Fortune, New York Times, SiliconBeat, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Re/code and Silicon Valley Business …

Tweets: @bgurley, @tonysphere, @chamath, @hblodget, @jimgoetz, @bijan, @pmarca, @sacca and @danprimack

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

FCC votes 3-2 along party lines to expand Lifeline subsidy so it can be used to help buy broadband services — America's poor can now get cheaper Internet access — Federal regulators have approved a historic expansion of subsidies for the poor, fleshing out for the first time a set …

More: DSLreports, Los Angeles Times, Ars Technica, New York Times, The Hill, AdExchanger, Gizmodo, Engadget, Mic, SlashGear, Multichannel News, Bloomberg Business, Morning Consult and Public Knowledge

Todd Shields / Bloomberg Business:

FCC advances rules requiring ISPs to get customer approval before sharing their data with advertisers and others

More: Comcast, International Business Times and NPR. Tweets: @dannysullivan. See also Mediagazer

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon adds about 80 Dash buttons, now covers over 100 brands, says orders up 75% in past three months — Amazon expands Dash Button line-up, top sellers to date include Tide, Bounty, Cottonelle — Amazon this morning announced an expansion of its Dash Buttons product line …

Ian Paul / PCWorld:

100K batteries from nearly 40 Toshiba laptop models recalled after faulty units overheat and melt — Major Toshiba laptop battery recall issued after faulty units overheat and literally melt — If you bought a Toshiba laptop between 2011 and 2016 you might have a faulty battery pack eligible for a free replacement.

More: U.S. Consumer Product …, TechSpot, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Consumerist, The Next Web, ZDNet, Ubergizmo, Digital Trends and The Register

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Microsoft integrates Xamarin into Visual Studio for free, will open source Xamarin runtime — Microsoft today announced that Xamarin is now available for free for every Visual Studio user. This includes all editions of Visual Studio, including the free Visual Studio Community Edition …

More: Mono Project, GeekWire, Xamarin Blog, Inquirer, TechCrunch, eWeek, Windows Central, TechCrunch, Wired, MSPoweruser, Digital Trends, The Tech Report, Petri, The Next Web, InfoWorld, The Register, Fortune, WinBeta, Windows Central, GeekWire and TechCrunch

Tweets: @segphault, @film_girl, @chainfirexda, @shanselman and @tomwarren

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:

Microsoft launches preview of Azure Functions, its AWS Lambda competitor for serverless computing, and makes Azure Service Fabric generally available — Microsoft releases preview of new Azure ‘serverless compute’ service to take on AWS Lambda — Microsoft is making available …

More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, PCWorld, The Official Microsoft Blog, Ars Technica, Microsoft Azure, WinBeta, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and SiliconANGLE

Adam Ewing / Bloomberg Business:

Jay Z seeks compensation in his $56M Tidal purchase from Schibsted ASA, claiming subscriber numbers were inflated — Jay Z Says Firm That Sold Him Tidal Inflated Subscriber Numbers — Hip hop mogul says he wants some of his $56 million back — A year after acquisition, Tidal still trails Spotify, Apple

More: dn.no, The Verge, Consequence of Sound, FACT Magazine, The Source, Fortune and Gizmodo. See also Mediagazer

Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:

Postmates hits 1M monthly deliveries and launches Plus Unlimited, a $9.99/month service that offers unlimited deliveries of orders over $30 — Postmates launches Amazon Prime-style subscription service, hits 1 million monthly deliveries — Postmates, which is now completing 1 million deliveries a month …

More: Bloomberg Business, Postmates Blog, The Verge, The San Diego Union …, Consumerist, VatorNews, Eater, LinkedIn Pulse, The Next Web and Wall Street Journal

Tweets: @ashleymayer and @skyler_irvine

Dustin Volz / Reuters:

Reddit deletes surveillance ‘warrant canary’ in transparency report — Social networking forum reddit on Thursday removed a section from its site used to tacitly inform users it had never received a certain type of U.S. government surveillance request, suggesting the platform is now being asked …

More: Ars Technica and TechCrunch. Thanks:@dnvolz

Katie Roof / TechCrunch:

“Fitbit for dogs” maker Whistle was acquired by Mars Petcare in February, source says for over $100M — Whistle's ‘Fitbit for dogs’ acquired by Mars Petcare — Whistle, the “Fitbit for dogs,” has found a home at Mars Petcare, TechCrunch has learned.

More: iMore. Tweets: @deilnesai, @gigastacey, @peterpham, @dsifry, @katie_roof and @mekosoff. Thanks:@mattlynley

David Purdum / ESPN:

DraftKings and FanDuel to suspend all college, high school, and youth sports contests indefinitely after this week's college basketball games, in deal with NCAA — DraftKings, FanDuel to stop offering college fantasy games — Leading daily fantasy sports operators DraftKings and FanDuel …

More: TechCrunch, VatorNews, Gizmodo, Legal Sports Report, NPR, Engadget, The Verge and FanDuel Newsroom. Tweets: @davidpurdum. See also Mediagazer

Jack Marshall / Wall Street Journal:

Facebook to allow muted video ads in Instant Articles and one additional ad unit at bottom of articles — Video Ads Are Coming to Facebook Instant Articles — The social network will also allow more advertising in every Instant Article — Facebook is making further changes …

More: Digiday, Marketing Land, SlashGear, The Next Web, Engadget, Econsultancy and New York Times

Tweets: @sfiegerman, @joshconstine, @andyparas, @jasonabbruzzese and @niemanlab

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