Techmeme
March 21, 2018, 1:05 AM

Top News

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Brian Acton, who cofounded WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook for $16B, tweeted “It is time. #deletefacebook”  —  Facebook bought his app for $16 billion  —  In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion, making its co-founders — Jan Koum and Brian Acton — very wealthy men.
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
As US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle call for Mark Zuckerberg to testify, he and Sheryl Sandberg remain publicly silent on the Cambridge Analytica scandal  —  The bad thing about making your face synonymous with the company you run: When you go M.I.A., everyone tends to notice.
Bloomberg:
Cambridge Analytica's board suspends CEO Alexander Nix, saying it's with immediate effect, pending a full, independent investigation  —  Board of Cambridge Analytica suspended CEO Alexander Nix with immediate effect, pending a full, independent investigation, according to a statement from the company.
Rani Molla / Recode:
Facebook has lost nearly $50B in market cap since Friday; 129M+ shares of Facebook stock changed hands on Tuesday, its biggest trading day since 2014  —  That's the stock's biggest-ever two-day drop.  —  Facebook's Cambridge Analytica data debacle could be more damaging to the company than any of its other recent missteps.
Channel 4 News:
Cambridge Analytica execs boasted of running “all the digital campaign” for Trump, described its comms tactics to avoid paper trail: Proton Mail, deleting email  —  An undercover investigation by Channel 4 News has revealed how Cambridge Analytica claims it ran key parts of the presidential campaign for Donald Trump.
Spencer Ackerman / The Daily Beast:
Source: Zuckerberg and Sandberg weren't at staff Q&A on Facebook role with Cambridge Analytica; Facebook says execs are “working around the clock” on the issue  —  It's not just that he's silent in public.  Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg declined to face …
Bloomberg:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Google says it will spend $300M over the next three years to support journalism and fight disinformation through the newly announced Google News Initiative  —  ‘We need to do more’  —  Google is announcing new efforts today to support the media industry by fighting misinformation and bolstering journalism …
Jim Albrecht / The Keyword:
Google debuts Subscribe with Google, which lets users buy subscriptions to news sites using Google Accounts and access them from apps, sites, and search results  —  If you've ever subscribed to a news site, you know that it can sometimes be an onerous task.  This isn't the publisher's fault, it's just the way websites work.
Johana Bhuiyan / Recode:
Travis Kalanick becoming CEO of City Storage Systems, which focuses on repurposing real estate, and says his new fund is acquiring a $150M controlling interest  —  The company was formerly called CloudKitchens and was led by Diego Berdakin, an early Uber investor.  —  Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has found his new job.
Blair Hanley Frank / VentureBeat:
Microsoft announces Windows Server 2019, the first big update since 2016, with Linux and Kubernetes support  —  Microsoft announced today that it will launch the next major release of Windows Server later this year with better support for hybrid workloads, Linux workloads, and hyper-converged infrastructure.
Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian:
Researchers say ~1.6K files are stored in bitcoin's blockchain; at least one thought to be an image of child abuse; two others contain 274 links to child abuse  —  Researchers discover illegal content within the distributed ledger, making possession of it potentially unlawful in many countries
Dan Primack / Axios:
Salesforce will acquire MuleSoft, a SaaS integration company, for $6.5B, making it Salesforce's largest-ever acquisition  —  Salesforce today announced that it will acquire SaaS integration company MuleSoft for approximately $6.5 billion in cash and stock.  The sale price represents …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
CryptoKitties, a game built on top of the Ethereum blockchain, raises $12M Series A led by a16z and USV, and will be spun out of Axiom Zen game studio  —  CryptoKitties became a sensation after it debuted in November as a collectible game built on top of a blockchain and the Ethereum cryptocurrency.
TechCrunch:
A look at 60+ startups that launched at Y Combinator's Winter 2018 Demo Day 2, which showcased risky frontier tech and some predictable enterprise companies  —  Microbiome therapeutics, Photoshop for augmented reality, and cancer treatments were some of the ideas presented at Day 2 …

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
Deep analysis for deep questions  —  Introducing Superagent.  A new research product from Airtable: Subagents deeply interrogate your topic and turn it into boardroom-ready reports, slides, docs, or websites.
Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Plug&Play AI Email Assistant for Zoho CRM  —  Our App Spotlight brings you hand-picked apps to enhance the power of your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Is Something Big Happening?, AI Safety Apocalypse, Anthropic Raises $30 Billion
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
'Something Big Is Happening' + A.I. Rocks the Romance Novel Industry + One Good Thing
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Lenny's Podcast:
"Engineers are becoming sorcerers" | The future of software development with OpenAI's Sherwin Wu
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Cheeky Pint:
Ben Thompson from Stratechery on AI ads, the end of SaaS, and the future of media
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
The Billionaire Button w/ Tim Wu
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:05 AM ET, March 21, 2018.

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.

More News

Samit Sarkar / Polygon:

Earlier Picks

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Pui-Wing Tam / New York Times:
Ilya Khrennikov / Bloomberg: