Techmeme
March 21, 2018, 11:50 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.
Jason Abbruzzese / NBC News:
Facebook confirms Mark Zuckerberg will speak in the next 24 hours on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, after initially being focused on how to fix the problem  —  #WheresZuck had become a question in the past couple days  —  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will speak publicly in the next 24 hours with a …
Wired:
With the storm over user data misuse intensifying into a hurricane, Facebook now faces several vexing questions about its opaque privacy practices  —  Two weeks ago, Facebook learned that The New York Times, Guardian, and Observer were working on blockbuster stories based on interviews with a man named Christopher Wylie.
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.
Washington Post:
Chris Wylie says Breitbart's Steve Bannon approved Cambridge Analytica's 2014 work to collect Facebook data; firm used focus groups to test views on Putin, more  —  LONDON — Conservative strategist Stephen K. Bannon oversaw Cambridge Analytica's early efforts to collect troves of Facebook data …
Rani Molla / Recode:
Channel 4 News:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Sources: Google is buying Lytro, the imaging startup that uses its light field tech in VR, for about $40M; one source describes deal as an “asset sale”  —  Last week, Google showed off a new app to display immersive photography in virtual reality, and a multi-camera technique for capturing it …
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.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple executive Jimmy Iovine will transition into a consulting role in August and step back from daily involvement with Apple Music  —  The music executive and Beats co-founder will step back from daily involvement with Apple's streaming-music business
David Meyer / Fortune:
The European Commission proposes a 3% tax on EU revenues of companies with global annual revenues of €750M+, like Google, Facebook, and Amazon  —  The European Commission wants to see big tech firms pay a 3% tax on some of their revenues.  This is a major break from the traditional way of calculating tax based on profits.
Rita El Khoury / Android Police:
Amazon's in-home delivery service app Key adds fingerprint authentication support on Android  —  Amazon's Key in-home delivery service was announced last October and its cameras and smart door locks became available in November.  Since then, Amazon has been able to use Key to place …
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.
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Google and Facebook were built to destroy publishers, not help; Google's $300M pledge to journalism won't go directly to publications, who need real checks  —  Guess who's winning?  —  For argument's sake, let's believe that Google believes its newest efforts to boost publishers …
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.

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Ari Levy / CNBC: