Techmeme
February 2, 2019, 7:15 AM

Top News

Peter Kafka / Recode:
Source: Spotify in advanced talks to acquire popular podcast producer Gimlet for $200M+; Gimlet would be Spotify's first purchase of an original content maker  —  Spotify wants to break out of the music streaming business.  Gimlet, the company behind shows like Crimetown and Reply All, can help.
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Snopes pulls out of Facebook partnership, says Facebook's closed, manual fact-checking entry system is too labor intensive and fails to benefit the whole web  —  Snopes is no longer debunking misinformation in partnership with Facebook.  In a statement published Friday …
Nitasha Tiku / Wired:
Google's internal 2018 employee satisfaction survey: 74% of staffers “positive” that the top exec team can effectively lead in the future, down from 92% in 2017  —  GOOGLE IS A data-obsessed company, but the recent cascade of employee activism can be hard to quantify.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Court filing: widow of crypto exchange QuadrigaCX founder says it can't access most of $137M worth of coins in cold wallets to which only founder had the keys  —  Troubled Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX owes its customers $190 million and cannot access most of the funds, according to a court filing obtained by CoinDesk.
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
In day one of arguments, the FCC faced tough questions from a three-judge panel on its definition of broadband and potential issues for public safety agencies  —  The Federal Communications Commission faced sharp questioning from a trio of appellate court judges Friday as the agency sought …
Sara Ashley O'Brien / CNN:
As NYC's driver minimum wage law goes into effect, Uber increases its prices and Lyft sues NYC's Taxi and Limousine Commission and says prices will increase  —  New York (CNN Business)Uber and Lyft customers will have to pay more for their rides as a result of the first-of-its-kind driver minimum wage law in New York City.
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Huawei's Mobile World Congress invite hints that the company will show off a foldable 5G smartphone on February 24  —  Whether gimmicky or great, foldable devices will get their time in the spotlight this year  —  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is traditionally the year's biggest show …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Facebook says Apple has restored its access to enterprise certificates, bringing internal apps back online  —  Update: In a leaked memo obtained by Business Insider, Facebook continues to defend its Research app, as well as its decision to distribute it via enterprise certificates.  Read the details below.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Shannon Palus / Slate:
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
Days after saying it is reconsidering plans for a Wisconsin plant, Foxconn now says the plan is back on after its Chairman's “personal conversation” with Trump  —  At some point  —  Days after Foxconn's Louis Woo told Reuters that the company is no longer planning to build …
Salvador Hernandez / BuzzFeed News:
DNA testing firm FamilyTreeDNA is working with the FBI and allowing agents to search its 1M+ DNA profiles, raising user concerns about data privacy  —  Family Tree DNA, one of the largest private genetic testing companies whose home-testing kits enable people to trace their ancestry and locate relatives …
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Sources: Alphabet's Verily is looking for partners to co-develop shoes with embedded sensors to track the wearer's movement, weight, and detect falls  —  - Alphabet's Verily has been showing off a prototype of shoes that can track weight, movement, and potentially even detect falls.
Amazon.com, Inc.:
Amazon reports Q4 revenue of $72.4B, up 20% YoY, AWS revenue of $7.43B, up 45% YoY, and net income of $3.0B, up 58% YoY  —  Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2018.  —  Operating cash flow increased 67% to $30.7 billion …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Twitter says it removed thousands of malicious accounts that originated in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela for spreading disinformation about the 2018 midterms  —  Twitter revealed Thursday that it had removed thousands of malicious accounts thought to have originated in Iran …

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Todd Haselton / CNBC:
Vindu Goel / New York Times: