Techmeme
February 5, 2019, 8:30 AM

Top News

Alphabet:
Alphabet Q4: revenue of $39.3B, up 22% YoY, net income of $8.9B, CPC down 29%, and paid clicks on Google properties up 66% YoY; stock down 3%  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - February 4, 2019 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.
Mark Zuckerberg:
Vox:
Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Sources: Facebook hires the team behind Chainspace, a startup building tech for decentralized “smart contracts”, its first blockchain acquisition  —  Facebook has made its first acquisition in the blockchain space.  —  The social network has quietly hired the team behind Chainspace …
Bloomberg:
In a Russian filing, Apple says it stores user data including names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers on Russian servers to comply with a local law  —  - User information limited to customer names and contact details  — Apple made similar agreement in China last year for iCloud
Paul Tassi / Forbes:
EDM artist Marshmello held two in-game concerts in Fortnite this weekend, with the first reportedly having 10M+ concurrent players watching  —  I'm still trying to process just how cool yesterday's live Marshmello concert in Fortnite was, and I found myself wondering just how many people were actually “in attendance,” so to speak.
Erik Schatzker / Bloomberg:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Slack says it has submitted a confidential draft filing to go public with the SEC  —  - The business chat provider is just one of several tech IPOs expected in 2019, including Uber, Lyft and Airbnb.  —  Slack confidentially filed to go public, according to a press release published Monday.
Chris Pearce / Mozilla Hacks:
Beginning with the upcoming release of Firefox 66, Firefox for Android and desktop will block auto-playing audio and video by default  —  Isn't it annoying when you click on a link or open a new browser tab and audible video or audio starts playing automatically?
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
After the death of a British teen, Instagram head announces plans to debut “sensitivity screens” to blur images of self-harm unless users click to reveal them  —  Facebook-owned app promises changes to better shield users from self-harm images  —  Instagram will introduce …
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple's iOS 12.2 beta has a new Motion & Orientation Access toggle in Privacy settings, off by default, that limits gyroscope and accelerometer access in Safari  —  Last month, Apple released iOS 12.2 in beta with several new features, including the Apple News app in Canada …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Instant Tethering, launched in 2017 to let Chrome OS easily share a Pixel's cell connection, is coming to dozens of non-Google Chrome OS and Android devices  —  Google introduced Instant Tethering in 2017 to let Chrome OS devices automatically share an Android phone's cellular connection.
Anand Murali / FactorDaily:
Despite vast amounts of data being collected across India, the lack of high-quality local datasets is hampering the country's AI researchers and companies  —  The global race in artificial intelligence is like the space race of the 20th century with large powers vying for the pole position.
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Facebook says it has banned four armed groups in Myanmar and will remove all “related praise, support, and representation”  —  Facebook is taking action in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian country where the social network has been used to incite racial tension and violence, after it banned four armed groups from its service.

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Featured Podcasts

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More News

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Jez Corden / Windows Central: