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February 7, 2019, 9:55 AM
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| BBC: |
Germany's antitrust watchdog orders Facebook to stop combining WhatsApp and Instagram data without consent in Germany; Facebook says it will appeal decision — Germany's competition authority has told Facebook it can only continue gathering so much data about users from beyond its app and website if it gets individuals' consent.
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New York Times, Facebook, Bundeskartellamt, The Hill, The Verge, BetaNews, TechCrunch, ZDNet, The Guardian, 9to5Mac, Telegraph, Engadget, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Business Insider, The Register, Gizmodo, Inquirer, Financial Times, BuzzFeed News, Forbes, Bloomberg, Silicon Republic, Fortune, Daily Mail, CNBC, and Reuters
Tweets: @zeynep, @ashk4n, @ceciliakang, @hadas_gold, @dorait, @orariccardo, @johnnyryan, and @mattnavarra
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Twitter Q4 beats expectations with revenue of $909M, up 24% YoY, a net income of $244M, and ad revenue up 23% YoY to $791M, but misses on MAUs with 321M — After strong results from Facebook and Snap this quarter, all eyes were on Twitter to see if the other big, publicly listed social network could deliver a hat trick of growth.
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Recode, The Verge, CNBC, 9to5Mac, ZDNet, Engadget, VentureBeat, ABC News, Bloomberg, Fortune, Axios, and Wall Street Journal
Tweets: @twitterir, @twitterir, @kurtwagner8, @ingridlunden, @kerrymflynn, @twitterir, @twitterir, @twitterir, @twitterir, @twitterir, and @twitterir
| Joseph Cox / Motherboard: |
Leaked documents show around 250 bounty hunters and related businesses had access to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint customer location data for at least five years — In January, Motherboard revealed that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint were selling their customers' real-time location data …
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Motherboard, Engadget, MIT Technology Review, TmoNews, The Verge, and Boing Boing
| Victoria Song / Gizmodo: |
Microsoft introduces background blur feature to Skype, which uses AI to detect the user's hair, hands, and arms, and blur distracting objects in the background — Slobs of the world, don't work too hard KonMari-ing your apartment or office ahead of your next important Skype call.
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Skype Blogs, The Verge, 9to5Mac, VentureBeat, Engadget, MacRumors, BetaNews, Geek.com, The Next Web, Firstpost, TechCrunch, MSPoweruser, and Mashable
| Stephen Nellis / Reuters: |
Sources: Apple has moved its modem engineering unit to its in-house hardware technology group led by Johny Srouji, Apple's SVP of hardware technologies — Apple Inc has moved its modem chip engineering effort into its in-house hardware technology group from its supply chain unit …
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MacRumors, 9to5Mac, and iPhone Hacks
| Ashley Carman / The Verge: |
For Spotify to succeed as a podcast app, it needs to clearly separate podcasts from music, help users discover podcasts better, and allow creators to monetize — Some suggestions for improvement — Spotify announced today that the company plans to spend up to $500 million on podcast-related acquisitions.| Peter Kafka / Recode: |
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TechCrunch, The Verge, Anchor, Slate, New York Times, Spotify, Music Industry Blog, Bloomberg, Silicon Republic, TechSpot, 500ish Words, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Techmeme Ride Home Podcast, KnowTechie, Fortune, Mashable, RAIN News, Voicebot, Marketing Land, VentureBeat, Engadget, Forbes, CNBC, Pocket-lint, Adweek, and Android Police
| Josh Constine / TechCrunch: |
Starting Feb. 28, Facebook's “Why am I seeing this?” button on ads will show when a user's info was uploaded for ad targeting and if it was by a brand or agency — Facebook's crack down on non-consensual ad targeting last year will finally produce results.
More:
The Next Web, Neowin, Social Media Today, Engadget, iPhone Hacks, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @joannastern and @joshconstine
| Guise Bule / Secjuice.com: |
Atrient, a leading casino marketing kiosk vendor, allegedly ignored serious security flaws and a researcher who uncovered flaws was assaulted by company's COO — Following a serious vulnerability disclosure affecting casinos globally, an executive of casino technology vendor Atrient … | Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: |
Microsoft joins Google, Facebook, and Arm as a member of the OpenChain Project, which aims to standardize open-source software licensing — Microsoft Corp. wants to support more standardization of open-source software licensing, so today it's putting its weight behind the OpenChain Project as its latest platinum member.
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Open Source Initiative, OpenChain, WinBuzzer, Business Insider, Open Source blog, GeekWire, and MSPoweruser
Tweets: @opensourceorg, @creativecommons, and @linuxfoundation
| Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch: |
Munich-based startup Cluno, which lets users lease a car for an all-inclusive monthly fee, raises $28M Series B led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures — Cluno, the Munich startup providing what it calls a “car subscription” service, has raised $28 million in Series B funding.| Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch: |
Following a lawsuit, Instacart CEO apologizes for changes that meant some tips were used to boost base pay, says affected workers will get retroactive pay — On the heels of a recently-filed class action lawsuit over wages and tips, as well as drivers and shoppers speaking …
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The Instacart Checkout, New York Times, BuzzFeed News, NBC News, CNN, NBC News, Engadget, Mashable, PYMNTS.com, Eater, Recode, Geek News Central, Gizmodo, Business Insider, CNBC, The Verge, and New York Times
Tweets: @ceodonovan, @mikeisaac, @connieschultz, @kjhealy, @ceodonovan, @rmac18, @moorehn, @dhh, @dhh, @techworkersco, @kevinroose, @caseynewton, @ceodonovan, @buzzfeednews, @histoftech, @kevinroose, @zeynep, @kevinroose, and @ceodonovan
| New York Times: |
Facebook's revenue from China-based advertisers reached an estimated $5B in 2018, or about 10% of its total sales, helped by its local advertising resellers — SHENZHEN — Facebook's apps and websites have been blocked in China for years. The company has no office in the country that supports its social networking services.
Tweets: @dorianelau and @paulmozur
| Biz Carson / Forbes: |
Uber exec Jason Droege and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talk about Uber Eats, which research shows has grown from 3% of US food delivery market in 2016 to 24% in 2018 — hen early investors were pitched on Uber's original plan for a car-service app in 2008, it wasn't until the second-to-last slide … Thanks:@lauramandaro
| Ernesto Falcon / Electronic Frontier Foundation: |
Study comparing 30 European nations on net neutrality enforcement finds that zero rating business practices by wireless carriers increases cost of wireless data — When an ISP decides to exempt certain applications or services from cutting into a user's data cap, that's zero rating.
Tweets: @psawers
| Austin Carr / Bloomberg: |
Interviews with 49 people illuminate Wisconsin's disastrous deal with Foxconn, championed by Trump, that saw $4.5B in promised incentives with little return — “This is the Eighth Wonder of the World.” — So declared President Donald Trump onstage last June at a press event at Foxconn's … | Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: |
Report: some iPhone apps use Glassbox's analytics SDK to record in-app user interactions without permission, and recordings sometimes don't mask sensitive data — And there's no way a user would know — Many major companies, like Air Canada, Hollister and Expedia, are recording every tap and swipe you make on their iPhone apps.
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Business Insider, Tom's Guide, Mashable, BGR, Engadget, Softpedia News, Gizmochina, AppleInsider, Cult of Mac, Gizmodo, Firstpost, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, SlashGear, iPhone Hacks, The Verge, and MacRumors
Tweets: @zackwhittaker and @stevekopack
| Jeff Buchanan / Xconomy: |
Seattle-based KenSci, which helps hospitals predict mortality risk using AI, raises $22M Series B led by Polaris Partners — Transitioning an elderly patient to palliative care can be a difficult decision for caregivers, but it's one that families and clinicians across the globe make every day.| Andrew Gruttadaro / The Ringer: |
Interview with MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe and EVP Khalid Itum about what went wrong, as they embark on an apology tour to win back distributors and customers — It was the greatest deal—or scam, depending on whom you ask—in movie history. And then it fell apart.| Kara Swisher / Recode: |
Facebook's top global communications executive, Caryn Marooney, is leaving after eight years; Debbie Frost, Facebook's longest-serving PR exec, is also leaving — After a bruising year for the social media giant, longtime communications head Caryn Marooney is helping search for her replacement.
More:
Wired, Adweek, and Engadget
Facebook: Caryn Marooney. Tweets: @kurtwagner8, @bafeldman, @issielapowsky, @waltmossberg, and @kurtwagner8
| The Keyword: |
Google experiment finds 45% traffic decline to news sites with search results without snippets, in a moderate version of what is proposed in EU's Article 11 — In the next few days, European legislators meet to decide on a final text of the European Copyright Directive.
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