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February 7, 2019, 8:00 AM
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Top News

Peter Kafka / Recode:
Spotify buys podcast producer Gimlet Media, sources say for ~$230M, and Anchor, a startup which makes it easier for users to record and distribute podcasts
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rani Molla / Recode:
Research: US riders who used both Uber and Lyft in Q4 2018 accounted for ~1/3 of the companies' ride-sharing revenue; 15% of revenue was from Lyft-only riders  —  Customers are shopping between the two ride-hail leaders and taking the car with the better price.  —  Ride-sharing customers are becoming less loyal.
James Vincent / The Verge:
Google says Gmail is now blocking an extra 100M spam messages each day by using TensorFlow-trained machine learning models  —  Google is using its machine learning platform, TensorFlow, to eke out additional gains  —  Google has recruited its in-house machine learning framework, TensorFlow …
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

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:00 AM ET, February 7, 2019.

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.

From Mediagazer

César López Linares / LatAm Journalism Review:
How independent Venezuelan outlets, operating from exile and in alliance with reporters who remain in the country, managed to cover Maduro's ouster

Alyssa Ray / The Wrap:
PBS says it is ending PBS News Weekend, due to federal budget cuts; anchor John Yang says he'll be leaving PBS but many members of the show's team will remain

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Television Academy sets Emmys rules to allow inquiries about AI use in submissions, and renames Outstanding Television Movie category to Outstanding Movie

More News

Patrick Howell O'Neill / Gizmodo:
If Reddit lands a $150M Tencent investment, they'd make strange bedfellows: Tencent helps build the Great Firewall; Reddit's product, banned in China, is speech
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
A security researcher who has shared iOS flaws before demos a macOS Keychain exploit, won't share details with Apple because of the lack of a macOS bug bounty
Nico Grant / Bloomberg:
Inside Oracle's ad software arm Data Cloud, built with ~$3B of acquisitions since 2014, that has reported disappointing financials and seen layoffs
Ryan Felton / Consumer Reports:
Survey of 110 hospitals and five agencies from 47 US cities: 1,500+ e-scooter-related injuries since late 2017; quick spread of e-scooters surprised some cities

Earlier Picks

Motherboard:
Inside the illicit world of “iCloud unlocking”, where cybercriminals trick iPhone owners or Apple staff into removing iCloud accounts to resell iPhones
Apple:
Angela Ahrendts to leave Apple in April after five years, as Apple names 30-year company veteran Deirdre O'Brien SVP of Retail + People reporting to Tim Cook
Robert Hackett / Fortune:
Zcash discloses a flaw, first discovered in-house last March and fixed in October, that may have allowed “infinite” counterfeiting
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