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February 6, 2019, 11:25 PM
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Mediagazer
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WeSmirchTop News
| 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: |
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 — Daniel Ek says he wants to spend up to $500 million on acquisitions this year. — Spotify is a streaming music company that wants to become a podcast company, too.
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Spotify, TechCrunch, Anchor, New York Times, Slate, The Verge, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Music Business Worldwide, Mashable, Pocket-lint, KnowTechie, VentureBeat, 500ish Words, CNBC, Forbes, Techmeme Ride Home Podcast, Marketing Land, Adweek, Android Police, RAIN News, CBS Chicago, The Wrap, iPhone in Canada Blog, iDownloadBlog.com, Telegraph, Patently Apple, The Guardian, Fortune, Tubefilter, Nieman Lab, Tom's Guide, AdExchanger, MacStories, Associated Press, CNET, MSPoweruser, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, Axios, hypebot, The Mac Observer, Music Week, CNBC, and Insanely Great Mac
| Stuart Dredge / Music Ally: |
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Reuters, Business Wire, RAIN News, The Verge, Voicebot, Engadget, Music Industry Blog, Thurrott, Music Ally, MacRumors, VentureBeat, and VentureBeat
Tweets: @thestalwart and @pkafka
| 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 …
More:
Motherboard, The Verge, TmoNews, and Boing Boing
| 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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New York Times, The Instacart Checkout, NBC News, BuzzFeed News, Engadget, Recode, PYMNTS.com, Eater, New York Times, The Verge, CNBC, Gizmodo, CNN, Mashable, Business Insider, Geek News Central, and TechCrunch
Tweets: @ceodonovan, @mikeisaac, @kjhealy, @kevinroose, @ceodonovan, @rmac18, @moorehn, @dhh, @histoftech, @caseynewton, @zeynep, @kevinroose, @dhh, @techworkersco, @buzzfeednews, @ceodonovan, @kevinroose, and @ceodonovan
| 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, @waltmossberg, @issielapowsky, and @kurtwagner8
| 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 … | 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.| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
On-demand e-scooter startup Lime raises $310M Series D, led by a16z, Bain Capital, Fidelity, GV, and IVP, at a $2.4B valuation — Confirming rumors that have been swirling for some time, on-demand electric scooter startup Lime today announced that it has closed a $310 million series D financing round led …
More:
Lime Blog, TechCrunch, Business Insider, PE Hub Blog, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @teddyschleifer and @teddyschleifer
| 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 …
More:
Google Cloud Blog, 9to5Google, Digital Trends, Neowin, Thurrott, VentureBeat, Dark Reading, Hacker Noon, ZDNet, and CircleID
| 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 — Security researcher Linuz Henze has shared a video demonstration of what is claimed to be a macOS Mojave exploit to access passwords stored in the Keychain.
More:
Forbes, Threatpost, MacRumors, ZDNet, Tom's Guide, Softpedia News, BetaNews, Digital Trends, BleepingComputer, Cult of Mac, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @iblametom and @campuscodi
| Motherboard: |
Inside the illicit world of “iCloud unlocking”, where cybercriminals trick iPhone owners or Apple staff into removing iCloud accounts to resell iPhones — In a novel melding of physical and cybercrime, hackers, thieves, and even independent repair companies are finding ways to “unlock iCloud” from iPhones.
More:
BGR, Cult of Mac, The Mac Observer, 9to5Mac, and iPhone Hacks
| 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.
More:
Business Insider, The Verge, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, SlashGear, iPhone in Canada Blog, and iPhone Hacks
Tweets: @zackwhittaker and @stevekopack
| Kevin Kelleher / Fortune: |
Sonos' stock falls as much as 15% after announcing its CFO Mike Giannetto will retire later this year; it has hired an executive search firm to find a new CFO — Sonos' stock fell as much as 15% late Wednesday after the company said that its chief financial officer, Mike Giannetto, will leave the company later this year.
More:
CNBC, Los Angeles Business Journal, Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, TechCrunch, and Variety
| Olivia Carville / Bloomberg: |
A look at Pigeonly, InmateAid, and Flikshop, built by ex-convicts, and how they act as social networks to connect those in prison with friends and family — Laura Whitten, 35, woke up, rolled over and grabbed her phone, snapping a selfie in bed beside her dog.
Tweets: @ndahlberg and @michigancpr
| 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 — Oracle Corp. has spent five years and billions of dollars getting really good at following people around the internet.
Tweets: @sarahfrier, @sarahfrier, @carnage4life, @belril, @carnage4life, and @jeffmuskus
| 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 — A Consumer Reports investigation finds 1,500 e-scooter injuries across the country, and many hospitals still don't track them
More:
SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, Fast Company, and Business Insider
Tweets: @kimzetter, @ryanfelton, @expolineledger, and @kimzetter
| 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 — Who really thinks about where the money is coming from as long as you get the money? — Reddit is about to get a huge new round … | 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.| Matthew Ball / REDEF: |
Fortnite's longevity will hinge on its ability to evolve and be a social network, which could allow Epic to build a Metaverse rivaling big internet platforms — In 2018, there was a lot to read about Fortnite, and even more to learn from it. And to point, “the game” is indeed the future of entertainment …
Tweets: @bakergavin and @mariosundar
| Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet: |
Microsoft says Build 2019 will take place from May 6 to May 8, with registration opening on February 27 — Registration for this year's Microsoft Build developers conference opens February 27. And Build, again, is going head-to-head with Google's I/O developer confab.
More:
Thurrott, The Verge, Petri, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Digital Trends, TechSpot, MSPoweruser, Engadget, Neowin, OnMSFT.com, and Windows Central
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