Techmeme
February 7, 2019, 1:50 PM

Top News

BBC:
Germany orders Facebook to stop combining data from WhatsApp, Instagram, and third-party sites with data in user's main Facebook account, without user's consent  —  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.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Twitter reports Q4 revenue of $909M, up 24% YoY, ad revenue of $791M, up 23% YoY, net income of $244M, and MAUs of 321M, down by 9M YoY; stock is down 9%+  —  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.
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 …
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.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Apple releases iOS 12.1.4 to fix Group FaceTime security flaw  —  Update your devices right now  —  Apple is releasing iOS 12.1.4 today to fix a security flaw in the company's Group FaceTime feature.  Discovered last week, the bug allowed anyone to call a phone or Mac and listen in before the other person picked up.
Dana Hull / Bloomberg:
Self-driving car startup Aurora raises $530M, led by Sequoia with Amazon, T. Rowe Price, and others participating, valuing the company at more than $2.5B  —  The self-driving startup Aurora Innovation Inc. has raised $530 million from a group of investors led by Sequoia Capital …
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.
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Kate Clark / TechCrunch:
Airbnb hires Fred Reid, formerly the president of Delta Airlines, as its first-ever global head of transportation  —  Airbnb made it easier for travelers to find a place to crash.  Now it wants to make it easier for them to get around.  —  The $31 billion home-sharing giant has hired Fred Reid …
More: Axios
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Olivia Zaleski / Bloomberg:
Sources: on-demand delivery startup Postmates has confidentially filed an IPO and could be valued at more than $1.85B  —  - Company could be valued at more than $1.85 billion in IPO  — Postmates working with JPMorgan and Bank of America on listing  —  Postmates Inc. has filed …
More: TechCrunch
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:
Cluno, which lets users lease a car for an all-inclusive monthly fee, raises $28M Series B to invest in its app and develop an API for car dealers  —  Cluno, the Munich startup providing what it calls a “car subscription” service, has raised $28 million in Series B funding.
More: FinSMEsThanks:@sohear
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Gong.io raises $40M Series B led by Battery Ventures, to enhance CRM tools with its natural language processing tech  —  With traditional CRM tools, sales people add basic details about the companies to the database, then a few notes about their interactions.

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Earlier Picks

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Apple: