|
February 7, 2019, 7:40 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Jeff Bezos: |
Jeff Bezos publishes letters from AMI that he says show threats to publish his nude photos unless he backs off from criticizing AMI's coverage — Something unusual happened to me yesterday. Actually, for me it wasn't just unusual—it was a first. I was made an offer I couldn't refuse.
More:
GeekWire, The Verge, The Seattle Times, Business Insider, New York Times, Vox, CNET, USA Today, Gizmodo, Engadget, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed News, KTLA, Fortune, Axios, Boing Boing, The Guardian, and HuffPost
Tweets: @jeffbezos, @nickwingfield, @yashar, @yashar, @davepell, @benjaminwittes, @pierre, @drbluman, @nycsouthpaw, @kfile, @alexia, @rmac18, @alexeheath, @caseynewton, @nycsouthpaw, @nichcarlson, @brandyljensen, @caseynewton, @hels, @sriramk, @tomgara, @lexnfx, @robertmaguire_, @anildash, @jenniferjjacobs, @bchappatta, @emathieustar, @kathrynw5, @pkafka, @karaswisher, @jimsciutto, @rachelwalexande, and @caseynewton
| BBC: |
Germany orders Facebook to stop combining data from WhatsApp, Instagram, and third-party sites with data in a user's main Facebook account without their 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.
More:
Facebook, Bundeskartellamt, New York Times, Bloomberg, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, The Hill, The Guardian, BetaNews, TechCrunch, Wired, Recode, CNBC, euronews, Financial Times, ZDNet, The Register, FutureSin, TechCo, Adweek, Mashable, 9to5Mac, BuzzFeed News, Telegraph, Engadget, Forbes, Bloomberg, Silicon Republic, VentureBeat, Fortune, Daily Mail, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Axios, iPhone in Canada Blog, Inquirer, Reuters, and Boing Boing
Tweets: @henryfarrell, @zeynep, @bopinion, @matthewstoller, @hadas_gold, @dorait, @orariccardo, @ceciliakang, @matthewstoller, @johnnyryan, @ashk4n, and @mattnavarra
| Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: |
Apple says it has notified app developers to remove code that lets them record how a user interacts with their apps without explicit user consent — Apple is telling app developers to remove code that allows them to effectively record how a user interacts with their iPhone apps …
More:
9to5Mac, The Verge, MacRumors, The Mac Observer, iPhone in Canada Blog, Mashable, iPhone Hacks, Wired, TechSpot, Inquirer, ExtremeTech, MSPoweruser, Tom's Guide, CNET, BGR, Cult of Mac, Softpedia News, Firstpost, Engadget, AppleInsider, Gizmodo, and SlashGear
Tweets: @panzer, @zackwhittaker, @steved3, and @stevekopack
| Jason Hiner / CNET: |
Google Fiber to shut down in Louisville on April 15 after an experimental “nanotrenching” technique to deploy fiber in trenches only two inches deep, failed — Google's trick to more rapidly and cheaply deploy its super-speedy Google Fiber project has hit a wall …
More:
Google Fiber Blog, The Verge, Android Authority, Android Police, Business Insider, 9to5Google, Engadget, TechRepublic, Droid Life, TechSpot, SlashGear, CNBC, TechCrunch, and Kansas City Star
Tweets: @uncleramrod, @marcusgreenwdrb, @lcburch, @snicklefritz35, @chetfaliszek, @ryson, @karlbode, @ocdtrekkie, @markennis, and @christopherotts. Thanks:@rogerwcheng
| Johana Bhuiyan / Los Angeles Times: |
Investigation finds that Amazon at times uses tips earned by contracted drivers of its Flex program to cover their promised base pay — Amazon at times dips into the tips earned by contracted delivery drivers to cover their promised pay, a Times review of emails and receipts reveals.
More:
New York Times, The Instacart Checkout, Boing Boing, KTLA, Engadget, and Mashable
Tweets: @buzzfeednews and @ceodonovan
| Zac Hall / 9to5Mac: |
Apple releases iOS 12.1.4 with a fix for the Group FaceTime bug, says a security audit of FaceTime revealed a bug in Live Photos on FaceTime, which it has fixed — Apple has turned its Group FaceTime feature back on following the release of iOS 12.1.4 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
More:
Apple Support, The Verge, TechCrunch, CNBC, BuzzFeed News, The Verge, AppleInsider, MacRumors, The Register, MacRumors, Engadget, Threatpost, CNET, Macworld, AppleInsider, Business Insider, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, BleepingComputer, and MacRumors
Tweets: @jacknicas and @robotodd
| 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 closes down 9%+ — After strong results from Facebook and Snap this quarter, all eyes were on Twitter to see if the other big …
More:
Recode, CNBC, The Verge, New York Times, Twitter, Android Authority, Bloomberg, Twitter, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Fortune, AdExchanger, ZDNet, PYMNTS.com, Engadget, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, and hypebot
| Manish Singh / VentureBeat: |
News aggregator Nuzzel sold to Scroll, which is building a news subscription service; Nuzzel founder Jonathan Abrams and COO Kent Lindstrom to leave the company — News aggregator Nuzzel has found a new home and leadership and is undergoing some product changes.
More:
Scroll Blog, TechCrunch, Nieman Lab, 9to5Mac, and Silicon Florist
Tweets: @arctictony, @alexeheath, @annehelen, and @mattmcgee
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Amazon joins Microsoft in expressing support for regulating facial recognition tech, offers guidelines for the “responsible use” of the technology — Amazon supports the creation of a “legislative framework” covering facial recognition technology.
More:
Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg, Vox, Wired, GeekWire, PYMNTS.com, The Hill, BiometricUpdate, and CNET. Tweets: @jlkoepke
| 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 …
| 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 …
More:
Aurora Blog, SiliconANGLE, The Verge, Telegraph, CNBC, USA Today, CNET, Index Ventures, Business Insider, and Mashable
| Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Google unveils Adiantum, a new form of encryption for data on lower-end smartphones and other devices with insufficient processing power — Google officially unveiled a new form of encryption today, designed to secure data stored on lower-end smartphones and other devices with insufficient processing power.| Dami Lee / The Verge: |
Spotify's new Terms of Service, which go into effect on March 1, will give Spotify the authority to immediately terminate accounts that use ad blockers — Cracking down on ad blockers — Spotify is now explicitly banning ad blockers, as stated in an updated Terms of Service policy sent out today.
More:
SlashGear and iPhone Hacks
| Olivia Zaleski / Bloomberg: |
Sources: on-demand delivery startup Postmates has confidentially filed for 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
More:
SiliconANGLE, Reuters, TechCrunch, Postmates, and Business Insider
| Kurt Wagner / Recode: |
Facebook says it has restructured its “youth team” of 100+, will increase its investment in Messenger Kids, and that the meme app LOL will be shuttered — Facebook is restructuring its “youth team,” shutting down its new teen meme app LOL, and doubling down on Messenger Kids.| Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet: |
Microsoft rolls out Healthcare Bot Service, letting users create chatbots and AI-powered health assistants, adds health record integration to Azure and Teams — Microsoft is continuing to focus heavily on the healthcare vertical with new healthcare-related bot service … | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
T-Mobile President says the company won't develop its own streaming TV bundle, will instead help with discovery and billing for existing subscriptions — T-Mobile doesn't want to compete with other carriers or teleco's by developing its own “skinny bundle” of streaming TV channels …
More:
YouTube, AppleInsider, Android Police, 9to5Mac, The Streamable, TmoNews, and AFTVnews
| Julia Boorstin / CNBC: |
Tim Armstrong is launching a new firm, the dtx company, to invest in and showcase direct-to-consumer startups via large scale real world pop-up events around US — - It's called “the dtx company” and will invest in direct-to-consumer product companies and launch “experiences” in parts of the U.S. that are underserved.
More:
Business Insider, VentureBeat, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @backlon, @pkafka, @yoda, and @davegershgorn
| Anna Hensel / VentureBeat: |
Facebook says it has 7M+ advertisers and 90M+ small businesses using its products, will soon allow businesses to respond to Instagram messages from Facebook — Facebook took another step today towards unifying its family of apps by announcing that businesses will now be able to receive … | Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica: |
Jack'd, a gay dating app with 1M+ downloads from the Play store, stored users' images, posted and marked as private in chat sessions, on an unsecured AWS server — Online-Buddies was exposing its Jack'd users' private images and location; disclosing posed a risk.
More:
BBC
| Kurt Badenhausen / Forbes: |
Foot Locker has invested $100M in GOAT Group, which operates online sneaker marketplace GOAT; sources say the investment brings GOAT Group's valuation to $550M+ — The first Foot Locker store opened in 1974 in City of Industry, California. The company's mission over the past four-plus decades … | 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.| Ryan Whitwam / Android Police: |
Opera says it has started testing a free, unlimited VPN feature in its Android browser, available now for beta users worldwide — ISPs are generally not trustworthy, so many internet users have turned to VPNs. Opera used to offer a popular free VPN on Android, but it retired the service last year.
More:
Opera Mobile, Android Authority, and Lifehacker
| 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: @paulmozur, @rj_gallagher, and @dorianelau
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Utah-based Health Catalyst, which offers AI-driven data storage and health care analytics, raises $100M Series F in equity and debt financing at a $1B valuation — The artificial intelligence (AI) in health care market is set to top $34 billion by 2025, according to some estimates — and it's no real wonder why.
More:
Deseret News, Healthcare IT News, Forbes, and Crunchbase News
Sponsor Posts
Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups — Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better. We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts. Join the waitlist for early access!
AI-powered law for startups — Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better. We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts. Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements — 2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements — 2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Big Technology Podcast:
Alex And Ranjan's 2026 Outlook: ChatGPT 1 Billion, AI Shopping, Apple's Big Year, AI Love Boom
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress?
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:40 PM 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
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:Alex Ritman / Variety:
Henry Blodget / Regenerator:
Upcoming Tech Events
Earlier Picks
| Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: |
More:
OpenChain, The Register, Open Source blog, Open Source Initiative, WinBuzzer, ZDNet, MSPoweruser, OnMSFT.com, and Business Insider
Tweets: @opensourceorg, @creativecommons, and @linuxfoundation