Techmeme
February 28, 2019, 1:10 PM

Top News

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Amazon announces Project Zero, an invite-only program to let brands autonomously flag and remove counterfeit listings of their products from Amazon  —  Amazon wants to cut down on fake listings  —  Amazon announced a new initiative today called Project Zero, a new effort that the online retailer …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon launches Amazon Day, a new option that lets Prime members pick a day of the week for delivery  —  Amazon this morning launched a new delivery option for Prime members that will allow them to control when their orders arrive, Amazon Day.  The option lets shoppers pick a day of the week to take delivery of their recent orders.
New York Times:
Sources: Facebook told crypto exchanges that it hopes to launch its own coin for WhatsApp, pegged to a basket of fiat currencies, in the first half of the year  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Some of the world's biggest internet messaging companies are hoping to succeed where cryptocurrency start-ups …
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Strategy Analytics: Apple shipped 22.5M Apple Watch units in 2018, accounting for about half of global smartwatch shipments  —  Fresh statistics from research firm Strategy Analytics show Apple retained its position as the clear leader in the smartwatch sector, with Apple Watch capturing 51 percent …
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Equipment from Cellebrite, popular with law enforcement for hacking into iOS/Android devices, is selling for $100-$1,000 on eBay; new units usually cost $6,000  —  When eBay merchant Mr. Balaj was looking through a pile of hi-fi junk at an auction in the U.K., he came across an odd-looking device.
Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Motorola confirms it is working on a foldable smartphone; it will likely be a revival of the Razr brand that will launch this summer  —  By now, it's not much of a secret that Motorola is working on a folding phone of its own: A patent for such a device surfaced late last year …
The Seattle Times:
Though Seattle repealed its “head tax”, Amazon says it won't use the 722K sq. ft. in Rainier Square tower it had leased, which would have housed up to 5K staff  —  The lease was one of the biggest in Seattle history — enough space to hold at least 3,500 employees and perhaps up to 5,000.
Roland Li / San Francisco Chronicle:
In a letter to a CA agency, Apple confirms that 190 employees, including 124 engineers, will be laid off from its self-driving car division on April 16  —  Apple will lay off 190 employees in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale in its self-driving car division, the company said.
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
RightScale 2019 State of the Cloud survey of enterprises and SMBs: Azure adoption grew from 45% to 52%, reaching 85% of AWS adoption, up from 70% last year  —  The RightScale 2019 State of the Cloud Report from Flexera highlights how enterprises are spending more on cloud computing …
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Zūm, which enables parents to schedule rides for their kids from fully vetted drivers, raises $40M Series C led by BMW i Ventures  —  Ride-sharing isn't just for transporting teenagers and adults anymore.  Zūm, a ridesharing startup for kids, just raised a $40 million Series C round led …
More: PR Newswire and FinSMEs
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Presto, which provides restaurants with food ordering hardware and an AI platform to help them make decisions about ordering stock and staffing, raises $30M  —  The “restaurant of the future” may elicit thoughts of a chrome diner with robot servers and an otherwise hefty amount of Tokyo futurist kitsch …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
ClassDojo, a messaging app for teachers and parents to communicate, raises $35M Series C co-led by GSV and SignalFire, source says at a ~$400M valuation  —  Messaging apps have become the de facto way that many people today keep in regular contact with each other, and that trend has also found its way into the classroom.
More: PR NewswireThanks:@ingridlunden
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Figure, which uses blockchain tech to provide home equity loans, raises $65M; founded over a year ago by ex-SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, Figure has raised $120M total  —  Figure, a 13-month-old, San Francisco-based company that says it uses blockchain technology to provide home equity loans online …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
FTC settles with Musical.ly, now TikTok, for $5.7M, over the app's violation of US child privacy laws; TikTok's app updates with a new UX for users under 13  —  A significant FTC ruling issued today will see video app TikTok fined $5.7 million for violating U.S. children's privacy laws …

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