Techmeme
July 12, 2019, 7:35 PM

Top News

Emily Glazer / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: in a 3-2 vote, FTC commissioners have approved a record $5B settlement with Facebook over the company's privacy violations  —  FTC commissioners broke along party lines, 3-2, with the Republican majority lining up to support the pact while Democratic commissioners objected
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Trump says cryptocurrencies including Facebook's Libra are “not money”, need to be regulated, citing their high volatility and facilitation of unlawful behavior  —  Just hours after a “social media summit,” the president's Twitter account posted a thread aimed at, of all things, cryptocurrency.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Amazon is developing an Echo speaker with improved audio quality to rival Sonos, HomePod, for release next year, and ramping up work on its home robot  —  - Echo speaker to include improved audio to rival Sonos, HomePod  — Wheeled robot, codenamed ‘Vesta,’ can be summoned by voice
Caroline Haskins / VICE:
User manual for Palantir Gotham software, obtained via a FOIA request, shows the amount of information law enforcement can quickly access about any individual  —  Motherboard obtained a Palantir user manual through a public records request, and it gives unprecedented insight into how the company logs and tracks individuals.
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft, after an outcry by many of its reseller partners, now says it will not charge them for internal use of the company's products and services  —  Microsoft is not going to eliminate internal use rights for partners who've been using software obtained as part of Microsoft's partner-program benefits …
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Bird CEO says the company makes $1.27/ride on its new Bird Zero scooters, which make up 75% of the fleet, says $100M loss was a one-time accounting write-off  —  Bird has positive unit economics, CEO Travis VanderZanden said Friday in fiery response to a report from The Information …
Wolfie Zhao / CoinDesk:
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitpoint says it was hacked for $32M in crypto assets, of which $23M belonged to its customers  —  Bitpoint, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange based in Japan, has been hacked for $32 million in crypto assets.  —  According to a CoinDesk Japan report on Friday …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Ford and Volkswagen to expand their alliance to include autonomous vehicles; VW will invest $2.6B in Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup backed by Ford  —  VW will invest $2.6 billion in Argo AI, the Pittsburgh based autonomous vehicle startup backed by Ford
Naomi Nix / Bloomberg:
US Court of Federal Claims dismisses Oracle's complaint, clearing the way for the Pentagon to award a $10B cloud contract to Amazon or Microsoft  —  Oracle Corp. lost its legal challenge to the Pentagon's $10 billion cloud contract on Friday after a Federal Claims Court judge dismissed …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube unveils new ways for creators to make money, including Super Stickers for chats in livestreams and premieres and paid levels for Channel Memberships  —  YouTube is rolling out more ways for its creators to engage fans and generate revenue, the company announced today the VidCon event in Anaheim, California.

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