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September 12, 2019, 9:55 PM
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memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Richard Gingras / The Keyword: |
Google says it changed how it ranks stories and updated guidelines for evaluation of search results to help better identify and surface original news reporting — Google Search was built to provide everyone access to information on the web—and with tens of thousands of web pages …
More:
New York Times, TechCrunch, Axios, The Verge, The Hill, Adweek, Engadget, Neowin, 9to5Google, Nieman Lab, and Boing Boing
| Casey Newton / The Verge: |
Google Photos starts rolling out Memories, a tool that brings back old photos and videos on their anniversaries in an Instagram Stories-like format — A new feature to help you reminisce, plus same-day printing — Google Photos is adding features to encourage reminiscing …
More:
The Keyword, TechCrunch, Engadget, 9to5Google, Droid Life, SlashGear, CNET, MSPoweruser, Digital Trends, Android Police, XDA Developers, iPhone in Canada Blog, Android Headlines, TechSpot, AndroidGuys, BGR, and Android Central
Tweets: @dflieb, @dflieb, @dflieb, @googlephotos, and @reckless
| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Slack launches a dark mode for macOS, Windows, and Linux, with dark mode variants of all existing sidebar themes and a new “Nocturne” dark mode theme — Updated dark mode themes are available today — Slack is introducing a new dark mode for desktop versions of its workplace chat app.
More:
Slack, CNET, Gizmodo, Digital Trends, iMore, MacRumors, OnMSFT.com, iPhone Hacks, Neowin, iDownloadBlog.com, MSPoweruser, GeekWire, AppleInsider, KnowTechie, Engadget, 9to5Mac, and Mashable
Tweets: @slackhq, @mattietk, @caseynewton, @samsheffer, and @ow
| Theodore Schleifer / Vox: |
Sources: federal investigators, including the FBI, are probing the conduct and practices of Mithril Capital, the VC firm co-founded by Peter Thiel — Mithril Capital raised over $1 billion on the name of Thiel, one of Silicon Valley's biggest celebrities. Now federal investigators are looking under the hood.
More:
SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, and Boing Boing
Tweets: @karaswisher, @dbreunig, @voxdotcom, and @teddyschleifer
| Claudia Koerner / BuzzFeed News: |
Facebook takes down fact-check of anti-abortion video after complaints from four GOP senators alleging bias; Facebook's fact-checking partner is investigating — Facebook on Wednesday removed a fact-check conducted by doctors of an anti-abortion activist's video, which falsely claimed abortion …
More:
The Interface. Tweets: @passantino, @alexeheath, @caseynewton, @pfpicardi, @brooklynmarie, @drdgrossman, @ktbenner, @jason_kint, @melissaryan, @nwlc, @jayrosen_nyu, and @lispower1
| Lindsey O'Donnell / Threatpost: |
Researchers: “SimJacker”, a widespread SIM card-based vulnerability, is being exploited by a private actor “that works with governments to monitor individuals” — A vulnerability discovered in mobile SIM cards is being actively exploited to track phone owners' locations … | April Glaser / Slate: |
Kickstarter has fired two union organizers in eight days; sources: both were fired for what management said were performance-related issues — On Thursday morning, Kickstarter fired Taylor Moore, an employee who was one of the organizers of a unionization effort within the company.
More:
The Verge, Gizmodo, and The Daily Dot
| Anthony Cuthbertson / The Independent: |
French Economy and Finance Minister says the country will block the development of Facebook's Libra in the EU as it poses a threat to “monetary sovereignty” — French Finance Minister says: ‘We cannot authorise the development of Libra on European soil’
More:
The Block, The Guardian, CoinDesk, The Next Web, Telegraph, Telecoms.com, Modern Consensus, Inquirer, Gizmodo, Reuters, CCN.com, and Altcoin Magazine. Tweets: @mattcorva
| Priyamvada Mathur / PitchBook: |
Cloudflare prices its IPO at $15/share, raising $525M, which gives it an initial market cap of ~$4.4B, an increase of 144%+ over its last private valuation — Cloudflare priced its shares at $15 apiece Thursday, above the high end of its upwardly revised range, raising $525 million in the process.
More:
Bloomberg, Crunchbase News, MarketWatch, and Business Wire
| Jared Newman / Fast Company: |
Amazon launches Alexa Answers, a crowdsourcing platform that lets any user answer questions asked by other users, in the US — The Alexa Answers crowdsourcing platform is now open to everyone in the United States. Amazon says it has measures in place to prevent misuse.
More:
VentureBeat, TechHive, CNBC, Financial Times, TechCrunch, CNET, KnowTechie, The Verge, Mashable, GeekWire, Engadget, and Gizmodo
Tweets: @stevekovach, @elizabeth_joh, @rhenyard, @coty, @davezatz, @stevekovach, and @moreandagain. Thanks:@technologizer
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Walmart plans to reach 50%+ of the US by year end with “Delivery Unlimited”, its grocery delivery membership program that costs $98/year or $12.95/month — Walmart is expanding its brand-new “Delivery Unlimited” grocery delivery membership program to more stores across the U.S. …
More:
Walmart Inc., USA Today, Bloomberg, PYMNTS.com, Reuters, CNET, and Engadget
| Lauren Debter / Forbes: |
Direct-to-consumer dental startup SmileDirectClub closes down 28% on its first day of trading, after raising $1.35B in its IPO at a $9B valuation — SmileDirectClub raised $1.35 billion in an initial public offering on Thursday, defying challenges from dentists and regulators and cementing …
More:
CNBC, Crunchbase News, SiliconANGLE, Financial Times, MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, Crain's Detroit Business, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, CNN, Business Insider Australia, Fox Business, and TechCrunch
Tweets: @ldrogen, @lamonicabuzz, and @jasonlk
| Michael del Castillo / Forbes: |
Dapper Labs, developer of CryptoKitties, raises $11.2M from a16z, Warner Music Group, and others for its proof-of-stake, high transaction volume blockchain Flow — Now that Warner Music Group has mastered streaming, generating $2 billion in revenue from the technology, the music giant behind Cardi B …
More:
The Block, Decrypt, BetaKit, CoinDesk, and Cointelegraph
Tweets: @bullyesq, @forbes, @forbescrypto, @forbescrypto, @delrayman, and @mikenerduk
| Todd Spangler / Variety: |
Walmart's Vudu is launching family-friendly features, like Family Play, which lets viewers automatically skip or mute “objectionable” content, and a kids' mode — Vudu, Walmart's video-streaming unit, is promising parents new tools to evaluate and control what their kids watch … | Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter: |
AT&T's WarnerMedia signs an exclusive five-year deal with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot for TV, film, and streaming projects; sources: deal is worth ~$250M — Bad Robot, the production company he runs with his wife and co-CEO, Katie McGrath, will now have all of its divisions …
More:
CNN, Variety, CNET, Deadline, Business Wire, The Verge, Bloomberg, Fast Company, /Film, Business Insider, and CNBC
Tweets: @frankpallotta, @thr, @pj_campbell, @mrniceguy18_58, @discussingfilm, @akelacooper, @cjwritesthings, @snoodit, and @owillis
| Adi Robertson / The Verge: |
Google won't need to admit wrongdoing in a NLRB settlement over complaints of restricting employees' speech, but will need to inform employees of speech rights — Google will affirm that employees can discuss workplace issues, following a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
More:
New York Times, CNET, Mercury News, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Boing Boing, CBS San Francisco, Engadget, Telegraph, and Seeking Alpha
Tweets: @sethdillon, @roncoleman, and @econ_marshall
| Facebook: |
Facebook lays out four values that guide its Community Standards, in order to promote freedom of expression: authenticity, safety, privacy, and dignity — Today, we're expanding the values that serve as the basis for our Community Standards — the guidepost for what is and isn't allowed on Facebook.
More:
Adweek and Seeking Alpha
Tweets: @kurtwagner8, @kurtwagner8, @kurtwagner8, @caseynewton, @evelyndouek, and @kurtwagner8
| Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: |
Apple says it is tweaking changes announced at WWDC to App Store policies around Sign in with Apple and the rules around children's app categories — Originally announced in June, changes to Apple's App Store policies on its Sign in with Apple service and the rules around children's app categories are being tweaked.
More:
Apple Developer, Washington Post, iMore, MacRumors, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @parrots, @thomasbcn, @sarunw, and @panzer
| Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times: |
Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft did not sign a letter from 145 CEOs, including Lyft, Twitter, Airbnb, and Uber CEOs, urging Senate action on gun violence — “Doing nothing about America's gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable," the corporate chiefs urged senators in a letter.
More:
CNET, Business Insider, Boing Boing, and Adweek
Facebook: Congresswoman Annie Kuster. Tweets: @janasanchez, @mollyjongfast, @senschumer, @andrewrsorkin, @tancredjess, @clarajeffery, @msignorile, @adampasick, @lafix, @senfeinstein, @bdomenech, and @juliancastro
| Isabel Kershner / New York Times: |
Facebook imposed a 24-hour ban on a chatbot operated by the official account of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for violating hate speech rules — JERUSALEM — Facebook suspended a chatbot operated by the official account of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday … | Martin Brinkmann / gHacks Technology News: |
Mozilla launches Premium Support for Firefox enterprise customers starting at $10 per supported installation, includes benefits like critical bug fixes with SLA — Organizations that run the Firefox web browser in Enterprise environments may subscribe to a newly established Premium plan to extend support.
More:
Neowin
| Corbin Davenport / Android Police: |
Android 10 allows multiple apps to access a phone's microphone at once, in a way designed to benefit accessibility services and Google Assistant — Android 10 is now available in its final form on a few phones, but some of its more interesting changes flew under the radar.
More:
XDA Developers
| Alan Ohnsman / Forbes: |
Self-driving car startup Voyage, the Udacity spinoff operating taxi fleets in two retirement communities, raises $31M Series B led by Franklin Templeton — Voyage, a Silicon Valley self-driving vehicle startup focused on using the technology to provide transportation at retirement communities …
More:
The Verge, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, and Telegraph
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