Techmeme
December 3, 2019, 4:00 PM

Top News

Mark Sullivan / Fast Company:
Shirin Ghaffary / Vox:
A group of four former Google employees who say they were fired for organizing are filing unfair labor practice charges against the company  —  Three of the four former Google engineers who were recently fired from the company and alleging Google retaliated against them for workplace organizing.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google adds a chat feature to Google Photos, rolling out over the next week to iOS, Android, and the web  —  An argument could be made that Google has over-indulged in its creation of way too many messaging apps in years past.  But today's launch of a new messaging service …
New York Times:
Chinese officials are gathering blood samples from Uighurs in a mass DNA collection effort for use by scientists researching using DNA to map facial images  —  Beijing's pursuit of control over a Muslim ethnic group pushes the rules of science and raises questions about consent.
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Qualcomm debuts a new in-screen ultrasonic fingerprint sensor with a much larger input area, after mixed results from its last attempt found in the Galaxy S10  —  A year ago, Qualcomm introduced a new fingerprint sensor that uses sound waves to map the ridges on your finger and unlock your phone.
Alfred Ng / CNET:
For over a year, Ring let police access a heat map of installed Ring video doorbells that let users zoom in very close to street level; it was removed in July  —  The company once offered a map, now withdrawn, that allowed police to zoom in to see the specific location of Ring customers.
TechCrunch:
Adobe data: US Cyber Monday sales totaled $9.4B, up $1.5B YoY; shopping via smartphones accounted for a record $3B+, driving 54% of all site visits, up 19% YoY  —  Cyber Monday — the final day of the extended Thanksgiving weekend that traditionally kicks off holiday season spend …
Jeremy Bogaisky / Forbes:
Inside the struggles of Larry Page-backed flying car company Kitty Hawk as sources suggest it may have ceded control of its self-flying taxi program to Boeing  —  Deputy editor for Industry; eyes on the skies  —  In 2017, success seemed to be just around the corner for Kitty Hawk …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, and Sundar Pichai sign a renewed commitment to the Paris Agreement and urge the US to stay in, joining 70+ CEOs and US labor leaders  —  The U.S. government may be in the process of formally withdrawing from the term of the Paris Agreement, an International accord …
Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters:
Twitter updates global privacy policy to comply with CCPA, will move non-EU/US accounts to US to reduce GDPR risks, launches Privacy Center site to inform users  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc is updating its global privacy policy to give users more information …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
London-based Hastee, which lets employees access up to 50% of earned pay at any point in the month, raises $20M in equity led by Umbra Capital and $250M in debt  —  Hastee, a London-based on-demand wages app, announced this morning it has secured about $270 million in equity and debt financing.
David Gilbert / VICE:
A Facebook employee and content moderators working for subcontractor CPL Resources are suing Facebook for trauma in Ireland's High Court  —  DUBLIN — Sean Burke spent years working for big tech like Cisco and SAP.  But nothing could prepare him for the work he did for Facebook.
Tova Cohen / Reuters:
Gong, which uses AI to provide insights on customer behavior and improve sales, raises $65M led by Sequoia Capital, bringing its total raised to $134M  —  TEL AVIV (Reuters) - U.S.-Israeli startup Gong said on Tuesday it has raised $65 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital, bringing its total raised to $134 million.
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New York Times:
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: