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January 15, 2020, 9:55 PM
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Alan Boyle / GeekWire:
Sources: Apple has acquired Seattle-based Xnor.ai, which develops low-power, edge-based AI image recognition tools, for around $200M  —  Apple has acquired Xnor.ai, a Seattle startup specializing in low-power, edge-based artificial intelligence tools, sources with knowledge of the deal told GeekWire.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Internal memo: Mozilla lays off ~70 after its 2019 plans to boost revenue streams outside of search, like new subscription products, did not pan out  —  Mozilla laid off about 70 employees today, TechCrunch has learned.  —  In an internal memo, Mozilla chairwoman and interim CEO Mitchell …
James Vincent / The Verge:
In a Q&A, Jack Dorsey discusses Twitter's thinking around an edit button and says “we'll probably never do it”  —  You've got to live with your mistakes, which includes joining Twitter  —  Twitter users have been asking for the option to edit tweets ever since the service launched in 2006 …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google Smart Lock on iOS now leverages Secure Enclave to enable the iPhone's use as a physical 2FA key to sign in to Google apps via Chrome on nearby devices  —  Last year, Google announced that all Android 7+ devices can be used as two-factor authentication when signing into Gmail, Drive, and other first-party services.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft begins rolling out its Chromium-based Edge browser, available now for Windows and macOS  —  Right on schedule, Microsoft today launched its new Edge browser based on Google's Chromium open source project.  You can download Chromium Edge now for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 …
Bloomberg:
US and China sign a “phase one” trade deal that seeks to limit theft of American tech and trade secrets by Chinese companies, such as through joint ventures
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
As companies comply with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA, many have insecure practices for giving users their data and some outsource user identity verification  —  A new California privacy law gives consumers the right to see and delete their data.  But getting access often requires giving up more personal details.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
App Annie: consumers downloaded 204B apps in 2019, up 6% YoY, and spent $120B on apps, subscriptions, and in-app features globally  —  Consumers downloaded a record 204 billion apps in 2019, up 6% from 2018 and up 45% since 2016, and spent $120 billion on apps, subscriptions and other in-app spending in the past year.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
In a tweet, Trump criticizes Apple for refusing to unlock phones of violent criminals and says his administration helps Apple “all of the time” on trade  —  - In a tweet, president Donald Trump addressed the conflict between the FBI and Apple over locked iPhones used by the suspected Pensacola shooter.
New York Times:
Sources: Apple is preparing for a legal fight with the DOJ, similar to San Bernardino, which was not legally resolved before FBI dropped the case
Kim Hart / Axios:
PitchBook: West Coast's share of total US VC deal value dropped to 50.2% in 2019 vs. 62.3% in 2018; 78% of funding went to CA, NY, and MA, up from 75% in 2018  —  Venture capital investment is seeping out from Silicon Valley to the rest of the country, but the West Coast still dominates the market by a wide margin.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Amid an antitrust probe and protests by small merchants, Jeff Bezos travels to India to announce a further $1B investment into Amazon's operations over 5 years  —  India welcomed Jeff Bezos this week with an antitrust probe.  On top of that, thousands of small merchants who typically compete …
Blake Hester / Polygon:
Former Microsoft employees and third-party developers reflect on the rise and fall of Microsoft Kinect, which was once billed as the future of Xbox  —  For a moment a decade ago, the game industry looked like a very different place  —  Joe Bertolami is looking into the future.
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Productboard, a platform for product managers, raises $45M Series B led by Sequoia and Bessemer Venture Partners, source says at a $350M post-money valuation  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  He now runs one of Silicon Valley's buzziest software startups.

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From Mediagazer

Rob Bonta / Deadline:
California AG Rob Bonta says AGs' antitrust case is on antitrust grounds, not politics, and Paramount is “spearheading” a PR campaign to spin a false narrative

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
More than 800 unionized USA Today staffers call on the company to dissolve its recently announced partnership with Palantir, citing “significant ethical issues”

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Netflix closes its 2026 upfront negotiations, nearly doubling its ad commitments, in line with expectations; its ad tier had 250M+ monthly active viewers in May

More News

Yuan Yang / Financial Times:
A look at how US pressure, driven by national security and trade concerns, has led to China seeking increased technological self-sufficiency

Earlier Picks

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Google acquires no-code app development platform AppSheet, which had raised ~$19M to date, with plans to migrate AppSheet services to Google Cloud
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram says it is testing letting some users access DMs from its website
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Microsoft pushes a fix for a critical flaw in a cryptographic component present in all versions of Windows; NSA says it alerted Microsoft to the bug
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