Techmeme
February 7, 2020, 9:25 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: The Trump admin has bought access to a database tracking locations of millions of phones in the US and is using it for immigration and border control  —  Commercial database that maps movements of millions of cellphones is deployed by immigration and border authorities
Uber:
Uber reports Q4 revenue of $4.1B, up 37% YoY, gross bookings of $18.1B, up 28%, and net loss of $1.1B; gross bookings from Uber Eats were $4.37B, up 71% YoY  —  Revenue of $4.1 billion, growing 37% year-over-year or 39% on a constant currency basis  —  Rides Adjusted EBITDA of $742 million, with continued margin expansion
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: ViacomCBS is building a new ad-supported streaming service that will build on CBS All Access, and an ad-free version that includes Showtime  —  - ViacomCBS is preparing to throw its hat into the streaming wars after consummating a merger on Dec. 31.
Joe DeBlasio / Google Online Security Blog:
Google says starting with Chrome 82 in April, it will gradually start blocking “mixed content downloads”, which are non-HTTPS downloads started on secure pages  —  Today we're announcing that Chrome will gradually ensure that secure (HTTPS) pages only download secure files.
Mark Harris / TechCrunch:
Facebook and Google seek FCC permission to activate a portion of the PLCN undersea cable, excluding Hong Kong and China's section amid ongoing regulatory battle  —  Tech giants' high-speed internet link to Hong Kong has become politically toxic  —  Google and Facebook seem to have resigned themselves …
Bloomberg Law:
FCC announces proposals to pay satellite companies $9.7B to quickly free up C-band spectrum for 5G, and another $3.3B-$5.2B to pay for costs  —  Listen  —  Intelsat SA and other satellite providers would share as much as $14.9 billion under a proposal from federal regulators to compensate …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Strategy Analytics: Apple shipped 30.7M Watches globally in 2019, up 36% YoY, outselling entire Swiss watch industry, which shipped 21.1M units, down 13% YoY  —  The Apple Watch continues to dominate the market  —  The Apple Watch wasn't just the best-selling smartwatch last year …
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
SEC commissioner proposes a three-year grace period from a startup's first token sale to achieving a level of decentralization sufficient to pass SEC evaluation  —  SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce wants to give legitimate crypto projects a shot at success without running afoul of U.S. securities laws.
Reuters:
US Attorney General William Barr says the US and its allies should consider investing in Nokia and Ericsson to counter Huawei  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Thursday stressed the threat posed by Huawei Technologies and said the United States and its allies …
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Nuro receives a two-year driverless exemption for its new delivery vehicle called R2 and says it is the first company to receive such an exemption from NHTSA  —  Nuro, the autonomous delivery startup that raised $940 million in financing from Softbank Vision Fund last year …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Elliott Management has quietly built up a $2.5B+ stake in SoftBank and is pushing for changes like stock buybacks and improved corporate governance  —  Activist fund pushes for stock buybacks and for the tech giant to improve corporate governance to boost share price
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Netflix says users can now turn off the autoplay preview feature on its homepage  —  Browsing the homepage isn't an annoying problem anymore  —  Netflix customers have complained for years about the frustrating and annoying autoplay feature that occurs on its homepage.
Wall Street Journal:
NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange abandons potential eBay takeover deal after a backlash from investors  —  Investors had pushed back against move to acquire e-commerce company  —  The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange abandoned its pursuit of eBay Inc. EBAY 2.36% …
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Appeals court declines to reconsider a ruling upholding the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules, rejecting requests from over a dozen states and tech groups  —  (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court said late on Thursday it will not reconsider an October ruling that largely upheld the repeal …
More: WebProNews
Robert Stevens / Decrypt:
Blockchain data management startup Fluree says it has signed a contract with US Air Force to securely share data within the military and with US allies  —  The US Air Force has signed a contract with blockchain data management company Fluree to more securely track and share information within the military.

Sponsor Posts

Airtable:
What's the ROI on AI?  That's the trillion dollar question.  —  Learn why Airtable's the enterprise operating system for the AI era, delivering enterprise-grade security, privacy and governance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
Zoho Sign supports Saudi Arabia's digital transformation with legally-compliant digital signatures  —  As-salamu alaykum!  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on a journey to become a modern, economically vibrant nation …
Notion:
Get up to 6 months free of Notion with unlimited AI  —  Notion is trusted and loved by thousands of startups as their connected workspace—from building product roadmaps to tracking fundraising.  Build and scale your company with one tool!
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 10/03 - The Monster OpenAI Raise
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:25 AM ET, February 7, 2020.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Vipal Monga / Wall Street Journal:
Biz Carson / protocol:

Earlier Picks

Maddie Stone / VICE:
David Kirton / Reuters:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Juli Clover / MacRumors: