Techmeme
February 7, 2020, 9:45 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
CNBC:
Uber's stock rose as much as 10% after hours after the company announced a Q4 loss that was narrower than expected and moved its profitability forecast forward  —  - Uber's revenue growth picked up in the quarter.  — During the fourth quarter, Uber faced tighter regulations impacting …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
For the first time, Netflix details the government takedown requests it's received, says it's removed 9 pieces of content around the world since it was founded  —  Netflix has taken down just 9 pieces of content around the world in response to written government requests since it was founded 23 years ago …
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
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 …
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% …
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 …
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
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.
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 …
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
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 …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
SubQ Snap 1.1: the first long-context decision model for real enterprise work  —  Tied for #1 on the AA Decision Index, Snap is a multimodal model with a 384k-token context window for fast reasoning and agentic decisions.
Zoho:
Zoho Writer's latest automation updates: smarter formulas, dynamic content, and less manual work  —  Create personalized documents with smarter formulas, dynamic content, and payment links, and update templates without rebuilding …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
WebBrain:
WebBrain: an open-source AI agent for your browser  —  Read pages, fill forms and automate tasks in Chrome or Firefox.  Use local models or your preferred AI provider.  Get started free.

Featured Podcasts

Machine Gods:
Crypto's Biggest Heist Ever + The Spy Who Loved Nvidia + Hacktober's Mysteries
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Barry Diller on Big Bets, AI, and Knowing When to Walk Away
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Martin Casado on Frontier Model Economics, AI's Slowdown, and the Cursor Deal
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Sources:
A quiet investor's $10 billion bet on AI, chips, and defense
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Cheeky Pint:
The company building America's uranium supply from scratch
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Grit:
The Difference Between 1% Improvements and 10x Growth | Immad Akhund
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:45 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: