Techmeme
February 11, 2020, 6:50 PM

Top News

Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Hands-on with Samsung's new S20 lineup: 120Hz refresh rate makes the screens stand out, the Ultra is significantly bigger, and the cameras are ambitious  —  If you were planning to buy a premium Android smartphone this year, you can rest easy knowing they'll all come with more or less the same things.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Samsung announces the 6.2" Galaxy S20, 6.7" Galaxy S20 Plus, and 6.9" Galaxy S20 Ultra, with starting prices ranging from $1,000 to $1,600, coming March 6  —  Samsung has announced its latest flagship phones: the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus, and Galaxy S20 Ultra.
Greg Miller / Washington Post:
Sources: CIA secretly owned Crypto AG, the leading supplier of encryption systems globally, and could read allies' and adversaries' communications for decades  —  For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
US judge rules in favor of T-Mobile-Sprint merger, clearing one of the final hurdles for the deal; Sprint's stock closes up 77.5%  —  - A U.S. District judge ruled in favor of Sprint's $26 billion deal to merge with T-Mobile.  — The ruling clears one of the final hurdles for the deal …
Kadhim Shubber / Financial Times:
The FTC is asking Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft about acquisitions from the past decade that were small enough to not be reported to the gov't  —  FTC to review acquisitions made by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft  —  The Federal Trade Commission …
Bojan Pancevski / Wall Street Journal:
US officials claim Huawei has, for over a decade, been able to covertly access mobile-phone networks globally through back doors designed for law enforcement  —  Trump administration ramps up push for allies to block Chinese company  —  U.S. officials say Huawei Technologies Co …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft shows how containerized and dual-screen apps will work in Windows 10X with a new emulator and SDK and also refreshes its Android-based Duo SDK  —  Microsoft is delivering its promised Windows 10X emulator and SDK, plus a refresh of its Android-based Duo SDK as its next milestones along its dual-screen device path.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Airbnb had a $322M net loss for the nine months through Sept. 2019, down from a $200M profit a year earlier, raising concerns ahead of its expected IPO  —  Coronavirus impact also could delay closely watched markets debut  —  Airbnb Inc. swung to a loss for the first nine months …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft backtracks on forcibly installing the Bing extension in Chrome for Office 365 ProPlus enterprise customers and changing the default search engine  —  Sanity prevails: Microsoft is no longer planning to automatically deploy its Microsoft Search in Bing browser extension to Office 365 ProPlus users.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Source: Spotify is paying close to $200M upfront for the Ringer, to be followed by more than $50M later  —  - Streamer has spent more than $600 million on podcast deals  — Sports columnist Bill Simmons founded the Ringer in 2016  —  Spotify Technology SA is paying close …
Bloomberg:
The number of companies skipping MWC over coronavirus keeps rising, with Facebook, AT&T, Cisco, Sony, Intel, Amazon, Nvidia, and MediaTek among those missing it  —  - Organizers meet Friday to discuss situation and plan response  — Event draws more than 100,000 visitors from across the world
Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Nielsen: streaming makes up 19% of US TV watching, with Netflix comprising 31% of streaming on TVs, followed by 21% on YouTube, 12% on Hulu, and 8% on Amazon  —  Netflix is big and it's getting bigger.  And we're not just watching it on our phones and tablets: That dominance translates …
Dan Primack / Axios:
Sources: Hollar, an online dollar store that raised $75M+ and hoped shoppers ordering multiple things at once would offset shipping costs, is expected to close  —  Hollar, an e-commerce company that raised more than $75 million in VC funding, is expected to wind down soon, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Tweets: @danprimack
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Google partners with non-profit Defending Digital Campaigns to offer its Advanced Protection tools, including Titan keys, to US political campaigns for free  —  Candidates can also get trained up on how to use Advanced Protection to keep their accounts safe.
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Search warrant reveals how Apple uses hashes of previously identified child abuse images to flag, evaluate, and, if needed, intercept emails  —  Apple is well known for the secretive ways it sometimes operates, whether that's in protecting its iOS platform or how it deals with egregious criminals …
Scott Scrivens / Android Police:
Samsung unveils Galaxy Buds+ with claimed 11-hour battery life, up from six on the first-gen model, available in four colors on February 14 for $149  —  Samsung's upgraded Galaxy Buds+ may not be the noise-canceling true wireless earbuds of our dreams, but they do include some meaningful improvements that make them worth considering.

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