Techmeme
November 7, 2019, 6:05 AM

Top News

Washington Post:
DOJ charges two ex-Twitter employees, arresting one, with spying for Saudi Arabia by snooping on kingdom critics; one allegedly accessed 6,000 accounts in 2015  —  The Justice Department has charged two former Twitter employees with spying for Saudi Arabia in a case that raises concerns …
Reuters:
Court filing demanding subpoenaed docs reveals California has been probing Facebook's disclosure of user data to Cambridge Analytica and others for 18 months  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California is investigating Facebook Inc's disclosure of user data to Cambridge Analytica and other partners …
Reuters:
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Source: Alphabet is probing execs, including Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, over inappropriate relationships, hiring an outside law firm  —  - The board of Google parent company Alphabet is conducting an investigation into sexual misconduct by executives, and has hired a law firm to assist.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
After the deaths of five people at a “party house”, Airbnb unveils new safety policies: verifying 100% of listings, a 24/7 “neighbor hotline”, and more  —  Airbnb CEO: We intend to verify 100% of listings  —  Airbnb is pushing out several new safety features in the wake …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google says it is open sourcing the phone-based VR software of Cardboard, less than a month after the company discontinued its Daydream View VR headset  —  Maybe the last nail in the coffin for phone-based VR  —  In October, Google officially discontinued its Daydream View VR headset …
C Nivedita / Reuters:
Square reports Q3 revenue of $1.27B, up 44% YoY, as gross payment volume grows to $28.2B, up 25% YoY, and Cash App revenue more than doubles to $159M  —  (Reuters) - Payments processor Square Inc (SQ.N) beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, as it earned more from its subscription and services business.
More: CryptoGlobe and ZDNet
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Google debuts App Defense Alliance, a partnership with ESET, Lookout, Zimperium to catch Android malware early by streamlining and boosting data sharing efforts  —  The newly formed App Defense Alliance will try to solve a malware problem that has bedeviled the Play Store since inception.
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
An investigation into I'm Shmacked, which exploited thousands of students by inducing them to provide viral videos of college parties to earn Instagram fame  —  The chief executive of I'm Shmacked promises students Instagram fame, then silences them with threats.
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Apple and the US Department of Veterans announce that veterans can now access their health records on their iPhone via Apple's Health app  —  - The goal is to make it a lot easier for vets to access their medical information, even if they seek care from multiple providers.
Saheli Roy Choudhury / CNBC:
HP Inc. confirms it received an acquisition proposal from Xerox on Tuesday  —  - Xerox has made a cash-and-stock offer for personal-computer and printer maker HP, CNBC confirmed on Wednesday.  — The company's board discussed the possibility on Tuesday, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp begins rolling out an update that lets users block specific individuals from adding them to Groups  —  WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Facebook, has faced a lot of controversy over the role that Groups plays on the platform — both for Groups' role in spreading spam …
Alex Krivit / The Cloudflare Blog:
An inside account of Cloudflare's defeat of Blackbird's lawsuit by publishing “prior art” that could help others, and attacking the patent troll business model  —  Remember 2016?  Pokemon Go was all the rage, we lost Prince, and there were surprising election results in both the UK and US.
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Twitter announces Topics, which lets users follow 300+ subjects in their timeline, rolling out from Thursday; topics include sports and gaming but not politics  —  Starting with more than 300 subjects across sports, gaming, and entertainment  —  Recently, a friend told me he wanted to spend …
Johana Bhuiyan / Los Angeles Times:
How Google changed in the aftermath of a walkout by 20K employees, which helped inspire a new wave of tech worker activism across the tech industry  —  At the end of October 2018, Claire Stapleton, then a YouTube employee, sent an email to an internal listserv where women discussed their experiences at Google.
Ben Dooley / New York Times:
Following SoftBank's first loss in 14 years, CEO Masayoshi Son says his WeWork bet was a mistake, describing it as a “harsh lesson”, and vows to move forward  —  Masayoshi Son defended the Japanese company's investment, while admitting he misjudged the American firm's founder, Adam Neumann.
Conor Dougherty / New York Times:
Apple, Facebook, and Google have pledged a combined $4.5B to end California's housing crisis, but the money will do little to solve systemic issues  —  Efforts by Apple, Facebook and Google to address the California housing crunch must contend with the forces that created it.
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
In a wide-ranging interview, Reed Hastings says Netflix's spending on content will grow and defends cutting an episode of Hasan Minhaj's show in Saudi Arabia  —  Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings tackled a wide array of issues surrounding the streaming giant during a packed 30-minute keynote session …

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More News

Chris O'Brien / VentureBeat:
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Earlier Picks

Dave Gershgorn / OneZero:
New York Times:
Bloomberg:
Adi Robertson / The Verge: