Techmeme
February 26, 2020, 8:40 AM

Top News

Rob Price / Business Insider:
Facebook says it will now ban ads that promise to cure or prevent COVID-19, or attempt to “create a sense of urgency” about it  —  - Facebook is tightening up its rules on ads that reference the coronavirus outbreak.  — It is banning ads that mentioned it if they attempt to …
Salesforce:
Salesforce says Keith Block has stepped down as co-CEO but will still advise Marc Benioff; Gavin Patterson named President and CEO of Salesforce International  —  Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) today announced that Keith Block has stepped down as co-CEO of Salesforce and Marc Benioff is Chair and CEO of the company.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
PayPal is investigating unauthorized transactions affecting numerous German users; a researcher says hackers could be exploiting PayPal's Google Pay integration  —  All signs point to an attack exploiting PayPal's Google Pay integration. … Hackers have found a bug in PayPal's Google Pay integration …
Rebekah Valentine / GamesIndustry.biz:
Facebook has acquired Sanzaru Games, developer of Asgard's Wrath, for an undisclosed amount; the game studio will remain independent under Oculus Studios  —  Studio behind Asgard's Wrath to join Oculus Studios and continue VR development  —  Facebook has acquired Asgard's Wrath developer Sanzaru Games for an undisclosed amount.
The Walt Disney Company:
Bob Chapek has been named CEO of The Walt Disney Company, effective immediately; Bob Iger will serve as executive chairman through 2021  —  Robert A. Iger Assumes Role of Executive Chairman through 2021 Mr. Iger Will Direct the Company's Creative Endeavors Mr. Chapek Brings 27 Years …
Tom Krisher / NBC Bay Area:
NTSB says the driver in a 2018 Tesla accident was distracted by a game on his phone and that the NHTSA's hands-off approach to self-driving tech is “misguided”  —  Just before the crash, the Tesla steered to the left into a paved area between the freeway travel lanes and an exit ramp
Reuters:
Ex-Apple employees and supply chain experts say preparation for new iPhone production, which usually starts early in the year, may be delayed due to COVID-19  —  SAN FRANCISCO/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Travel restrictions to China because of the coronavirus have come just as Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) …
Alfred Ng / CNET:
A look at US schools' growing use of mobile phone tracking tech from companies like Inpixon, using scanners to pick up Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cell signals  —  Teachers often lament that phones can be a distraction in classrooms.  Some governments have even banned phones outright in schools.
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
On-demand tutoring app Snapask raises $35M Series B led by Asia Partners and Intervest to expand in Southeast Asia, bringing its total raised to $50M  —  Snapask, an on-demand tutoring app, announced today that it has raised $35 million in Series B funding.
Hannah Gilberstadt / Pew Research Center:
Pew: 74% of Americans have little or no confidence in tech companies like Facebook and Google preventing misuse of their platforms to influence 2020 election  —  Nearly three-quarters of Americans (74%) express little or no confidence in technology companies like Facebook …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Plume, which develops an AI-powered adaptive home Wi-Fi mesh network system, has raised $60M Series D at a $510M valuation, bringing its total raised to $127M  —  Plume, a Comcast-backed startup that develops an AI-powered adaptive home Wi-Fi mesh network system, has raised $85 million in a mixture of equity and debt financing.
Lara O'Reilly / Digiday:
Sources: France's third largest telecom, Bouygues, awarded a contract to Google to develop a targeted TV ad system using data from Bouygues' set-top TV boxes  —  Google has long pitched YouTube as an alternative to traditional TV advertising, but it's never managed to make a move into the $170 billion global TV ad market itself.
Matt Novak / Gizmodo:
US DOD has adopted a series of ethical principles for the use of AI, says recommendations came after 15 months of consultation with “leading AI experts”  —  The U.S. military has adopted new ethics guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in its futuristic robot tanks …
Will Oremus / OneZero :
In-depth look at the iOS App Store and the potentially anti-competitive ways it restricts consumers and third-parties, an increasing area of regulatory scrutiny  —  Its App Store has a choke hold on your devices.  That may not last much longer.  —  ou've just dropped $500 on a new iPad Air.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
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:
5 common accounting mistakes  —  This is a guest post by Yaali Bizappln Solutions.  A lot of businesses manage their customers and finances on separate platforms.  This disconnect often leads to missed invoices …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
(BNS) Brian's Appearance On Daily Detroit
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 8:40 AM ET, February 26, 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

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Biz Carson / Protocol:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Cyrus Farivar / NBC News:
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire: