Techmeme: Facebook's claims about the size of losses small businesses will suffer due to iOS 14 privacy changes don't hold up under scrutiny and are likely exaggerated (Harvard Business Review)

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February 5, 2021, 1:05 PM

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Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google has patched an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability in its Chrome 88 update — Google Chrome 88.0.4324.150 released with a fix. Users advised to update. — Google has released today version 88.0.4324.150 of the Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Harvard Business Review:

Facebook's claims about the size of losses small businesses will suffer due to iOS 14 privacy changes don't hold up under scrutiny and are likely exaggerated — by - Bart de Langhe and - Stefano Puntoni — Summary. — Apple will soon require consumers to opt in if they want to allow businesses …

More: 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, and ProPrivacy.com

Tweets: @nicolasmagand, @jstrauss, @joelteitelbaum, @jason_kint, @simonjharris, and @itsandrewjude

Megan Graham / CNBC:

Snap says Apple's changes to IDFA will interrupt demand; Unity says IDFA changes will affect how mobile game developers “optimize lifetime customer value” — - Snap and Unity Software, which reported fourth quarter earnings after the bell Thursday, both warned of the upcoming impact …

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:

Q&A with mobile marketing analyst Eric Seufert on the Facebook-Apple conflict, Apple's real motives for iOS privacy changes, and potential harm to businesses

Ben Gilbert / Insider:

Mark Zuckerberg made a surprise appearance on Clubhouse on Thursday, discussing VR, AR, Facebook's Reality Labs group, and remote work — - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on a Clubhouse talk show on Thursday evening. — Zuckerberg appeared on The Good Times Show, a talk show on the buzzy new social networking app.

More: The Independent and CNET

Tweets: @joshconstine, @sriramk, @sriramk, @natalieegenolf, @taylorlorenz, @sam_l_shead, @fdestin, @gaby_goldberg, @wongmjane, @synopsi, @antoniogm, @eliseliu, @brendanjshort, @jason_kint, and @lucasmtny

Ashwin Manikandan / The Economic Times:

PayPal says it will wind down its domestic payment operations in India by April 1 and focus on its existing cross-border trade business — Mumbai: PayPal Inc. will wind down its payment operations in India this year, a spokesperson said on the condition of anonymity.

More: TechCrunch, PYMNTS.com, Inc42 Media, KrASIA, Neowin, and Reuters

Tweets: @manan, @anuraag_saxena, and @ettech

Bloomberg:

Shares of Kuaishou jumped 161% in its Hong Kong debut, valuing the company at $159B, after the main rival of ByteDance in China raised $5.4B in an IPO — - Tencent-backed short-video startup raised $5.4 billion in IPO — Debut performance is second best globally after Alibaba.com

More: CNBC, Reuters, Light Reading, Agence France-Presse, South China Morning Post, caixinglobal.com, Tech in Asia, coinspeaker.com, and Wall Street Journal. Tweets: @pingroma

Michelle Chan / Nikkei Asia:

Users in mainland China are flocking to Clubhouse, a rare space outside the country's firewall where they can speak freely with people from Hong Kong and Taiwan — Audio-based social-media platform becomes free-speech haven for mainland users — The Clubhouse app had two million users globally as of Jan. 24.

Tweets: @wongmjane, @joshschoen, @loh, @harry_jerry, @charlesmok, @kylebrussell, @mikeelgan, @chingrachelwong, @peterguest, @yoda, and @napolitanodean

Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:

Democratic senators' SAFE TECH Act will strip Section 230 immunity for any ads, and posts violating civil rights, antitrust, cyberstalking, human rights laws — Three top Democratic senators added to the stack of proposed Section 230 reforms Friday, introducing their own bill …

More: Washington Post, The Verge, and CNBC

Tweets: @eriqgardner, @johnbattelle, @andykroll, @dandotlewis, @scottgreenfield, @issielapowsky, @glassbottommeg, @issielapowsky, @armandondk, @issielapowsky, and @mmasnick

See also Mediagazer

Cherlynn Low / Engadget:

Google says Pixel users will be able to use their phone cameras to measure pulse and breath rates through the Google Fit app, starting next month — Like many of us, Google is getting more interested in our health. The company is announcing today new features that will allow …

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Snap says its TikTok competitor Spotlight had 100M MAUs in January, two months after its launch, and receives an average of 175K video submissions per day — A surprisingly successful debut — Snap says its TikTok competitor, Spotlight, had 100 million users in January 2021, just two months after it launched.

More: CNN, CNBC, Business Wire, Social Media Today, Hollywood Reporter, WeRSM, and Engadget

Tweets: @robinwauters and @ashleyrcarman

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Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:

Snap beats with Q4 revenue of $911M, up 62% YoY, vs $857.4M est., DAUs were up 22% YoY to 265M

More: Tech.co, Snap, Pinterest, dot.LA, Fast Company, and Variety

Tweets: @richlightshed, @charliebilello, @megancgraham, @charliebilello, @karissabe, and @mattrosoff

See also Mediagazer

Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News:

Metalenz, a Boston-based Harvard spinout developing meta-optic lens chips, raises $10M Series A from 3M Ventures, Intel Capital, and others — Metalenz, a developer of meta-optic technologies for new lenses, has secured a $10 million Series A as the company looks to exit stealth …

More: TechCrunch and VentureBeat

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google starts rolling out Google News Showcase in Australia, paying local and regional publishers, amid an ongoing dispute over Australia's proposed media rules — Google has a $1 billion plan to pay publishers for content that appears in a cross-service “News Showcase” product.

More: The Keyword, Gizmodo, The Guardian, ZDNet, Reuters, The Canberra Times, and AdNews News

Tweets: @cameronwilson, @aus_media, @ians_india, @myllyme, @merryboffin, @kent_walker, @swan_legend, @googledownunder, @sarafischer, @googledownunder, and @timvcm

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Megan Graham / CNBC:

Ad tech company Magnite, formerly Rubicon Project, to acquire SpotX, a platform for connected TV and video advertising, from RTL Group for $1.17B — - Ad tech company Magnite is acquiring SpotX, a platform for connected TV and video advertising, for $1.17 billion in cash and stock.

More: AdExchanger, The Motley Fool, Magnite, Business Wire, VideoWeek, Variety, and Beet.TV

Tweets: @pkafka and @megancgraham

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Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:

In a NLRB filing, the Alphabet Workers Union accuses Google vendor Adecco of violating US labor law by forbidding contract workers from discussing their pay — - New labor group accuses Google vendor of violating labor law — Worker says Facebook post got her suspended by contractor

More: Bloomberg, Engadget, Insider, The Verge, Forbes, and CNET

Tweets: @josheidelson, @mattdpearce, @econ_marshall, @josheidelson, @gigworkersrise, and @googlewalkout

See also Mediagazer

Chris Stokel-Walker / WIRED UK:

TikTok's launch on Android TVs in France, Germany, and the UK yesterday is part of its push to diversify its audience and bring its stars into the mainstream — The app's arrival on smart TVs is part of a plan to diversify its audience - and bring its stars further into the mainstream

More: Tom's Guide. Tweets: @psythor, @brendangahan, @evafogdk, @androidtv_rumor, and @stokel

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From Mediagazer

Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:

A look at the NYT's Opinion section under Kathleen Kingsbury: the department has doubled in size to ~200 and encroached on newsroom sections like the magazine

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Sources: New York Sun owner Dovid Efune is launching a new “British bid” to buy The Telegraph with backing from Brexit backer Jeremy Hosking and Nadhim Zahawi

Financial Times:

Sources: BT is in advanced talks to sell its 50% stake in TNT Sports UK to WBD, its joint venture partner, and could announce the deal as early as next week

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Zeyi Yang / Protocol:

Profile of Maimai, a Chinese site modeled after LinkedIn with a Glassdoor-like forum where users can post anonymously, as it fights China's tech firms in court

Tweets: @dwertime and @zeyiyang

Felix Salmon / Axios:

Wikimedia Foundation announces CEO Katherine Maher will step down as of April 15, says its annual budget doubled to estimated $140M in 2021 under her leadership

More: Wikimedia Foundation. Tweets: @krmaher, @rashaabdulla, @creativecommons, @monteiro, @tomperriello, @davidakaye, @jenny8lee, @camillefrancois, and @ayanaeliza

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Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Infinitus, which provides a machine-generated voice calling service for healthcare companies contacting customers, has come out of stealth with $21.4M Series A

More: Crunchbase News. Tweets: @yanda

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:

Ford will increase its investment in autonomous vehicles to ~$7B over 10 years through 2025, $5B of that from 2021 onward, as part of its Ford Mobility efforts

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Hamish McKenzie / Substack Blog:

Substack co-founder says Facebook and Twitter getting into paid newsletters is a positive thing for writers and the media ecosystem, implores them to go all in

More: Twitter. Tweets: @hamishmckenzie, @benwhitelaw, @davewiner, @quinnypig, @safyhallanfarah, @pressgazette, @joshsternberg, @mattrickard, @__justplaying, @passthejoe, @andydangc, @simonowens, @substackinc, @eringriffith, @hamishmckenzie, and @ericnewcomer

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Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:

Twitter will move its offline analytics, data processing, and ML workloads to Google's Cloud after agreeing to an expanded multiyear partnership

More: TechRadar and cloudpro.co.uk

Tweets: @gusthema, @quinnypig, @googlecloud, and @aaronvalue

Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:

Apptopia: since Trump was banned from Twitter, daily use of Twitter has remained remarkably consistent

More: The Overspill. Tweets: @elipariser, @randfish, @beltzner, @sarthakgh, @elliotturn, @philnobilejr, and @digiphile

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Unity reports Q4 revenue of $220.3 million, up 39% YoY, on net loss of $83.5M

More: GamesIndustry.biz, Investor's Business Daily, and Unity Technologies

Tweets: @jordannovet and @megancgraham

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Liam Tung / ZDNet:

Five high-ranking Google engineers propose new rules for developers working on “critical” open source projects, including no unilateral code changes

More: The New Stack. Thanks:@steveranger

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Activision Blizzard reports Q4 net revenue of $2.41B, up 21% YoY, driven by a record year for Call of Duty, which had full year premium unit sales up 40% YoY

More: Activision Blizzard, GamingBolt, Yahoo Finance, Game Rant, PC Games Insider, MarketWatch, Twinfinite, Benzinga, Wccftech, Windows Central, Forbes, Investor's Business Daily, Bloomberg, and GameSpot. Tweets: @slasher

Kyle Bradshaw / 9to5Google:

Google delists the popular Chrome extension The Great Suspender for containing malware and is disabling the extension for those who installed it

More: XDA Developers, KnowTechie, TechRadar, ZDNet, Neowin, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, GitHub, The Verge, Mashable, Chrome Unboxed, HotHardware.com News, Android Central, Android Police, and Windows Central

Tweets: @obrien, @bcrypt, and @chrisnelder

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter took coordinated action to take down top members of account hijacking forum OGUsers and seized hundreds of accounts

More: VICE, Washington Post, New York Times, The Verge, Wired, CyberNews, BGR India, Input, Reuters, Engadget, CyberScoop, Bloomberg, and CNET

Tweets: @briankrebs, @motherboard, @josephfcox, @briankrebs, @emma_sandoe, @samsheffer, @josephfcox, @sarahfrier, @caseynewton, @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @taylorlorenz, @josephfcox, @lorenzofb, @josephfcox, @jason_koebler, and @josephfcox

Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:

Amazon is quietly transitioning its US warehouse workers to 10-hour graveyard shifts; labor experts say the move is to cut costs and pay for fewer benefits

Kristen V Brown / Bloomberg:

23andMe to go public through a merger with VG Acquisition Corp., a SPAC founded by Richard Branson, at a valuation of $3.5B

More: VICE, Silicon Republic, 23andMe Media Center, TechCrunch, The Verge, MobiHealthNews, and ZDNet

Tweets: @elizabeth_joh, @ashedryden, @bigblackjacobin, @susanwojcicki, @antonioregalado, @sorayadarabi, and @kristenvbrown

Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal:

Incoming head of Senate antitrust subcommittee Amy Klobuchar introduces an antitrust bill that would raise the bar for tech acquisitions

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Myanmar's new military government has ordered local telecoms to block Facebook and its family of apps within the country until February 7

More: Wall Street Journal and MediaNama

Tweets: @hninyadanazaw, @netblocks, @tostevinm, @accessnow, @justicemyanmar, and @maywongcna