Note: Techmeme is hiring part-time editors. Go here to apply, or tell a friend!
|
February 6, 2019, 10:15 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Peter Kafka / Recode: |
Spotify buys podcast producer Gimlet Media, sources say for ~$230M, and Anchor, a startup which makes it easier for users to record and distribute podcasts — Daniel Ek says he wants to spend up to $500 million on acquisitions this year. — Spotify is a streaming music company that wants to become a podcast company, too.
More:
TechCrunch, Spotify, New York Times, Slate, Anchor, The Verge, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, 500ish Words, Music Business Worldwide, CBS Chicago, iPhone in Canada Blog, Mashable, Pocket-lint, KnowTechie, VentureBeat, The Wrap, CNBC, iDownloadBlog.com, Forbes, RAIN News, Techmeme Ride Home Podcast, Marketing Land, Adweek, Android Police, Patently Apple, The Guardian, Tubefilter, Fortune, Nieman Lab, Tom's Guide, Telegraph, AdExchanger, MacStories, Associated Press, CNET, MSPoweruser, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, Axios, hypebot, The Mac Observer, Music Week, CNBC, and Insanely Great Mac
| Ashley Carman / The Verge: |
For Spotify to succeed as a podcast app, it needs to clearly separate podcasts from music, help users discover podcasts better, and allow creators to monetize — Some suggestions for improvement — Spotify announced today that the company plans to spend up to $500 million on podcast-related acquisitions.| Stuart Dredge / Music Ally: |
More:
Reuters, Business Wire, RAIN News, The Verge, Voicebot, Engadget, Music Industry Blog, Thurrott, Music Ally, MacRumors, VentureBeat, and VentureBeat
Tweets: @thestalwart and @pkafka
| Joseph Cox / Motherboard: |
Leaked documents show around 250 bounty hunters and related businesses had access to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint customer location data for at least five years — In January, Motherboard revealed that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint were selling their customers' real-time location data …
More:
Motherboard, The Verge, and Boing Boing
| Kara Swisher / Recode: |
Facebook's top global communications executive, Caryn Marooney, is leaving after eight years; Debbie Frost, Facebook's longest-serving PR exec, is also leaving — After a bruising year for the social media giant, longtime communications head Caryn Marooney is helping search for her replacement.
More:
Wired, Adweek, and Engadget
Facebook: Caryn Marooney. Tweets: @kurtwagner8, @bafeldman, @waltmossberg, @issielapowsky, and @kurtwagner8
| Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch: |
Following a lawsuit, Instacart CEO apologizes for changes that meant some tips were used to boost base pay, says affected workers will get retroactive pay — On the heels of a recently-filed class action lawsuit over wages and tips, as well as drivers and shoppers speaking …
More:
New York Times, NBC News, The Instacart Checkout, BuzzFeed News, Engadget, CNN, Mashable, Recode, Gizmodo, Geek News Central, Business Insider, PYMNTS.com, Eater, New York Times, The Verge, CNBC, and TechCrunch
Tweets: @mikeisaac, @ceodonovan, @dhh, @dhh, @kjhealy, @kevinroose, @ceodonovan, @rmac18, @moorehn, @histoftech, @caseynewton, @zeynep, @kevinroose, @techworkersco, @buzzfeednews, @ceodonovan, @kevinroose, and @ceodonovan
| Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: |
Investigation: some iPhone apps use Glassbox's analytics SDK to record user interactions without permission, and recordings sometimes don't mask sensitive data — And there's no way a user would know — Many major companies, like Air Canada, Hollister and Expedia, are recording every tap and swipe you make on their iPhone apps.
More:
Business Insider, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, The Verge, SlashGear, iPhone Hacks, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @zackwhittaker and @stevekopack
| Austin Carr / Bloomberg: |
Interviews with 49 people illuminate Wisconsin's disastrous deal with Foxconn, championed by Trump, that saw $4.5B in promised incentives with little return — “This is the Eighth Wonder of the World.” — So declared President Donald Trump onstage last June at a press event at Foxconn's … | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
On-demand e-scooter startup Lime raises $310M Series D, led by a16z, Bain Capital, Fidelity, GV, and IVP, at a $2.4B valuation — Confirming rumors that have been swirling for some time, on-demand electric scooter startup Lime today announced that it has closed a $310 million series D financing round led …
More:
Lime Blog, TechCrunch, Business Insider, PE Hub Blog, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @teddyschleifer and @teddyschleifer
| Josh Constine / TechCrunch: |
Starting Feb. 28, Facebook's “Why am I seeing this?” button on ads will show when a user's info was uploaded for ad targeting and if it was by a brand or agency — Facebook's crack down on non-consensual ad targeting last year will finally produce results.| James Vincent / The Verge: |
Google says Gmail is now blocking an extra 100M spam messages each day by using TensorFlow-trained machine learning models — Google is using its machine learning platform, TensorFlow, to eke out additional gains — Google has recruited its in-house machine learning framework, TensorFlow …
More:
Google Cloud Blog, Digital Trends, 9to5Google, Dark Reading, Thurrott, VentureBeat, Hacker Noon, ZDNet, and CircleID
| Motherboard: |
Inside the illicit world of “iCloud unlocking”, where cybercriminals trick iPhone owners or Apple staff into removing iCloud accounts to resell iPhones — In a novel melding of physical and cybercrime, hackers, thieves, and even independent repair companies are finding ways to “unlock iCloud” from iPhones.
More:
BGR, Cult of Mac, The Mac Observer, 9to5Mac, and iPhone Hacks
Tweets: @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @jason_koebler, @josephfcox, @jason_koebler, @josephfcox, @jason_koebler, @jason_koebler, and @josephfcox
| Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: |
A security researcher who has shared iOS flaws before demos a macOS Keychain exploit, won't share details with Apple because of the lack of a macOS bug bounty — Security researcher Linuz Henze has shared a video demonstration of what is claimed to be a macOS Mojave exploit to access passwords stored in the Keychain.
More:
Forbes, Threatpost, MacRumors, ZDNet, Tom's Guide, Softpedia News, BetaNews, Digital Trends, BleepingComputer, Cult of Mac, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @iblametom and @campuscodi
| Nico Grant / Bloomberg: |
Inside Oracle's ad software arm Data Cloud, built with ~$3B of acquisitions since 2014, that has reported disappointing financials and seen layoffs — Oracle Corp. has spent five years and billions of dollars getting really good at following people around the internet.
Tweets: @sarahfrier, @sarahfrier, @carnage4life, @belril, @carnage4life, and @jeffmuskus
| Olivia Carville / Bloomberg: |
A look at Pigeonly, InmateAid, and Flikshop, built by ex-convicts, and how they act as social networks to connect those in prison with friends and family — Laura Whitten, 35, woke up, rolled over and grabbed her phone, snapping a selfie in bed beside her dog.
Tweets: @ndahlberg and @michigancpr
| Ryan Felton / Consumer Reports: |
Survey of 110 hospitals and five agencies from 47 US cities: 1,500+ e-scooter-related injuries since late 2017; quick spread of e-scooters surprised some cities — A Consumer Reports investigation finds 1,500 e-scooter injuries across the country, and many hospitals still don't track them
More:
SiliconANGLE, Fast Company, TechCrunch, and Business Insider
Tweets: @kimzetter, @ryanfelton, @expolineledger, and @kimzetter
| Patrick Howell O'Neill / Gizmodo: |
If Reddit lands a $150M Tencent investment, they'd make strange bedfellows: Tencent helps build the Great Firewall; Reddit's product, banned in China, is speech — Who really thinks about where the money is coming from as long as you get the money? — Reddit is about to get a huge new round … | Matthew Ball / REDEF: |
Fortnite's longevity will hinge on its ability to evolve and be a social network, which could allow Epic to build a Metaverse rivaling big internet platforms — In 2018, there was a lot to read about Fortnite, and even more to learn from it. And to point, “the game” is indeed the future of entertainment …
Tweets: @bakergavin and @mariosundar
| Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet: |
Microsoft says Build 2019 will take place from May 6 to May 8, with registration opening on February 27 — Registration for this year's Microsoft Build developers conference opens February 27. And Build, again, is going head-to-head with Google's I/O developer confab.
More:
Digital Trends, Thurrott, The Verge, Petri, MSPoweruser, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, TechSpot, Engadget, Neowin, OnMSFT.com, and Windows Central
| Julie Verhage / Bloomberg: |
Sources: no-fees mobile bank Chime is raising $300M at a $1.5B valuation, up from a $500M valuation in May 2018 — Chime, a financial technology startup that offers online banking services, is close to raising $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to two people familiar with the matter.| Manish Singh / VentureBeat: |
WhatsApp says it bans about 2M fake or abusive accounts each month, 75% of them without manual intervention, 20% of them at the time of registration itself — WhatsApp today outlined how it is tackling abuse and spread of false information on its instant messaging platform as its largest market …
More:
SiliconANGLE, Mashable, CNET, Fortune, Financial Times, CNN, Reuters, The Next Web, 9to5Mac, and NDTV Gadgets 360. Tweets: @scepticgeek
Sponsor Posts
Google:
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini — Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator. Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini — Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator. Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future — Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future — Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Sandbox testing: Create Mail Agents in sandbox mode — Email is considered the backbone for any organization's communication. That's even more true for transactional emails, which are operation-critical for any business.
Sandbox testing: Create Mail Agents in sandbox mode — Email is considered the backbone for any organization's communication. That's even more true for transactional emails, which are operation-critical for any business.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Techmeme Ride Home:
Big Meta/Anduril Deal Is A Big Deal
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
The Social Radars:
Ron Conway, Founder, SV Angel Part 4 (Bonus)
Come be a fly on the wall as Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy talk to some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley about how they did it.
Subscribe to The Social Radars.
Hard Fork:
The A.I. Jobpocalypse + Building at Anthropic with Mike Krieger + Hard Fork Crimes Division
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Rick Smith (CEO, Axon): The Wild Ride From Near-Bankruptcy to $50B+
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Sewing Machine Repair Shop', With Patrick McGee
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How private equity kills companies and communities
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:15 PM ET, February 6, 2019.
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.
From Mediagazer
Chris Willman / Variety:The Bookseller:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Upcoming Tech Events
More News
| Olivia Carville / Bloomberg: |
| Jeff Stone / CyberScoop: |
More:
Wandera, BetaNews, Engadget, Dark Reading, SecurityWeek, and Forbes
Tweets: @jeffstone500, @jeffstone500, and @zackwhittaker
| Angelica LaVito / CNBC: |
More:
TechCrunch, Business Insider, VentureBeat, FinSMEs, and Telegraph
Tweets: @aparanjape and @pearlf
Earlier Picks
| Julia Reda: |
More:
Council of the European Union, Telecoms.com, TorrentFreak, hypebot, Silicon Republic, and IT PRO
Tweets: @senficon, @tishadow6, and @remych
| Apple: |
More:
Business Insider, Digital Trends, Daring Fireball, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Mac, Washington Post, VentureBeat, iPhone Hacks, MacRumors, InvestorPlace, Cult of Mac, Observer, iDownloadBlog.com, Redmond Pie, AppleInsider, Macworld, Apple Must, Android Authority, Business Insider, New York Times, The Register, The Loop, Insanely Great Mac, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @tim_cook, @geoffreyfowler, @kifleswing, @caro_milanesi, @mikesilva, @markgurman, @markgurman, @jacknicas, @kantrowitz, @jacknicas, @markgurman, @markgurman, @mgsiegler, @mgsiegler, @lexnfx, @markgurman, @caro_milanesi, @gartenberg, @iryantldr, @jeffersongraham, @reneritchie, @backlon, @mgsiegler, and @neilcybart
| Jeremy Burge / Emojipedia: |
More:
The Unicode Blog, The Hill, USA Today, Redmond Pie, New York Times, Macworld, BBC, Forbes, Ars Technica, One Degree, Tom's Guide, POPSUGAR Culture, Fortune, Windows Central, Neowin, and Newser
| Robert Hackett / Fortune: |
More:
What Bitcoin Did, Bitcoinist.com, Crypto Briefing, CryptoGlobe, ETHNews, CyberScoop, SiliconANGLE, PaymentsSource, and The Hacker News
Tweets: @snowden, @el33th4xor, @zooko, @peterktodd, and @sarahjamielewis