Techmeme
February 6, 2019, 4:45 PM

Top News

Peter Kafka / Recode:
Spotify buys Gimlet Media, a podcast producer and network, sources say for ~$230M, and Anchor, 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.
Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Following a lawsuit, Instacart CEO apologizes for changes that meant some tips were used to boost base pay and says those affected 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 …
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 …
Motherboard:
Inside the illicit world of “iCloud unlocking”, where cybercriminals trick iPhone owners or Apple staff into removing an iCloud account to resell the iPhone  —  In a novel melding of physical and cybercrime, hackers, thieves, and even independent repair companies are finding ways to “unlock iCloud” from iPhones.
Apple:
Angela Ahrendts to leave Apple in April after five years, as Apple names 30-year company veteran Deirdre O'Brien SVP of Retail + People reporting to Tim Cook  —  Angela Ahrendts Plans April Departure After Five Successful Years  —  CUPERTINO — Apple today announced that Deirdre O'Brien …
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
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.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Security researcher, who's shared iOS flaws before, demos a macOS Keychain exploit but 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.
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 …
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 …
Angelica LaVito / CNBC:
Meditation and sleep app Calm raises $88M Series B led by TPG Growth at a $1B valuation  —  - Calm has raised $88 million, valuing the meditation and sleep app at $1 billion, the company announced Wednesday.  — Calm is the top grossing health and fitness app and 20th overall on iOS, according to App Annie.
Elizabeth Schulze / CNBC:
SoftBank's Vision Fund says that it sold its entire stake in Nvidia, which was worth $3.63B on December 31, in January  —  Chipmaker Nvidia suffered another setback Wednesday after SoftBank's Vision Fund disclosed it had sold its entire stake, worth more than $3 billion, in the company in January.
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.
Tweets: @alexThanks:@seriouslyrick
Julia Reda:
Weeks after EU member states failed to find common ground on the Article 13 proposal, negotiations are back on toward a final vote after Germany reverses stance  —  Let's recall: On January 18, negotiations about the new EU copyright law came to an abrupt halt after member state governments failed …

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