Techmeme
February 8, 2019, 7:40 AM

Top News

Jeff Bezos:
Jeff Bezos publishes letters from National Enquirer owner AMI that he says show threats to publish his nude photos unless he stops probing AMI's reporting  —  Something unusual happened to me yesterday.  Actually, for me it wasn't just unusual—it was a first.  I was made an offer I couldn't refuse.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Google warns about two iOS zero-day vulnerabilities that hackers have been actively exploiting; the vulnerabilities have been fixed in iOS 12.1.4 update  —  iOS users are advised to update to iOS 12.1.4; release which also fixes infamous FaceTime bug.  —  A Google top security engineer …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple releases iOS 12.1.4 with a fix for the Group FaceTime bug, says a security audit of FaceTime revealed a bug in Live Photos on FaceTime, which it has fixed  —  Apple has turned its Group FaceTime feature back on following the release of iOS 12.1.4 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
The Moscow Times:
Report: Google pulls government-banned sites from Russian search results, blocking ~70% of sites blacklisted by Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor  —  Google has started to remove certain entries from its search results in Russia in compliance with long-standing demands from the authorities …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Amazon joins Microsoft in expressing support for regulating facial recognition tech, offers guidelines for the “responsible use” of the technology  —  Amazon supports the creation of a “legislative framework” covering facial recognition technology.
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Google unveils Adiantum, a new form of encryption for data on lower-end smartphones and other devices with insufficient processing power  —  Google officially unveiled a new form of encryption today, designed to secure data stored on lower-end smartphones and other devices with insufficient processing power.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Apple says it has notified app developers to remove code that lets them record how a user interacts with their apps without explicit user consent  —  Apple is telling app developers to remove code that allows them to effectively record how a user interacts with their iPhone apps …
Jason Hiner / CNET:
Google Fiber to shut down in Louisville on April 15 after an experimental “nanotrenching” technique to deploy fiber in trenches only two inches deep, failed  —  Google's trick to more rapidly and cheaply deploy its super-speedy Google Fiber project has hit a wall …
Brendan Nyhan / Medium:
Research comparing 2016 and 2018 suggests Facebook's efforts to limit the reach of fake news are working, but the platform's scale remains an alluring target  —  After the shock of the 2016 presidential election, many Americans found psychological refuge in a simple explanation for why Donald Trump won: “fake news.”
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
After Twitter lost monthly active users for the past three quarters, the company will stop disclosing the number from Q2, will report daily active users instead  —  Twitter's monthly user count has fallen for three quarters in a row, so to address the issue, Twitter has decided to stop announcing how many users it keeps losing.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Dana Hull / Bloomberg:
Self-driving car startup Aurora raises $530M, led by Sequoia, with Amazon, T. Rowe Price, and others participating, valuing the company at more than $2.5B  —  The self-driving startup Aurora Innovation Inc. has raised $530 million from a group of investors led by Sequoia Capital …
Julia Boorstin / CNBC:
Tim Armstrong is launching a new firm, the dtx company, to invest in and showcase direct-to-consumer startups via large scale real world pop-up events around US  —  - It's called “the dtx company” and will invest in direct-to-consumer product companies and launch “experiences” in parts of the U.S. that are underserved.
BBC:
Germany orders Facebook to stop combining data from WhatsApp, Instagram, and third-party sites with data in a user's main Facebook account without their consent  —  Germany's competition authority has told Facebook it can only continue gathering so much data about users from beyond its app and website if it gets individuals' consent.

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Stephen Nellis / Reuters: