Techmeme
March 14, 2019, 2:00 PM

Top News

Thomas Ricker / The Verge:
Facebook says all of its services are now operational, attributes the downtime to a “server configuration change”  —  Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook all appear to be operating normally  —  Facebook is reporting all services operational after a prolonged outage that impacted all of the company's most popular apps.
New York Times:
Sources: Facebook's data-sharing deals under federal criminal investigation; an NY grand jury subpoenaed at least two device-makers who partnered with Facebook  —  Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with some of the world's largest …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches a new cross-platform mobile SDK that allows game developers to add Xbox Live features to iOS or Android games  —  Microsoft also open to Xbox Live on the PS4 or Switch  —  Microsoft is bringing its Xbox Live network to iOS and Android devices.
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple announces WWDC 2019 will be held June 3-7 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose  —  Apple has officially announced dates and opened registration for its annual developer conference where it will likely unveil iOS 13, macOS 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13.
Emma Haruka Iwao / Google Cloud Blog:
Google breaks world record for the most accurate value of pi, first time using cloud computing, calculating 31.4T digits after a ~112-day computation  —  Try GCP  —  Get $300 free credit to spend over 12 months.  —  Free Trial  —  TM title , and the first time the record  …
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Dropbox has quietly updated its website to add a three-device limit, including mobile devices, on its free storage plan  —  Dropbox has quietly added a new limitation on free accounts, putting a cap on how many devices can be linked simultaneously.  The cloud storage service offers new users 2GB for free …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Li Tao / South China Morning Post:
Huawei says it has developed its own OS for both smartphones and computers in case those developed by US companies are no longer available  —  Huawei Technologies, the largest smartphone vendor in China, said it has developed its own operating systems (OS) for both smartphones and computers …
More: Engadget and Thurrott
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google says it removed 2.3B bad ads in 2018, down 28% from 2017 and terminated ~1M bad advertiser accounts, including ~734K publishers and app developers  —  Around this time of year, Google shares how many “bad ads” it killed the year before.  And every year, the number grows.  But not this time.
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Google is shutting down its Spotlight Stories VR film studio, part of Google's ATAP group, according to an email from the studio's executive producer  —  Google is shutting down its Spotlight Stories immersive entertainment unit, according to an email sent out by Spotlight Stories executive producer Karen Dufilho Wednesday evening.
Stuart Dredge / Music Ally:
Spotify files an anti-trust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming App Store rules limit choice and stifle competition  —  Spotify is filing a complaint against Apple with the European Commission, accusing the latter company of anticompetitive behaviour in the way it manages …
Maureen Farrell / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: a consortium that includes SoftBank and at least one automaker is in late-stage talks to invest $1B or more into Uber's self-driving vehicle unit  —  A consortium that includes SoftBank Group is in late-stage talks to invest $1 billion or more into Uber Technologies' self-driving vehicle unit.
Aaron Tilley / The Information:
Apple has acquired Laserlike, a small Silicon Valley-based ML startup, likely to strengthen its AI efforts; Laserlike had raised $24M+ according to Crunchbase  —  Apple has acquired Laserlike, a small Silicon Valley-based machine learning startup, which could help strengthen …
Parmy Olson / Forbes:
Profile of Peter Szulczewski, co-founder of Wish, the most downloaded shopping app worldwide with a valuation of $8.7B+, and a revenue of $1.9B last year  —  n a sun-filled San Francisco afternoon, Peter Szulczewski is climbing the stairs to the top of a Sansome Street skyscraper …

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Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch: