Techmeme
June 18, 2019, 12:05 PM

Top News

Facebook:
Facebook announces plans to launch Libra, a new cryptocurrency, and Calibra, a newly formed Facebook subsidiary to oversee financial services for Libra  —  A New Digital Wallet for a New Digital Currency  —  Today we're sharing plans for Calibra, a newly formed Facebook subsidiary whose goal …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook says user Libra transaction data will not be shared with Facebook and will not be used for ad targeting or ranking users' News Feed  —  The use cases, technology, and motive behind the new digital money  —  Facebook has finally revealed the details of its cryptocurrency Libra …
CoinDesk:
Facebook announces an independent consortium, Libra Association, with 28 founding members including Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Uber, Lyft, Coinbase, and others  —  You don't have to have a Facebook account to use Libra.  —  That's the hands-off approach the social media giant is working toward …
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Ripple to take a 8-10% stake in the money transfer service MoneyGram, which will use the digital currency XRP as part of its day-to-day operations  —  Cryptocurrency company Ripple on Monday announced a major partnership with MoneyGram, which will see the money transfer service use …
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Palm opens preorders for an unlocked version of its tiny $350 3.2-inch smartphone with Snapdragon 435, expected to ship in the next six to eight weeks  —  As much as Palm's tiny phone has improved over the past several months, there's still been one glaring limitation: you've had to use it on Verizon …
Bloomberg:
YouTube Kids, intended as a haven from the dangers of the main YouTube site, is used by just 20M+ people a week, compared to the main site's 2B+ monthly users  —  There's a safer version of YouTube, but the company knows most children don't watch it  —  In late May, the advocacy group …
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
London-based Zego, which offers flexible insurance policies with pricing based on usage data from vehicles, raises $42M Series B led by Target Global  —  A couple of years ago London-based startup Zego realised gig-economy workers would need insurance, and went on to raise a very healthy £6 million …
More: Tech.eu and FinSMEs
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google says Android users in UK and France can, later this month, opt in to RCS Chat services provided directly by Google instead of waiting for carrier support  —  That seems like yet another minor status check-in on the service meant to replace SMS, but in fact it's a huge shift in strategy …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Optimizely, which offers tools for A/B testing and personalization on the web and in mobile apps, raises $50M Series D led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital  —  Optimizely, a platform that offers tools for A/B testing and personalization on the web and in mobile apps, today announced that it has raised a total of $105 million.
More: VentureBeat and ZDNet
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Robocalls are overwhelming hospitals, where every lost second affects patient treatment; Tufts Medical Center has registered 4,500+ robocalls in a 2-hour period  —  In the heart of Boston, Tufts Medical Center treats scores of health conditions, administering measles vaccines for children …
Hiroshi Murayama / Nikkei Asian Review:
After a rush of openings, the unmanned convenience store boom across China has cooled since the start of 2018 due to falling sales after the novelty wore off  —  Companies that learn from closures could still win the future of retail  —  TOKYO — When Chinese tech companies started rushing …

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