Trending Stories from theinformation.com
Sources: Amazon, Walmart suspend commerce marketing deals with digital media such as BuzzFeed and Vox Media; ~20% of BuzzFeed 2019 revenue came from such deals
Techmeme · 1 week ago
How Apple Is Working From Home
Facebook says it has struck a deal to buy all of the augmented reality displays made by British firm Plessey, which sources say Apple recently looked at buying
Airbnb to halt all marketing, most hiring as losses mount
Sources: Airbnb will halt all marketing, most hiring, and will likely withhold employee bonuses according to CEO Brian Chesky; employee layoffs possible
Source: amid quarantines, Uber Eats recorded a 10% increase in US sales last week and a 30% increase in signups from people willing to deliver food
Sources: Facebook says all employees will get a $1K bonus and earn at least their full bonus for their first 6-month review of 2020 amid COVID-19 crisis
Sources: Huawei is projecting that its annual smartphone shipments will fall around 20% this year
Report details Apple's struggles to create a device manufacturing supply chain in India
Sources: Facebook does not plan to use the Libra currency on its services, opting to use digital versions of government-backed currencies for its Calibra wallet
Source: Apple is planning to release an iPad keyboard with a built-in trackpad, likely with the next version of the iPad Pro, later this year
Microfunds as a way to gain early insight into promising startups
Waymo’s Hiring Binge
Source: as it struggles to achieve a breakthrough, Waymo has doubled its headcount to 1,500 over the past year, mostly focusing on engineers
Source: Alphabet quietly moved Jigsaw, a tech incubator that makes tools to curb online misinformation, back under Google last month
Sources: YouTube is considering a competitor to Amazon and Apple TV channels for accessing premium, paid video subscriptions from other companies
Techmeme · 2 months ago
Sources: Amazon has considered selling Twitch's live-streaming technology to other companies as a service
Techmeme · 2 months ago
Source: Apple has terminated AI startup Xnor.ai's involvement in the Pentagon's Project Maven after its recent acquisition of the startup
Source: Facebook Watch's programming strategy is changing, backing off pricey original shows and live sports, as its budget has risen from $1B in 2017 to $1.4B
Sources: Google is testing a new communications app for businesses, which brings together functions from Gmail, Drive, Hangouts Meet, Hangouts Chat, and more
Quibi’s CEO Meg Whitman Compared Reporters to Sexual Predators
Sources: Quibi's CEO Meg Whitman, in an internal meeting, compared reporters' friendly rapport with their sources to how sexual predators groom their targets
Sources: SoftBank's Vision Fund led a $750M investment last August in Philadelphia-based goPuff, an on-demand delivery service for convenience products
Sources: Quibi's projections from 2019 show the upcoming streaming service is expected to spend ~$1.5B in its first year; Quibi has raised $1.4B so far
Sources: Twitch had ~$230M in ad revenue in 2018 and as of middle of last year was on track to earn ~$300M for 2019, short of an internal goal of $500M-$600M
Techmeme · 3 months ago
Sources: Softbank-backed car-rental startup Getaround plans to lay off ~150 employees, or about a quarter of its staff, to mitigate rising costs
Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market
Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market
Dented Reality: Magic Leap Sees Slow Sales, Steep Losses
Source: Airbnb lost about $100M in Q2 2019, compared to the profit of $10M it made a year ago
Sources: after exploring partnerships with banks in 2018 to offer an Amazon-branded checking account, Amazon scrapped those plans in their early stages
Techmeme · 5 months ago
Sources: Apple is aiming to release an AR headset in 2022 and a sleeker pair of AR glasses by 2023
Source: Facebook held talks to acquire Fitbit but wanted to pay roughly half of the $2.1B that Google eventually agreed to pay
Sources: Sony has hired bankers to explore a sale of its Playstation Vue service, which would include the company's tech and a subscriber list of around 500K
AWS Customers Rack Up Hefty Bills for Moving Data
Sources: China's ByteDance is in talks to sell TopBuzz, the English language version of its Chinese AI-powered news aggregator Toutiao
The Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ Hustle
Andreessen Horowitz Returns Slip, According to Internal Data
Andreessen Horowitz Returns Slip, According to Internal Data
Apple Change Causes Scramble Among Private Messaging App Makers
Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles
Bill Stasior, former longtime Apple exec who oversaw Siri, has joined Microsoft as corporate VP of technology, reporting to CTO Kevin Scott
Sources: JD.com is talking with investment banks about a $500M US IPO in May for its online supermarket unit Dada-JD Daojia; Walmart owns 10% of Dada-JD Daojia
Toptal CEO Taso Du Val owns all stock, leaving none for investors and employees
Investors and employees of Toptal, a freelancing platform with ~$200M revenue and originally funded by $1.5M in convertible notes, have ended up with no equity
Sources: Spotify is discussing a plan with Apple to let iPhone users tell Siri to play songs, playlists, albums with voice commands, as anti-trust battle looms
Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature
Sources: Apple will make changes to the iOS API for internet voice calls, limiting what apps like WhatsApp can do in the background
Facebook to Add Its Name to Instagram, WhatsApp
Hacker News · 8 months ago