Trending Stories from wsj.com
Sources: Intuit is nearing a deal to buy personal finance portal Credit Karma for about $7B in cash and stock; the deal could be announced as soon as Monday
Sources: Comcast's NBCUniversal is in advanced talks to acquire streaming-video service Vudu from Walmart
Google resists giving up documents in investigation of anticompetitive practices
Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
Pier 1 files for bankruptcy, warns of dangers in handful of online vendors dominating retail sales
Sources: DOD dropped its opposition to the Trump administration's efforts to make it harder for US companies to supply Huawei from overseas facilities
Google Cuts Jobs at Cloud-Computing Group
Sources: Google is in talks with publishers, mostly outside the US, about paying a licensing fee for content that would be in a premium news product
EU Judge Raises Prospect of Increasing Multibillion Fine Against Google
Sources: Instagram is considering increased funding of up to seven figures for multiple shows on IGTV, as it tests an ad product and a revenue-sharing program
Techmeme · 2 weeks ago
Boeing Fired Midlevel Executive Following Embarrassing Emails
Intelligence shows Huawei has had ‘back door’ capabilities for over a decade
US officials claim Huawei has, for over a decade, been able to covertly access mobile-phone networks globally through back doors designed for law enforcement
Sources: Airbnb had a $322M net loss for the nine months through Sept. 2019, down from a $200M profit a year earlier, raising concerns ahead of its expected IPO
How power companies are turning to AI, drones, battery systems, and sensors to shorten outages, save money, and help run an increasingly complex power grid
Inside Netflix's aggressive Oscars campaign that's spending an estimated $100M+ mainly to promote two films, while other studios usually spend $5M-$20M per film
Chainalysis: cryptocurrency scams involving Ponzi schemes and other frauds took in over $4B in 2019, which was more than the combined $3B haul in 2017 and 2018
The vast but little-known fund of the Mormon Church
Sources: SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 may end up raising less than half of the planned $108B, with nearly all of its capital coming from SoftBank itself
Federal Agencies Use Cellphone Location Data for Immigration Enforcement
NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange abandons potential eBay takeover deal after a backlash from investors
The Trump administration has bought access to a commercial database that maps the movements of millions of cellphones in America
Google to increase its workforce in Canada from 1,500 to 5,000 by 2022, as it expands hiring at its Stadia gaming studio in Montreal and other offices
Sources: Elliott Management has quietly built up a $2.5B+ stake in SoftBank and is pushing for changes like stock buybacks and improved corporate governance
The White House says companies, including Dell, Microsoft, and AT&T, are working together to create an open standard for 5G tech to reduce reliance on Huawei
Sources: NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange has made a takeover offer for eBay that could value the marketplace at more than $30B; eBay stock up 10%+
Gaana, the most popular music streaming service in India, has 152M monthly users, over half of Spotify's global user base and double Apple Music's global count
Ex-CIA Software Engineer Goes on Trial for Vault 7 Leak
The iPhone Isn’t Made in China—It’s Made Everywhere
Apple hired one of Netflix's top engineers in strategy to staff up the technical team supporting its newly launched TV+ subscription services
A look at the bruising price war in Latin America among food delivery companies Uber, Didi, and Rappi, all of which are funded by SoftBank
Samsung reports weak Q4 earnings from low memory chip sales as net profit slumps to $4.4B, down 39% YoY, on revenue of $50.52B, up 1.1% YoY
US Interior Department introduces a no-fly rule for Chinese drones or those made with Chinese parts, with some exceptions, amid espionage concerns
Apple beats Q1 earnings estimates, reporting strong iPhone, app and wearable sales
Grocers offering online orders are testing automated micro-fulfillment systems that can fulfill 4000 orders per week while occupying little space
Mathematics Pioneer Ingrid Daubechies Has More Barriers to Break
Air-Traffic Control Is in the Midst of a Major Change from Radar to GPS
Profile of Tony Blevins, the VP of procurement at Apple, known as the Blevinator for his ability to stare down suppliers and slash prices to the bone
Sources: US withdrew proposed rules which would have made it harder for US firms to sell to Huawei from overseas facilities, following DOD, Treasury objections
Amazon claims Prime Video has 65K titles, but 66% of those are user uploaded, including thousands of short instructional clips and conspiracy-theory videos
Techmeme · 1 month ago
Source: Uber is testing a feature letting drivers in three California cities set fares on rides from the airport; drivers can charge up to 5x the Uber fare
Schools Took Away Students’ Phones. Now They’re Treating Separation Anxiety
An unsecured facial-recognition database with info on thousands of children from 20 schools in China, half in areas with large Tibetan populations, found online
Hospitals Give Tech Giants Access to Detailed Medical Records
Airbnb to tie metrics like guest safety to employee bonuses, says it has created dedicated teams to serve all "stakeholders", which include hosts and guests
Sources: Amazon is working with Visa to test checkout terminals that let consumers pay for purchases with their palms
Techmeme · 1 month ago