Daily Tech Headlines – March 29, 2018
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| Daily Tech Headlines – March 29, 2018 | |
| Number | 469 |
| Broadcast Date | MARCH 29, 2018 |
| Episode Length | 4:46 |
| Hosts | Sarah Lane |
Microsoft shakes up executive team, Facebook to shut down Partner Categories over data concerns, Bumble sues Match.
Headlines
- Facebook announced it will shut down Partner Categories over the next 6 months which will limit how much data it allows advertisers buying targeted ads on the social network to have. Facebook says it will stop using data from third-party data aggregators — specifically companies like Experian and Acxiom — to help supplement its own data set. A source tells Recode that although Facebook still uses these companies to help with ad measurement, it's reevaluating how that practice works too.
- Sources tell Bloomberg Snap is cutting another 100 jobs on the advertising side of the business, following cuts in engineering earlier this year as part of a restructuring process Snap started in its fourth quarter.
- Uber and the family of a woman killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle in Arizona have reached a settlement. An attorney for Elaine Herzberg's daughter and husband said, “the matter has been resolved.” The terms of the settlement were not given and the firm says it would have no further comment on the matter.
- TuneIn launched TuneIn Live in the US, a subscription radio service for Amazon's smart speakers that will play broadcasts from the MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL along with premium news content and talk radio. New customers will receive a free seven-day trial of the service. After that it's $4 per month, or $3 for Amazon Prime members. TuneIn claims about 75 million active users in the US. Its free radio service also supports Google Assistant smart speakers but TuneIn Live is Alexa only, for now.
- Windows chief Terry Myerson is departing the company after 21 years as Microsoft tries to better combine its artificial intelligence and core Windows OS components teams. Head of Azure cloud platform Scott Guthrie will now head up the Windows Platform team, and Harry Shum will continue to lead an engineering team as well as AI + Research. Microsoft is also creating a separate division called “Experiences & Devices” to be run by Office exec Rajesh Jha, that will manage Windows client releases on various devices, first-party apps, Office 365, and Surface hardware. Panos Panay who ran the Surface team is now Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer for the company’s first-party devices like Surface and HoloLens. Joe Belfiore stays on the main Windows team, running experiences for PCs and devices. CEO Satya Nadella said in a memo to employees that “the future of Windows is bright.” Microsoft is also creating an AI and Ethics in Engineering and Research (AETHER) Committee to help the company evolve its AI efforts responsibly.
- The BBC released its second annual report since establishing its new charter, which states that the industry is "more and more dominated by a small number of US-based media giants with extraordinary creative and financial firepower" and that "Their business models and huge budgets mean we are increasingly being squeezed out of an ever more competitive environment. British creativity and British content are now under real threat." The BBC laid out goals for its iPlayer platform to help keep younger audiences. The broadcaster says that for the first time, 15- to 34-year-olds in the UK are listening to streaming music services like Spotify and Apple Music more than they are BBC Radio.
- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been barred from using the Internet at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, where he has lived for nearly six years. Ecuador said in a statement Wednesday that Assange violated an agreement he signed at the end of 2017 not to interfere in the affairs of other states, although Ecuador did not cite any examples of this alleged breach. A source tells the Washington Post that Assange signed the document when Ecuador was considering making him a diplomat, which would come with certain protections, although that didn't end up happening. Assange was granted Ecuadoran citizenship late last year.
- Bumble filed a lawsuit late Wednesday claiming Match Group stole trade secrets through “fraudulent” behavior, hurt Bumble’s chances of selling an equity investment, interfered with its business operations, and is asking for $400 million in damages. Match filed its own patent infringement lawsuit against Bumble earlier this month. Bumble's lawsuit claims Match Group offered to buy Bumble for $450 million last June, which Bumble considered too low, then failed to make a serious offer. Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd was a founder of Tinder, which Match owns, and filed a sexual harassment lawsuit when she left the company in 2014.
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| Preceded by: "Daily Tech Headlines – March 28, 2018" |
Daily Tech Headlines – March 29, 2018 |
Followed by: "Daily Tech Headlines – March 30, 2018" |