Recode
88,179 Followers | @recode | Tech news, reviews & events. Check us out on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/recode
The new TV season has started! Here’s why Facebook and Google and Amazon (and you) care
There’s a real small bundle of channels, and no one company owns the majority of that bundle.<p>The fall TV season kicks off in earnest this week, and looking at it from the vantage of Netflix bingeing and Instagram Stories and moving GIFs and Twitter feuds, the fanfare around the latest sitcom to hit …
AdvertisingCasper went to war with a popular mattress reviews site — then financed its takeover
Sleepy in the sheets, slick in the streets.<p>In April 2016, the mattress startup Casper sued three popular mattress review sites, claiming they drove business to Casper competitors without proper disclosure that these mattress brands paid sales commissions to the sites.<p>The schemes, in Casper’s view, …
StartupsPresident Trump has attacked NFL players again
Trump wants players who protest the anthem to be fired<p>A pro football season already rankled by lower-than-usual ratings took a sharp political turn this weekend, as President Donald Trump took aim at NFL players.<p>Some of the league’s stars — including the still-unemployed quarterback Colin …
Donald Trump6 key questions for Mark Zuckerberg after he gave up on trying to split Facebook stock
Facebook withdrew a proposal on Friday that would have split the company’s stock and issued a new class of non-voting shares to the general public — a restructuring that would have allowed CEO Mark Zuckerberg to retain control over the company even while selling his own shares to fund his …
FacebookUber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s memo to staff: He’s ‘disappointed’ by the London ban
Here’s his memo to the staff about London’s Uber ban.<p>Uber’s new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is just a month into his new job and is already battling local regulators. In an email to employees, Khosrowshahi said the company would appeal London’s decision not to renew the company’s operating license.<p>The …
UberMark Zuckerberg will no longer try to reclassify Facebook stock to fund his philanthropy
He still plans to sell up to 75 million shares over the next year and a half — worth $13 billion at today’s price.<p>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will no longer try to reclassify the company’s stock, settling a major class-action lawsuit with shareholders.<p>Zuckerberg wanted to reclassify Facebook’s …
PhilanthropyPresident Trump is expected to scrap his travel ban — and replace it with a country-by-country system
But administration officials have not yet announced which countries are in the cross hairs.<p>President Donald Trump is expected to replace a travel ban that targeted immigrants and refugees from six Muslim-majority countries with a new, broader system that imposes limits on a country-by-country basis.<p>…
Donald TrumpA merger between Sprint and T-Mobile might not face many hurdles at the Trump administration
A look at some past statements from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.<p>A potential merger of T-Mobile and Sprint could fare well with the Trump administration, which has telegraphed for months that it isn’t resolutely opposed to the combination of the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless giants.<p>For …
Net NeutralityRecode Daily: Facebook pledges to fix its Russia problem and Uber may be banned in London
Plus, why Google is “acquiring” HTC, why Uber wants to settle its lawsuit with Alphabet and how Jimmy Kimmel became the face of health-care legislation.<p><b>Facebook will hand over information on Russia-linked ads to Congress, and pledged to make it harder to manipulate future elections.</b> Mark Zuckerberg …
UberLending startup Prosper has lost more than 70 percent of its value
The no-longer unicorn is now worth $550 million.<p>The online lending startup Prosper said on Friday that it had raised $50 million in new funding, a sum that sharply devalues the stock of what was once a high-flying tech unicorn.<p>Prosper was last valued by private investors as worth $1.9 billion; now …
Venture CapitalThis huge Kindle promotion with Alibaba shows Amazon’s shrinking ambition in China
Amazon at one time thought it could really compete with Alibaba. No longer.<p>There was a time when Amazon thought it could be a real e-commerce competitor to Alibaba in China. That time appears to be over.<p>The latest sign: Amazon is running a giant Kindle promotion across Alibaba’s shopping sites in …
AmazonLondon has decided to ban Uber — but Uber can operate during its appeal
The city’s transport regulator says Uber is “not fit and proper” to hold its license.<p>Here’s a new mini-crisis for Uber’s new CEO: Transport for London, the taxi regulating service in London, announced today that it would not be renewing Uber’s license to operate because of concerns over the …
UberPresident Trump said it’s a “hoax” that Russian sources purchased ads on Facebook
His comments come as federal investigators continue to probe precisely that<p>Federal officials across the U.S. government are investigating whether Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election by purchasing ads on social networks like Facebook. But President Donald Trump on Friday still …
Donald TrumpIs it safe to give your genetic data to 23andMe?
CEO Anne Wojcicki explains the DNA testing company’s privacy protections on the latest Too Embarrassed to Ask.<p>23andMe has been around for more than 11 years, but it’s just now getting to “critical mass,” CEO Anne Wojcicki says, thanks in part to a recent $200 million funding round.<p>But as the …
DNAUber has a lot of reasons to settle the lawsuit with Alphabet
The hearing is scheduled for October 10<p>Dara Khosrowshahi is less than a month into his job as the new CEO of Uber, and he already has a number of difficult decisions to make. First among them is whether to settle thelawsuit Alphabet filed against the ride-hailing company earlier this year.<p>Alphabet …
UberRead Mark Zuckerberg's full speech on how Facebook is fighting back against Russia's election interference
Zuckerberg went live on his Facebook page on Thursday to share the company’s plans.<p>It’s clear that part of Russia’s efforts to interfere in last year’s U.S. presidential election involved spreading misinformation and propaganda on Facebook.<p>Now CEO Mark Zuckerberg is promising to improve Facebook’s …
Mark ZuckerbergSnap is shuffling the top executives inside its secret hardware division
The company has also made a small number of layoffs, according to Bloomberg.<p>Snap has a new executive running the company’s hardware efforts after an internal restructuring, according to multiple sources.<p>Steve Horowitz, the former Motorola exec who has been running the hardware team the past few …
Imran KhanThe U.S. government is raring for a fight with Silicon Valley, NYT’s Jim Rutenberg says
Rutenberg joined Recode’s Peter Kafka on the latest episode of Recode Media to talk about Russia, social media and the intersection of tech and politics.<p>Facebook says it's not legally allowed to share everything it knows about advertisers, even political ones. But New York Times media columnist Jim …
JournalismMark Zuckerberg: ‘Freedom means you don’t have to ask for permission first’
Facebook’s ethos, and Facebook’s Russia problem, in one sentence.<p>Mark Zuckerberg just laid out the steps Facebook is taking to make it harder for Russia, or anyone else who wants to meddle in future elections, from doing so.*<p>There’s a lot of stuff there, including a move to turn over ads that …
FacebookThe Wish shopping app is paying more than $30 million to put its logo on Lakers jerseys
Betting on Showtime.<p>First, the Wish shopping app made a splash by spending $100 million a year on Facebook ads.<p>Then it sponsored the high-profile Mayweather-McGregor boxing match.<p>Now, Wish is betting big on the return of the Showtime era to the Los Angeles Lakers.<p>The startup, which has quickly …
Los Angeles LakersFacebook will share copies of political ads purchased by Russian sources with the U.S. Congress
Initially, the company resisted turning over the content, citing privacy concerns.<p>Facebook will turn over copies of political ads purchased by Russian sources to congressional lawmakers, who are investigating the country’s potential interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.<p>Initially, …
FacebookWant members of Congress to get stuff done? Let’s let them work from home, too.
Imagine a world where members and their staffs worked in their district instead of in D.C.<p>Donald Trump was right about one thing: Washington, D.C. and the inside the Beltway culture certainly is a swamp. The interests of the connected, the powerful and the highly ideological are so prevalent, so …
GovernmentSoftBank’s $93 billion Vision Fund is the biggest of all time — and it’s not even close
Its size could also be a liability.<p>SoftBank’s Vision Fund is a beast like no other. Backed by sovereign wealth fundsand tech behemoths alike, it’s not just the largest tech fund ever — it’s the largest corporate venture capital fund ever, according to data from FactSet. It towers over what were …
Venture CapitalMark Zuckerberg still isn’t running for president — he’d rather help government solve tech problems
Zuckerberg still maintains he doesn’t want to be the president, though.<p>Mark Zuckerberg maintains that he never wanted to be president — but he does have some lower-profile political ambitions.<p>Bloomberg wrote a story about Zuckerberg and his past nine months running Facebook amid numerous crises, …
Mark ZuckerbergZenefits CEO says it doesn’t need cash as it rebrands once more
The company considered changing its name, but decided against it.<p>In the seven months since new CEO Jay Fulcher was appointed to douse the flames at scandal-tarred Zenefits, he has fired more than 400 employees, flew to visit some of his biggest customers, and even surveyed 5,000 people on whether …
Silicon ValleyGoogle, Twitter, Reddit and others could be drawn into an investigation by the U.S. Congress into Russia and the 2016 election
Twitter is briefing Senate lawmakers next week about the use of bots, Sen. Mark Warner has said.<p>A congressional investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election — and the way in which Kremlin-aligned forces may have pursued their efforts on social media — is already expanding …
Mark WarnerRecode Daily: Apple's watch problem, Facebook's ad apology, Google's $1.1 billion HTC deal
Plus, Facebook is moving into San Francisco, streaming is reanimating the music business, and Nest is back with a home-security suite.<p><b>Apple says its new wireless Apple Watch has a problem</b>, which led to some very mixed reviews for the $400 gadget. While testing the device for her review on The …
Apple WatchWhy Google is spending $1.1 billion to acq-hire 2,000 HTC engineers
Phones, today. But tomorrow...<p>Google is paying Taiwainese smartphone maker HTC $1.1 billion to hire about 2,000 of its engineers, plus to license some of its intellectual property.<p>Why is Google making another big bet on hardware? Especially after its experiment buying — and selling — Motorola …
GooglePinterest has new ad targeting options like ‘vegetarian barbecue’ and ‘desk yoga’
Better targeting = better ads, Pinterest hopes.<p>Pinterest makes money from advertising, and like other companies the make money from advertising (Facebook, Google), it can make more money if it gives advertisers better targeting so it can reach the right people.<p>So that’s what Pinterest is doing: On …
AdvertisingHyperloop One raised an $85 million round at a valuation that tops $700 million
That brings the company’s total funding to $245 million.<p>Hyperloop One, the company built on Elon Musk’s vision for fast and efficient freight and passenger transportation, has closed an $85 million series B round. That brings the company’s total funding to $245 million.<p>That brings the company’s …
Transportation