Axios

The federal judge overseeing Alphabet's trade theft lawsuit against Uber says Uber has yet to explain what exec Anthony Levandowski, a former Alphabet employee, has been working on since joining the company.

Uber had previously submitted the two self-driving car prototypes it has been testing, which were designed by another employee and purchased from a vendor, respectively. Alphabet says Levandowski downloaded documents before leaving to form a startup, which Uber later bought.

"Why would you hire this guy for $680 million if he's not doing anything?" Judge William Alsup told Uber during a hearing in San Francisco District court on Wednesday. "It does leave the impression that you wrote around what Mr. Levandowski is working on all this time even if it didn't lead to a prototype"

What to watch: A hearing is scheduled for May 3 to address Waymo's request for a preliminary injunction, which would halt Uber's self-driving car testing if the judge sides against Uber.

Apple has been working on a non-invasive test to measure blood glucose and has a small team in Palo Alto devoted to the project, CNBC reported Wednesday. Today, such tests require a finger prick and blood, with a non-invasive alternative seen as a "holy grail" for treating diabetes.

According to CNBC's report, "the initiative is far enough along that Apple has been conducting feasibility trials at clinical sites across the Bay Area and has hired consultants to help it figure out the regulatory pathways." An Apple representative declined to comment.

Google's parent company, Alphabet, has a company Verily that is working on a contact lens that could monitor glucose levels, but its efforts have been delayed. Others have long pursued less invasive options, also without much success.

Why it matters: Adding truly compelling health features, such as this, could make the Apple Watch much more than just a pricey accessory.

An arbitration panel has ordered Qualcomm to pay BlackBerry nearly $815 million, plus interest and attorneys' fees, in a contract dispute over royalty payments.

In a statement, Qualcomm said the issue was limited to its agreement with BlackBerry.

While Qualcomm does not agree with the decision, it is binding and not appealable. The arbitration decision was limited to prepayment provisions unique to BlackBerry's license agreement with Qualcomm and has no impact on agreements with any other licensee.

Why it matters: It's just another legal headache for Qualcomm, which is also dealing with a massive battle with Apple, one of its biggest customers, as well as antitrust inquiries in the U.S. and elsewhere.

One of the key signature features of Samsung's Galaxy S8, its Bixby voice assistant, won't work out of the box, when the device goes on sale later this month. Other parts of Bixby, including its visual search and reminder abilities, will ship at launch, a Samsung representative told Axios in a statement.

Key features of Bixby, including Vision, Home and Reminder, will be available with the global launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 on April 21. Bixby Voice will be available in the U.S. on the Galaxy S8 later this spring.

The company declined to say why the voice assistant feature was being delayed. However, in demos for Axios and others, it failed to work properly.

Why it matters: Next to the edge-to-edge screen, Bixby was probably the most talked about feature of the new smartphone, and the delay of the voice feature indicates Samsung has quite a bit of work to do in its effort to take on Siri, Alexa and Google assistant. It also adds to questions whether a company known mostly for its hardware can compete in software and services.

Uber's PR chief, Rachel Whetstone, is leaving the ride-hailing company, as Recode first reported and Uber confirmed to Axios. Whetstone joined Uber in 2015 as its head of communications and policy, having previously worked at Google.

Senior VP Jill Hazelbaker, Whetstone's top deputy, will take over the job of leading a 300-person team, according to memo from CEO Travis Kalanick obtained by Recode. Whetstone's last day is today.

Why it matters: Whetstone is only the latest Uber exec to leave the company in the last several weeks amid a string of controversies including an investigation into sexual harassment and sexism allegations. It's a tough time to be leading corporate PR, to be sure.

Plume, the maker of a sleek Wi-Fi network extender that can be operated via smartphone app, has raised $27.5 million in a new VC funding round that could total $37.5 million, according to an SEC filing.

Big cable: Comcast led the round, per a source familiar with the situation, as reflected by a filing note that Comcast executive Tyson Marian has joined Plume's board of directors. The cable giant's interest isn't surprising: In January, at the annual CES convention, Comcast touted a new cloud-based Wi-Fi hub to help its Xfinity customers manage their Internet service and connected home devices.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup previously raised funding from Jackson Square Ventures, Spark Capital and Liberty Global Ventures. Competitors include Eero, Luma, and Google's OnHub router.

Update: Plume confirmed the new funding and that Marian has joined the board, though it declined to comment on participating investors.

Note: Comcast is an investor in Axios though NBCUniversal.

A majority of the most-engaged partisan Facebook pages are left-leaning or affiliated with Trump resistance movements, according to NewsWhip, a social analytics measurement company. The firm looked at the engagement (likes, comments, shares) of partisan pages in Trump's first full month as president. Even more telling is that most of the left-leaning pages are out-performing some of the most trafficked news competitors in overall engagement.

Why it matters: The same Facebook tactics used by conservatives to fuel an anti-establishment movement during the election are now being used by the left to fuel an anti-Trump movement.

Data: Newswhip; Chart: Lazaro Gamio / Axios

Qualcomm formally responded to a lawsuit from Apple on Monday, rejecting the iPhone maker's claims and launching its own countersuit. (Sources had told Recode that a countersuit was likely.) Among Qualcomm's charges are that Apple:

• Breached agreements and mischaracterized agreements and negotiations with Qualcomm;
• Interfered with agreements that Qualcomm had with the contract manufacturers who build Apple's iPads and iPhones
• Encouraged various government regulatory agencies around the world to launch inquires against Qualcomm "by misrepresenting facts and making false statements"
• Qualcomm also said Apple chose not to utilize the full capability of Qualcomm's modem chip in the iPhone 7, while also misleading people on the performance difference between its modem and a rival chip from Intel and then threatened Qualcomm to try to prevent it from making its own performance claims.

The background: Apple sued Qualcomm for $1 billion in January, saying the chipmaker was overcharging for use of its patented technology and failing to make required payments. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm in January in the waning days of the Obama Administration, charging it violated antitrust law. As part of its response, Qualcomm maintains Apple's complaints to regulators released the company of its obligation to make certain payments.