Axios

The rest of Uber's board is not happy that Uber investor (and board seat holder) Benchmark filed a lawsuit against Travis Kalanick, the company's former CEO, alleging he deceived the board when he made a move to gain control over more seats.

The Board of Directors is disappointed that a disagreement between shareholders has resulted in litigation. The Board has urged both parties to resolve the matter cooperatively and quickly, and the Board is taking steps to facilitate that process. At a time when thousands of employees around the world are working hard to serve our drivers and riders and continue to innovate, our priority remains to select Uber's new CEO as quickly as possible. We are fortunate to have several outstanding candidates who share our belief in Uber's great future.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Garrett Camp, Ryan Graves, Arianna Huffington, Wan Ling Martello, & David Trujillo

Why it matters: Now Uber is likely looking at a civil war on its board while it's trying to hire a CEO and keep the company going

During a West Coast swing that included visits to Google and Amazon this week, Defense Secretary James Mattis acknowledged in an interview with Wired that the Pentagon isn't keeping up with the tech industry when it comes to putting artificial intelligence to use. "It's got to be better integrated by the Department of Defense, because I see many of the greatest advances out here on the West Coast in private industry," he said.

Our thought bubble: It's pretty common for the federal government's tech efforts to lag behind the tech industry's fast pace of innovation. His predecessor in 2015 opened the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, which aims to foster collaboration between smaller tech companies and the Defense Department. Mattis said he wants to see the organization speed up the deployment of AI in the department. Trump's proposed budget would increase funding for it, but cuts the budget of the National Science Foundation, which supports AI research.

Facebook has signed off on a new photo-sharing app in China through a local company, the New York Times reports — absent any public ties to the tech giant. The Times published screen shots of the app, called Colorful Balloons, that looks similar to Facebook's Moments app.

Why it matters: Tech companies want in on the Chinese market, but that comes with rules — including an infamous censorship regime. Facebook has been trying to penetrate the country, with Zuckerberg learning Mandarin and making entreaties to officials. But its relationship with China remains complicated: China announced that Facebook-owned WhatsApp would be blocked in the country a few weeks ago. Facebook was banned in China in 2009.

Our thought bubble: The big question for companies here is whether they're willing to adhere to local regulations around the world even when they conflict with American norms.

A group of Uber investors has asked that venture capital firm Benchmark step down from the company's board of directors, Axios has learned. It also wants Benchmark to divest enough shares so as to no longer have board appointment rights, claiming to have enough investor interest to handle more than a $6 billion sale. The move comes one day after Benchmark sued former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick for fraud, in an attempt to have him removed from the board.

Benchmark has not yet responded to a request for comment.

• Details: The shareholder group communicated its request via a petition-style email sent earlier this morning to other Uber investors and its board of directors, which has a meeting scheduled for today. Its basic argument is that Benchmark's action only complicates the company's already-troubled search for a new CEO, and effectively violates Benchmark's fiduciary duty to the company.
• Who signed the request? Shervin Pishevar (Sherpa Capital, although signed as an individual), Ron Burkle (Yucaipa Cos) and Adam Leber (Maverick).
• Why it matters: It was shocking enough for a major venture capital firm to sue the CEO of a highly-valuable portfolio company. For other VC firms to then make this sort of counter-move against a peer is similarly unprecedented. It's a brave new world in Silicon Valley.

App developers in China have filed a complaint against Apple with Chinese regulators, claiming antitrust violations against the tech giant's alleged unexplained removal of apps from the App Store and a refusal to communicate regarding issues with developers in Chinese, per the WSJ.

• Apple's response: The company told WSJ that most Chinese submissions to the App Store get approved within 48 hours, reiterating that all of its guidelines apply equally across the world.
• Why it matters: The complaint comes at a fraught time for Apple in China, as it attempts to both maintain its foothold in its massive market and comply with the Chinese government's online scrutiny and censorship — highlighted by its recent removal of VPN apps from the App Store used to bypass the nation's Great Firewall.

Among the many opinions of the infamous "Google memo" that surfaced last weekend, one notable commentator is social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, whom, coincidentally, the memo's author has cited as an influence in interviews.

• Tackling the memo's claims about gender differences and tech jobs, Haidt and Heterodox Academy colleague Sean Stephens parsed relevant meta-analyses, "which are studies that integrate the findings from many other studies."
• The most striking part of their conclusions: "Population differences in interest may be part of the explanation for why there are fewer women in the applicant pool, but the women who choose to enter the pool are just as capable as the larger number of men in the pool."
• Another key conclusion: "This distinction between ability and interest is extremely important because it may lay to rest one of the main fears raised by Damore's critics: that the memo itself will cause Google employees to assume that women are less qualified, or less "suited" for tech jobs, and will therefore lead to more bias against women in tech jobs."

Toyota and Intel — in a tense race to own what they see as a gigantic future self-driving industry — have announced yet another new international consortium in order to beat their rivals to the perceived prize.

The new group — which also includes Swiss telecoms company Ericsson and Japanese auto parts maker Denso — seeks to standardize a system to handle an extraordinary expected leap in data created by self-driving vehicles and services like realtime mapping apps, and stored in the cloud.

In a statement yesterday, Toyota forecast that the volume of data to be transmitted between vehicles and the cloud will grow by 10,000 times over the next eight years — to 10 exabytes per month, equal to 10 billion gigabytes.

Why it matters: The announcement is yet another sign of a frenzy around an uncertain yet broadly accepted forecast: that the world's roads will soon be zooming with autonomously driven vehicles. It is a given that light autonomous vehicles — able to stay in freeway lanes, warn of impending accidents, and park themselves — will be here soon. What is not knowable is when fully autonomous cars will be here — in five years, or more like two decades or longer. Until they are, such partnerships may be premature.

Democratic lawmakers are joining the vocal critics of an internal memo at Google that claimed women aren't naturally suited to tech jobs:

• The memo written by engineer James Damore "highlights how far the tech community needs to go to address gender and racial stereotypes," said Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents part of Silicon Valley.
• Four other Democratic House members wrote a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai praising the decision to fire Damore. "We ask that Google remain committed to aggressively promoting a culture of diversity and inclusion in its workforce, and address our concerns in an expeditious manner," they wrote.

The bigger picture: What started as an internal memo has become a political debate. Democrats are pushing Silicon Valley to double down on its efforts to increase diversity in its workforce. Meanwhile conservatives are upset that Google decided to fire Damore — something they see as more evidence of Silicon Valley's left-leaning bias. Google declined to comment.

Ryan Graves, Uber's first employee and original CEO, has resigned from his current post as VP of operations, according to an email sent to employees on Thursday and obtained by Axios.

• Despite stepping down from an operational role, Graves will remain on Uber's board of directors, which has been searching for a new CEO since the June resignation of Travis Kalanick.
• Graves wrote in reference to the company's current search for a CEO: "My hope is that ensuring my transition is known and planned for well before our board's decision on CEO it will help to make it clear to our team and to our new leader that I will be there to support however I can."
• This is a bit surprising given that Uber sources had recently referred to Graves as re-engaged in Uber operations, after having been viewed as largely absent in the months leading up to Kalanick's resignation.

Taking advantage of rival Uber's ongoing challenges (it's currently rushing to hire a new CEO and a slew of other execs), ride-hailing company Lyft has acquired two companies, YesGraph and DataScore, to boost its market growth.

What's in it for Lyft: Despite its claims of rapid growth, Lyft is still a distant No. 2 to rival Uber as far as market size. But with a recent injection of funds and a competitor currently distracted by internal matters, this may be its opportunity to use a heavy dose of tech to get ahead.

The companies: Founded in 2012 and with more than $2.30 million in total funding, YesGraph has built tools for app referrals best on a user's phone contacts. Lyft says that YesGraph's technology will help it improve its driver referral program—meaning helping it get better at recruiting new drivers. Then there's DataScore, which was founded in 2013, and provides consulting services and tools for customer growth to startups. Lyft declined to disclose the acquisition prices.

Anthony Scaramucci seemingly alleged on Twitter last night that The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza had recorded him without his permission, calling him "the Linda Tripp of 2017. People know. And he is up at night not being able to live with himself." In this analogy, The Mooch inadvertently compared himself to Monica Lewinsky, who then responded to his tweet this morning:

Think back: Linda Tripp was a civil servant who befriended Monica Lewinsky in the early 1990s when they worked together at the Pentagon, eventually secretly recording phone conversations with Lewinsky where she described a sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton.

One of Facebook's most underrated acquisitions is Onavo, which it bought in 2013. The company was highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal report on how Facebook, to maintain its influence over the years, has been vigilantly acquiring or copying potential threats to its own products.

Why it matters: Facebook is notorious for building copycat apps and features in an attempt to stifle up-and-coming social media services, though its standalone apps have largely flopped. A year ago, it made headlines when Instagram, which it owns, released a copy of "Stories," one of ephemeral messaging app Snapchat's signature features. Since there, some have speculated that Instagram has successfully stolen some of Snapchat's users—a problem for newly-public parent company Snap.

Facebook is rolling out "Watch," a new platform for original and licensed TV-like programming on Facebook — available on mobile, desktop and in TV apps. Facebook will partner with digital websites, sports leagues and personalities to deliver live and scripted programming. (See what shows they're announcing below.)

The aesthetic of the new feature undoubtedly riffs off of rival Snapchat's successful mobile video platform, Discover, but here's how it's different:

• More personalized: Facebook's platform will be organized by themes and personalized the same way the News Feed is personalized — around family, friends and interests, to help users discover new content.
• More social engagement: It will allow for comments and reactions so users can engage with each other, and it will show you what your friends are watching
• Accessible on TV: It will be accessible via a TV app and multi-device as opposed to Snapchat which is mobile-only.

Our thought bubble: From the TV/multi-device perspective, "Watch" seems like it could be more of a competitor to YouTube than perhaps anything else. It will include both long and short-form content and will feature a range of highly-produced to low-cost content.

Why it matters: Facebook is officially going after the TV market. It will offer users access to TV-like shows that they can watch on any screen, and it will allow Facebook to win over ad dollars typically spent on cable and broadcast. It's also another copycat feature that will likely slow Snapchat's user growth and audience engagement.

Shows:

• Nas Daily will be a daily show where Nas makes videos together with his fans from around the world.
• Gabby Bernstein, a New York Times bestselling author, and motivational speaker will use a combination of recorded and live episodes to connect with fans and answer questions in real time.
• Tastemade's Kitchen Little that will feature a new child, a new chef, and a new recipe each episode.
• League Baseball is broadcasting a live game weekly on Facebook.

A number of digital sites, like Quartz, Cheddar, Buzzfeed and The Atlantic, have also announced that they are going to be running video content on the platform. Here's what we know about their shows:

• Quartz will be presenting several shows that follow compelling characters and groundbreaking science shaping the future of the global economy.
• The Atlantic is creating two new video series for Facebook's Watch platform that will release this fall. They also expect to make other Atlantic Studios content -- like their regular series like You Are Here and Unpresidented, or longer documentaries -- available on Watch.
• Cheddar announced that it will have a Show Page on Facebook's new Watch platform that will be rolled out to users in the coming weeks.