Facebook policy executive Joel Kaplan's attendance at Brett Kavanaugh's testimony last week sparked a firestorm inside the company, Mike Isaac reports in the New York Times.
Our thought bubble: The reaction is another example of the kind of turmoil Silicon Valley companies face when leaders make choices that clash with values held by many in their workforce.
Of the 690 million registered mobile-money accounts worldwide, 50% are in Africa. In Zimbabwe and Somalia, for example, both countries that have experienced decades of economic isolation and political unrest, mobile money is ubiquitous and central to economic activity.
The big picture: While Apple Pay and other mobile-money platforms have been slow to grow in the U.S., with only 20%–30% of iPhone users enabling Apple Pay, a cashless economy has taken hold in unexpected places. In Africa, a continent all too often mislabeled as relatively undeveloped, major innovations are taking root and scaling quickly.
Once again, Uber is providing free rides to the polls on Election Day next month to some voters, but this year it's got something new: a button that will find any passenger's designated polling location based on the home address they provide.
Why it matters: Voting is still a complicated process today — people need to register, figure out where to go and actually get there.
Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday that Google should "immediately end development of the 'Dragonfly' app [for the Chinese search market] that will strengthen Communist Party censorship and compromise the privacy of Chinese customers," per Reuters.
The big picture: Google's reported look at re-entering the Chinese search market has become a flashpoint for the company in Washington, with lawmakers expressing concerns about the project. Google has said it's not close to launching a search product in China.
While virtual reality headsets let you look and move around in a fictional world, VR hasn't yet been able to give users tactile experiences.
Several startups are working on that, and I've had the chance to try out a few over the past several months. One of them is created by Seattle-based HaptX, which officially launched Wednesday.
Siri or Alexa can get you the weather, but don’t expect a conversation. Neither can chatbots (once the next big thing) hold a back-and-forth. But researchers are now developing systems that leapfrog chit-chat to the next frontier: They can argue and play devil's advocate.
Why it matters: Whenever artificial intelligence reaches an advanced stage, far beyond current capabilities, researchers want machines that humans can converse knowledgeably with, and can explain how they reach their conclusions.
Verizon Communications offered buyout packages to as many as 44,000 management employees last month in an effort to cut costs, potentially eliminating more than a fourth of its workforce, per The Wall Street Journal.
The details: Verizon, which had 153,100 employees worldwide at the end of June, aims to cut $10 billion in costs as it also foots the bill for upgrading to new 5G networks. Employees eligible for the severance packages were offered three weeks’ pay for each year of service, up to a 60-week maximum.
The details: Although Amazon employees may make more per hour, warehouse workers told Yahoo Finance that the company is removing perks and incentives — such as stock and bonus options — which will result in some employees ultimately losing money.
Facebook’s lead regulator in the European Union, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, opened an investigation into the massive cyberattack Facebook reported last week to see if the company was able "to ensure the security and safeguarding of the personal data it processes,” the DPC said in a statement per Reuters.
A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement that it will "continue to cooperate with" the investigation.
Why it matters: The investigation raises the prospect of penalties for Facebook under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's top official told the Wall Street Journal that it "does not comment on specific incidents or companies" on Wednesday.
Dan and Axios media reporter Sara Fischer discuss how the musicians, business leaders and Congress worked together to fix the digital music market:
"This seems to be a bipartisan win, win, win, which isn't what we see very often when it comes to Washington DC, let alone Washington's dealings with big tech."
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is still set on saving the world, but he's also got some side gigs, like helping launch a new social recommendation engine, called Likewise. The iOS and Android app is designed to be a place to get trusted recommendations on everything from restaurants to books to TV shows.
How it all started: The free app, which launches today, began as the brainchild of Larry Cohen, a longtime Gates aide who serves as CEO of Gates Ventures.
Honda is joining forces with GM and Cruise on a new autonomous vehicle to be built and sold in global markets.
Driving the news: The Japanese carmaker is committing $2.75 billion to the project over the next 12 years, including an immediate $750 million investment in Cruise, GM’s self-driving car unit. The transaction, on top of a recent $2.25 billion investment from SoftBank investments, puts Cruise’s valuation (if it were a stand-alone company) at $14.6 billion.
Bill Gates is not giving up on saving the world, but he is helping launch a new social recommendation engine. Likewise, as the iOS and Android app is known, is designed to be a place to get trusted recommendations on everything from restaurants to books, movies and TV shows.
Why it matters: It won't cure polio or fix the U.S. education system, but Likewise could fill a niche helping people keep track of the books and TV shows their friends recommend as well as to discover new places.
Trucking and supply chain service company XPO Logistics is adding as many as 5,000 robots in its warehouses, where XPO fulfills online orders for its retail clients and other shippers.
Why it matters: Although XPO already used robots alongside its warehouse employees, this is the biggest commitment it has made to automation. But CEO Bradley Jacobs tells Axios more robots will "help with employee recruitment and retention" and aid — not replace — its human workforce.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told HBO's "Vice News Tonight" that it’s time for the government to regulate privacy, even though regulation will be shaped by a Congress that’s not particularly tech-savvy:
"I'm not a pro-regulation kind of person. I believe in the free market deeply ... But I think you have to recognize when the free market doesn't produce the result that’s great for society. You have to ask yourself: What do we need to do? And I think some level of government regulation is important to come out of that."
