| Microsoft says it's time for a facial recognition code of conduct, IBM sells Lotus Notes and Apple acquires a music distribution startup. Here's your Daily Crunch for December 7, 2018. 1. Microsoft calls on companies to adopt a facial recognition code of conduct Over the summer, Microsoft President Brad Smith called for governments to take a closer look at how facial detection technology is being implemented across the globe. This week, he returned with a similar message — only this time the executive is calling out fellow technology purveyors to address myriad issues around the technology before it becomes too pervasive. It's easy enough to suggest that the ship has sailed, but the governments of the world can't wait to implement the tech in a broader way — and plenty of tech firms are more than happy to help. 
2. IBM selling Lotus Notes/Domino business to HCL for $1.8B The company is selling the final components from its 1995 acquisition of Lotus to Indian firm HCL. IBM paid $3.5 billion for Lotus back in the day. 3. Apple acquired Platoon, a platform for musicians to create and distribute work The London-based startup works with musicians and other creators to produce, distribute and sell their work, using analytics to source talent and figure out the best way to target and market that content: the modern-day tech equivalent of A&R services. 4. Google partners with media outlets to provide on-demand news audio Brian Heater says getting news in the morning has become his most used feature on Google Assistant, and Google has been promising to make it better. 5. MoviePass announces new pricing plans for 2019 If you like paying $9.95, don't worry: You'll still be able to do that (at least in some geographies). If, on the other hand, you're willing to pay a little more, you'll no longer be limited by the ever-changing list of movies that MoviePass is supporting on a given day. 6. TikTok parent ByteDance said to raise $1.45 billion for AI and content The Chinese startup has set off an aggressive global expansion that saw it merge teen video app Musical.ly into TikTok (which had 100 million and 500 million users, respectively). The upstart has compelled Tencent to up the ante in short videos and Facebook to make a clone. 7. The next Avengers movie has a title and a cryptic first trailer After months of cryptic hints, Marvel has finally revealed that the next Avengers movie will be called... "Endgame." | 
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