Thursday, January 31, 2019

Facebook beats Wall Street estimates

THE DAILY CRUNCH
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31 2019 By Anthony Ha

Facebook has a strong Q4, Intel announces a new CEO and New York is cracking down on companies that sell fake followers. Here's your Daily Crunch for January 31, 2019.

1. Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

Facebook managed to beat Wall Street's estimates in its Q4 earnings despite a seemingly constant beatdown in the press.

The company said it hit 2.32 billion monthly users, up 2.2 percent from 2.27 billion last quarter, speeding up its growth rate. And it earned $16.91 billion off all those users, with $2.38 in GAAP earnings per share.

2. Robert Swan named Intel CEO

Half a year after being named interim CEO, Bob Swan is taking the job full-time. He stepped into the interim role as word emerged of then-CEO Brian Krzanich's "past consensual relationship" with an employee.

3. New York cracks down on companies that sell fake followers

The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James has reached a settlement with Devumi, a company that made millions selling fake followers to unsuspecting customers. The state of New York found that Devumi had engaged in illegal deception and illegal impersonation in the course of fluffing up social media profiles with its automated accounts.

4. Google will stop peddling a data collector through Apple's back door

It looks like Facebook wasn't the only one abusing Apple's system for distributing employee-only apps to sidestep the App Store and collect extensive data on users.

5. Google+ for consumers will shut down on April 2nd

Speaking of Google: It's no secret that the company planned to pull life support from the consumer version of Google+ in April. Until now, though, we didn't know the exact date.

6. Cheap Internet of Things gadgets betray you even after you toss them in the trash

It's not just while they're plugged in that these slapdash gadgets are a security risk — even from the garbage can, they can still compromise your network.

7. Hulu announces a new ad unit that appears when you pause

Yes, Hulu is introducing an ad unit that will show up when you pause a video. But no, the ad won't be a video.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Apple bans Facebook Research app

THE DAILY CRUNCH
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 2019 By Anthony Ha

Facebook gets in hot water over its Research app, Foxconn scales back its U.S. factory commitment and TikTok continues to grow like crazy. Here's your Daily Crunch for January 30, 2019.

1. Apple bans Facebook's Research app that paid users for data

In the wake of TechCrunch's investigation, Apple blocked Facebook's Research VPN app before the social network could voluntarily shut it down.

The Research app asked users for root network access to all data passing through their phone in exchange for $20 per month. Apple says that yesterday evening, it revoked the Enterprise Certificate that allows Facebook to distribute the Research app without going through the App Store.

darkened facebook logo

2. Foxconn pulls back on its $10 billion factory commitment

In 2017, Foxconn announced the largest investment of a foreign company in the United States when it selected Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin for a new manufacturing facility. In an interview with Reuters, a special assistant to Foxconn's CEO says that those plans are being scaled back.

3. It's time to pay serious attention to TikTok

The short-form video app hailing from Beijing's ByteDance just had its biggest month ever with the addition of 75 million new users in December — a 275 percent increase from the 20 million it added in December 2017, according a recent report from Sensor Tower.

4. Apple's global active install base of iPhones surpassed 900 million this quarter

It's not surprising that Apple has a massive active install base of iPhones across the globe, but we now finally have an exact number to put behind it.

5. Amex blocks Curve as the fintech startup vows to fight 'anti-competitive' decision

Just 36 hours after Curve, the London fintech that lets you consolidate all of your bank cards into a single Curve card, re-instated support for Amex, the feature has once again been unceremoniously blocked by American Express.

6. AT&T misses on revenue for Q4 2018

AT&T has added 134,000 postpaid phone subscribers over the quarter (analysts had expected more). Revenue is up 15.2 percent year over year, but that's mostly due to AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner.

7. Sinemia drops ticket subscription prices, adds rollover feature

Beginning this week, one-ticket-a-month plans start at $4 per month — down two bucks from before. The price also includes a new rollover feature, letting subscribers carry over one unused ticket per month.

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