Waymo says Uber knew about Levandowski's bad behavior all along, Facebook tests ways to stop people downloading your photos and more in The Daily Crunch for June 22, 2017. 1. Waymo says Uber's ex-CEO knew about engineer possessing Google data Waymo has filed a motion noting that Uber itself claims former CEO Travis Kalanick and others were aware that Anthony Levandowski had five discs with Google info on them prior to the Otto acquisition. This isn't necessarily damning, as it's not clear what that info was, but it might be grounds enough for the judge in the case to reconsider Waymo's requests.
2. Facebook testing anti-Catfish methods Well it's not just about Catfishing, and it's designed primarily for the Indian market right now, but it does attempt to stop people from downloading a user's profile pic and sharing it around, or from taking a screenshot of said pic, too – that last thing is Android only. Sounds like it could be an interesting way to try to protect privacy. 3. Etsy to cut 15 percent of staff Have we had enough twee crafts? Etsy, the online marketplace for mostly hand-made goods, has to cut around 15 percent of its current workforce, another downsizing after one in May. Most of the cuts hit marketing and general admin, and Etsy is putting the brakes on some of their brand marketing efforts as a result. 4. VC Bill Gurley leaving Uber board Rarely does a company have so thorough a cleansing of house at the top: Latest to depart is Uber board member Bill Gurley, who going to be replaced by Matt Cohler, another Benchmark partner who was a key part of the final effort to remove Kalanick, according to reports. 5. Trump could sink the startup visa before it launches The so-called startup visa was finally set to go into effect on July 17, but Donald Trump's administration could kill it before that happens. This is why we can't have nice things. 6. Apple wants to clean up the App Store The App Store is huge, and huge means hard to curate. Apple still wants to make it a nicer place to shop and visit, however, and will seek to do so by cleaning up low-rent clones and other junk. 7. Amazon's Echo Show now has support for video doorbells and security cameras This is smart, since I still find myself wondering why I'd want a screen on an Echo: New integration for the Echo Show, which ships next week, will allow it to tie into video cameras and video doorbells to broadcast live feeds. It's a video intercom now, basically, which is fantastic. |