The Information

Huawei ads in Beijing. Photo by Bloomberg

Huawei’s Deep Ties to U.S. Researchers Face Backlash

By Juro Osawa and Matt Drange · Dec 11, 2018 12:44pm PST

Professor Song-Chun Zhu of UCLA is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer vision. He has won numerous grants, including from the Pentagon—and more recently from Huawei Technologies. Now, Mr. Zhu, who has already received one-third of the $450,000 Huawei grant, says he doesn’t want to accept the rest because of the... Professor Song-Chun Zhu of UCLA is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer...

A still image taken from an ABC TV station, showing the self-driving car that hit a pedestrian in Tempe, Ariz., last March. Photo by AP

The Uber Whistleblower’s Email

By Amir Efrati · Dec 10, 2018 4:00pm PST

Below is Robbie Miller’s March 13 email to Eric Meyhofer, Jon Thomason and several others, including two in-house lawyers. Below is Robbie Miller’s March 13 email to Eric Meyhofer, Jon Thomason and several others,...

An Uber self-driving car being tested in Arizona in February. Photo by AP

How an Uber Whistleblower Tried to Stop Self-Driving Car Disaster

By Amir Efrati · Dec 10, 2018 4:00pm PST · 5 comments

Five days before an Uber self-driving car prototype killed a pedestrian in Arizona last March, a manager in Uber’s autonomous vehicle unit warned the group’s top executives that the software powering the company’s prototype robotaxis was dangerous. He also warned that the human back-up drivers in the vehicles weren’t... Five days before an Uber self-driving car prototype killed a pedestrian in Arizona last March, a...

Mark Zuckerberg, Brad Smith and Bill Gates. Photos AP; Bloomberg

To Rebuild Trust, Facebook’s Zuckerberg Looked to Microsoft

By Nick Wingfield · Dec 10, 2018 7:02am PST · 1 comment

Mark Zuckerberg, Brad Smith and Bill Gates. Photos AP; Bloomberg

To Rebuild Trust, Facebook’s Zuckerberg Looked to Microsoft

By Nick Wingfield · Dec 10, 2018 7:02am PST · 1 comment

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants advice, he occasionally turns to a kindred figure: Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist. Recently, Mr. Gates suggested to Mr. Zuckerberg that Facebook consider hiring someone with a profile like that of Brad Smith, the president and chief legal officer at Microsoft, a lawyer... When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants advice, he occasionally turns to a kindred figure: Bill...

Lime scooters parked in South Bend, Ind. Photo: AP

Scooter Firm Chases Funding to Staunch Losses

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 9, 2018 9:05pm PST · 5 comments

Investors in Lime were surprised this spring that the startup already had spent much of the $70 million it had raised only a few months earlier. The company was trying to shift quickly from running a bike-share business to one focused on electric scooters, and needed to buy thousands of the vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter.... Investors in Lime were surprised this spring that the startup already had spent much of the $70...

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf at an event in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday. Photo by Bloomberg

Qualcomm Lays Off 269 Employees, Mostly in Data Center Business

By Aaron Tilley · Dec 7, 2018 11:31am PST · 1 comment

Qualcomm is laying off 269 employees at its offices in Raleigh, N.C. and San Diego, mostly in its faltering data center unit, according to documents reviewed by The Information. Only around 50 employees remain in the data center unit, down from nearly 1,000 employees earlier this year, said one person with knowledge of the situation.The layoffs... Qualcomm is laying off 269 employees at its offices in Raleigh, N.C. and San Diego, mostly in its...

Google Cloud's outgoing CEO Diane Greene and Tencent CEO Pony Ma. Photos by Bloomberg.

Google and Tencent Secretly Explore Cloud-Computing Cooperation

By Juro Osawa · Dec 7, 2018 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Google is secretly exploring ways to use Tencent as a proxy for Google Cloud in China, where the U.S. company doesn’t operate its own cloud-computing business, people familiar with the matter said. If the project moves forward, corporate customers using Google Cloud’s software tools and services outside China—for tasks ranging... Google is secretly exploring ways to use Tencent as a proxy for Google Cloud in China, where the...

Logos of some of the apps produced by ByteDance.
Photo by Imaginechina via AP Images

ByteDance in Talks to Raise $1.45 Billion for Startup Shopping Spree

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Dec 6, 2018 11:58pm PST

Logos of some of the apps produced by ByteDance.
Photo by Imaginechina via AP Images

ByteDance in Talks to Raise $1.45 Billion for Startup Shopping Spree

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Dec 6, 2018 11:58pm PST

China’s ByteDance, the world’s most valuable startup worth $75 billion, is in talks to raise the equivalent of more than $1 billion for its first venture fund to invest in artificial intelligence and media content, people familiar with the matter said. The Beijing-based company, whose popular video app TikTok is growing... China’s ByteDance, the world’s most valuable startup worth $75 billion, is in talks...

What Airbnb’s New Guard Faces Ahead of IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 6, 2018 7:01am PST · 2 comments

As Airbnb prepares to go public, its strengths and weaknesses are coming into focus. A previously shorthanded executive team has been reinforced with veterans from Amazon, creating new power centers inside the company, as our new org chart shows. The company’s home-sharing business has become more popular with lucrative business travelers.... As Airbnb prepares to go public, its strengths and weaknesses are coming into focus. A previously...

A Google Export Experience Center, known until recently as a Google AdWords Experience Center, in Shanghai in 2016. Photo by AP

How the Chinese Government Is Helping Google Sell Ads in China

By Wayne Ma · Dec 5, 2018 7:01am PST

On the 20th floor of a nondescript office building in China’s southern boomtown of Shenzhen, employees from small businesses such as electronic-component makers can often be seen in a colorful bright office checking out big TV screens displaying Google Search, Gmail and YouTube—which are otherwise blocked in China. They are in one of... On the 20th floor of a nondescript office building in China’s southern boomtown of...

A technician works with Rethink's Baxter at The Rodon Group manufacturing facility in 2013. Photo by AP.

How Robotics Maker Rethink Crashed and Burned

By Kevin McLaughlin · Dec 4, 2018 10:00am PST · 1 comment

A few years ago, Rethink Robotics was hailed as a revolutionary company that would change the course of industrial robots. Featured on the cover of Time magazine in 2015, the company raised $150 million in financing from backers such as Jeff Bezos and Goldman Sachs at a valuation that reached $291 million.Its relatively low-cost machines were... A few years ago, Rethink Robotics was hailed as a revolutionary company that would change the...

A collection of Bird electric scooters in Detroit. Photo by Bloomberg

Uber Exploring Deal to Buy Bird or Lime

By Amir Efrati, Juro Osawa and Cory Weinberg · Nov 30, 2018 9:10pm PST

A collection of Bird electric scooters in Detroit. Photo by Bloomberg

Uber Exploring Deal to Buy Bird or Lime

By Amir Efrati, Juro Osawa and Cory Weinberg · Nov 30, 2018 9:10pm PST

Uber has held talks recently with electric scooter rental startup Bird to acquire the company in what could be a multibillion-dollar deal, said several people briefed on the discussions. But Uber is considering another option: The company has also recently held acquisition talks with the scooter company, Lime, said one of the people. While Uber... Uber has held talks recently with electric scooter rental startup Bird to acquire the company in...

A publicity photo from Lady Gaga's collaboration with Intel. Photo by Intel

Intel Pulls Back From In-House Ad Agency

By Aaron Tilley · Nov 29, 2018 6:34pm PST · 1 comment

In recent years, the chip giant Intel sought to burnish its brand with a series of whimsical marketing antics—from a light show at the 2018 Winter Olympics consisting of Intel drones to a collaboration with Lady Gaga, who performed at the 2016 Grammy Awards with dancing robotic arms and interactive holograms.Now Intel is sharply scaling... In recent years, the chip giant Intel sought to burnish its brand with a series of whimsical...

Art by Danielle Davis

Sidewalk Labs’ Grand Vision Meets Reality in Toronto

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 29, 2018 8:31am PST

Sidewalk Labs executives were full of ambition two years ago when they pitched their parent company, Alphabet, more than 600 pages of plans for building a city neighborhood from scratch. The 2016 proposal, which Sidewalk described as preliminary, was designed to stretch the conventions of urban planning, proposing things like enclosing the newly... Sidewalk Labs executives were full of ambition two years ago when they pitched their parent...

Mic CEO Chris Altchek. Photo by Flickr/Ole Bader.

Mic’s Anticipated Sale Price Less Than $10 Million

By Tom Dotan · Nov 29, 2018 6:41am PST · 5 comments

Bustle is nearing a deal to buy millennial news site Mic for less than $10 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. That price, which hasn’t previously been reported, would be a massive discount to Mic’s last reported valuation in 2017, when it was said to have raised money at a valuation in the hundreds of millions... Bustle is nearing a deal to buy millennial news site Mic for less than $10 million, according to...

Reversal of Fortune: Didi Chuxing on the Defensive

By Yunan Zhang · Nov 27, 2018 3:40pm PST

Reversal of Fortune: Didi Chuxing on the Defensive

By Yunan Zhang · Nov 27, 2018 3:40pm PST

Last year, when Uber was grappling with a series of controversies that led to the ouster of founder Travis Kalanick, the president of China’s ride-hailing behemoth Didi Chuxing, Jean Liu, was being touted as an executive role model. What a difference a year makes. Even as a new CEO at Uber has calmed the waters at that company, Didi has... Last year, when Uber was grappling with a series of controversies that led to the ouster of...

A Waymo van in Phoenix. Photo by Waymo

Waymo’s Cars Play It Safer After Incidents and ‘Driver Fatigue’

By Amir Efrati · Nov 27, 2018 7:01am PST · 2 comments

Waymo has only weeks to meet its self-imposed deadline to launch a public taxi service using fully automated cars by the end of 2018. And right now, that deadline looks tough for the company to meet.The Information has learned that within the past month or so, due to concerns about safety, the Alphabet company put so-called “safety... Waymo has only weeks to meet its self-imposed deadline to launch a public taxi service using...

A Pony.ai car. Photo by AP

China’s Autonomous Driving Startups Join the Billion-Dollar Club

By Yunan Zhang · Nov 23, 2018 7:01am PST

In the race to develop autonomous cars, Silicon Valley companies like Alphabet’s Waymo are far ahead. But a wave of Chinese startups are raising of hundreds of millions of dollars to try to catch up. And these companies, including Pony.ai, Roadstar.ai, WeRide.ai and Momenta, have an edge: Their U.S. competitors may be shut out of the... In the race to develop autonomous cars, Silicon Valley companies like Alphabet’s Waymo are...

An Amazon Web Services event in San Francisco last year. Photo by Bloomberg

AWS to Expand Security Offerings With Threat-Hunting Tool

By Kevin McLaughlin, Sarah Kuranda and Amir Efrati · Nov 21, 2018 3:53pm PST

Amazon’s cloud unit is working on two new services to help customers identify security threats, as the company steps up its use of artificial intelligence to protect customers’ applications and data, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter and two people briefed on the cloud unit’s plans. Both of the new... Amazon’s cloud unit is working on two new services to help customers identify security...

Apple's TV streaming box. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Considered New Connected TV ‘Dongle’

By Aaron Tilley and Jessica Toonkel · Nov 21, 2018 12:24pm PST

Apple's TV streaming box. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Considered New Connected TV ‘Dongle’

By Aaron Tilley and Jessica Toonkel · Nov 21, 2018 12:24pm PST

To get more viewers for its upcoming TV streaming service, Apple has contemplated going downmarket on its TV hardware. The tech giant has had internal discussions about introducing a low-priced streaming “dongle” that people could plug into the back of their TV sets, similar to Amazon’s Fire Stick or Google’s Chromecast,... To get more viewers for its upcoming TV streaming service, Apple has contemplated going...