Charlotte Henry

Google removed third-party apps that guided people to WhatsApp groups sharing child pornography after a Techcrunch report highlighted the issue. In a powerful follow-up, the site revealed how Google and Facebook’s advertising networks inadvertently helped finance the apps and the associated WhatsApp groups.

New research provided exclusively to TechCrunch by anti-harassment algorithm startup AntiToxin shows that these removed apps that hosted links to child porn sharing rings on WhatsApp were supported with ads run by Google and Facebook’s ad networks. AntiToxin found six of these apps ran Google AdMob, one ran Google Firebase, two ran Facebook Audience Network and one ran StartApp. These ad networks earned a cut of brands’ marketing spend while allowing the apps to monetize and sustain their operations by hosting ads for Amazon, Microsoft, Motorola, Sprint, Sprite, Western Union, Dyson, DJI, Gett, Yandex Music, Q Link Wireless, Tik Tok and more.

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering an executive order that will declare a national emergency and block the use of equipment by Chinese telecommunications firms Huawei and ZTE. An exclusive report by Reuters said that the order is unlikely to name the two companies explicitly but will be understood to authorize reduce the use of their equipment.

The executive order, which has been under consideration for more than eight months, could be issued as early as January and would direct the Commerce Department to block U.S. companies from buying equipment from foreign telecommunications makers that pose significant national security risks, sources from the telecoms industry and the administration said.

The past 12 months have been significant in the world of open source software. Some of the world’s biggest tech companies, such as Microsoft and IBM, dived headfirst into the field. However, as Wired notes, Linux creator Linus Torvalds apology for years of alleged unprofessional conduct underlined that “open source still has some growing up to do” as well.

“It’s not that these companies are new to open source. AT&T, for example, released an open source AI platformlast year. But it’s still a big deal to see Microsoft, which pioneered the modern software industry, and IBM, tech’s most venerable company, go all in on open source. This year’s acquisitions are significant risks for the two companies. If Microsoft alienates GitHub users, it could lose the goodwill it has built in the developer community in recent years. And $34 billion is a lot of money even for a behemoth like IBM. The companies’ willingness to take on these risks signals that they see open source not as a fad or an adjunct but as a core part of how companies will make software in the future.

Apple made a number of interesting acquisitions during 2018. 9to5Mac put together a useful round-up of all the deals that were made public. The purchases of song-identification service Shazam and media-aggregation app Texture stood out for me. However, deals in the areas of data, analytics, and AI were also highly significant and hinted at Apple’s future direction.

Over the course of a year, it’s easy to forget about the numerous deals a company the size of Apple makes – and there are likely more deals that have already been made behind the scenes but haven’t yet become public. Apple’s landmark deals of 2018 include its acquisitions of Texture and Shazam, as well as its $600 million deal with Dialog. The smaller acquisitions, however, indicate Apple’s evolving interest in data, analytics, AI, and much more.

The China Business Times reported that there will be two low-priced iPad models launched in 2019. AppleInsider picked up on the speculation. It reported that a new, low cost,  7.9 inch iPad will be released in the first of half the year. This all seems entirely possible. After all, the iPad Mini has not been updated since September 2015. But before users get too excited, the report also pointed out that “while the China Business Times has a good track record with supply chain information, like the iPad display panel topic, it has a poor track record in predicting Apple’s future product plans.”

China Business Times sources claim Apple will be launching two low-priced models of the iPad in 2019. It is alleged Apple is doing so because it saw “outstanding results” for the 2017 9.7-inch iPad followed by a sales decline, allegedly due to it not releasing a “new low-priced iPad” in 2018, though the launch of the 2018 iPad in March suggests this means the fiscal 2018 rather than calendar year.

The fall of Uber’s founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick was nearly as dramatic as his company’s rise. Mr. Kalanick quit as CEO in June, after a prolonged period of scandal. He tried to negotiate a graceful exit but, as Bloomberg Businessweek detailed, in the end, it was a typically chaotic departure.

Then, contrition period over, [Mr. Kalanick] got up, called a board member, demanded a new PR strategy, and embarked on a yearlong starring role as the villain who gets his comeuppance in the most gripping startup drama since the dot-com bubble. It’s a story that, until now, has never been fully told.

Facebook has been hit with one crisis after another recently. On Tuesday, The New York Times revealed that it allowed companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Netflix, to access user’s personal data to a far greater extent than those users were aware of. Normally, such a stream of scandal would put a CEO and Board Chairman like Mark Zuckerberg under serious pressure to resign. However, as Emily Stewart explains on Vox, Facebook’s structure means Mr. Zuckerberg is unlikely to go anywhere, anytime soon.

There have long been questions about whether too much influence within Facebook has been placed with Zuckerberg and, among some investors, pushes for him to renounce his position as chair of the board. But because of the way Facebook’s shareholder structure is set up — and the number of shares Zuckerberg holds — there’s no way for anyone to force him out.

Some 2018 iPad Pros were shipped with a slight bend in their aluminium chassis. However, Apple told The Verge that this is not a defect. The company said it is a side effect of the manufacturing process. Apple insisted that the issue will not get worse over time, or have a negative effect on the device’s performance.

It’s an issue that seems to be more pronounced on the LTE model, as there’s a plastic strip that breaks up the iPad’s flat aluminum sides; it’s where the antenna line divides two sections of metal that some users have noticed a bend. Apple did not say the perceived flaw is strictly limited to the cellular iPad Pro, however, and some buyers of the Wi-Fi model also claim to have encountered it. Even if only cosmetic, the issue is out of character for Apple, which has rooted its reputation in manufacturing devices with best-in-industry fit and finish