Techmeme

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:Once viewed as a frivolity, emojis are now key to clear and concise communication, esprit de corps, and cultivating a shared corporate culture  —  Once viewed as a frivolity, emojis are now key to clear and concise…

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:Newly profitable, Axel Springer and Samsung's news aggregator app Upday plans to launch on other platforms and introduce a podcast aggregator this year  —  Axel Springer's line of defense against the duopoly, news aggregator app…

Daniel Jalkut / Bitsplitting.org:Mac developers who ship apps directly to end-users are required to agree to App Store developer contracts to have their apps notarized for macOS Catalina  —  In the years since Apple released the iPhone, with its…

Daniel Kuhn / CoinDesk:Mercedes Benz parent company Daimler partners with blockchain company Riddle & Code to create a hardware crypto wallet for the auto industry  —  Mercedes Benz parent company Daimler has partnered with blockchain firm Riddle & Code to…

Russell Brandom / The Verge:Flaw in Facebook's Messenger Kids let kids invite a parent-approved user into a group chat even if that user wasn't authorized to chat with others in the group  —  ‘We recently notified some parents... about a technical…

Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:Square launches a Photo Studio service for all online merchants, not just Square customers, that lets them send in a product to be photographed for $9.95  —  For $9.95, any online merchant — not just those that use Square's…

Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:Sources: Bird is raising a Series D round led by Sequoia Capital at a $2.5B valuation; Sequoia led Bird's $300M Series C in June 2018  —  Bird is raising a Series D round led by Sequoia Capital at a $2.5 billion valuation,…

Amelia Lucas / CNBC:Starbucks invests in restaurant tech company Brightloom, which just raised $30M, as Starbucks now lets franchisees license its mobile and loyalty program tech  —  KEY POINTS  —  Starbucks is licensing its mobile and loyalty program…

Wall Street Journal:Sources: Apple is in advanced talks to buy Intel's smartphone modem chip business in a deal valued at $1B+ covering staff and a portfolio of patents  —  Apple Inc. AAPL 2.29% is in advanced talks to buy Intel Corp. INTC 2.15% 's…

Arielle Pardes / Wired:Pinterest updates its search, so when users type in an anxiety-related query like “dealing with stress”, a box with mental health resources appears above pins  —  ON THE INCREASINGLY polarized internet, Pinterest often feels like…

Leigh Cuen / CoinDesk:Amid mounting regulatory pressures in the US, Circle says its Poloniex exchange will service non-US customers, ~70% of its users, out of a new Bermuda office  —  Due to mounting regulatory pressures in the United States, the crypto…

Jason D. Rowley / Crunchbase News:Commission-free trading app Robinhood raises $323M Series E led by DST Global at a $7.6B post-money valuation, has raised a total of $862M to date  —  Unless you were some hotshot finance person in the 1980s, you probably…

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:UK delays decision on Huawei, publishes a telecom supply chain review proposing a new framework for the industry to tighten security standards amid 5G rollout  —  Amid ongoing concerns about security risks posed by the…

Reuters:Frenzied trading debut of STAR Market, China's Nasdaq-style board, added $44B in market cap across 25 companies, 16 of which more than doubled their IPO prices  —  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Trading on China's new Nasdaq-style board for homegrown tech…

Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:Uber is testing a $24.99/month subscription pass that includes a fixed discount on rides, free Uber Eats delivery, and free rides on JUMP bikes and scooters  —  Uber is actively testing a monthly subscription pass that…