What happened in tech this week?
Tech companies respond to Charlottesville, Travis Kalanick lashes back at early investor and bitcoin is on the rise.
Tech leaders respond to Charlottesville. 🗣
A string of tech leaders spoke out following a violent rally that gripped Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to Facebook to condemn white supremacist groups. Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized President Trump’s response to the violence in which he said “there is blame on both sides.” Cook told employees: “I disagree with the president and others who believe that there is a moral equivalence between white supremacists and Nazis…”
And it didn’t just stop with words. 💻
Spotify began deleting white supremacist songs. Squarespace gave neo-Nazi groups the boot. GoDaddy and Google stopped hosting neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. And now PayPal is making sure its platform isn’t being used to fuel hate, violence or racial intolerance through donations and payments.
Travis Kalanick clashes with major Uber investor. 🚕
The Uber cofounder is hitting back at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Benchmark who sued him for fraud last week. In a new filing on Thursday, Kalanick said the lawsuit is “part of its public and personal attack” on him. The early investor owns 13% of Uber and alleged that information on gender discrimination and sexual harassment was withheld from them.
Bitcoin is booming. 📈
The cryptocurrency got off to a wild start this week after passing $4,000 on Sunday. A month ago, it was still sitting at around $2,000. So what’s driving the rise? According to experts, it could be thanks to three things: the introduction of bitcoin cash, quicker transactions and demand from Japan.
Have a snack craving? 🍟
Don’t fret. Amazon launched a new service called Amazon Instant Pickup — its take on the corner store. Users will be able to order and pick up everyday basics from food to personal care items “within two minutes.” It’s kicking off in five university campus locations: Los Angeles, Atlanta, Columbus, Ohio, Berkeley, California and College Park, Maryland.
Were you keeping up with the news this week? Take our weekly quiz here.
