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1. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip hands-on: This is more like it
When the Galaxy Fold was finally released to the public after numerous delays, the device came swaddled in warnings. It was a long list, and not exactly a vote of confidence for those who just dropped $2,000 on an unproven device.
Announced almost exactly a year after the Fold, the Galaxy Z Flip presents a refined look at the concept. Having only spent a little time with the product after the unveiling, Brian Heater says he isn’t quite ready to declare that this is the phone the Fold should have been, but it certainly feels like a key step in the right direction.
2. WhatsApp hits 2 billion users, up from 1.5 billion 2 years ago
WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app, revealed today just how big it has become. The Facebook-owned app said it has amassed two billion users, up from the 1.5 billion it revealed two years ago.
3. Extra Crunch Anniversary: 9 lessons from building a media subscription product
Since launching Extra Crunch, we’ve published more than 1,000 articles, onboarded new hires, overhauled our technical infrastructure, expanded into five new European countries, made a handful of visual design changes, launched an Extra Crunch stage at Disrupt, performed a lot of price testing, adjusted our editorial strategy based on what the Extra Crunch audience wants annnnnd announced nearly a dozen annual community perks. (You’re going to need an Extra Crunch membership to read the lessons learned, natch.)
4. MWC hangs by a thread after Nokia, DT and other big names back out
Nokia, one of the omnipresent firms at major tech trade conferences, said today that it won’t be attending this year’s Mobile World Congress, citing health and safety concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. Electronics giant HMD, which sells smartphones under the Nokia brand, cited similar reasoning for its withdrawal, too.
This sounds typical of the broader trend in recent years of firms that rush back to market every two years and lock down ever-greater capital commitments as they go. But Battery General Partner Chelsea Stoner insists the firm’s newest funds reflect the firm’s determination to slow down its pace of fundraising.
6. UK names its pick for social media ‘harms’ watchdog
The U.K. government has named the existing communications watchdog, Ofcom, as its preferred pick for enforcing rules around “harmful speech” on platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok.
7. Battery Ventures just closed on a whopping $2 billion across two funds, two years after its last fundraise.
7. Facebook will pay Reuters to fact-check deepfakes and more
A four-person team from Reuters will review user-generated video and photos, as well as news headlines and other content in English and Spanish, submitted by Facebook or flagged by the wider Reuters editorial team.
