The tech industry backlash to Indiana’s recently passed religious freedom law keeps growing, and there was one big tech IPO this week alongside the announcement of another. Here’s the news that powered Re/code:
Re/wind: Indiana’s Bad New Law, Some Tech IPOs and More
Plus, Amazon’s “Dash Button” gimmick.
cnagel via Thinkstock
- In response to Indiana’s so-called religious freedom law, Silicon Valley made its displeasure clear. Last week, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said his company would be leaving the state. This week, Apple CEO Tim Cook penned a critical op-ed in the Washington Post and a group of high-ranking executives from a melange of tech’s biggest companies circulated a petition demanding change. Even after proposed revisions to the law were announced, some industry figures said they remained skeptical.
- On Wednesday, the Web hosting company GoDaddy went public and raised $460 million at a roughly $5.5 billion valuation, closing with a first-day share price of $26.15. The online crafts marketplace Etsy also revealed more information about its IPO, which is expected to happen later this year. The company says it looks to raise around $270 million at a $1.78 billion valuation.
- You might have seen a bunch of pictures of Amazon’s latest gimmick, the “Dash Button,” which you push and, poof, you’ve just ordered a resupply of a specific product. The button may never actually catch on, but that’s not going to stop Amazon from making more goofy stuff.
- Apple wants to launch its TV service this year, and it’s currently negotiating with people who make TV content to figure out how that’s going to happen. One sticking point in the talks: Apple wants content providers to pay for the cost of streaming. Recently filed patents show that selfies might be the next way you unlock your iPhone. Also, European antitrust regulators are looking into Apple’s deals with music labels for its upcoming music service.
- Here’s a question: Why is Silicon Valley so quick to speak out about LGBT discrimination and “religious freedom” in Indiana, but quiet and shifty-eyed when it comes to gender and racial discrimination in its own offices?
- TrackR and Tile are both nifty devices you can attach to your keys to help find lost items, but which one is better? Re/code’s Katie Boehret took a look and found that TrackR’s cheaper batteries and expanded features made it a far better buy.
- For an increasing number of Americans, mobile devices are how they get on the Internet. The Pew Research Center says 7 percent of Americans, largely poorer people of color, rely on their smartphones to access the Web.
- Amid a bevy of reports indicating serious user privacy issues, Uber has hired Facebook’s security chief, Joe Sullivan, as its first chief security officer.
- New Google products: A $149 Chromebook and the intriguing Asus Chromebit, which is a flash-drive-sized computer running Chrome OS.
- LinkedIn bought Refresh, a startup that straddles the line between creepy and useful by searching the Internet for information about people with whom you’re in meetings.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
