The newest offering to emerge from Google's multi-pronged (some would say confusing) messaging strategy is Duo, a bare-bones video chat app for Android and iOS. Along with Android text messaging, Hangouts and the upcoming AI-enhanced Allo, Google will have four separate messaging products.
[Mark Bergen | Recode]
In what looks to be a talent grab, Snapchat is buying Vurb, a mobile search and recommendation app, for $110 million plus nearly as much in team retention payouts, including a $75 million multi-year package for Vurb founder and CEO Bobby Lo.
[Jessica E. Lessin and Tom Dotan | The Information]
In a New York Times op-ed, billionaire Peter Thiel urged journalists to police their own when it comes to privacy and fairness, saying it wasn't his place to draw the line — an interesting position for the man who decided Gawker's journalism was unfair and helped finance the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that drove the company into a bankruptcy auction.
[Edmund Lee | Recode]
A hacking group called the Shadow Brokers claims to have breached systems used by the Equation Group, a hacking team believed to work with the NSA, and is holding a bitcoin auction for what it says is an impressive arsenal of cyber weapons.
[Andy Greenberg | Wired]
Carl Icahn and George Soros may have dumped their Apple shares, but Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is stocking up. Berkshire boosted its stake in Apple by 55 percent last quarter and now holds more than 15 million shares, worth $1.46 billion as of June 30.
[Jonathan Stempel | Reuters]
