Facebook faces new concerns over data-sharing, AirPods will get Apple's Live Listen feature and Alexa is coming to France. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for June 6, 2018. 1. Facebook shared data with Chinese telecom Huawei, raising US Government security concerns Facebook's data-sharing relationships with some device manufacturers were first revealed over the weekend, and The New York Times now reports that these deals involved Chinese companies like Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL. Facebook has argued that this isn't as bad as you might think, because it imposed tight restrictions on these device integrations. But it also says it will end its relationship with Huawei by week's end. 2. Washington sues Facebook and Google over failure to disclose political ad spending More bad news for Facebook, though at least it's not alone on this one: A lawsuit by Washington's attorney general alleges that both Facebook and Google were paid millions for political advertising purposes while failing to disclose information required by state law. 3. AirPods to get Live Listen feature in iOS 12 After enabling the feature in the iPhone's settings, users will be able to use their phones as a directional mic. This means that if you're in a noisy restaurant, for example, and you place your phone on the table, the voice of whomever is speaking will be routed to your AirPods. 4. Microsoft program provides a decade of updates for Windows IoT devices The idea is that device manufacturers can pay Microsoft to guarantee updates for a decade for devices using Windows 10 IoT Core Services. 5. Amazon is bringing Alexa and Echo to France this month France joins a rapidly growing list of countries with Alexa/Echo, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, India, New Zealand, Germany, Japan and Ireland. 6. Order-ahead app Ritual picks up $70M to rethink the social office lunch break The startup has built an app for users to order food or drinks, then coworkers can piggyback on that order. The goal is to create a more socialized experience around getting up and going around the corner for a snack. 7. Indiegogo expands its efforts to help Chinese startups reach global consumers Indiegogo has been running a pilot program in China for the past couple of years, but CEO David Mandelbrot said, "The China Pilot Program is officially out of pilot phase." |