Daily Crunch: Former Twitter employees charged with spying
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch's roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you'd like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.
1. Saudi Arabia reportedly recruited Twitter employees to steal personal data of activists
Saudi Arabian officials allegedly paid at least two Twitter employees to access personal information on users the government there was interested in, according to recently unsealed court documents. Those users were warned of the attempt in 2015, but the full picture is only now emerging.
According to the federal complaint, Twitter employees Ahmad Abouammo and Ali Alzabarah were both approached by the Saudi government, which promised “a designer watch and tens of thousands of dollars” if they could retrieve personal information on certain users. (Both Abouammo and Alzabarah are charged with acting as unregistered Saudi agents — spies.)
2. Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 starts shipping
Earlier this year, at Mobile World Congress, Microsoft announced the second generation of its HoloLens augmented reality visor. Today, the $3,500 HoloLens 2 is going on sale in select countries.
3. California accuses Facebook of ignoring subpoenas in state’s Cambridge Analytica investigation
California’s attorney general Xavier Becerra has accused Facebook of “continuing to drag its feet” by failing to provide documents to the state’s investigation into Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
4. Wrench’s on-demand vehicle repair and maintenance service picks up $20 million
Equipped with diagnostic software and service trucks, Wrench meets fleet operators and consumers at their vehicles to provide servicing and repairs.
5. There’s no ‘perfect time’ for giving employees feedback
For many managers, giving feedback often falls to the bottom of their priority list. According to Gallup, less than half of employees surveyed said they received feedback even a few times a year — yet 69% say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized. (Extra Crunch membership required.)
6. Google Pay comes to Curve, the banking platform that consolidates all your cards into one
Hot on the heels of adding support for Samsung Pay, Curve — the London-based “over-the-top” banking platform that lets you consolidate all of your bank cards into a single card — has added support for Google Pay.
7. Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk to talk about late-stage bets at Disrupt Berlin
South African internet company Naspers isn’t a particularly well-known name in the startup community. However, the company made an early investment in Tencent, and it still retains a 31% stake that's valued at around $100 billion.
