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Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.
- Marriott revealed that 5 million customers were affected by the data breach revealed in November. The breach is not as big as originally feared, with hackers stealing 5.25 million Marriott customers' passport numbers.
- Samsung smart TVs will be able to directly play people's iTunes TV and film library. This is the first time Apple is letting third-party devices natively host its app, the Verge reports.
- CES is getting ready to kick off this week, and AI is expected to be a major theme. Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant will likely dominate this year's show, as both virtual assistants are now enabled in more than 10,000 devices.
- A Canadian court ruled that Uber's arbitration policy takes advantage of drivers. This ruling marks the latest in a string of court cases around the world brought by drivers unhappy with their status as independent contractors instead of employees.
- A mass cyberattack targeted German politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel. The attack emerged on Twitter in the form of an advent calendar, and published the personal data of political public figures.
- Amazon finally revealed how many Alexa devices have been sold. The 100 million figure includes devices that Amazon makes as well as third-party gadgets with Alexa built-in.
- A group of Mark Zuckerberg-funded researchers is testing implantable brain devices as part of a $5 billion quest to end disease. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his pediatrician wife, Priscilla Chan, have sold 29 million Facebook shares to raise $5 billion for an ambitious biomedical-research program called the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).
- Netflix's "Roma" won the Golden Globes for best foreign language film and best director. Uncharacteristically, Netflix gave "Roma" a theatrical release.
- Morgan Stanley forecast a rough 2019 for the companies that make the chips in the world's smartphones and servers. Morgan Stanley warned in a note published last week that Semiconductor companies could suffer a "sharp contraction" in revenue.
- The founder of a venture capital firm was served with a harassment lawsuit via Twitter. Binary Capital cofounder Jonathan Teo allegedly evaded a summons related to scandals surrounding the company, and the plaintiff's lawyer was granted permission to serve Teo with a lawsuit on Twitter.
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