10 things in tech you need to know today

Rosette Pambakian

Rosette Pambakian, Tinder's former vice president of marketing and communication.

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.

1. President Donald Trump went after Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday morning in a series of tweets. Trump said Pichai had visited the Oval Office to say how much he liked him, to praise the administration, and to say that Google didn't show results in favour of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
2. Google employees are being encouraged by colleagues to keep silent on President Trump's provocative tweets because they think it will get 'spun' by the far-right press. Google employees privately say they've grown tired of the on-going accusations about the company by right-wing conspiracy theorists.
3. A four-month investigation by Business Insider chronicles the rise and fall of the movie-ticket-subscription startup MoviePass. The $10-a-month price change done in August of 2017 helped MoviePass become a sensation, but it also led to the ousting of its founder Stacy Spikes - and the use of questionable tactics to keep the company afloat.
4. The owner and operator of 8chan, the notorious anonymous online forum that's been repeatedly linked to mass shootings, is vowing to bring the site back to life. "It becomes time to find a new home," 8chan owner Jim Watkins said in a YouTube video posted on Tuesday morning.
5. Facebook is suing 2 developers for allegedly hijacking people's phones to fraudulently click on ads. In a blog post on Tuesday, Facebook announced that it has filed suit against LionMobi and Jedimobi, app developers based in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, with claims of "click injection" ad fraud.
6. Former top Twitter execs Dick Costolo and Adam Bain announce 01 Advisors, a new venture capital firm with at least $135 million to put into startups. Both former executives have been prominent angel investors over the last several years and have invested in home rental startup Lyric, corporate travel site TripActions, and connected fitness startup Tonal.
7. Snapchat parent company Snap is looking to raise $1 billion in convertible debt. The company says it'll use the money for acquisitions and stock purchases.
8. LG published a video on Monday teasing an upcoming announcement for IFA 2019, the annual technology convention in Berlin, which hints that it may debut a phone with three screens. It seemingly has a similar shape as Samsung's Galaxy Fold, except the teaser clearly indicates that LG's phone will have two separate screens rather than one single foldable screen.
9. Former Tinder VP Rosette Pambakian filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt of sexual assault - but parent company Match Group is firing back, saying Pambakian never reported Blatt for sexual harassment. Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg said in a December 2018 email that Pambakian never reported Blatt for sexual harassment, and she was not terminated over a sexual harassment complaint.
10. The developers of the indie game "Ooblets" have received tens of thousands of threats including racist abuse after signing an exclusive deal with Epic Games, the creators of "Fortnite." Epic is offering developers a better revenue-sharing deal than competing video game platforms, but some skeptical gamers are doing everything they can to avoid the new platform.

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