10 things in tech you need to know today (GOOG, FB, MSFT, AAPL)

Lee Sedol Q&A
Lee Sedol Q&A

Google

Good morning! Here's the technology news you need to know this Tuesday.

1. Facebook, Google, and Snapchat are working on their own increased privacy technology as Apple fights the US government over encryption. Apple is due to appear in a federal court in California later this month to fight a court order.

2. Go world champion Lee Sedol made a surprise move ahead of the fifth and final game against Google DeepMind's AlphaGo AI. He asked if it was possible to play with black stones instead of white stones. DeepMind said yes.

3. Some of Britain's smartest people are leaving Google and Goldman Sachs to join Entrepreneur First's startup building programme. Those accepted onto the programme receive £17,000 in pre-seed funding in return for an 8% equity stake in the company that is created.

4. LendInvest, a peer-to-peer short-term mortgage finance platform, has raised £17 million ($24.4 million). The money came from venture capital firm Atomico.

5. The city of Mountain View in California has released the latest designs for one of the buildings at Google's new global headquarters. The building, known as Charleston East, will be two stories and about 595,000 square feet.

6. UK tech companies are strongly in favour of remaining in the European Union, according to a poll from industry trade body techUK. The poll, taken by 227 tech business leaders, found that 70% of UK technology companies want to remain in the EU. Just 15% of tech firms want to leave and 15% are still undecided.

7. The cofounder of Viber is hoping to poach Uber drivers by offering them equity in his new taxi app, Juno. Talmon Marco — who set up WhatsApp competitor Viber in 2010 — is specifically targeting Uber drivers with high ratings by offering them lower commission rates and equity.

8. Microsoft has uninvited cloud startup Okta, a customer and partner, from its upcoming Ignite tech conference. Microsoft said hat the event's leadership team refused Okta's sponsorship and removed it as an exhibitor "due to broad competition between our companies in the mobility solution space."

9. Goldman Sachs is buying Honest Dollar, an Austin, Texas-based startup that serves small businesses looking to set up retirement-saving schemes for staff. The startup claims that it takes employers 90 seconds to sign up and offers retirement benefits plans for as little as $8 (£5.59) per employee per month.

10. Michael Goguen, the ex-Sequoia VC accused of sexual abuse, says the woman suing him is looking for "vengeance." He has filed a cross complaint where he claims his relationship with Amber Baptiste was consensual and vehemently disputes her allegations that he sexually abused her for a period of 13 years.

NOW WATCH: This bed automatically makes itself three seconds after you get up

See Also: