Linked List: July 25, 2016

Monday, 25 July 2016

Google Phone App Now Identifies Spam on Nexus and Android One Devices ★

Google:

Spam callers be gone! Today, we’re beginning to update your Google Phone app with spam protection on Nexus and Android One devices to warn you about potential spam callers and give you the ability to block and report these numbers. If you already have Caller ID turned on, spam protection will be available on your phone once your app updates to the latest version.

I’ve been getting two or three spam calls a week lately. Would love this on iOS.

Update: Looks like I’m in luck: I completely forgot that this feature is already in iOS 10. I’m running the iOS 10 betas on iPad, but not on iPhone yet.

Verizon Announces $4.8 Billion Deal for Yahoo’s Internet Business ★

Vindu Goel, reporting for the NYT:

Verizon, seeking to build an array of digital businesses that can compete for users and advertising with Google and Facebook, announced on Monday that it was buying Yahoo’s core internet business for $4.83 billion in cash.

The deal, which was reached over the weekend, unites two titans of the early internet, AOL and Yahoo, under the umbrella of one of the nation’s largest telecommunications companies. Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion last year. Now it will add Yahoo’s consumer services — search, news, finance, sports, video, email and the Tumblr social network — to a portfolio that includes AOL as well as popular sites like The Huffington Post.

Good luck with that.

In an interview, Ms. Mayer said, “I plan to stay. I love Yahoo and I want to see it into its next chapter.” But she and Tim Armstrong, the chief executive of AOL, said it had not yet been decided if she would have a role at the company after the deal closed in early 2017.

If she is terminated, she will be due severance of about $57 million. If she received that payout, her total compensation from Yahoo for her service so far would be about $218 million, according to the compensation research firm Equilar.

Translation: She’s gone.

WSJ: ‘Apple Taps Bob Mansfield to Oversee Car Project’ ★

Big scoop from Daisuke Wakabayashi:

Until recently, Mr. Mansfield — who, along with design chief Jony Ive, was one of the few executives to appear in Apple’s carefully-crafted product announcement videos — had all but retreated from the company aside from the occasional visit, these people said. Earlier this month, employees at Apple noticed in the company directory that all the senior managers on the car project were now reporting to Mr. Mansfield, they said.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment on personnel matters. Mr. Mansfield didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

As sure a sign as any that the car project is full steam ahead, and totally serious.