Netflix and chill. The CFO of Activision Blizzard, Spencer Neumann, joined the video game titan in May 2017 after a successful career at Disney. Now after a short stint, he's jumping to Netflix to take over the same role from departing CFO David Wells. But something may be amuck, as Activision said in a securities filing on Dec. 31 that Neumann was being fired for cause. Neumann may have more cash to count at his new job—Netflix is dropping the ability for customers to sign up through its apps on iPhones and iPads. That could save the company almost $1 billion in payments to Apple, TechCrunch estimates. Meltdown. The trade war with China claimed a prominent tech industry victim. Bill Gates says his nuclear power startup, TerraPower LLC, can't continue working with the Chinese due to recent U.S. policy changes. The company had been building its first reactor with China, but now must find a new partner. "We're regrouping," CEO Chris Levesque tells the Wall Street Journal. "Maybe we can find another partner." Some U.S. artificial intelligence experts are also starting to worry that export controls may hamper their research. A wave of my hand, a flick of my wrist. The Federal Communications Commission granted Google a waiver to test its Project Soli, an effort to create gesture-controlled devices using tiny radar arrays. Not sitting still. Chinese transport app Didi Chuxing is branching out into financial services. The company is offering products including wealth management, credit, and lending. That seems to put Didi in competition with one of its major investors, Alibaba Group. Fingers in the cookie jar. The European tech lobbying group Privacy International says 20 out of 34 leading apps on Android share various kinds of user data with Facebook without user permission, possibly violating the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. Apps found sharing information included Kayak, TripAdvisor, and MyFitnessPal. Slow it down. Much hyped and powerfully-backed digital currency startup Bakkt is facing regulatory challenges and delays in launching its bitcoin futures product, crypto news site The Block reports. The startup also announced that it raised $183 million from private investors including Boston Consulting Group, the Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft's venture capital unit, and the fintech arm of Naspers. Up, up, and away. China last month launched the first of a planned 156 satellites to create an Internet access service for rural parts of the country. Government-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp says it aims to have its entire constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit by 2022. | 
