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1. Amazon’s third-party merchants are now barred from using FedEx Ground for Prime shipments
Amazon recently told third-party vendors that they are barred from using FedEx’s ground delivery services for Prime shipments. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon told merchants that the ban will last “until the delivery performance of these ship methods improves.”
The e-commerce platform will still allow FedEx Ground for non-Prime shipments and FedEx Express, a faster but pricier option, for Prime.
2. New media investment firm Attention Capital acquires Girlboss
Attention Capital is a new outfit that buys, builds and scales media brands. Girlboss, meanwhile, is the female-focused multi-media business founded by Nastygal’s Sophia Amoruso, who will join the firm as a founder partner.
3. Google has fired another worker-activist
Kathryn Spiers, who worked on the platform security team, was generally tasked with writing code for browser notifications to automatically notify employees about guidelines and company policies. According to Spiers, Google fired her because she created a browser notification to educate her colleagues about their labor rights.
4. Automated web app testing startup ProdPerfect raises $13M Series A led by Anthos Capital
ProdPerfect automates end-to-end testing for web developers. According to CEO Dan Widing, the product “followed some of the lessons of the product analytics industry to build a tool that lets us quantitatively understand how our customer’s live users traverse the customer’s web application.”
5. 1-800 Contacts buys the at-home eye exam provider 6over6 Vision
Based in Israel, 6over6 Vision previously raised $15 million to commercialize its in-home eye exams based on a combination of machine learning and sensors. The basic eye exams can be performed with nothing more than a smartphone or computer and camera.
6. Instagram hides false content behind warnings, except for politicians
Instagram is expanding its limited fact-checking test in the U.S. and will now work with 45 third-party organizations to assess the truthfulness of photo and video content on its app. One group that’s exempt from the fact checking, though, is politicians.
7. Brand power vs. product power
Carbonite’s co-founder offers an insider look at how the PC backup company built its brand. (Extra Crunch membership required.)
