Beta Research Corporation

Facebook Inc (FB.O) will provide a way for people to track political sponsored content on Facebook and Instagram ahead of the U.S. presidential election, it said on Thursday.

The company behind TurboTax, Mint.com, and QuickBooks is adding the credit-score monitoring startup to its portfolio in a cash and stock deal that is now Intuit’s largest-ever acquisition.

More work is going in-house instead of through agencies. In fact, the ANA reports that over 70% of brands are doing this. The once fanciful in-house agency has become a reality for many brands looking to improve cost efficiencies and stay nimble.

Big changes are ahead for BlackBerry and TCL as the smartphone market continues to see slowing growth. The pair announced today that they would end their four-year brand licensing and tech support partnership in August 2020, with TCL ceasing to make new models of BlackBerry handsets after then. TCL which has only a 1% share of the whole smartphone market today will continue to support models that are already in the market until August 31, 2022.

Have you fallen into the trap of using KPIs like clickthrough rates to measure customer intent on mobile? If so, you’re not alone. Fewer than half of marketers are confident in their ability to measure granular mobile ad metrics, according to a new research report from Forrester commissioned by Yieldmo.

#McDonalds beat quarterly sales forecasts on Wednesday and said it would spend more on technology and research in 2020, as the world’s largest burger chain bets on revamped stores and menu additions to lure diners and gain market share.

#Comcast is planning to tap into the news resources at NBC and its British pay-TV broadcaster Sky to launch an international television news channel that will compete with CNN International and BBC World News.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (#CES), scale matters, and Uber and Hyundai want you to know that their new partnership will bring scale to the skies. The ride-sharing company and auto manufacturer are joining forces to build an armada for the air, a fleet of what they’re calling Air Taxis that they say will usher in a new way to travel.

Iran fired volleys of rockets against U.S.-Iraqi airbases early Wednesday as part of its promised retaliation over the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. His death last week has escalated tensions in the region, and Iran says it’s weighing 13 scenarios for reprisal. The attack by Iran roiled global markets in early trading Wednesday.

#Facebook has announced it will remove videos modified by artificial intelligence, known as deepfakes, from its platform. Deepfakes are computer-generated clips that are designed to look real.

Brand advertising spending will hit a new record this year according to eMarketer, creating new opportunities for news publishers. But more spending will lead to more occasions for ads to appear in unsafe environments and it’s imperative that publishers listen to buyer concerns and plan accordingly.

#Amazon has certainly had a lot of hits in its 25-year history, from its $14-billion acquisition of grocery chain Whole Foods to its growing advertising business and award-winning TV and film distribution arm Amazon Studios.

More than anything, Silicon Valley believes in startups. But that belief may be wavering. Some developers are publicly questioning whether working for a startup makes sense anymore, given the seemingly widening gulf between the salaries startups can afford and how well big tech companies like Google and Amazon currently pay. And that has others in the Valley questioning whether startups can attract the talent they need to get their concepts off the ground.