10 THINGS IN TECH YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike

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1. Amazon nearly bought Signal instead of Wickr. Amazon announced it was buying Wickr, an encrypted messaging app on Friday, but sources said it mulled a bid for Signal. Why the idea fizzled out.

2. Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, canceled himself in 2018 in order to work on his own behavior. We spoke with the man himself, colleagues, and peers to find out how it's going. How Torvalds and Linux are evolving.

3. Wealthy people have found a secret way to get richer on hot startups. Special purpose vehicles, or SPVs, help people share deal flow and crowdsource money to participate in hot financings. Here's how they work.

4. Experts say the entire auto industry is struggling to safely introduce automated features. Tesla often catches heat for the fast-and-loose way it markets Autopilot, but virtually all automakers are caught up in a messy transition to automated driving. Here's what experts are saying about the future of autonomous vehicles.

5. A court ruled that Facebook can be held liable for sex trafficking recruitment. The Texas Supreme Court's ruling followed three local lawsuits involving teenage victims who had met their traffickers through Facebook's messaging tools. What to know about the case.

6. NASA's InSight Mars lander could die by April if it doesn't get a significant energy boost. Over the last six months, InSight has been facing an energy crisis, since dust is building up on its solar panels — meaning it may not survive another year on Mars. More on that here.

7. Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk might make their first public appearance together soon. Dorsey invited Musk to chat about bitcoin at a July "The B Word" event — which would mark the first time the tech powerhouses have been together in public. Plus, here's a look at the evolution of their crypto bromance.

8. Microsoft's CEO said working from home made him rethink how his company's products work. Satya Nadella said staying home gave him "a renewed sense" of how to tailor Windows products to customers' needs. Read about some of his revelations.

9. Shopify sellers say the company wouldn't help them recoup the thousands of dollars they lost in a hack. Seven merchants outlined how they lost thousands on the platform — and found Shopify unable or unwilling to help them recoup their losses. Here's what they told us.

10. How much does Cisco pay engineers, analysts, and salespeople? We analyzed federal data to determine how the enterprise-tech giant pays its workers. Check out their salaries here.

Compiled by Jordan Erb. Tips/comments? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @JordanParkerErb.

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