Data Sheet—Regulators Have Not Dampened Facebook and Google’s Prospects—Yet
Staying healthy. Leading restaurant review app Yelp is adding a new information field for cleanliness that is derived from government health inspection ratings. “For decades, cities have regularly inspected restaurants to ensure food safety, providing this information publicly to citizens. Unfortunately, this information is often buried on clunky ‘dot gov’ websites beyond the easy reach of consumers,” Luther Rowe, Yelp’s head of public policy and government affairs, wrote. Not anymore.
Staying informed. Former Uber engineer and whistleblower Susan Fowler Rigetti was hired by the New York Times as the paper’s technology opinion editor. Based in San Francisco, Rigetti will both write and commission op-ed pieces on tech topics.
Staying entertained. After deciding not to create its own Internet TV service, Verizon is in talks with Google and Apple to provide such programming over its new 5G wireless network in Los Angeles and Sacramento later this year, Bloomberg reports. Google already offers YouTube TV but Apple has no such offering, though one has been rumored to be in the works for years. In its second quarter earnings call on Tuesday, the carrier also said Houston would be an early 5G market.
Thumb on the scale. The Chinese city of Nanjing announced a $ 1.4 billion fund to invest in blockchain businesses. Hangzhou’s government had launched a similar $ 1.6 billion fund in April.
Flat tire. In case you missed it, Chinese bike sharing service Ofo is scrapping most of its U.S. expansion. After opening in 30 cities with more than 40,000 bikes, Ofo plans to retreat to just a handful of large cities, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
Join us. Fortune is planning to release its Future 50 companies list in October at the third annual summit of Worldz—an organization that aims to unite tomorrow’s leaders with today’s CEOs, CMOs, and cultural superstars. The event, from October 17 to 18 at the Port of Los Angeles, will feature Complex CEO Rich Antoniello, Ducati North America CEO Jason Chinnock, Samsung chief creative officer Jesse Coulter, and Calvin Klein CMO Marie Gulin-Merle, among others.
