Data Sheet—Friday, May 15, 2015

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TOP OF MIND

It looks like Apple’s complete HomeKit launch will be late. Testers for the tech giant’s home automation platform—which connects things like door locks or lightbulbs to the Internet—tell Fortune’s Stacey Higginbotham that some gadgets are later than anticipated. Why? Because ensuring reliable connections is tough. Close Apple followers expected a broader release of devices for the platform in May or June, but Higginbotham’s sources suggest late summer is more likely for a big push. An Apple spokesman denied there’s a delay, suggesting the first devices are coming “next month” (the timing for the company’s big annual developer conference).

TRENDING

Is Netflix prepping a Chinese debut? Sources tell Bloomberg that the video-streaming company is discussing a partnership with Wasu Media, which is backed by entrepreneur and Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma. Meanwhile, Alibaba’s new CEO is looking outside China. Daniel Zhang has told employees that they must adopt “global thinking,” according to an analysis in The Wall Street Journal. As I mentioned here earlier this week, the company has already taken an appreciable stake (slightly less than 10%) in U.S. e-commerce company Zulily, I’m personally watching closely for where its cloud division, Aliyun, goes next. It established its first U.S. data center in March. Those rumors about Cisco buying security company FireEye? Not true, says lame duck CEO John Chambers. This entrepreneur thinks Uber stole his idea for a ride-sharing app. Kevin Halpern, who used to run a company called Celluride Wireless, said he discussed the concept with Uber founder Travis Kalanick circa 2006 and worked on the technology himself until 2008. Halpern was previously involved in a similar suit surrounding Offerpal Media (now Tapjoy), but the case was dismissed. Another high-tech divorce coming? Computer Sciences, the massive technology services government that has almost $1 billion in revenue from government accounts, is evaluating whether to split that business from its commercial interests. Buyout speculation surrounding the company has become louder in recent months. Symantec blows its quarter. The security company is blaming the strong dollar and slower personal computer sales. For FY 2015, Symantec’s revenue was $6.5 billion, off 3% from the previously year. The company’s CFO says the planned spinoff of the Veritas division, which is bought for $10 billion in 2005, is proceeding “on schedule.” (The company is aiming for December.)

THE DOWNLOAD

United Airlines wants people to hack its websites, not its planes The massive joins big tech companies in creating a “bug bounty” program, but it only wants people to go so far. Fortune’s Jonathan Vanian discusses this rather ironic move, considering how it treated a research last month. United Airlines is offering free frequent flier miles to would-be hackers who can crack the airline’s various websites and mobile apps as part of a bug bounty program. However, the company doesn’t want anyone pointing out bugs in airplane Wi-Fi or entertainment systems like security researcher Chris Roberts did last month. In the new program's rules United Airlines threatens possible criminal or legal investigations for people who try to do so. (Editor's note: Roberts was pulled off his flight because of a Tweet he sent about lax security.) With the new hacker initiative, United Airlines joins a growing number of tech companies including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft that welcome friendly hackers. These companies believe that they can reduce data breaches by rewarding members of the public who find security holes in their technology that may have escaped the eyes of their in-house staff. Read more about United’s bug bounty program.

ALSO WORTH SHARING

Combining forces to challenge GoPro. Two makers of digital “action” cameras, Contour and iON Cameras, are merging. Combined, their product lines are broader than their far larger competitor. Two social media companies get friendlier. Brand Networks will pay $50 million to acquire rival Shift (previously GraphEffect). Together, the two manage about $500 million in spending for 650 brands such as American Express, AT&T, Unilever and Yahoo. The two claim half of the Fortune 100 as accounts. Business collaboration startup Slack is going to Europe. It picked Ireland, known for being relatively reasonable about data protection, for its new office. It isn’t exactly “mobilegeddon” ala Google, but Microsoft’s Bing search engine has also been tweaked to prioritize mobile-friendly websites. Once the split with eBay is complete, PayPal will return to Nasdaq. It will get its old symbol (PYPL) back. By the way, original founder Pierre Omidyar will split time on both boards. How the Internet of things might reshape home security. ADT is getting into the act with new technology, a camera it’s building with LG Electronics, and a plan to tied all this together with Google’s Nest smart thermostat. More details emerge about Qualcomm’s plan for the Internet of things. One of the key selling points for its technology, built-in security. Apple sues to block Radio Shack’s sale of customer data. It’s joining Texas, Tennessee and AT&T in objecting to the plan, which it sees as a breach of consumer privacy promises. Expect an update on what the courts think May 20.

MY FORTUNE BOOKMARKS

Oracle and Mirantis forge OpenStack alliance by Barb Darrow Whose idea was it to give Jeb Bush an Apple Watch? by Philip Elmer-DeWitt Why some employers are ditching the office—literally by Colleen Kane PayPal drawn into the row over Putin opponent’s assassination by Geoffrey Smith How to steal an Apple Watch by Philip Elmer-DeWitt GoPro CEO’s promise to a college friend just cost him $229 million by John Kell Meet the women who put words in Don Draper’s mouth by Laura Lorenzetti Gett wants to beat Uber for business accounts. Its strategy? Fixed-price rides by Kia Kokalitcheva

ONE MORE THING

Google’s driverless cars will finally get a real road test. You can find them cruising neighborhoods in Mountain View, California, over the summer.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Annual Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference: JP Morgan’s 43rd invite-only event. (May 18 - 20; Boston) Signal: The modern communications conference. (May 19 - 20; San Francisco) MuleSoft Connect: Tie together apps, data and devices. (May 27 - 29; San Francisco) MongoDB World: Scale the universe. (June 1 - 2; New York) HP Discover: Trends and technologies. (June 2 - 4; Las Vegas) Apple Worldwide Developers Conference: Future of iOS and OS X. (June 8 - 12; San Francisco) Hadoop Summit San Jose: Mainstreaming adoption. (June 9 - 11; San Jose, California) Red Hat Summit: Energize your enterprise. (June 23 - 26; Boston) Brainstorm Tech: Fortune’s invite-only gathering of thinkers, influencers and entrepreneurs. (July 13 - 15; Aspen, Colorado) LinuxCon North America: All about open source. (Aug. 17 - 19; Seattle) VMworld: The virtualization ecosystem. (Aug. 30 – Sept. 3, 2015; San Francisco) Dreamforce: The Salesforce community. (Sept. 15 - 18; San Francisco) Cassandra Summit: Largest gathering of Cassandra database developers. (Sept. 22 - 24; San Francisco) BoxWorks 2015: Cloud collaboration solutions. (Sept. 28 - 30; San Francisco) Workday Rising: Meet and share. (Sept. 28 - Oct. 1; Las Vegas) HP Engage: Big data, big engagement. (Oct. 4 - 6; San Diego) Gartner Symposium ITxpo: CIOs and senior IT executives. (Oct. 4 - 8; Orlando, Florida) Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing: World's largest gather of women technologists. (Oct. 14 - 16; Houston) Oracle OpenWorld: Customer and partner conference. (Oct. 25 - 29; San Francisco) QuickBooks Connect: SMBs, entrepreneurs, accountants and developers. (Nov. 2 - 4; San Jose, California)