Daily Tech Snippet: Tuesday, September 15

• Facebook Works With Google To Let Mobile Web Users Get Push Notifications Via Chrome: A big reason developers hate mobile websites is that they lack the push notifications which help re-engage people with native apps. That was a serious problem for Facebook. It sees a ton of users on its m.facebook.com site, especially in the developing world where data budgets are tight, but had trouble pulling them back in. So today Facebook announced that after working with Google on its new mobile web alerts standard, m.facebook.com mobile web users can now opt to receive push notifications via Chrome. Google first announced the development of its third-party push API through Chrome back in April and noted some partners like eBay and Vice News who had committed to implementing the standard. Now Facebook has rolled out the feature,  so mobile Chrome users on m.facebook.com will be asked to turn on Chrome pushes. Facebook’s product manager on browser partnerships Jonathan McKay tells me that already, “We’ve seen an increase in visitation from launching push notifications.”

• Indian cab-hailing firm Ola is raising $500 million+, at a valuation that we’ve heard is around the $5 billion mark, with $225 million committed so far. The news comes as the company — which competes in its home market against the likes of Uber and Indian startup Meru — continues to expand into more cities, and more products. Today, Ola launched a new car leasing service for drivers on its network; last week it expanded to shuttle services for commuters. The raise is due to be finalised in the next week or two and announced officially then, sources tell TechCrunch. As it is still in progress, the final amount and final valuation may also change. This funding, a Series F, has been rumored for some time now, with the first reports surfacing just after Ola announced its last raise of $400 million in April of this year. That round, a Series E, valued the company at $2.5 billion.

• Russian Authorities Rule Google Broke Antitrust Regulations:  Russian antitrust authorities ruled on Monday that Google broke the country’s competition rules, adding to the regulatory headaches the search giant is facing worldwide. Russian officials said that Google had abused its dominant market position with Android, its mobile operating system, by favoring the company’s own services over those of rivals, including Yandex, a Russian competitor. Earlier this year, Yandex had complained to the country’s competition authority that cellphone manufacturers were not able to include the company’s rival digital offerings in the Android operating system. After the complaint, the regulator began investigating whether Google unfairly bundled its own services, like digital maps, in its Android software. Unlike in other parts of the world, where Google has outmuscled domestic search rivals, Yandex still holds more than a 50 percent market share in Russian online search, according to industry statistics. The company’s share price rose more than 8 percent in early afternoon trading in New York after the regulatory decision was announced. “Russia is the first jurisdiction to have officially recognized these practices as anticompetitive,” Yandex said in a statement, in reference to Google’s favoring of its own services in Android over those of rivals. The company added that it believed the antitrust ruling would “serve to restore competition in the market.” European and other international antitrust watchdogs are taking an increasingly tough line against the company.

• The auto and tech worlds are fighting for the best minds in race for self-driving car: Google had all of Silicon Valley to choose from when deciding on a leader for its ambitious self-driving car division. Instead, the tech behemoth hired an auto-industry lifer: John Krafcik, a former head of Hyundai's American brand who got his start as an engineer working on the Ford Explorer. The announcement on Monday comes just a week after Toyota said it, too, had looked outside its industry for its next big name. Earlier this month, the carmaker said it had tapped the military’s chief robotics engineer, Gill Pratt, to lead a $50 million push into not just driverless cars but artificial intelligence, through investments into tech research labs. The high-profile hires spotlight the growing overlap between the global giants of autos and tech, and analysts say it could point to a growing tension between some of the industries' biggest, wealthiest names. Tech giants increasingly see ways to make money and save lives in the old-fashioned, hyper-profitable business of cars. But traditional automakers, who could lose heavily if self-driving cars go mainstream, aren't hesitating to grab onto some of tech's top minds, either, as a way to adapt in a world beyond cars.

• Twitter, InMobi Embrace New Stripe Mobile E-Commerce Tool: Stripe Inc., the online-payments processor, unveiled a tool to simplify mobile e-commerce for stores and software applications developers. Twitter Inc. said it’s adopting Stripe’s offering, called Relay, to make it easier to buy products from a link in a tweet. InMobi, a mobile-advertising company, and SAP SE’s e-commerce software unit Hybris also said they are integrating their services with the San Francisco-based startup’s product. Payments processing company Stripe Inc launched a new tool on Monday that will connect retailers and brands to sell on platforms like Twitter Inc and tap an increasing number of consumers shopping on mobile apps. Twitter's adoption of Stripe's new product, Relay, is expected to help the microblogging site further dabble in e-commerce and generate revenue through its "buy buttons," which lets shoppers buy a product and enter payment and shipping information without leaving Twitter's platform. Twitter has been struggling to increase its audience and in July said its number of monthly average users grew at its slowest pace since it went public in 2013. Stripe, which makes software that helps businesses accept various types of payments on websites and in apps, counts grocery-delivery startup Instacart, ride-sharing app Lyft and e-commerce platform Shopify among its clients. The payments company's new Relay product functions as a universal sell button for retailers, allowing companies like eyewear brand Warby Parker to list products in a single place and sell them directly on Twitter as well as other e-commerce platforms like ShopStyle.

• Alibaba Falls After Barron's Suggests Drop, Company Rebuts Alibaba shares fell Monday, the first day of trading since a Barron’s magazine article on Saturday suggested the Chinese Internet company may lose another 50 percent of its value. The company, in a statement posted Monday on its website, said the article was inaccurate and misleading. Barron’s based its conclusion that the Chinese company is overvalued, in part, by comparing Alibaba’s share price as a multiple of earnings estimates with EBay. Alibaba said the comparison is unfair because EBay’s online marketplace doesn’t do significant business in China. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. shares fell Monday, the first day of trading since a Barron’s magazine article on Saturday suggested the Chinese Internet company may lose another 50 percent of its value. The company, in a statement posted Monday on its website, said the article was inaccurate and misleading. Barron’s based its conclusion that the Chinese company is overvalued, in part, by comparing Alibaba’s share price as a multiple of earnings estimates with EBay. Alibaba said the comparison is unfair because EBay’s online marketplace doesn’t do significant business in China.