10 things in tech you need to know today

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Friday.

1. Uber filed for its long-awaited IPO on Thursday. The ride-hailing company could net a valuation of more than $100 billion as it hits the stock market.
2. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by British police at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Thursday morning. The US requested his extradition and charged him with conspiracy to hack classified US government computers, in a document naming US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
3. Jeff Bezos will meet federal prosecutors as early as this week over claims Saudi Arabia helped leak his sex texts. Prosecutors want to examine claims that Bezos' phone was accessed by Saudi Arabia, and are still attempting to establish if the National Enquirer tried to extort the Amazon CEO.
4. Uber warned that it could seriously damage its business if drivers were considered employees instead of contractors. Currently, Uber drivers are independent contractors, which means they're not subject to requirements around health care, minimum wage, or overtime.
5. Google's chief diversity officer is leaving the company following a string of controversies. Danielle Brown will be joining Gusto, a human resources startup, as chief people officer.
6. Amazon's Jeff Bezos highlighted the importance of "wandering" and failing big in his annual shareholder letter. "Amazon today remains a small player in global retail," Bezos said in the letter.
7. Tesla announced sweeping changes to its Model 3 lineup and dropped the $35,000 version off its website entirely. The most affordable "Standard" Model 3 can now only be ordered by phone, or in person at a Tesla store.
8. Disney CEO Bob Iger reportedly said that "Hitler would have loved social media," at an awards dinner. A few years ago Disney considered acquiring Twitter.
9. 4,500 Amazon employees wrote to Jeff Bezos calling for "urgent" leadership on climate change. The letter came days after a Gizmodo report revealed how aggressively Amazon is courting oil and gas companies.
10. Bird's European boss says Brexit is the 'elephant in the room' that's holding up the launch of electric scooters. Business Insider spoke to Bird's most senior exec outside the US, Patrick Studener, about the company's expansion in Europe.

Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings. You can also subscribe to this newsletter here - just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know."

NOW WATCH: A sommelier compared 11 wines from Costco, Target, Trader Joe's, and BJ's - and the winner was clear