Recode Daily - Here's why Peter Thiel thinks suing Gawker into oblivion is 'philanthrophic'

	Peter Thiel confirmed to the New York Times that he's been funding Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media. The billionaire investor and Paypal co-founder says he was angry about stories Gawker ran about him and his friends, and that he's spent the past few years paying lawyers to find plaintiffs to sue the company. Felix Salmon persuasively argues that Thiel just created a blueprint for thin-skinned zillionaires to deal with press they don't like; Kara Swisher has re-surfaced a 2007 interview with Thiel where he argues that media is dead. [Noah Kulwin \| Recode]
	Apple content boss Eddy Cue floated the idea of acquiring Time Warner last year, the Financial Times reports. The FT also notes that the notion never went far. But the idea of Apple buying a big content company is one that surfaces every couple years. [Financial Times, via CNBC]
	The Theranos partnership with Walgreens was a key factor in cementing the blood-testing startup's reputation as being both cutting edge and commercially viable. The thing is, Walgreens never actually vetted the technology, choosing to push the deal forward, hoping for some the Theranos-Silicon Valley sheen to rub off on its brand. [Christopher Weaver and John Carreyrou \| The Wall Street Journal]
	Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino puts on the shows of musicians like Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen, and he also controls Ticketmaster. This means he is a highly important guy in the music industry. On the new Recode Media podcast, Peter Kafka talks with Rapino about why more artists are going on tour, ticket prices and more. [Eric Johnson \| Recode]
	Twitter is killing its commerce division and scrapping plans to add a "Buy" button to tweets, a sign of Jack Dorsey's renewed focus on making more money from advertising. [Alex Kantrowitz \| BuzzFeed News]
	Morgan Stanley analysts say that Apple spent between $3 billion and $5 billion on R&D between 2013 and 2015. They argue that most of that cash was spent on electric car-related stuff, and it's an overlooked investment that could give them Apple a crucial edge over competitors like Tesla and GM. [Julie Verhage \| Bloomberg]

Commerce

Visa's CEO just threatened to go after PayPal 'in ways that people have never seen before'

By Jason Del Rey

You can't be friend and foe at the same time.

Google

Two top Nest sales leads are out the door

By Mark Bergen

Gone are the head of sales for the Americas and one of his deputies.

Voices

Bring your own robot

By Thomas H. Davenport and Julia Kirby

A startup called Jibo will soon introduce a social robot for the home. One for the office can't be far behind.

Snapchat

Snapchat has hired former Vanity Fair editor Betsy Lack to run global brand strategy

By Kurt Wagner

Lack ran Vanity Fair's prestigious New Establishment conference series and magazine feature.

Mobile

Microsoft is giving up on consumer smartphones, too

By Ina Fried

The company is taking a $950 million charge to unwind the last vestiges of the Nokia deal.

Enterprise

Three million people now use Slack every day

By Arik Hesseldahl

It's also adding a million users every five months, the company says.

"A New Error" - Moderat

Moderat is an electronic music duo that has a new album out, and it's supposed to be pretty good. "A New Error" came out a few years ago, and it was their first great song, with a pulsating beat that's catchy in all the right ways. You can listen to both. Or not. It's your call.