Techmeme River
Techmeme River
Sunday, September 27, 2020
1:20 AM
Pastebin adds two new features, Burn After Read and Password Protected Pastes, that experts say will make it easier to disguise malware operations
ZDNet
12:45 AM
Elon Musk voiced his discontent on Twitter that OpenAI is exclusively licensing GPT-3 to Microsoft saying “OpenAI is essentially captured by Microsoft”
BusinessInsider
12:10 AM
Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin discloses hack that emptied its hot wallets, with the minimum loss currently estimated at $150M
ZDNet
Saturday, September 26, 2020
11:10 PM
Poshmark, an online clothes resale marketplace, says it has confidentially filed its draft S-1 with the SEC for an IPO
Bloomberg
9:40 PM
SEC filing: Postmates posted a loss of $32.2M in Q2, compared to a loss of $73M in Q1; Postmates lost $105.2M in H1 2020 vs. $239M in the same period of 2019
TechCrunch
7:45 PM
Interview with Visa's Terry Angelos and Cuy Sheffield on the future of blockchain networks, partnering with crypto payment firms, and the Libra Association
Forbes
4:55 PM
Fitbit says its OS 5.0 has been developed exclusively for the new Versa 3 and Sense smartwatches, and older devices, including last year's Versa 2, won't get it
9to5Google
3:35 PM
Putin calls for a “reboot” between the US and Russia in cyberspace, offering “nonintervention into internal affairs of each other” including in elections
New York Times
1:50 PM
Inside eBay's alleged plot that targeted a blogging duo and a Twitter gadfly using cockroaches, porn, death threats, physical surveillance, and pizza deliveries
New York Times
12:10 PM
Facebook exec says right-wing drives more engagement because its “populism is always more engaging” as it speaks to “an incredibly strong, primitive emotion”
Politico
11:05 AM
CB Insights: cloud computing startups raised almost $3B across 97 deals in Q2 2020, up from 76 deals in Q2 2019, with deal volume reaching a three-year high
Wall Street Journal
9:50 AM
US sets export restrictions on China's biggest chipmaker SMIC, saying exports to SMIC posed an “unacceptable risk” of being diverted to “military end use”
Financial Times
7:05 AM
A look at how Iranians are using satellite file-casting app Toosheh to bypass state internet blackouts as the country pushes its national intranet
Rest of World
2:00 AM
Poll: 52% of US voters support shutting down social media platforms for the week of the election, with 62% not confident platforms can stop election misinfo
Axios
12:35 AM
Apple's Craig Federighi details how ML behind handwriting recognition on iPad works, which was trained using data sourced directly from people as they wrote
Popular Mechanics
Friday, September 25, 2020
11:55 PM
Source code of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 has leaked online on various file sharing sites this week; Microsoft says it is “investigating the matter”
The Verge
10:15 PM
DOJ files its opposition to TikTok's request to halt Trump ban, says blocking the ban will infringe on Trump's authority, calls ByteDance CEO mouthpiece for CCP
The Verge
9:20 PM
Tech groups consider legal action against Trump's EO barring federal contractors from offering Diversity and Inclusion training, raising First Amendment issues
Protocol
8:02 PM
Epic acquires SuperAwesome, a UK-based platform offering devs a toolkit for implementing kids' safety features in their products; will remain standalone company
Axios
7:40 PM
Future AR wearables from Facebook, Apple, and Amazon will track how we move and react in real time, setting up a privacy minefield
Engadget
6:55 PM
Report: longtime Ubisoft veteran and Rayman creator Michel Ancel retired from the game publisher earlier this month while being investigated for toxic behavior
Kotaku
6:20 PM
Google has announced the general availability of AI Platform Prediction, a service for developers to prepare, build, run, and share ML models in the cloud
VentureBeat
5:20 PM
SEC filing: Alexis Ohanian is raising a fund called 776, with a target of $150M, three months after leaving Initialized Capital
TechCrunch
4:00 PM
Humane raises a $30M Series A led by Sam Altman and Lachy Groom, with Marc Benioff and others participating, to build some new kind of computing platform
Fast Company
3:15 PM
Twitter has emailed developers warning that it may have exposed their private app keys and account tokens due to a bug that stored them in browser caches
TechCrunch
2:20 PM
Within3, an Ohio-based collaboration and communication service for the biotech and pharma industries, raises over $100M from Insight Partners and others
TechCrunch
1:45 PM
Stan Chudnovsky, head of Messenger at Facebook, says Facebook has asked Apple for years to give users an option to make Messenger the default iOS messaging app
The Information
1:23 PM
Leaked email: Google informed its advertisers on Friday that it will block election ads referencing “the election, or its outcome” after polls close on Nov. 3
Axios
12:37 PM
Alphabet settles shareholder lawsuit over its handling of sexual harassment claims, agrees to eliminate mandatory arbitration and limit Google's use of NDAs
CNBC
12:12 PM
Apple has agreed to allow Facebook to process payments for its paid online events feature via Facebook Pay, without taking a 30% cut, until December 31
TechCrunch
11:20 AM
Colombia-based delivery app Rappi has raised over $300M from T. Rowe Price and others
Reuters
10:35 AM
Sources: Google to issue new guidelines emphasizing that developers must use Google's own billing service for in-app purchases and subscriptions in Play Store
Bloomberg
9:45 AM
About 25 academics, journalists, others say they've formed the Real Facebook Oversight Board, to analyze and critique Facebook's content moderation decisions
NBC News
8:55 AM
Justice Department asks a federal judge to allow the government to bar Apple and Google from offering WeChat for download in US app stores pending an appeal
Reuters
7:55 AM
Vodafone scored a crucial victory in a years-long tax dispute with the Indian government, which will potentially save the UK wireless carrier almost $3B
Bloomberg
7:10 AM
The European Commission says it will appeal the July 2020 ruling that reversed the original $15B fine against Apple and Ireland over State Aid and taxes
TechCrunch
4:30 AM
Interview with Dantley Davis, Twitter's chief design officer, on building diverse and inclusive design teams in tech
Protocol
Thursday, September 24, 2020
10:35 PM
Chinese startup Showmac Tech, which makes eSIMs for Xiaomi IoT devices, raises $15M Series A+ led by Addor Capital
TechCrunch
8:55 PM
Sources: ahead of public market debut on Sept. 30, Palantir has told investors that its shares could start trading at $10 apiece, valuing the company ~$22B
Wall Street Journal
8:30 PM
Former director at Facebook, Tim Kendall, told Congress Facebook “took a page from Big Tobacco's playbook, working to make our offering addictive at the outset”
Ars Technica
8:10 PM
Clearview AI SEC filing revealed $8.6M in equity sales from undisclosed investors and identified two previously unknown board members
BuzzFeed News
8:05 PM
Amazon says it monitors internal listservs to gather feedback at scale, after an AWS employee claimed the listservs are being monitored for labor organizing
VICE
7:20 PM
Apple confirms it had acquired cross-platform podcast app Scout FM, which created podcast stations for users based on listening history, before shutting it down
Bloomberg
6:15 PM
Ahead of US elections, YouTube says it is including info panels under videos about voting by mail, pointing viewers to a report by the Bipartisan Policy Center
The Verge
5:30 PM
SignalFire's in-depth report on the state of the creator economy, which has ~50M pro or semi-pro content creators across Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms
SignalFire
4:30 PM
Ex-Cambridge Analytica head Alexander Nix banned from running limited companies for seven years over “potentially unethical” behavior linked to the scandal
The Guardian
4:25 PM
Hootsuite says it will terminate its ICE contract after disagreements within the company spilled over into public view when an employee tweeted about the deal
TechCrunch
4:10 PM
CISA: a hacker accessed the network of an unnamed US federal agency using valid credentials for multiple users' Microsoft 365 accounts and domain admin accounts
Bloomberg
4:00 PM
Apple is now letting customers return only the band, instead of the entire Watch, if they bought a Watch with an ill-fitting Solo Loop band
MacRumors
3:45 PM
Twitter says its test to prompt users to read articles before retweeting was a success, with users opening articles 40% more and sometimes opting not to retweet
TechCrunch
3:35 PM
Facebook outlines new rules for its internal Workplace, including banning profile pictures that promote specific political candidates or causes
CNBC
3:30 PM
Facebook says it removed 200+ accounts Thursday that were associated with US election interference in the past, “including those involved in DC leaks in 2016”
CyberScoop
3:00 PM
Apple releases iOS 14.0.1 with a fix for a bug that made the default browser or mail app settings reset to Apple's Safari or Mail when the device reboots
MacRumors
2:45 PM
Amazon unveiled the AZ1 Neural Edge processor, a silicon module it made with MediaTek to allow for on-device neural speech recognition in its new Echo devices
The Verge
2:31 PM
A malware attack on a rural Texas county's email system, sending fake emails to voters, shows a significant weakness of America's election security
ProPublica
2:25 PM
DHS admits that 184K photos from a facial recognition pilot program were stolen from a CBP subcontractor and at least 19 were posted on the dark web last year
VICE
2:00 PM
US federal judge says the Trump administration must either delay a ban on TikTok or file legal papers defending the decision by Friday
Reuters
1:51 PM
Amazon announces updated Eero mesh WiFi routers with support for WiFi 6 and Zigbee, available for $129.99 and $229.99
The Verge
1:50 PM
Amazon announces updated $40 Fire TV and $30 Fire TV Stick Lite with new home screen for easier content discoverability, arriving on September 30
CNBC
1:46 PM
Amazon announces Luna cloud gaming service, going live in October for $5.99/month, with a gamepad and support for Fire TV, PC, Mac, iOS, and later for Android
Engadget
1:42 PM
Amazon announces $250 Echo Show 10 with a motorized base that can move the screen, a 13MP camera that keeps the user in shot, and more, with pre-orders today
The Verge
1:40 PM
Ring announces a new line of security cameras for cars and says it is working with Tesla and others to integrate existing cameras into the Ring platform
The Verge
1:36 PM
Amazon says Alexa will start asking users questions to improve its conversation, change intonation depending on context, detect babies crying, and more
VentureBeat
1:35 PM
Ring unveils Always Home Cam, an autonomous drone that can fly around inside a house, expected to cost $249.99 when it starts shipping next year
The Verge
1:32 PM
Amazon announces redesigned spherical Echo devices, including $99 Echo, $60 Echo Dot with Clock, and $50 Echo Dot, with on-board speech analysis
CNBC
1:30 PM
Ring says it will offer end-to-end encryption for video feeds by the end of this year and will let Ring owners disable the controversial Neighbors feature
The Verge
1:20 PM
A look at Twitter's hack on July 15, the drastic changes it made in the immediate aftermath, and its plans to prevent an Election Day meltdown
Wired
1:15 PM
Amazon redesigns the Echo with a new spherical design and a custom machine learning processor
The Verge
1:02 PM
Live blog of Amazon's Echo and Alexa event
The Verge
1:00 PM
Facebook details Dynabench, a platform for AI data collection and benchmarking that uses both humans and AI models to create challenging test data sets
VentureBeat
12:45 PM
Marc Bodnick launches Telepath, a “kinder” social network with Reddit's subreddit topic structure, Twitter's in-the-moment feel, and Snapchat's ephemerality
Protocol
12:10 PM
EU releases a proposal for regulating crypto assets and stablecoins as part of its new Digital Finance Package
The Block
12:05 PM
Spotify and Chernin Entertainment agree to a multi-year partnership for Chernin to develop movies and TV shows based on Spotify's podcasts
TechCrunch
12:00 PM
Zoom canceled a talk by a Palestinian hijacker at SFSU after threats of criminal liability for “material support”; YouTube, Facebook also stopped the talk
The Verge
11:40 AM
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says he will invest €1B in European tech startups over the next decade, focused on “moonshots” in ML, biotech, and other sectors
Financial Times
11:35 AM
Whitebox, which manages e-commerce logistics and fulfillment across marketplaces, raises $18M Series B led by Noro-Moseley Partners, after $5M Series A in 2019
TechCrunch
11:25 AM
Spotify made a deal to turn its exclusive podcasts into TV shows and movies
The Verge
11:15 AM
Greenlight, which offers parent-managed, fee-free debit cards for up to five children for $5 per month, raises $215M Series C at a valuation of $1.2B
Crunchbase News
10:50 AM
Sources: Deliveroo has begun preliminary talks to explore the possibility of an IPO in 2021
Bloomberg
10:35 AM
YouTube expands a fact-checking feature on issues related to elections and COVID-19 to Germany and UK, after initially launching it in the US, Brazil, and India
CNBC
10:30 AM
Petal, which offers credit cards by analyzing the cash flow of potential borrowers rather than credit scores, raises $55M Series C led by Thiel's Valar Ventures
TechCrunch
10:10 AM
Apple says it rejected 150,000+ apps last year for violating its privacy guidelines and has removed 60M+ user reviews that it believes to be spam so far in 2020
AppleInsider
9:55 AM
NUVIA, which makes energy-efficient chips for data centers and enterprises, raises $240M Series B led by Mithril Capital
TechCrunch
9:40 AM
Messy launches of PS5 and the new Xbox showed Sony and Microsoft once again failing at pre-orders, partly driven by the need to create a narrative of scarcity
The Verge
9:30 AM
Spectrum Labs, which helps online services identify toxic content and respond, raises $10M Series A led by Greycroft, bringing its total raised to $14M
TechCrunch
8:50 AM
Microsoft says a standalone, non-subscription version of Office will be released in the second half of 2021 for both Windows and Mac
Windows Central
8:15 AM
Epic, Spotify, Match Group, and others form the Coalition for App Fairness to pressure Apple and other app store owners to make changes to marketplace rules
Wall Street Journal
8:05 AM
Ripjar, which develops AI-based software to detect financial crime, raises $36.8M Series B led by Long Ridge Equity Partners
TechCrunch
7:20 AM
Facebook's Oversight Board says it expects to start before the election, in mid to late October, after criticism for a perceived lack of action
CNBC
6:35 AM
TikTok users in the US are experiencing something long familiar to much of the world: a flourishing online social space existentially threatened by politics
New York Times
4:50 AM
How Arkady Bukh, a New York-based immigrant from the former Soviet bloc, emerged as the go-to defense lawyer for the cybercrime underworld
CyberScoop
2:55 AM
The software industry makes amazing software tools for itself, while doctors, academics, and scientists are stuck using bad software
Wired
1:55 AM
Sundar Pichai says Google is planning “hybrid” models for future work, to allow partial work from home as 62% of employees want to have that flexibility
CNBC
12:10 AM
Next Insurance, which offers digital insurance products to small businesses, raises $250M Series D at $2B+ valuation led by CapitalG and Munich Re
Crunchbase News
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
11:15 PM
Todoist rolls out Kanban-style Boards as an optional view, similar to Trello
The Next Web
10:55 PM
NHS COVID-19, a contact tracing app created by the UK government, launches in England and Wales with Exposure Notification API from Apple and Google
MacRumors
9:20 PM
GOAT Group, operator of online sneaker marketplace GOAT, has raised $100M Series E from D1 Capital Partners, source says at a $1.75B valuation
Wall Street Journal
8:50 PM
Amazon launches “Climate Pledge Friendly” label in search results for more than 25K products that have one or more of 19 different sustainability certifications
The Verge
8:00 PM
SEC filing: Peter Thiel and Richard Li have created a SPAC called Bridgetown Holdings Ltd., targeting SE Asia investment, and are seeking to raise $575M via IPO
Bloomberg
7:45 PM
CrowdStrike has agreed to acquire Preempt Security, a provider of zero trust and conditional access tech for enterprise threat management, for about $96M
ZDNet
7:30 PM
Samsung unveils its Galaxy S20 FE, with a 6.5-inch display, Snapdragon 865, 120Hz refresh rate, starting at $699 for sub-6GHz model or $749 for mmWave 5G model
The Verge
6:25 PM
Online fitness coaching app Freeletics raises $25M Series B led by JAZZ Venture Partners and Causeway Media Partners, following a $45M Series A in 2018
TechCrunch
5:40 PM
Sling TV launches Sling Watch Party, the first co-watching feature from a pay-TV provider, in beta on Chrome for laptops and desktops only
The Verge
5:20 PM
Tesla sues the Trump administration to end tariffs on imports of Chinese parts that are used in Tesla's Autopilot 3.0 hardware, enabling “Full Self-Driving”
TechCrunch
4:30 PM
GoodRx, a price comparison service for prescription drugs at pharmacies, closes up 50%+ after its IPO, raising $1.14B and valuing the company at $19.4B
Bloomberg
4:00 PM
Reddit, one of QAnon's original hubs, has no meaningful QAnon presence now, although Reddit says it hasn't made a concerted effort to remove the conspiracy
The Atlantic
3:40 PM
Avaaz analysis: Facebook has allowed hundreds of misleading super PAC ads, primarily spreading misinformation about Biden and USPS, with 10M+ views collectively
CNN
3:33 PM
Twitter says it will begin testing audio DMs soon, after introducing support for audio in tweets, starting in Brazil
The Verge
3:05 PM
ByteDance asks a US court for a preliminary injunction to prevent the US government from banning TikTok from app stores, as Trump's ban looms
Bloomberg
2:10 PM
Samsung rolls out EKG monitoring to Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Active2 in US after getting FDA approval in August; Watch 3's blood oxygen sensor can now be used
The Verge
1:55 PM
Sources describe frenzied negotiations between ByteDance and CFIUS, leading to rushed and messy term sheets that failed to spell out key elements of the deal
Reuters
1:40 PM
Apple iPad (2020) review: fast with a robust selection of apps and 128GB model is good value, but lacks multi-user support and USB-C; 32GB model is inadequate
The Verge
1:20 PM
Sources detail what went wrong at Magic Leap, which raised $3.5B and failed to build its much-hyped AR headset, with most blame placed on founder Rony Abovitz
Bloomberg
1:00 PM
Google expands Google Cloud's Chronicle cybersecurity analysis tools with threat detection and alerts
VentureBeat
12:55 PM
Google rolls out updates to Maps with a layer showing COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people, with labels to indicate trends, coming to 220 countries and territories
TechCrunch
12:45 PM
While livestreaming video e-commerce has taken off in China, it has yet to go mainstream in the US, but Walmart hopes it can lead the way with its bet on TikTok
Vox
12:25 PM
Report: Facebook's CrowdTangle tool, used by US state election officials to monitor misinformation, doesn't effectively monitor most posts, like those in Groups
Bloomberg
12:20 PM
Instagram updates Reels with longer videos, an extended timer, and better editing tools, after reports the TikTok competitor is failing to gain traction
TechCrunch
12:10 PM
iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 review: a big change for iPhones, with widgets, better notifications, and useful App Library, while iPad gets a more incremental update
The Verge
11:55 AM
Intel launches 11th-gen CPUs aimed at edge computing, like kiosks, medical devices, and robots, with improved security and performance
VentureBeat
11:50 AM
Google says developers can now use its open source UI framework Flutter to develop Windows apps, currently in alpha, with support for Windows 7 and newer
9to5Google
11:45 AM
Attentive, which offers enterprise text marketing tools, raises $230M Series D led by Coatue at a $2.2B valuation, following a $110M Series C earlier in 2020
Forbes
11:40 AM
Sources: US election day exercises simulating attacks like hacks and disruption to voting show US officials will struggle to counter online misinformation
Reuters
11:35 AM
Facebook says it will reject ads from US political campaigns prematurely claiming victory before results have been declared
Fast Company
11:30 AM
Shopify says two “rogue members” of its support teams stole customer data from over 100 merchants; the company is working with the FBI to investigate
Bloomberg
11:15 AM
Adobe debuts Liquid Mode, an update for Acrobat Reader that uses AI to reformat PDFs for easier reading on smaller screens, coming first to mobile and Chrome OS
VentureBeat
11:10 AM
Filing: four ex-eBay employees will plead guilty to cyberstalking critical bloggers; two senior executives who were allegedly involved deny wrongdoing
Bloomberg
11:05 AM
Spotify introduces Polls, an interactive tool for podcast hosts that lets listeners answer questions
TechCrunch
10:45 AM
DOJ, in a rare legislative proposal, asks Congress to adopt a law weakening Section 230, in an effort to hold Facebook, Google, and others liable for content
Washington Post
10:30 AM
Leaked manual from UK social media monitoring service Blackdot Solutions details how to create fake Facebook accounts to gather data while avoiding detection
VICE
10:20 AM
Leaked audio recordings and internal posts show Mark Zuckerberg's balancing act, as employees demand a harder line against Trump but users want the opposite
The Verge
9:55 AM
Pinterest launches Story Pins, which combine multiple pages of images, videos, voiceover, and overlaid text, in beta, and other tools for creators
TechCrunch
9:45 AM
Kuo: Apple's first product with Mini-LED displays will be a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, with its displays entering mass production in 2020
MacRumors
9:30 AM
ClassEDU, maker of a video-conferencing product for schools called Class for Zoom, raises $16M seed from Santi Subotovsky, a Zoom board member, and others
TechCrunch
9:25 AM
Robinhood raises $460M from a16z, Sequoia, DST Global, and others as a extension to its $200M Series G, at a $11.7B valuation
Reuters
9:05 AM
Source: DOJ to submit a proposal to Congress curbing Section 230 protections for internet firms, forcing them to take responsibility for content on their sites
Wall Street Journal
8:40 AM
Nick Clegg denies Facebook could pull out of EU over data transfer ban, saying legal action is “to send a signal” that the ban could be a disaster for the EU
TechCrunch
8:15 AM
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter reach a deal with big advertisers for common standards on harmful content and to allow external audits of the system from H2 2021
Financial Times
8:05 AM
Salsify, which helps retail brands with inventory, marketing, and selling strategies, raises $155M Series E led by Warburg Pincus
TechCrunch
7:55 AM
Study: EU startups are delaying moving to the US, with just one-third moving before their Series A between 2015-2019, compared to two-thirds between 2008-2014
Sifted
7:45 AM
Volkswagen's heavy truck business The Traton Group takes a minority stake in TuSimple as part of an agreement to develop autonomous trucks
TechCrunch
7:25 AM
SpotOn, a payments startup focused on SMBs, raises $60M Series C led by DST Global, bringing total raised to $190M, of which $150M was raised since June 2019
FinLedger
7:15 AM
Warsaw-based Uncapped, which offers revenue-based finance to European startups, raises $26M led by Mouro Capital
TechCrunch
7:05 AM
Q&A with Casey Newton on leaving The Verge to start a newsletter on Substack called Platformer, after many years as The Verge's Silicon Valley editor
OneZero
6:25 AM
Carrd, Linktree, and Bio.fm have capitalized on link sharing limits in apps like Instagram, creating entire businesses around simple link sharing websites
The Verge
4:36 AM
Some experts fear a new tranche of FCC subsidies, worth $505M, set aside just for Puerto Rico might not help the people most in need of broadband connections
Axios
2:55 AM
An in-depth look at Mike Speiser's investment playbook at Sutter Hill Ventures; Speiser incubated Snowflake, of which he was a founding investor, as interim CEO
kwokchain
1:30 AM
Dozens of tweets doxxing interfaith couples in India have circulated on Twitter for nearly two months, despite being reported for weeks
BuzzFeed News
1:00 AM
TikTok's UI, auto-playing one video at a time, yields clean user-driven data with its “algorithm-friendly design”, unlike Facebook, Twitter's “infinite scroll”
Remains of the Day
12:15 AM
Oracle announces updates to its Cloud Compute instances, including support for Nvidia's A100 accelerator, Arm-powered processors, and updated pricing schemes
AnandTech
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
11:35 PM
Acesso Digital, a developer of facial recognition and identification technology, raises $107.25M from private equity firm General Atlantic and SoftBank
Reuters
11:05 PM
Syfe, a Singapore-based robo-advisor startup, raises $18.6M Series A led by Valar Ventures as it eyes expansion into other Asian countries
TechCrunch
10:40 PM
Manticore, a Roblox-like startup that enables users to quickly build multi-player desktop games, raises $15M led by Epic, bringing its total raised to $60M
Forbes
10:10 PM
PagerDuty to buy Rundeck, whose open source software can help IT admins automatically fix issues, for $100M; Rundeck had raised $3M, according to Crunchbase
SiliconANGLE
9:15 PM
Papa, which connects elderly Americans with virtual and physical companions, raises $18M Series B led by Comcast Ventures, bringing its total raised to $31M
TechCrunch
8:50 PM
Sources: GoodRx, a price comparison app for prescription drugs at local pharmacies, raises $1.14B in its IPO at $33 per share, valuing the company ~$12.7B
Axios
8:30 PM
TransferWise reported annual revenues of £302.6M in FY ending March 2020, up 70% YoY, and net profit of £21.3M, says it has 8M customers globally, up 33% YoY
TechCrunch
8:05 PM
Facebook removes accounts, groups, and Pages tied to China that posted about US politics; the network was followed by fewer than 3,000 US accounts
New York Times
8:00 PM
Morgan Beller, one of the founders of Facebook's Libra digital currency, has left the company to become a partner at VC firm NFX
CNBC
7:50 PM
The Swift Project announces its language tools are now available for Windows 10
iMore
7:31 PM
Overview of the state of bundles in 2020 across Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft
Stratechery
7:05 PM
Interview with Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer on buying more game companies, investing in Xbox Game Pass, and Microsoft's rejected TikTok bid
CNET
6:40 PM
Graphika: fake Chinese account network taken down by Facebook used AI-generated faces, an increasingly common tactic meant to evade detection
TechCrunch
5:55 PM
How Spotify's UX decisions have encouraged the growth of adjective-laden generic artist names, enabling a kind of SEO spam for music
OneZero
5:00 PM
Samsung is launching its ad-supported streaming service Samsung TV Plus, available on Samsung TVs since 2016, on some of its latest mobile phones
Protocol
4:30 PM
Apptopia and Sensor Tower data shows Pinterest recently broke its daily download record as users sought inspiration for iOS 14 homescreen customization ideas
TechCrunch
4:10 PM
Social calendar and event discovery startup IRL raises $16M Series B, says it's seeing ~1M hours/day in its Time Together tool and is adding a Groups feature
Crunchbase News
3:40 PM
Russian online services company Yandex says it has agreed to a $5.5B deal to buy Tinkoff, the country's top online bank
Financial Times
3:25 PM
YouTube says it will use AI-powered moderation to automatically age-restrict certain content
The Verge
2:50 PM
In a 310-page SEC filing, Palantir does not mention its work for ICE, despite the company's role in immigrant surveillance, focusing instead on military work
Slate
2:20 PM
Austin-based SigmaSense raises $22M Series A led by Foxconn Technology Group for its touchscreen tech that can sense hovering touchless gestures and more
Crunchbase News
1:50 PM
Paris-based Mirakl, which develops e-commerce tools to help companies build their online stores, raises $300M led by Permira at a $1.5B valuation
Bloomberg
1:35 PM
Google says it will pull the plug on paid Chrome extensions over the next year, after temporarily banning them due to fraudulent transactions
9to5Google
1:10 PM
Beyond Limits, an industrial AI startup focused on energy, utility, and power sectors, raises $133M Series C led by Group 42 and BP Ventures
Crunchbase News
12:40 PM
Large rival companies say Amazon restricts how competing products, like smart speakers and video doorbells, can be advertised, giving Amazon's devices an edge
Wall Street Journal
12:30 PM
Microsoft says it will exclusively license OpenAI's GPT-3 language model, which will continue to be offered via the Azure-hosted API launched in June
VentureBeat
12:25 PM
Authorities from the US, UK, Germany, Europol, and others arrest 179 during Operation DisrupTor, targeting the sale of illicit goods on the dark web
ZDNet
12:10 PM
Microsoft debuts Premonition, a robotics and sensor platform for monitoring disease carriers like mosquitos alongside cloud-based software for analyzing samples
TechCrunch
12:00 PM
Microsoft debuts new Teams features, including virtual commute, Headspace integration, breakout rooms, and virtual coffee shops for meetings
VentureBeat
11:52 AM
Microsoft says the first preview of its Edge browser for Linux will be available in October
TechCrunch
11:45 AM
Microsoft unveils Azure Orbital, a cloud-based “ground station as a service” for satellite data processing, competing with AWS' Ground Station
GeekWire
11:40 AM
Microsoft launches Azure Communication Services, letting developers add voice and video calling, chat, text messages, and more to apps, challenging Twilio
TechCrunch
11:35 AM
Microsoft says its 85-inch Surface Hub 2S, originally unveiled in April 2019, will be available in January 2021 for $21,999.99
The Verge
11:27 AM
Microsoft unveils updates across Azure Machine Learning and Azure Cognitive Services, launches Metrics Advisor, Bot Framework Composer, Automated ML UI, more
VentureBeat
11:10 AM
Google debuts Tables, a work-tracking tool to rival Airtable that can set task-based email reminders, send messages when forms are submitted, manage tasks, more
TechCrunch
10:45 AM
iPhone users are customizing their home screen with new icons, photos, and entire color schemes using iOS 14 widgets, with some designs going viral
CNBC
10:30 AM
Aurora Labs, a startup with tech to detect and remediate bugs in car codebases, raises $23M Series B from Porsche SE, Toyota Tsusho, and others
VentureBeat
9:55 AM
Q&A with NYT's SVP of ad innovation Allison Murphy about the paper's plans to stop using third-party cookies, its contextual ad targeting strategy, and more
Digiday
9:50 AM
EasySend, a no-code platform to automate repetitive business processes for the insurance and finance industries, raises $16M led by Hanaco Ventures
VentureBeat
9:45 AM
Twitter launches its biggest effort yet to encourage US citizens to vote, with a prompt in the timeline, push alert in notifications, promoted trends, and more
USA Today
9:35 AM
Nick Clegg says Facebook will take aggressive measures to “restrict the circulation of content” if the presidential election descends into chaos or civil unrest
Financial Times
9:20 AM
Fitbit Sense review: sleek design, intuitive UI, many granular metrics, but lots of bugs, fiddly solid-state button, and poor battery life in always-on mode
The Verge
8:55 AM
Indian IT services company HCL Technologies acquires Australian IT firm DWS for $115.8M to expand its offerings in Australia and New Zealand
The Economic Times
8:15 AM
TikTok says it removed 104.5M videos in H1 2020 for violating community guidelines or TOS, proposes coalition of social apps to protect against harmful content
TechCrunch
7:20 AM
Sources: Reliance is in talks with Indian manufacturers to develop a ~$54 Jio phone that runs on Android, aiming to manufacture ~200M over the next two years
Bloomberg
6:20 AM
Q&A: Android engineers Dave Burke and Iliyan Malchev on “Generic Kernel Image” for Android, hidden developer options like “Gabeldorsche” in Android 11, and more
Ars Technica
4:30 AM
Profile of Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Alphabet and Google, as she leads the company's $800M small business relief and COVID-19 crisis response
Forbes
2:55 AM
CIA announces CIA Labs, a skunkworks operation that will let its officers profit from their inventions in fields like AI, data analytics, and quantum computing
MIT Technology Review