Central Bank of Brazil tells Mastercard and Visa to stop payments via WhatsApp in the country to evaluate risks and regulations
- Authority wants to assess risks to country's payment system — Lawyer says suspension is an unusual move by the bank
Senate Republicans introduce a bill to end “warrant-proof” encryption, forcing tech companies to work with law enforcement, citing apps like WhatsApp
The proposed legislation is Congress' latest attempt to weaken encryption from tech giants.
In January, a faulty facial recognition match led to a Michigan man's arrest for a crime he did not commit, in what may be the first known case of its kind
In what may be the first known case of its kind, a faulty facial recognition match led to a Michigan man's arrest for a crime he did not commit.
After WWDC, the performance of Apple's silicon chips for Mac remains a mystery, with speed and efficiency claims not yet substantiated through benchmarks
There were canned demos but no benchmarks or comparisons — For years, Apple has steadily revealed how the ARM-based chips …
watchOS 7 drops support for Force Touch, a hardware feature that has been available on every Apple Watch model for revealing hidden menus and more
watchOS 7 adds a variety of new features, such as sleep tracking and new workout types, but it also drops support for one key feature.
Ben & Jerry's, Eddie Bauer, and Magnolia Pictures join Patagonia, REI, and others suspending Facebook ads in July to protest amplification of hate speech
Eddie Bauer, Magnolia Pictures, Ben & Jerry's and others have suspended campaigns over the platform's content moderation practices.
Olympus is exiting the camera business after 84 years to focus on medical devices, and selling its camera unit to private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners
Under pressure from U.S. shareholder ValueAct Capital, Tokyo company to sell unit to private-equity firm Japan Industrial Partners
Microsoft releases the first public preview of its Defender antivirus Android app, as Microsoft Defender ATP for Linux becomes generally available for all users
UPDATE: Microsoft Defender ATP for Linux has also exited public preview and is now generally available for all users.
Twitter permanently suspends @DDoSecrets account for violating distribution of hacked data policy after it shared links to data stolen from US law enforcement
Twitter said DDoSecrets account leaked and promoted BlueLeaks, a huge collection of files stolen from more than 200 US police departments and fusion training centers.
Twitch pledges to make platform “safer for everyone” in response to numerous sexual abuse allegations recently leveled at a handful of high-profile streamers
Twitch has pledged to make their streaming platform “safer for everyone” in a statement released in response …
Twitter flags a Trump tweet for breaking rules on abusive behavior; it threatened “serious force” against anyone who may try creating an “autonomous zone” in DC
Twitter on Monday opted not to take down or flag a tweet from President Trump that baselessly tied mail …
Over 70 people, mostly women, have shared stories of discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault within the video game live-streaming industry since Friday
New York Times :
1,000+ technologists, including some from MIT, Facebook, Google, urge Springer to not publish a paper that describes a system to predict crime based on faces
Technologists from MIT, Harvard, and Google say research claiming to predict crime based on human faces creates a “tech-to-prison pipeline” that reinforces racist policing.
Source: Amazon is “actively pursuing” licensing deals to add live and linear TV to complement its Prime Video offerings
Amazon is looking to add 24/7 live programming to its Prime Video service, according to multiple job listings posted over the past several weeks.
Sources say DOJ and a coalition of state attorneys general are considering an antitrust investigation into Apple's App Store, following a similar EU probe
The Justice Department and a coalition of state attorneys general are taking the first steps toward launching an antitrust probe of Apple …
Review of email app Superhuman: elegant, detailed interface but you have to live with its fixed hotkeys, inconsistent filtering, and the steep $30/month price
$30 per month is too much for a Gmail app — Superhuman is one of the most in-demand startups right now … Tweets: @aaronklein , @caseynewton , @joshuabaer , @mg , @harrymccracken , @tonyromm , @olive...
Open Technology Fund, the US digital speech advocate that funded Signal, faces turmoil after the abrupt firing of entire leadership team and resignation of CEO
'There are so many countries and individuals who need this support right now,' says former OTF president
Black Amazon employees, many working in warehouses, urge Jeff Bezos to match his rhetoric on racial justice with actions to address “systemic” racial bias
From racist graffiti to missed promotions, employees say a “systemic pattern of racial bias” permeates the company. Tweets: @kyweise , @kyweise , @kyweise , @kyweise , @teamcoworker , @kyweise , and @...
Former JUMP employees blame the bikeshare company's downfall on Uber applying a software business mentality to a transportation business after acquiring it
One morning at the end of May, Mark Miretsky awoke in his San Francisco apartment and groggily browsed his phone. There was no rush to get up. Tweets: @a_w_gordon , @counternotions , @luke_metro , @m...
Jumbo, which lets users easily manage their online privacy and mass-delete old posts, raises $8M Series A and releases a major app update
A year after its initial release, Jumbo has two important pieces of news to announce. First, the company has released a major update of its app that protects your privacy on online services.
Google says it will auto-delete location and search data by default for new users after 18 months, as part of a broader expansion of its privacy options
A compromise between privacy and ad-targeting data — On Wednesday, Google announced broad changes in its default data practices for new users …
Facebook's NPE Team tests Forecast, an app fostering a community around making crowdsourced predictions about world events using in-app points, now invite-only
Forecast, a new project from Facebook's internal R&D group, NPE Team, is launching today to build a community around predictions.
Filing: Sonos plans to cut 12% of its global workforce and close its NYC store due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Sonos website says it has around 1,450 employees
- Speaker maker Sonos plans to cut 12% of its global workforce due to “uncertainty and challenges stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Recent pledges by Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft to diversify their workforce come after years of similar claims followed by little progress
Bloomberg : Tweets: @aarti411 , @qmatteoq , @bradsmi , @lorrainebardeen , @sbanjo , @carnage4life , and @fxshaw Tweets: Aarti Shahani / @aarti411 : Microsoft just made a concrete pledge: double the #...
Indiana Supreme Court rules in favor of a woman who refused to unlock her phone for police and was held in contempt of court, citing Fifth Amendment protection
Andrew Crocker / Electronic Frontier Foundation :
As it launches new green initiatives, Amazon says its carbon footprint rose 15% YoY in 2019, emitting 51.17M metric tons of CO2, up from 44.4M the year before
Joseph Pisani / Associated Press :
A former Mixer employee who worked at Microsoft for two years before joining the Mixer team in 2018 accuses management of failing to address racism at Mixer
Ian Walker / Kotaku :
Apple has added an accessibility feature in iOS 14 called Sound Recognition that can notify users about important sounds like fire alarms and doorbells
yes, the back — to perform commands Jon Fingas / Engadget : iOS 14 will respond to taps on the back of your iPhone Tweets: Federico Viticci / @viticci : iOS 14 comes with support for Sound Recognition...
European Commission releases a two year review of GDPR, celebrating some aspects but calling for more “vigorous” enforcement
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch :
Sources: Dell is examining spinning off its ~$50B stake in VMware as well as other options
Welcome to Protocol Cloud … Kyle Alspach / CRN : Dell Considering Sale Of VMware Stake: Report Joseph Woelfel / TheStreet : Coronavirus Spike, Dell, VMware, DraftKings - 5 Things You Must Know Wednesd...
Librestream, which offers an enterprise tool that collects and analyzes multiple data streams from workers, raises $24M Series D, bringing total raised to $55M+
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat :
DoNotPay, which creates bots to automate mundane tasks and save users money, raises $12M Series A led by Coatue Management at a valuation of $80M
we only do the most mass-market problems.” https://venturebeat.com/...
India's antitrust watchdog, the Competition Commission of India, approves Facebook's purchase of a 10% stake in Reliance Jio Platforms
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Customer support software startup Ujet raises $55M Series C led by Sapphire Ventures, bringing its total raised to $101M
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat :
Apple is opening up the U1 chip found in iPhone 11 models to developers with a new Nearby Interaction framework for iOS 14
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors :
GroupM: digital ad spend is predicted to overtake spending on traditional media for the first time in 2020, excluding online ads sold by old media outlets
Alex Barker / Financial Times : Tweets: @wfamarketers , @intpolgroup , @alecmacgillis , and @rowlybourne Tweets: WFA / @wfamarketers : WFA research quoted in the @FT today shows global marketers are ...
Indian startup Aye Finance, which offers a digital lending platform for small businesses, raises $27.5M Series E led by CapitalG at a $250M+ valuation
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Recent podcasting deals between platforms and talent resemble the deals musicians used to sign with record labels, forfeiting ownership in exchange for exposure
Nicholas Quah / Nieman Lab : See also Mediagazer
As tensions between India and China escalate, Amazon, Flipkart, and others agree to prominently label products sold in India with their country of origin
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg :
Sources: BigCommerce, which develops software for making online storefronts, has confidentially filed for an IPO, potentially valuing the company at $1B
Bloomberg :
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.