In a letter from Palantir's S-1, CEO Alex Karp says Silicon Valley's “engineering elite” don't know “how society should be organized or what justice requires”
KEY POINTS — In Palantir's filing to go public on Tuesday, CEO Alex Karp said Silicon Valley engineers …
Palantir files S-1 for its public market listing, confirming a net loss of $580M in 2019 on $742.6M in revenue; intends to debut with a direct listing
- The data analytics company co-founded by Peter Thiel is going public after 16 years. — Data analytics company Palantir Technologies …
How Microsoft's talks with TikTok ballooned from a small investment into a big, messy, closely watched political soap opera after Trump's intervention
Neither side wanted a big deal. But what began as talks about a small investment ballooned with interventions from President Trump.
Hands-on with the ~$950 ASUS ZenFone 7 Pro, which has a flippable camera, Snapdragon 865 Plus, 6.67" 90Hz AMOLED display, and a 5,000mAh battery
ASUS has been taking a cautious approach to its new phones, at a time when rivals continue to churn out a mix of flagship and midrange devices.
Sources: Apple plans to add AR content to Apple TV+ next year, as a form of bonus content akin to director commentaries, ahead of an AR headset in 2022
- Company plans to add AR-based bonus content to original video — Apple seeks to make AR more mainstream ahead of headset launch
Unsealed court docs: Google engineers admitted knowing and discussing that the company's location privacy app settings were confusing and could be misleading
Users could make change, but it was “difficult enough that people won't,” one employee wrote. — Newly unsealed and partially …
As content moderators started working from home, YouTube's reliance on automation resulted in double the video removals; Facebook saw removals steeply decline
When YouTube sent content moderators home in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it dramatically expanded its use of automated filters …
New Zealand's stock exchange halted trading for more than three hours on Wednesday after experiencing its second cyber attack in two days, likely DDoS
New Zealand's stock exchange was halted for more than three hours on Wednesday as it came under cyber attack for a second day.
As Palantir files to go public, questions remain about whether to define the company as a software business, a less-profitable consulting firm, or both
New York Times :
White House announces $1B+ investment to create 12 research institutes focused on AI and quantum computing
The White House today detailed the establishment of 12 new research institutes focused on AI and quantum information science. Agencies including the National Science Foundation …
Tony Hsieh is stepping down as Zappos CEO after 21 years at the helm; COO Kedar Deshpande will succeed him at the Amazon-owned company
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh is stepping down after 21 years at the helm. — Kedar Deshpande, COO at the company, has assumed the role of CEO, according to an internal email obtained by FN.
Google rolls out Chrome 85 with 10% faster page load times, collapsible tab groups, a PDF editor, and more
Following version 84's release on Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, the next release of Google's browser is rolling out today. Chrome 85 sees faster page loads …
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX has acquired crypto price tracking app Blockfolio for $150M, in the form of equity, FTX's native token, and cash
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX has acquired popular crypto price tracking app Blockfolio for $150 million in one of the largest acquisition deals in the digital asset space this year.
Facebook updates Messenger Rooms, its group video calling tool, with a simplified UI for creating and discovering rooms, new customization options, and more
Messenger Rooms, Facebook's social Zoom competitor, is today rolling out new features aimed at making Rooms easier to both create …
Sources: Alibaba pauses investments in Indian companies for at least six months, but has no plans to lower stakes or exit investments, amid India-China tensions
NEW DELHI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Alibaba Group has put on hold plans to invest in Indian companies …
Profile of VR pioneer Jaron Lanier, his early warnings about the dangers of social media, why Facebook is bad, and why BLM activism felt constructive
Tech oracle Jaron Lanier warned us all about the evils of social media. Too few of us listened. Now, in the most chaotic of moments … Tweets: @andygreenwald , @teh_aimee , and @zachbaron Tweets: And...
An overview of 94 companies that launched at Y Combinator's Summer 2020 Demo Day 2; the Summer 2020 batch of companies was YC's first fully remote startup batch
And we're back! Today was part two of Y Combinator's absolutely massive Demo Day(s) event for its Summer 2020 class.
Judge denies Epic's motion to restore Fortnite to the App Store but orders Apple to not block Unreal Engine; full hearing scheduled for September 28
Apple is blocking Fortnite updates and new installs on the App Store … Nick Statt / The Verge : Epic confirms Fortnite's new season won't be on iPhone, iPad, or Mac Joe Rossignol / MacRumors : Epic Ga...
Grid, a SaaS startup that lets users turn spreadsheets into visual “narratives”, raises $12M Series A led by New Enterprise Associates
Grid, a SaaS startup founded in Iceland that lets you turn spreadsheets into visual “narratives,” has closed $12 million in Series A funding.
A group of 2,000+ online sellers has filed an antitrust case against Amazon in India, alleging the company engages in unfair business practices
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A group of more than 2,000 online sellers has filed an antitrust case against Amazon (AMZN.O) in India …
A Chromium feature is responsible for nearly half of the traffic load on root DNS servers by issuing DNS lookups that often propagate up to root nameservers
Google is doing to DNS what D-Link once did to NTP. — The Chromium browser—open source, upstream parent to both Google Chrome … Tweets: @jreuben1 , @dennis_kipker , @glynmoody , @hackerfantastic , @...
Interviews and documents reveal Wirecard's desperate effort to cover up fraud, hoodwink its auditors, and a plan to take over Deutsche Bank in its final months
Executives at the German payments group hatched a plan to buy Deutsche Bank while desperately trying to cover their tracks Tweets: @lionelbarber , @aallan , @sub8u , @speraltalisboa , @ms_zamandlovu ,...
Microsoft adds an audio transcription feature to Word's web version for Office 365 that will work with prerecorded or live audio
why shouldn't you just speak the first draft of your paper rather than typing it all in? [Microsoft 365 Word on the web transcription] https://www.microsoft.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Microsoft...
Facebook says it will unify its AR/VR teams into a group called Facebook Reality Labs, renames Oculus Connect event to Facebook Connect, to be held on Sept. 16
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch :
Finix, a SaaS startup selling payments tools to businesses, adds $30M led by Lightspeed and AMEX to its $45 Series B from earlier this year
Finix continues to have a good year. Six months after announcing an initial $45 million Series B, the payments infrastructure company is coming …
Human rights advocates file a court petition against Israeli phone hacking firm Cellebrite to stop exports to Hong Kong, say tools are used against dissidents
Patrick O'Neill / MIT Technology Review :
Salesforce reports Q2 revenue of $5.15B, up 29% YoY, vs. $4.90B est., gives Q3 revenue guidance of $5.24B to $5.25B, up 16% YoY
Jordan Novet / CNBC :
Facebook says it aims to launch its News tab in multiple countries within the next 6-12 months and is considering the UK, Germany, France, India, and Brazil
Eyeing UK, Germany, France, India, Brazil — Sources say it's working out deals to pay some publishers — Source confirms likely won't be launching in Australia b/c battle w regulators Full story @axios...
Facebook is testing a Shop section in its app in the US, while Instagram expands Live Shopping to more sellers in the US
a new e-commerce tab for brands to showcase their wares Max A. Cherney / Barron's Online : Facebook Has a New Top Bull on Wall Street David Cohen / Adweek : Facebook Shop Debuts on the Social Network'...
Gartner: global smartphone sales in Q2 dropped 20.4% YoY, similar to Q1's 20% drop; Samsung and Huawei virtually tie for top spot, after Samsung drops 27% YoY
Brian Heater / TechCrunch :
Swedish esports startup Challengermode raises ~€10.1M led by eWTP Innovation Fund, the global investment arm of the Alibaba Group
Charlotte Tucker / EU-Startups :
Cisco says it will acquire BabbleLabs, which uses AI to remove unwanted noise and detect human speech, to integrate into Webex and other collaboration offerings
Larry Dignan / ZDNet :
ConsenSys acquires JP Morgan Chase's Quorum enterprise blockchain project, while the bank makes a strategic investment in ConsenSys
Ian Allison / CoinDesk :
Xiaomi reports Q2 revenue of ~$7.77B, up 3.1% YoY, and net income of ~$650M, up 128.9% YoY, despite production difficulties in India
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Socure, a cloud-based identity verification and fraud prevention startup, raises $35M led by Sorenson Ventures, bringing its total raised to $96M
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Microsoft makes Azure's Immersive Reader generally available, letting developers embed a reading accessibility view with features like Read Aloud into apps
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
XYZ Robotics, a robotic pick-and-place startup using AI and a tool-changing system to reduce overhead costs, raises $17M Series A+ from Source Code Capital
Eugene Demaitre / The Robot Report :
Synthego, which is developing a ML-based approach to engineering genomes, raises $100M Series D led by Wellington Management, bringing total raised to $250M+
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
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.