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
The social media campaign was small but targeted all sides of the debate. Officials said Beijing had not decided whether to wade more directly in the American presidential race.
Kuo: Apple's next 12.9-inch iPad Pro, coming at the end of 2020, will have Mini-LED displays
Following his report earlier this week indicating that Apple will be accelerating adoption of mini-LED displays in its iPad and Mac notebook lineups thanks to better than expected development …
Interview with Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer on buying more game companies, investing in Xbox Game Pass, and Microsoft's rejected TikTok bid
In an interview, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Xbox head Phil Spencer discuss further acquisitions, how to keep making hits and what happened with TikTok.
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
- Emails, names, addresses, order details may have been exposed — E-commerce platform is working with FBI on investigation
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
At issue is Section 230, which gives Facebook, Twitter and other social media legal protection for items their users post to the companies' websites
Sources: US election day exercises simulating attacks like hacks and disruption to voting show US officials will struggle to counter online misinformation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. election day exercises simulating attacks ranging from hackers to anthrax to disrupt voting show state …
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
Microsoft today announced that it will exclusively license GPT-3, one of the most powerful language understanding models in the world, from San Francisco-based AI startup OpenAI.
How TikTok's UI, focused on just one auto-playing video at a time, generates clean user-driven data thanks to its “algorithm-friendly design”
In my previous post on TikTok I discussed why its For You Page algorithm is the connective tissue that makes TikTok work.
Overview of the state of bundles in 2020 across Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft
Manage your Stratechery subscription. — If the famous Jim Barksdale quote is to be believed — the one about there only being two ways to make money in business, bundling and unbundling …
Samsung is launching its ad-supported streaming service Samsung TV Plus, available on Samsung TVs since 2016, on some of its latest mobile phones
Samsung is doubling down on free, ad-supported streaming: After turning Samsung TV Plus into a massive success story on smart TVs …
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
While Flutter first made its name for making it easy to create apps for iOS and Android, the app development framework has since grown …
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
Sarah Jeong talks to Newton about the details of his deal, subscription journalism, and the magic of email
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
In 2020, Facebook would be roiled by a global pandemic, internal protests over racial injustice, a deeply polarizing election …
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
Facebook's head of global policy has denied the tech giant could close its service to Europeans if local regulators order …
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
Adobe today announced an update for Acrobat Reader that leverages Sensei, the company's machine learning platform …
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
It's time to blow up your iPhone's home screen — Apple spells out the significance of its new iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 updates right …
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
In Formula 1 racing, you can win a world championship as a driver with one team but then not even make the top 10 without that team's car and infrastructure. Tweets: @modestproposal1 , @pridesai , and...
The Swift Project announces its language tools are now available for Windows 10
Swift is taking flight on Windows. — What you need to know — Swift is seeing its initial release on Windows. — Developers can now download Swift toolchain images for Windows 10.
YouTube says it will use AI-powered moderation to automatically age-restrict certain content
AI moderation measures will be used to automatically age-restrict certain content — YouTube is rolling out more artificial intelligence-powered technology to catch more videos …
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
Google's in-house incubator Area 120 is today introducing a new work-tracking tool, Tables, which aims to make tracking projects more efficient by investing in automation.
Graphika: fake Chinese account network taken down by Facebook used AI-generated faces, an increasingly common tactic meant to evade detection
Facebook confirms it will let US political campaigns run ads from November 4, potentially letting Trump place ads claiming victory before all votes are counted
Facebook banned political ads a week before the election, but it's the period after the election that it should be worried about.
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
GoodRx, a price comparison app for prescription drugs at local pharmacies, on Tuesday raised $1.14 billion in its IPO, Axios has learned.
Authorities from the US, UK, Germany, Europol, and others arrest 179 during Operation DisrupTor, targeting the sale of illicit goods on the dark web
JCODE Actions in Los Angeles Shut Down Major Darknet Drug Vendor Michael Balsamo / Associated Press : Justice Dept.: 179 arrested in darknet opioid takedown Alfred Ng / CNET : Massive dark web bust se...
Morgan Beller, one of the founders of Facebook's Libra digital currency, has left the company to become a partner at VC firm NFX
- One of the co-founders of Facebook's libra digital currency and Novi payments wallet has left the company before the release of either technology.
Spotify introduces Polls, an interactive tool for podcast hosts that lets listeners answer questions
Spotify today is introducing a new feature designed to make podcasts more interactive. The company says it's beginning to test “Polls,” a tool that will allow listeners to engage …
Robinhood raises $460M from a16z, Sequoia, DST Global, and others as a extension to its $200M Series G, at a $11.7B valuation
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Robinhood Markets Inc, the financial technology startup credited with helping popularize trading among millennials, has increased …
Intel launches 11th-gen CPUs aimed at edge computing, like kiosks, medical devices, and robots, with improved security and performance
Intel today announced the launch of new products tailored to edge computing scenarios like digital signage, interactive kiosks, medical devices, and health care service robots.
Leaked manual from Blackdot Solutions details how to create fake Facebook accounts to gather data, and how to avoid detection by Facebook
A leaked manual from Blackdot Solutions, a British company that offers social media monitoring services, included a step-by-step guide on how to create fake profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn. Tweets: ...
Microsoft debuts new Teams features, including virtual commute, Headspace integration, breakout rooms, and virtual coffee shops for meetings
Apptopia and Sensor Tower data shows Pinterest recently broke its daily download record as users sought inspiration for iOS 14 homescreen customization ideas
Dozens of tweets doxxing interfaith couples in India have circulated on Twitter for nearly two months, despite being reported for weeks
usually Muslim men marrying Hindu women — circulated on Twitter. @PranavDixit https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
Google says it will pull the plug on paid Chrome extensions over the next year, after temporarily banning them due to fraudulent transactions
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google :
Large rival companies say Amazon restricts how competing products, like smart speakers and video doorbells, can be advertised, giving Amazon's devices an edge
Filing: four ex-eBay employees will plead guilty to cyberstalking critical bloggers; two senior executives who were allegedly involved deny wrongdoing
Four former eBay Inc. employees will admit to conspiracy to commit cyberstalking in an elaborate scheme to intimidate a blogger critical of the company.
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
SpotOn, a payments and software startup focused on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), announced Wednesday it has raised $60 million in series C funding.
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
With the pandemic causing e-commerce sales to skyrocket, 2020 has served as an unlikely year of hypergrowth for Attentive.
Carrd, Linktree, and Bio.fm have capitalized on link sharing limits in apps like Instagram, creating entire businesses around simple link sharing websites
The link-in-bio side hustles are moving to full-time — If you want to learn more about an influencer, there's one place you always know to look: that link in bio. Tweets: @codepo8 , @ashleyrcarman ,...
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
Microsoft says the first preview of its Edge browser for Linux will be available in October
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
Abram Brown / Forbes :
Pinterest launches Story Pins, which combine multiple pages of images, videos, voiceover, and overlaid text, in beta, and other tools for creators
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch :
How Spotify's UX decisions have encouraged the growth of adjective-laden generic artist names, enabling a kind of SEO spam for music
and wondering why I get so few plays on Spotify. Guess I'm just not gaming the system correctly. https://twitter.com/... Marcelo Rochabrn / @mrochabrun : Who knew that there are “consultants” who do S...
Russian online services company Yandex says it has agreed to a $5.5B deal to buy Tinkoff, the country's top online bank
DOJ will submit a proposal to Congress to curb Section 230 protections for internet firms and force them to take more responsibility for content on their sites
PagerDuty to buy Rundeck, whose open source software can help IT admins automatically fix issues, for $100M; Rundeck had raised $3M, according to Crunchbase
Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE :
Volkswagen's heavy truck business The Traton Group takes a minority stake in TuSimple as part of an agreement to develop autonomous trucks
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch :
Warsaw-based Uncapped, which offers revenue-based finance to European startups, raises $26M led by Mouro Capital
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch :
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
Zoom was never created to be a consumer product. Nonetheless, the video-conferencing company's accessibility made it the answer … Tweets: @nmasc_ , @nmasc_ , and @yoda Tweets: Natasha Mascarenhas / @...
Oracle announces updates to its Cloud Compute instances, including support for Nvidia's A100 accelerator, Arm-powered processors, and updated pricing schemes
Ryan Smith / AnandTech :
Salsify, which helps brands with inventory, marketing, and selling strategies, raises $155M Series E led by Warburg Pincus
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
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
Freya Pratty / Sifted :
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
Kyle Daly / Axios : Tweets: @axios Tweets: @axios : Internet connectivity remains a weak link for Puerto Rico, and some experts fear a new tranche of FCC subsidies set aside just for the island might...
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter reach a deal with big advertisers for common standards on harmful content and to let external auditing of the system from H2 2021
Financial Times : Tweets: @marietjeschaake , @cmpfeui , @jason_kint , @rasmus_kleis , and @daniele_manca See also Mediagazer Tweets: Marietje Schaake / @marietjeschaake : Advertisers and social media...
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
Syfe, a Singapore-based robo-advisor startup, raises $18.6M Series A led by Valar Ventures as it eyes expansion into other Asian countries
Papa, which connects elderly Americans with virtual and physical companions, raises $18M Series B led by Comcast Ventures, bringing its total raised to $31M
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch :
Acesso Digital, a developer of facial recognition and identification technology, raises $107.25M from private equity firm General Atlantic and SoftBank
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.