Amazon plans to acquire podcast network Wondery, which will join Amazon Music
We've signed an agreement to acquire Wondery, a top-rated podcast creator and producer that entertains and educates listeners. — We're pleased to announce that Wondery—an innovative podcast publishe...
Binance says US users will not be able to deposit or trade XRP beginning January 13, joining Coinbase and several other exchanges in delisting or suspending XRP
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is suspending XRP trading for its customers effective next month.
ESPN+ is raising its annual fee for new subscribers from $49.99 to $59.99; renewals for existing subscribers will remain $49.99 through March 2, 2021
UFC fans are going to pay more to catch the promoter's premiere fights on Disney's ESPN Plus streaming sports package next year.
Ticketmaster agrees to pay a $10M fine after admitting to hiring an ex-CrowdSurge staffer and using his credentials to access the rival ticket seller's systems
It used stolen login credentials at a company summit — Ticketmaster has agreed to pay $10 million for breaking into a competitors' network.
Gadget trade-in site Gazelle, one of the longest running used smartphone buyers in the US, says it will end its core trade-in program on February 1, 2021
The company's long-running trade-in program will end on February 1st, 2021 — Gazelle, one of the longest-running used smartphone buyers in the US …
Report: Apple removed 46K+ apps, including 39K games from its China store on Thursday, as it set a year-end deadline for game publishers to obtain a license
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Apple removed 39,000 game apps on its China store Thursday, the biggest removal ever in a single day …
Analysis of internal data at Coinbase through 2018 highlights pay inequity for women and Black employees; Coinbase says it implemented a new compensation plan
often an important part of pay at start-ups—the compensation for women and men was roughly the same” In conclusion: women are paid slightly more in stock options for a company about to go public & mig...
Study finds no correlation between growing up playing violent video games and increased levels of aggression 10 years later
A ten-year longitudinal study published in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking on a group in early adolescence from as young as ten years old … Source: Mary Ann Liebert … .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230
in a Bill That Would Also Eliminate Section 230 Dell Cameron / Gizmodo : McConnell Doesn't Care About Section 230 or the Election—Just Keeping Your Relief Check Small Tweets: Donald J. Trump / @realdo...
Google is testing an expansion of its “Short Videos” feature at the top of mobile search that will surface TikTok and Instagram videos in a dedicated carousel
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch :
Report: 10 ex-members of Apple's supplier responsibility team say it avoids or delays removing suppliers guilty of labor violations when doing so hurts business
A new report today claims that Apple is reluctant to ban suppliers found guilty of labor violations, and can take years to do so, even in the most serious of cases. Source: The Information .
In a letter, an activist hedge fund pushes Intel to explore strategic alternatives, like whether it should remain an integrated device manufacturer; stock up 5%
Welcome to Protocol Cloud, your comprehensive roundup of everything … Danny Crichton / TechCrunch : Activist hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb takes on Intel, plans launch of new VC fund Joel Hruska / Ex...
Researchers: NSO Group used location data from thousands of unsuspecting people while pitching its COVID-19 contact-tracing tech to governments and journalists
Researchers say NSO's use of real data “violated the privacy” of thousands of people. — Spyware maker NSO Group used real … Tweets: @evacide , @josephfcox , @marietjeschaake , @zackwhittaker , and @...
Association of American Publishers: audiobooks revenue is up 17%+ YoY, e-book sales are up 16%+; NPD BookScan says US print book sales are up ~8% in 2020
New York regulators have authorized a subsidiary of Japan's GMO Internet to issue the world's first publicly available stablecoin backed by the Japanese yen
Kevin Helms / Bitcoin News :
Ampere: UK streaming subscribers grew 34% YoY in 2020, with a combined 32.4M for Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+, the top three services
Mark Sweney / The Guardian :
The Bay Area won't be displaced as the nation's top tech hub anytime soon but lawmakers need to recognize the dangers of bad governance that is fueling backlash
Silicon Valley remains the world's preeminent tech hub. But that won't last if lawmakers there keep antagonizing businesses. Tweets: @business , @levinepmc , @bravosfpols , and @paton_adam Tweets: @b...
Ransomware attacks have transitioned from a model of many small payments from various individuals to a smaller group of large targets with massive ransoms
2020 was a great year for ransomware gangs. For hospitals, schools, municipal governments, and everyone else, it's going to get worse before it gets better. Tweets: @salvodan , @iethics , and @andrew...
Over 66 SPACs were raised in 2020, according to PitchBook, up from 30 in 2019, amid a year of uncertainty that opened tech companies' eyes to an IPO alternative
For many in the tech industry, 2020 was a year of two acronyms. There was COVID, obviously. And then there were SPACs. Tweets: @hkanji Tweets: Hussein Kanji / @hkanji : Next year could therefore det...
The head scientist for Alexa argues that Turing Test, designed as a thought experiment, is no longer relevant for building AIs that are designed to help humans
and that the concept of machines being indistinguishable from a human is out of touch.” https://www.fastcompany.com/ ... Gavin Baker / @gavinsbaker : Superb from Alexa's head scientist. I had not hear...
eMarketer: US e-commerce sales, up 12%-16% in recent years, will have grown by 30%+ in 2020 and Amazon's US retail business grew an estimated 39% YoY in 2020
France says it has resumed collecting its digital services tax, as the UK and Italy prepare to collect their own; France's 3% levy brought in €400M in 2019
Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @seamuscoffey , @linuxbsdpirate , @seamuscoffey , @conoraon , @wellisz , @neilretail , and @samschech Tweets: Seamus Coffey / @seamuscoffey : Here's the 2019 outcomes fo...
Researcher: Get Schooled, an education charity established by Bill Gates and Viacom, left personal details of hundreds of thousands of US students exposed
Sources: SimilarWeb is planning a Nasdaq IPO in Q2 2021, aiming for a $2B+ valuation; the company has raised $240M in total, including $120M in October
Golan Hazani / CTech :
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.