NY AG sues Amazon, alleging it inadequately protected workers from COVID-19 in Staten Island and Queens, and retaliated against employees who raised concerns
The case focuses on two of the company's facilities in New York. — New York's attorney general, Letitia James …
Epic Games files a formal antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming that Apple imposes commercially unviable burdens on rivals
Filing is latest shot in escalating feud between ‘Fortnite’ developer and Silicon Valley giant — Epic Games has filed …
Twitter starts testing voice DMs, which can be up to 140 seconds long, on iOS in India, Brazil, and Japan
Twitter is giving its users “more options to express themselves” in conversations. — What you need to know — Twitter is testing a voice messaging feature for direct messages.
North Dakota state Senate blocks bill that would have required app stores to allow devs to use their own payment systems; Epic lobbied in favor of the bill
- The North Dakota state senate voted 36-11 on Tuesday not to pass a bill that would have required app stores to enable software developers …
Sources: Google's Stadia VP Phil Harrison sent an email to Stadia's game studios lauding their “great progress”, despite knowledge of its impending shutdown
Developers at Google's recently formed game studios were shocked February 1 when they were notified that the studios would be shut down …
A look at the new 217 new emojis coming in iOS 14.5, including a syringe without blood, couples with a mix of skin tones, AirPod Max headphones, and more
New emojis have arrived on iOS as part of the latest iOS 14.5 beta. These include a heart on fire, exhaling face, and gender options for the people with beards.
Google Maps now lets users pay for public transportation and parking by integrating Passport and ParkMobile services into its app, available in 400+ US cities
Fill your meter or get a train ticket — Google Maps is adding a couple of new useful features: the ability to pay for parking or buy a train ticket right from the app.
Microsoft begins testing a Kids Mode for Edge, with Bing SafeSearch on and tracking prevention set to strict by default, plus other safety features
Kids Mode helps parents provide a more child-friendly browsing experience on Edge. — What you need to know
Internal docs: Amazon India has secretly favored big sellers, misrepresented its ties with them, and used them to circumvent tough foreign investment rules
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - It was early 2019, and senior Amazon.com Inc executive Jay Carney was preparing for an important meeting.
IDC: Chrome OS annual market share passed macOS for the first time in 2020, up 4.4% YoY to 10.8%, Windows fell 4.9% YoY to 80.5%, macOS up 0.8% YoY to 7.5%
New numbers show 2020 was the first year that Chromebooks outsold Macs, posting impressive market share gains at the expense of Windows.
Researcher finds one of the first examples of malware written to run natively on Apple's M1 chips; the GoSearch22 adware installs itself as a Safari extension
A security researcher found one of the first examples of malware written to run natively on Apple's M1 processors. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Amazon announces Build It, a Kickstarter-like program that lets customers vote on products and says it will build those that get enough support within 30 days
- A new program from Amazon called Build It lets customers choose to back a new product, and if it gets enough support within 30 days, Amazon will build it.
YouTube says it will expand Shorts, its TikTok rival in beta, to the US soon, add 4K and DVR to YouTube TV, expand in-video shopping, and more in 2021
YouTube has a host of big product updates coming this year, and it just detailed a lot of them in a blog post from Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan.
20 music streaming services have paid $424M+ in historical unmatched royalties to Mechanical Licensing Collective; Apple paid $163M, Spotify $153M, Amazon $42M
The Mechanical Licensing Collective has received a total of $424.38 million in accrued historical unmatched royalties …
DOJ announces charges against three North Korean hackers for conspiring to steal and extort over $1.3B in cash and cryptocurrencies from banks and businesses
The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed charges against three North Korean hacker spies accused of conspiring to steal …
A hacker claims to have stolen and posted files from global law firm Jones Day on the dark web; Jones Day says a file-sharing company it used was compromised
Firm disputes network breach, says its file-transfer company was compromised — A hacker claims to have stolen files belonging …
Reddit publishes its 2020 transparency report: 233M pieces of content were removed out of 3.4B in total; 82,858 subreddits were removed, up 4x on 2019
Reddit has published its transparency report for 2020, showing various numbers relating to removed content, government requests, and other administrative actions.
LastPass Free users must choose between mobile or computers for unlimited device access starting March 16; email support limited to paid plans starting May 17
Triller didn't deny the claim from a source that it inflates MAUs to the public and says there's “no legal definition of MAU/DAU”, ahead of expected SPAC merger
“There is no legal definition of MAU/DAU,” says Mike Lu, Triller CEO. “We are an open ecosystem ... Triller's value is in monetizing users, not MAU or DAU.”
Blockchain.com raises $120M growth round from Moore Strategic Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and others and says 65M wallets have been created
Today we're excited to share that Blockchain.com has closed on a strategic financing round, securing $120M from some of the world's leading macro investors.
Shopify beats estimates with Q4 revenue of $977.7M, up 94% YoY, profit of $504.4M, up 91% YoY, and Gross Merchandise Volume of $41.1B, up 99% YoY
- Company says it will ‘aggressively’ reinvest in products — Gross merchandise value nearly doubles in 4Q to $41.1 billion
Stock trading service Public.com raises $220M Series D at a $1.2B valuation from Greycroft, Accel, Tiger Global, and others
The day before Robinhood goes under the the Congressional hammer, domestic rival Public.com announced this morning that it has closed a $220 million funding round at a $1.2 billion valuation.
Microsoft has created a game accessibility testing program, letting studios send in their games for in-person validation based on Microsoft's updated guidelines
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget :
YouTube takes down nearly 3,000 channels and accounts that were part of Chinese state coordinated influence operation
UK / EMEA News Reporter , Infosecurity Magazine — YouTube has taken down almost 3000 channels and accounts deemed to part of separate Chinese and Russian state coordinated influence operations.
NPD Group: PC gaming hardware and accessory sales reached $4.5B in the US in 2020, up 62% YoY, and PC gaming content sales rose 19% YoY to $7.5B
PC gaming hardware and accessories saw a huge leap in sales in 2020, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group.
TikTok has been hit with a volley of complaints from Europe's consumer protection watchdogs over “misleading” privacy practices and “ambiguous” terms
Atlassian updates Trello with a visual overhaul, new card customization, and new board views; Trello says it has 50M+ users
Investigation finds ten websites offering fake Amazon reviews from £5 each; five of the websites claimed to have 702K+ “product reviewers” on their books
Source: Stripe is valued at $115B in “secondary market” transactions, up 3x on its $36B valuation in April 2020, and is planning a round with a $100B+ valuation
Investors are valuing Stripe at a $115 billion valuation in “secondary market” transactions, where shares … Tweets: @alexrkonrad and @kateclarktweets . Thanks: @alexrkonrad Tweets: Alex Konrad / @alex...
Bitcoin briefly crossed the $50K mark today, up ~73% YTD, while Ethereum hit a record $1,785, up ~140% YTD
Sources: Twitter has told employees that they will receive just 57% of their 2020 bonus target after the company missed internal revenue and profit goals
Twitter has told its employees that they will receive a sliver of their corporate bonus target for 2020—just 7% … Tweets: @alexeheath and @anthony Tweets: Alex Heath / @alexeheath : Twitter has told e...
Lidar startup AEye says it is going public via SPAC, valuing the new company at $2B and raising $455M
- Company nets $455 million to develop self-driving technology — Its software will also be used in driver assistance systems — AEye Inc., a startup that makes lidar systems …
Amazon partners with Foxconn to establish its first device manufacturing line in India, operational later this year, to make Fire TV sticks locally
Ally, a goal-setting collaboration tool for businesses, raises $50M Series C, bringing its total raised to $76M
Taylor Soper / GeekWire :
Sources: Indian conglomerate Tata Group is buying a 68% stake in online grocery delivery service BigBasket for ~$1.3B, valuing the startup at ~$1.85B
Times Now :
Survey of 2,200+ Facebook users from Dec.-Jan.: 330+ saw flagged posts about controversial issues, like 2020 election, but “false” label was added only 12 times
especially if it came from Trump Charlesarthur / The Overspill : Start Up No.1487: Ericsson chief slams Europe on 5G, Bloomberg insists on Supermicro, Apple escapes Epic sideload bill, and more Tweets...
Amazon confirms it has acquired Australian e-commerce startup Selz, a Shopify competitor that employs less than 50 people and has raised $11M
We have signed an agreement to be acquired by Amazon and are looking forward … PYMNTS.com : Shopify Smashes Estimates With Q4 Results, But Warns Growth Will Decelerate Post-COVID Spencer Soper / Bloom...
Report: the total value of all Ethereum-based non-fungible token transactions increased from $62M in 2019 to $250M+ in 2020; NFT art sales grew 2,800% in 2020
Adriana Hamacher / Decrypt :
Ozette, a startup using AI to enhance immune system monitoring for use in cancer treatment decisions, raises a $6M seed round led by Madrona Venture Group
Trend Micro details an unpatched remote code execution bug in the Android version of SHAREit, an app with 1B+ Play Store downloads that lets users share files
Parler says it is now accessible for existing users and will accept new signups starting next week, announces Tea Party activist Mark Meckler as interim CEO
OutSystems, which offers a low-code app development service, raises $150M led by Abdiel Capital and Tiger Global
We started OutSystems almost 20 years ago with a mission … Michael Vizard / VentureBeat : Outsystems raises $150 million to expand the reach of its low-code development platform Business Wire : OutSys...
Interplay, which develops enterprise focused VR training tools, raises $18M Series B led by Owl Ventures and S3 Ventures
TigerGraph, which offers an enterprise graph database and analytics service, raises $105M Series C led by Tiger Global, bringing its total raised to $170M+
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
iHeartMedia to acquire Triton Digital, which provides audio advertising analytics and measurement services, from Scripps for $230M
cooking, working in the yard, driving to work.” ❤️ @PittmanRadio quote Music, Podcasting, Clubhouse, Spaces — time spent with audio is exploding https://www.wsj.com/.... See also Mediagazer
Standard Cognition, which is developing tools for cashierless stores, similar to Amazon Go, raises $150M at a $1B+ valuation
A startup selling Amazon Go-like checkout technology to retailers has raised money from investors at a $1 billion valuation, minting a new unicorn a year into a pandemic … Tweets: @mattmday and @mattm...
Palo Alto Networks acquires Israeli startup BridgeCrew, which develops and delivers security as code, for $156M
vArmour, which provides tools to secure apps in multi-cloud environments, raises $58M co-led by previous backers AllegisCyber Capital and NightDragon
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Peak AI, which helps retailers and other companies use AI to make decisions, raises $21M Series B led by Oxx, bringing its total raised to $43M
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Copado, a DevOps platform built for Salesforce, raises $96M Series B led by Insight partners and Salesforce Ventures, bringing its total funding to $117M
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat :
Zolve, a two-month-old neobank aimed at individuals moving between India and the US, says it has raised $15M seed led by Accel and Lightspeed
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Strata Identity, which helps unify identity management in multi-cloud environments, raises $11M Series A led by Menlo Ventures
SeedFi, which provides financial products to underprivileged Americans, raises $50M in debt and $15M in equity, in a round led by a16z
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch :
Sinch, a Twilio-competitor that offers messaging and marketing APIs, acquires Inteliquent, an interconnection provider for voice communications, for $1.14B
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Comscore: Google's share of the top 15 US mobile apps has increased from 33% to 46% since 2015; Facebook has retained 20% of the market from 2015 to 2021
Sara Fischer / Axios : Tweets: @sarafischer Tweets: Sara Fischer / @sarafischer : Google and Facebook's share of the top 15 mobile apps by reach in the U.S. has increased in the past few years, despi...
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
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Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
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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.