Facebook defends its stance in Australia, says it invested $600M since 2018 to support the news industry and plans at least $1B more over the next three years
Last week, in a move that will have felt abrupt and dramatic to many, Facebook announced it was stopping the sharing of news on its service in Australia.
Australia says Facebook agreed to reinstate news content in Australia in the coming days after the government promised amendments to its proposed media bill
but what was lost along the way? Micky : Facebook versus Australia: the government hands Facebook a free pass Max Willens / Digiday : Cheat sheet: Facebook brings news back to platform in Australia - ...
California's 2018 net neutrality law, SB 822, can go into effect after a California judge declined to grant the telecom industry a preliminary injunction
It survived challenges from Trump's DOJ, and now one from telecom industry too — Net neutrality died a horrible death in 2017 …
Some M1 Mac owners report a worryingly large number of writes to their Macs' SSDs, though in some cases it could be explained by faulty monitoring tools
“If this is accurate, some of these machines aren't going to last half a year” — What you need to know
Firefox update adds support for multiple picture-in-picture windows and “Total Cookie Protection”, to prevent the use of cookies to track users across sites
Beginning last year, the internet began playing a bigger role in our lives than ever before.
Draft executive order from Biden admin orders development of a US supply chain strategy less reliant on China, focused on chips, batteries, rare-earth metals
Nikkei Asia :
LG says that it will license its webOS software to other TV brands, such as RCA, Ayonz, and Konka; LG's redesigned webOS 5.0 version will not be included
The modern webOS is no longer exclusive to LG's TV lineup — LG tonight announced that the company's webOS smart TV platform will soon be found on TVs from other brands.
Facebook's Australia news ban shows tech giants don't mind giving up money to appease regulators and business, but will not give up control over platforms
and letting the stations set the price” - Facebook's Nick Clegg comes out punching on Australia's media law. https://about.fb.com/... Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : True: “The money is not and has never ...
HP says it is acquiring gaming peripheral company HyperX for $425M, giving the company a major foothold in the gaming accessory market
The acquisition means HP owns the HyperX brand — HP has announced that it is acquiring gaming peripheral company HyperX for $425 million.
Amazon Echo Show 10 review: adjustable screen angle, good sound quality, silent motorized movement, but photo/video options heavily reliant on Amazon services
Since its inception in 2015, Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant has always been a disembodied digital form trapped in a box of electronics.
At Tuesday's SolarWinds hearing, Microsoft and FireEye urged Congress to create mandatory breach reporting requirements for companies
Top executives from Microsoft and FireEye on Tuesday urged Congress to create mandatory breach reporting requirements for companies following …
Square announces it spent $170M to acquire 3,318 bitcoins at an average price of $51,236, following its earlier $50M bet on the cryptocurrency
Square also announced a $170 million purchase in bitcoin as part of its ongoing commitment to the cryptocurrency
Myanmar's draconian draft cybersecurity law follows a yearslong effort to build out Myanmar's surveillance capabilities, following cues from China
As the military seized power again, the generals moved quickly to take the country offline, criminalize online dissent and block social media.
Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy buys 19,452 Bitcoin, worth $1.0261B, and now holds ~90K Bitcoin, worth ~$4.5B at current prices
Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy has purchased 19,452 Bitcoin, worth $1.026 billion, at an average price of $52,765.
Taiwanese chipmakers are buying water by the truckload for some of their foundries in drought-hit areas as the island widens restrictions on water supply
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan chipmakers are buying water by the truckload for some of their foundries as the island widens restrictions …
YouTube to roll out a “supervised” account option in beta in the coming months in more than 80 countries, aimed at kids that are too old for YouTube Kids
YouTube is launching a PG version of the internet's biggest video service. — A new “supervised” YouTube account option …
Facebook says it is testing more tools to combat child exploitation on its platform, including a measure warning users of “non-malicious sharing” of viral memes
Facebook says it is testing more tools to help the social network prevent people from sharing content that — exploits children.
Google makes GameSnacks, a collection of 100+ lightweight HTML5 games, more accessible in Chrome, Pay, Discover, and Assistant in some countries, like India
A year ago, Google's Area 120 incubator launched an HTML5 gaming platform to “test whether lightweight, casual games would resonate …
Microsoft now lets Word for web and OneNote users embed Pinterest Pins into their documents as interactive content
Microsoft's Pinterest integration is aimed at students — Microsoft is now allowing Word for web and OneNote users to embed Pinterest Pins into their documents.
TikTok says it removed 300K+ videos in the US for election misinformation in H2 2020, and 441K videos from its For You recommendation page for misinformation
And another 400,000 were removed from the For You page — TikTok removed over 340,000 videos in the US for breaking …
Bitfinex and Tether agree to an $18.5M settlement with the New York AG and will stop operating in the state following a two-year probe
Tim Copeland / Decrypt :
Square beats in Q4 with revenue of $3.16B, vs estimates of $3.10B, up from $1.31B a year earlier, $1.76B revenue from bitcoin, and $416M revenue from Cash app
Portland ends partnership with Sidewalk Labs to track mobility; Sidewalk spin-off Replica says it was unwilling to share granular data requested by the city
A smart city project started by Google's sister firm Sidewalk Labs to track mobility patterns in the US city of Portland has been shelved.
Sony says it's developing a VR headset for the PlayStation 5 that will be much less cumbersome than its current PS VR setup, but the device won't launch in 2021
Gene Park / Washington Post :
Google announces new features for Android, including a way to schedule texts and a Password Checkup tool to notify users of compromised credentials
and 5 other new features Scott Westover / Google Online Security Blog : New Password Checkup Feature Coming to Android Brian Kemler / The Keyword : Our all-new TalkBack screen reader Peter Holden / Ta...
FCC proposes using $3.2B in emergency funds to subsidize broadband services for low-income families with discounts worth $50/month, or $75/month on tribal lands
Internal memo: Amazon SVP Jeff Blackburn, a close lieutenant to Jeff Bezos for more than 22 years, says he is leaving the company, after a year-long sabbatical
> https://twitter.com/... Matt Rosoff / @mattrosoff : Not unexpected, but interesting scoop - will be curious to see where he ends up. https://twitter.com/... Thanks: @kslosh
Sources: the DOJ is investigating if Apple's use of its “Sign in with Apple” button makes it more difficult for users to switch to a rival device maker
a monopolist hiding in plain clothes. https://www.techmeme.com/... Kyle Seth Gray / @kylesethgray : @Techmeme @joshua_sisco doesn't make sense since the sign in with apple works just like Google or Fa...
Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries, which controls 14% of the market, has recently expanded into France, Germany, Italy, and Spain
Winston Churchill, it's often said, quipped that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. Tatyana Bakalchuk would agree.
India approves $1B plan to boost local manufacturing and exports of laptops, tablets, and PCs; the plan will likely help Apple assemble some iPads there
Sankalp Phartiyal / Reuters :
Snap says it expects 50%+ revenue growth YoY over the next several years and that Snapchat Stories has become its largest revenue stream; stock up 11%
Berkshire Grey, which develops AI-powered pick-and-place retail and warehouse robots, will go public via SPAC, valuing the company at $2.7B and raising $413M
The agreement comes as ‘exploding’ e-commerce demand drives investor interest in supply-chain automation
After delaying its plans, Roblox says it will go public via direct listing on March 10; in January, the company was valued at $29.5B after raising $500M+
Sources: virtual events company Hopin is looking to raise ~$400M Series C at a $5B+ pre-money valuation, after raising $125M at a $2.125B valuation last year
Virtual events platform Hopin is hopin' for a mega valuation. — According to multiple sources who spoke with TechCrunch …
Katana Graph, which helps businesses analyze and manage unstructured data at scale, raises $28.5M Series A led by Intel Capital
Khari Johnson / VentureBeat :
Hubilo, which helps businesses host virtual and hybrid events with real-time analytics, raises $23.5M Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners
Hubilo, a platform that helps businesses of all sizes host virtual and hybrid events and gain access to real-time data and analytics …
Akamai finds a botnet using bitcoin transactions to put its control server's IP address on the blockchain, making it basically impossible to fully take down
Source: ~40%, or 40M, of Disney+ subscribers are in the US, and Disney has said 30% are in India, so Europe and LatAm seem to make up less than a third of subs
Inside Chess.com's streaming success, with Twitch users watching 18.3M hours of chess content in January, nearly as much as they consumed throughout all of 2019
Blueshift, which develops customer data analytics software, raises $30M Series C led by Fort Ross Ventures, bringing its total raised to $65M
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Sources: Beijing-based tutoring app Yuanfudao is seeking to raise $1B+ at a $20B+ valuation, less than six months after raising $2.2B at a $15.5B valuation
Bloomberg :
Symbio, which claims its factory-floor robots “learn” to improve doing repetitive assembly tasks, comes out of stealth with $30M in funding
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
The rise of TikTok, Clubhouse, and Substack shows that social networks have gotten competitive again, amid antitrust pressure on Facebook from the US government
Casey Newton / Platformer : Tweets: @caseynewton , @ingridlunden , @s8mb , @sarthakgh , and @hamishmckenzie Tweets: Casey Newton / @caseynewton : TikTok, Clubhouse, Substack, Dispo: the consumer inte...
Sources: Beijing-based Didi Chuxing is considering launching in UK, France, and Germany by H1 2021 and has hired a team dedicated to European markets
Bloomberg :
Emotive, which enables e-commerce businesses talk to customers using conversational text messages, raises $50M Series B led by CRV, at a $400M valuation
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch :
Sources: a 93-page report from French antitrust investigators says Google breached government orders on how to negotiate with news publishers over copyright
Chinese government data: mobile internet traffic during Lunar New Year holidays grew 23.4% YoY and food delivery orders grew 57% YoY, amid travel restrictions
Iris Deng / South China Morning Post :
Reddit says it has raised a $116M Series E extension, after raising $250M earlier this month
Qualcomm introduces its XR1 Smart Viewer reference design for AR glasses; Lenovo's ThinkReality A3 glasses, set for a mid-2021 release, are based on the design
components/instructions for device manufacturers — but @qualcomm is trying to stoke consumer demand to help build the market for AR glasses connected to your smartphone. (Also this is cool) https://tw...
Report details how China is using tech products, market foothold, and training, to create dependencies in Indonesia, South Korea, UAE, Israel, and Poland
Patrick Tucker / Defense One : Tweets: @ccp_china_watch Tweets: @ccp_china_watch : At least 16 countries have signed MoU's with China on Digital Silk Road projects. But the scope of Chinese tech infi...
Wisetack, which provides buy-now-pay-later services for in-person business transactions, raises $19M across seed and Series A rounds
Quill, a messaging app that raised its Index Ventures-led $12.5M Series A in 2019, quietly comes out of stealth to take on Slack
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.