Square acquires a majority stake in Jay-Z's streaming service Tidal for $297M; Jay-Z will join Square's board
What did Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey talk about when they went yachting around the Hamptons together last summer? Perhaps only Beyoncé knows. — Maybe now we do, too.
Google promises it will not build alternate identifiers to track users after phasing out third-party tracking cookies
Google says it wants a ‘privacy-first web’ — Google is slowly phasing out third-party tracking cookies, and today, it's making it clear that it won't just replace …
Sources: Nintendo plans to unveil a new Switch model in 2021 that will come with 7-inch 720p Samsung OLED display, and support 4K graphics when docked with TVs
- Samsung Display will start production of 7-inch panels in June — Gaming giant aims to propel Switch against the Xbox and PS5
UK antitrust authorities say they plan to investigate Apple's App Store to probe whether it is abusing its market power to restrict competition
- CMA taking into account Apple's ‘dominant’ position in apps — Apple probe prompted by complaints from some developers
Apple debuts a service to let users transfer iCloud photos and videos to “another participating service” like Google Photos, initially in US and select markets
Apple this week introduced a new service that's designed to make it quick and easy for iCloud users to transfer their stored photos and videos to Google Photos.
Amazon Web Services announces that Ethereum is now available on its Amazon Managed Blockchain service, allowing its users to set up Ethereum nodes
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing platform providing subsidiary out of the multinational technology company Amazon …
Kings of Leon to be one of the first bands to debut an album as part of an NFT package, with tokens unlocking perks like limited-edition vinyl and concert seats
The band's revolutionary tokens will unlock special perks like limited-edition vinyl and front row seats to future concerts
Study: far-right pubs get 65% more engagement on Facebook when they publish fake news; liberal and centrist pubs get less engagement if they publish misinfo
Far-right pages that publish misinformation get the most interactions by far compared to other news sources, new research shows.
Facebook adds one-to-one voice and video calling to the WhatsApp desktop app, but the browser version, WhatsApp Web, is not getting this feature at the moment
WhatsApp is rolling out support for voice and video calling to its desktop app, the Facebook-owned messaging service said Thursday …
Virtual events startup Hopin raises $400M at a $5.65B valuation, more than double its valuation in its November round
- Hopin says it's raised $400 million at a $5.65 billion valuation, more than double what it was worth in a November investment round. — The latest financing round …
Amazon opens its first cashierless store outside of the US with an Amazon Fresh location in London, UK
Store in Ealing, west London, is available to Prime members who must scan in phone code to enter — Amazon has opened its first contactless grocery store in the UK today where shoppers …
Sources: EU is set to press antitrust charges against Apple over App Store rules for competing music streaming services, following a complaint by Spotify
Brussels set to formally press charges alleging tech company used its dominance to squeeze out App Store rivals
Netflix plans to release 41 Indian films and shows this year, spending three times more on the Indian catalog this year than the past two years combined
Netflix said on Wednesday it will roll out 41 Indian films and shows this year, its biggest annual roster of Indian content to date …
Facebook says its new AI model SEER, which was trained with self-supervision on a billion public Instagram images, outperformed advanced fully supervised models
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — Facebook today announced …
Arizona House passes bill HB2005, which would force Apple and Google to let apps in its app stores use alternative payment methods; bill now heads to AZ Senate
not law yet, but the momentum here is real and growing. https://www.theverge.com/... Jack Nicas / @jacknicas : This matters because it would likely attract companies to Arizona to avoid Apple and Goog...
Comcast says peak US internet traffic rose 32% in 2020 over pre-pandemic traffic, while video streaming rose 70% compared to 2019
Comcast said that peak internet traffic rose 32% in 2020 over pre-pandemic levels, with some markets rising 50% in some markets in March 2020.
Sources: Microsoft president Brad Smith will testify before a House antitrust subcommittee hearing next Friday about tech antitrust and the news media
Microsoft president Brad Smith will testify before a House antitrust subcommittee hearing next Friday about tech antitrust and the news media …
Best Buy Health will offer its emergency and non-emergency assistance services, including for fall detection, to seniors on the Apple Watch via the Lively app
Best Buy has stepped further into the health and technology market with a new partnership with Apple.
Snapcommerce, which lets companies offer customer service through conversational tools like SMS and Facebook Messenger, raises $107M CAD led by Inovia Capital
Snapcommerce (formerly Snaptravel) has secured $107 million CAD ($85 million USD) in growth funding, signalling confidence …
Report: YouTube's critical role in cross-platform misinformation in the 2020 election was enabled by more permissive policies and by its popularity
Casey Newton / Platformer :
Facebook says that on Thursday it will lift the ban on political and social issue ads in the US, imposed after the November election
FB says advertisers who have completed the ad authorization process may submit new ads that require a “Paid for by” disclaimer or edit existing, eligible ads to turn them back on. https://www.axios.co...
TytoCare, which uses AI-trained devices to collect patient health data and alert them of abnormalities, raises $50M led by Insight Partners
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — The demand for triaging technologies like conversational bots …
Deliveroo chooses London as the venue for its planned $7B stock market listing after the government made rule changes allowing founders to keep more control
Jasper Jolly / The Guardian :
Researchers have devised a digital method to virtually unfold and read letters sealed with “letterlocking”, an old practice of securing letters before envelopes
William J. Broad / New York Times : Tweets: @laura_estill , @charlescmann , @ykomska , @nytscience , @nytscience , and @eagresta Tweets: Dr. Laura Estill / @laura_estill : Thrilled to see this news/b...
Bolt, which is building an on-demand network of services to transport people, food, and other items, raises €20M from the International Finance Corporation
Publicly traded identity management company Okta says it is acquiring Auth0, one of its biggest challengers, in an all-stock deal valued at $6.5B
that's a biggie. https://www.cnbc.com/... #oktasponsor #okta Clueless / @clueless_1337 : Turns out $OKTA bought Auth0 and solidified its lead-in IAM. Guess it's a clear monopoly right now! https://www...
Jungle Scout, which builds tools for inventory management and sales intelligence for companies selling on Amazon, raises $110M growth round
There has been a rapid proliferation of roll-up companies armed with wallets full of money to consolidate promising smaller merchants that sell …
Snowflake reported Q4 FY 2021 revenue of $190.5M, up 117% YoY, vs. $178.5M expected, and a net loss of about $199M, up from $83M in Q4 FY 2020
Jordan Novet / CNBC :
Microsoft warns users a new Chinese state-sponsored threat actor is exploiting four previously undisclosed zero days in Exchange Server; patches are available
Mitigate Microsoft Exchange On-Premises Product Vulnerabilities us-cert.cisa.gov : Alert (AA21-062A) — Mitigate Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities — Summary John Hammond / Huntress Blog : R...
Indie.vc, a six-year-old effort by O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures to invest small amounts in bootstrapped businesses, shuts down after results left LPs unimpressed
6 years ago, a mysterious Tumblr site appeared on the internet. Tweets: Hussein Kanji / @hkanji : The idea was to back the next GitHub, which became profitable early on and didn't take any VC money fo...
Seebo, which uses AI to help manufacturers predict and prevent production losses, raises $24M Series B led by Vertex Ventures
Dan Taylor / Tech.eu :
Twitter says it is testing a new style of displaying tweets that link to e-commerce product pages, after it was spotted by a Twitter for Android user in Qatar
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch :
NZ-based Xero, provider of accounting software for small businesses, will acquire Denmark-based workforce management platform Planday in a deal worth €183.5M
Aimee Chanthadavong / ZDNet :
Netflix launches Fast Laughs, a TikTok-like feed in its mobile apps that presents a string of comedy clips from its stand-up specials, TV series, and movies
Papaya Global, which offers cloud-based payroll and HR services, raises $100M Series C led by GreekOaks Capital Partners at a $1B+ valuation
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Five senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, ask Amazon about its use of AI-equipped cameras to monitor delivery drivers, after a Feb. report
Annie Palmer / CNBC : Tweets: @iotconsortium and @richburroughs Tweets: @iotconsortium : Facial recognition tech & video monitoring will become a hotly debated issue for years to come. Do you feel Am...
Emails show US surveillance company Flock has rolled out a nationwide network of cameras with AI-powered license plate reading tech via 500+ police departments
Interview with the head of Intel Labs, Dr. Richard Uhlig, on Intel's moonshot ideas involving integrated photonics, neuromorphic and quantum computing, and more
Deliverr, operator of a shipping logistics platform for e-commerce in the US, raises $170M Series D led by Coatue, bringing its total raised to $240M
Alexandra Sternlicht / Forbes : Tweets: @forbesunder30 Tweets: @forbesunder30 : Deliverr's 150-person team has fulfilled millions of orders for 3,000+ businesses, around 2,000 of which became custome...
Vestiaire Collective, an online marketplace for pre-owned luxury and fashion items, raises $216M led by luxury group Kering and is now valued at $1B+
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch : Tweets: @vivatech Tweets: @vivatech : Congrats to @vestiaireco for raising €178M! 🎉 The newly certified French 🦄 is an expert in second-hand fashion with their online e-c...
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.