Sources: Microsoft is in talks to buy Discord for more than $10B; one source says Discord is more likely to go public than sell itself
Microsoft Corp. is in talks to acquire Discord Inc., a video-game chat community, for more than $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sources: Nintendo will use new Nvidia graphics chip in its 2021 Switch upgrade, helping the console deliver 4K on TVs via Nvidia's DLSS
- The Nvidia system-on-chip will also add memory and CPU upgrade — Nintendo's console refresh targeting year-end shopping season
Microsoft rebrands Xbox Live as Xbox network and says the change is to distinguish the online service from Xbox Live Gold membership
Xbox network is the future — Microsoft is rebranding Xbox Live to Xbox network. Instances of the new branding started appearing in the Xbox dashboard recently …
OnePlus debuts 6.55" OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9R and 6.7" OnePlus 9 Pro, all with 120Hz displays, Android 11, on-screen fingerprint sensors, and 128GB base storage
Today OnePlus is launching their new 2021 line-up of flagship devices, the new OnePlus 9 series.
Niantic announces a new partnership with Nintendo to develop mobile games built on Niantic's AR tech, starting with a game based on Nintendo's Pikmin franchise
Niantic and Nintendo announced a new partnership — Niantic, developer of the smash hit Pokémon Go, has announced a new partnership with Nintendo. Source: Niantic .
Judge certifies a class action suit against Apple that claims it knew for years that MacBooks' butterfly keyboards were flawed and small fixes were insufficient
The suit says Apple knew its thinner keyboard was rotten — A judge has certified a class action suit against Apple for its fragile butterfly keyboard design.
Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold as an NFT for $2,915,835.47 on a service called Valuables; Dorsey says he sent all proceeds to GiveDirectly's Africa fund as BTC
The winning bidder for the Twitter CEO's first tweet was Sina Estavi — After it spent just over two weeks on the market …
Microsoft, Google, and others partner to improve browser compatibility, focusing on five areas, including CSS Flexbox, CSS Grid, and CSS sticky positioning
Google and Microsoft have announced that they're joining forces with other companies such as Igalia, as well as the “broader web community” …
Review of the OnePlus 9 Pro, which will be available on April 2 for ~$969 for the 8GB RAM/128GB storage model and ~$1,069 for the 12GB RAM/256GB storage model
Chris Burns / SlashGear :
OnePlus unveils the $159 OnePlus Watch, available April 14, which has a circular 1.39" display, blood oxygen tracking, fast charging, and does not run Wear OS
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge :
Biden announces his intent to nominate Lina Khan, a legal scholar and leading voice in the growing tech antitrust movement, to serve as an FTC commissioner
Khan brought Big Tech scrutiny mainstream — President Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Lina Khan …
The controversies around Substack miss the point that it is just a tool for sovereign writers, who are in control as they are paid directly by subscribers
Manage your Stratechery subscription. — There has been a bit of controversy around Substack over the last week … Tweets: @mohamed , @nbj914 , @paulconstant , @grimmelm , @susie_c , @lorcand , @jesse...
Boston Fed officials and MIT researchers, who have been developing prototypes for a digital dollar platform, plan to unveil their research as soon as July
- Boston Fed, MIT researchers plan to unveil platform work soon — Project could threaten banks, credit cards, cryptocurrencies
SimilarWeb: in 2020, ~65% of Google searches ended without a click, up from ~50% in June 2019; mobile searches are far more likely to end without a click
In August of 2019, I published research from now-defunct clickstream data provider, Jumpshot, showing that 50.33% of all Google searches ended without …
Facebook announces F8 Refresh on June 2, a single-day, virtual-only conference for developers without a Mark Zuckerberg keynote
After a few twists and turns and then ultimately cancelling its F8 developer conference last year over Covid-19 concerns, Facebook today announced a return …
Sources say Discord is exploring a sale that could value it at $10B+, with one source saying it is in the final stage of negotiations
Google says it has fixed a WebView problem that caused Gmail, Google Play, and other apps to crash
here's how to fix it (Updated) John Diente / International Business Times : Gmail, Android Apps Keep Crashing; Google Identifies Root Cause: Here's What You Can Do Surur / MSPoweruser : Google is work...
Orca Security, which provides tools for protecting cloud-based assets, raises $210M Series C led by CapitalG and Redpoint Ventures at a $1.2B valuation
Orca Security, an Israeli cybersecurity startup that offers an agent-less security platform for protecting cloud-based assets …
goPuff, which charges a flat $1.95 fee to deliver products in under 30 minutes in 650+ US cities, raises $1.15B at an $8.9B valuation, up from $3.9B in October
Last fall, delivery startup goPuff made a big splash by raising $380 million in funding and acquiring West Coast beverage retailer BevMo shortly afterwards.
Analysis of 3,100 sites shows that hospitals are using code to hide pages containing pricing data from being crawled by search engines, violating US federal law
Webpages for hundreds of hospitals require users to click through to find prices, undermining federal transparency rule, Journal analysis shows Tweets: @ericgeller , @annemariebridy , @sarahkliff , @d...
Fitness company Peloton has recently acquired three startups, gaining expertise in wearable devices, voice assistants, and interactive workout mats
- Company quietly purchased Atlas Wearables, Otari and Aiqudo — Peloton Interactive Inc. recently acquired three companies …
Telegram says it has raised $1B+ in debt financing, including $150M from Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners and state fund Mubadala via pre-IPO convertible bonds
Update: Telegram has now announced it's pulled in over $1BN in debt financing by selling bonds. — Founder Pavel Durov put …
Aiven, which provides managed open source data technologies, raises $100M Series C, at a $800M valuation
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — Aiven, a Finnish company that provides managed open source data technologies …
Investors and players are buying millions of dollars worth of “land” inside games in the form of NFTs, which can then be rented out or even sold to other gamers
Investors and gamers are buying millions of dollars worth of land that exists only in videogames Tweets: @joshelman , @wsj , @joellatto , and @guildofguardian Tweets: @joshelman : We are almost at the...
Microsoft says it will begin a limited reopening of its Redmond HQ on March 29 and plans a future focus on hybrid workplaces
are we ready? Sean Endicott / Windows Central : Teams will soon support quoting messages and signing documents Lisa Ardill / Silicon Republic : Microsoft prepares to reopen offices with a focus on hyb...
Sources: Samsung plans to release new Galaxy Z Flip and Fold phones this year and is working on a double-folding phone to be unveiled as early as this year
Samsung double foldable phone just leaked Vanshika Malhotra / BGR India : Samsung could soon launch a foldable smartphone that will fold twice Hadlee Simons / Android Authority : Report: Samsung is wo...
Lattice, which helps companies track, reward, and set goals in the workplace, raises $60M led by Tiger Global at a $1B valuation, up from $450M last year
- Human resources tech startup raises $60 million in new funds — CEO says it helps fix the dreaded employee performance review
Facebook says it took down 1.3B fake accounts from October-December and 12M pieces of COVID-19 misinformation; Facebook has 35,000 staff tackling misinformation
Spark Capital decides to “sever all ties” with Dispo after claims of sexual assault against a former Vlog Squad member; David Dobrik departs from Dispo
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch :
Dataminr, which analyzes public data in real-time, raises $475M at a post-money valuation of $4.1B, bringing its total raised to $1.05B+
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — Dataminr, a New York-based company specializing in AI …
AR pioneer Blippar is back with $5M in pre-Series A funding and a B2B model focused on its Blippbuilder service; it has trimmed its headcount from 340 to 30
Augmented Reality pioneer Blippar - which has had a tortuous history after early investors pulled out and the company had to scramble …
YouTube confirms it is testing a feature in the US that automatically detects products in videos and provides related content links
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google :
Jumio, which provides digital identity services, raises $150M from Great Hill Partners and says it has verified 300M+ identities
Digital identity services — used as a key link between organizations to verify that you are who you say you are online and individuals logging into those services …
NLRB docs show it filed a federal complaint against Amazon after a probe found Amazon illegally questioned and threatened a leader of Amazon walkouts in Queens
Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE : Tweets: @vice and @repmarkpocan Tweets: @vice : The state of New York is also suing Amazon for alleged health and safety violations at the same Queens warehouse where wor...
In 2020, 60% to 70% of 9-year-old YouTuber Ryan Kaji's $30M annual revenue came from merchandise licensing deals, passing YouTube ad revenue for the first time
Bloomberg : Tweets: @efeng , @business , @grady_booch , @business , and @lucas_shaw See also Mediagazer Tweets: Eric Feng / @efeng : “The most successful YouTube operations see ad revenue as a dimini...
Richard Stallman says he has rejoined the Free Software Foundation's board; he resigned from the board and as president in 2019 after controversy over Epstein
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet :
SCOTUS declined to hear Facebook's appeal to stop a proposed $15B class action lawsuit that accused Facebook of secretly tracking users via the “like” buttons
By eroding Section 230, Democratic senators' SAFE TECH Act risks silencing marginalized communities and will make the internet less safe for sex workers
Long time Google VP Caesar Sengupta, who was in charge of Next Billion Users, Google Pay, and oversaw Chrome OS, is leaving the company after 15 years
Abner Li / 9to5Google :
Customer data service ActionIQ, which helps companies offer personalized experiences, raises $100M Series C, bringing its total raised to $145M
ActionIQ, which helps companies use their customer data to deliver personalized experiences, is announcing that it has extended its Series C funding …
Report: Amazon has added 3,700 new sellers every day in 2021, for a total of 295,000; 26% of new sellers are in the US while 10.1% are in India
Áine Cain / Insider :
Loft, a São Paulo-based real estate marketplace for Brazil, raises $425M Series D led by D1 Capital Partners at a $2.2B valuation
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch : Tweets: @bayareawriter Tweets: Mary Ann Azevedo / @bayareawriter : Brazilian proptech @loft_br raises $425M at a $2.2B valuation. @a16z led Loft's Series A in July 201...
Sources: Box is exploring a sale, discussing a potential deal with other companies and PE firms, amid pressure from hedge fund Starboard over stock performance
Budget TV maker Vizio is planning a NYSE IPO and pitching investors on its growing ad and streaming businesses, driven by SmartCast, which has 12.2M accounts
Ari Levy / CNBC : Tweets: @megancgraham Tweets: Meg Graham / @megancgraham : Vizio, which is going public this week, is known for bargain TVs but wants IPO investors to focus on its high-growth ads b...
In a first, China defines the “necessary” info that apps can collect from users, closing a “bundled consent” loophole and limiting unauthorized data collection
Xinmei Shen / South China Morning Post :
Online pharmacy Ro says it has raised $500M led by General Catalyst, FirstMark Capital, and TQ Ventures, sources says at $5B valuation
Bloomberg :
Side, a real estate brokerage whose software helps agents with branding, marketing, and more, raises $150M, valuing it at $1B and bringing total raised to $200M
Katie Roof / Bloomberg : Tweets: @plevine Tweets: Paul Levine / @plevine : Love @guygal's articulation of Side as Shopify for real estate. Supporting top entrepreneurial real estate professionals wit...
Synnex and privately-held Tech Data, both of which help implement solutions for IoT, cloud computing, and more, say they are merging in a deal valued at ~$7.2B
Larry Dignan / ZDNet :
Blackstone, with a goal of managing $1T in assets by 2026, is increasingly investing in fast-growing tech companies and has opened a San Francisco office
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.