Nick Clegg defends Facebook, saying it is not in the company's interest, financially or reputationally, to push users towards ever more extreme content
In — a recent article for The Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance compared Facebook to a Doomsday Machine: “a device built with the sole purpose of destroying all human life.”
Deliveroo drops by as much as 30% on its LSE debut, after pricing shares at £3.90, valuing it at around £5.6B; poor debut likely due to labor practice issues
Update: It seems that the market is volatile indeed. After pricing its shares at the lower end of the range …
Apple announces a virtual WWDC 2021 from June 7 to June 11, where iOS 15, macOS 12, watchOS 8, and more are expected
Apple has officially announced WWDC 2021. This year, the conference will take place completely virtually starting June 7. This marks the second year in a row that Apple …
Study: Android and iOS transmit telemetry even when devices are idle or users opt out; Google collects 20x more data from Android than Apple from iOS
Academic research published last week looked at the telemetry traffic sent by modern iOS and Android devices back to Apple and Google servers … Source: School of Computer Science & Statistics, Trinity...
Leaked doc sheds light on “Veritas”, an Amazon FC Ambassador program conceived in 2018 that sought to train employees to defend Amazon and Bezos on social media
Amazon's small Twitter army of “ambassadors” was quietly conceived in 2018 under the codename “Veritas,” …
Biden announces $2T American Jobs Plan focused on improving US infrastructure, with $100B allocated for high-speed broadband access over eight years
It sets aside $100 billion for the effort — President Biden plans to announce a sweeping infrastructure plan Wednesday that includes $100 billion …
LinkedIn confirms it's working on a Clubhouse rival and will begin beta testing soon, but doesn't have an exact timeframe for its launch
Clubhouse's list of competitors is growing. LinkedIn has now confirmed it's also testing a social audio experience in its app which would allow creators …
Facebook now lets users and Pages limit comments on posts, after a 2019 Australian court ruling that news outlets are liable for comments on their Pages
a win for news media outlets who were in the ludicrous position of having to monitor a vast number of stories. This was so stupid and unfair https://www.theguardian.com/ ... @flipprior : Woahhhhhh thi...
Facebook announces News Feed changes, including a Most Recent mode that will show posts in chronological order, available on Android now and iOS in coming weeks
Sami Fathi / MacRumors :
Huawei reports 2020 revenue of $136.7B, up 3.8% YoY but slower than the 19%+ growth it saw in 2019, and net profit of $9.9B, up 3.2% YoY
- Huawei's revenue for 2020 totaled 891.4 billion yuan ($136.7 billion), a 3.8% year-on-year rise in yuan terms. That was slower than the more than 19% revenue growth Huawei saw in 2019.
User says ~$600K of bitcoin was stolen after using a fake app for cryptocurrency hardware wallet Trezor downloaded from the App Store; app was rated five stars
Recent scams show there are holes in Apple's safety net — Phillipe Christodoulou wanted to check his bitcoin balance last month …
Turing Award goes to Jeffrey Ullman and Alfred Aho for their work on compilers, which underpin computer programming languages
Jeffrey Ullman and Alfred Aho developed many of the fundamental concepts that researchers use when they build new software. — When Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman met …
Sources: suspected Russian hackers stole thousands of State Department officials' emails last year; the classified network doesn't appear to have been accessed
Suspected Russian hackers stole thousands of State Department officials' emails last year, according to two Congressional sources familiar …
Sponsor of Arizona's HB2005 bill, which allows alternative payment systems in app stores, says it won't get a hearing this year after being pulled last week
Arizona House Bill 2005, a hotly contested piece of legislation that would have imposed developer-friendly changes to Apple …
Google is rolling out FLoC, its alternative to third-party cookies and a crucial part of its Privacy Sandbox project for Chrome, as a developer origin trial
Google today announced that it is rolling out Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), a crucial part of its Privacy Sandbox project for Chrome, as a developer origin trial.
Apple leads $50M Series B in music distributor UnitedMasters, with a16z and Alphabet participating; UnitedMasters enters a strategic partnership with Apple
Independent music distribution platform and tool factory UnitedMasters has raised a $50M series B round led by Apple.
Source: in January, IoT manufacturer Ubiquiti downplayed a “catastrophic” breach, which gained root access to its AWS accounts and access to countless devices
On Jan. 11, Ubiquiti Inc. [NYSE:UI] — a major vendor of cloud-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as routers …
Sources: Snap plans to unveil new Spectacles aimed at AR developers and creators in May and has begun a years-long project to make a camera drone
Snap is readying a new push into hardware with a more advanced version of its Spectacles smart glasses that feature displays capable …
Uniphore, which uses AI to analyze and improve customer support provided over voice and video calls, raises $140M Series D, bringing its total raised to $210M
- Company working on technology that analyzes facial expressions — Startup looking to expand beyond call-center software
Newly created Twitter accounts labeled as Amazon employees are defending the company amid a union drive; Amazon admitted in 2018 to paying for similar tweets
Robinhood says it will remove digital confetti, which appears when making a first trade and elsewhere, from its app after criticism that it “gamifies” investing
The confetti, which critics alleged was a gamification strategy, will be replaced with new designs
South Korea's antitrust regulator to fine Apple Korea $265K and refer it for prosecution for allegedly impeding a probe into unfair business practices
(ATTN: ADDS Apple's reaction in paras 6-7; Minor edits) — South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has decided to refer …
Interviews with 15 people show CISA is underfunded, short on talent, outmatched by adversaries, and overwhelmed by the fallout from two massive cyberattacks
The agency that protects the U.S. from hackers is hobbled by funding woes, a talent shortage and growing pains that are jeopardizing … Tweets: @ericgeller , @gossithedog , @kevincollier , @howelloneil...
Source: Apple is planning to announce a mixed reality headset “sometime” in the next several months, possibly at an in-person event
Hi everyone—it's Mark. On Tuesday, Apple Inc. announced what will be at least its fifth virtual product launch in a row and one of its most important events …
A look at the downsides of virtual therapy apps like Talkspace and BetterHelp, which are booming amid high demand but seem to promise more than they can deliver
The summer of 2020, recalls Hillary Schieve, was hard. The pandemic was bearing down across the country … Tweets: @hwinsider , @amandalitman , and @gvsmith Tweets: Dave Foster / @hwinsider : Another ...
iOS 14.5 beta seems to fix a longstanding bug affecting Safari's adult content blocking option that would block any search containing the word “Asian”
Manticore Games, a Roblox-like platform to build and play games using Epic's Unreal Engine, raises $100M Series C led by XN Ventures
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — Manticore Games has raised $100 million for user-generated games in the …
Productiv, which helps businesses manage SaaS apps, raises $45M Series C, bringing its total raised to $73M
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — Productiv, a platform for aggregating real-time engagement data and insights for apps and management …
Spotify buys app developer Betty Labs, creator of Locker Room, a live social audio app where fans can talk about sports, which Spotify plans on expanding
one way or the other! 🤷♂️ genius move or peak bubble moment—what do you think? https://twitter.com/... Gady Epstein / @gadyepstein : I'm working on a project combining various substacks into a single...
Striim, which offers cloud integration, edge processing, and streaming analytics services, raises $50M Series C, bringing its total raised to $108M+
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — Striim, a startup specializing in streaming data integration …
Arm unveils Armv9, its next gen chip architecture that adds features for security, AI, and more, as it expects ~300B Arm-based chips to ship in the next decade
Next Insurance, which offers digital insurance products to small businesses, raises $250M Series E at $4B+ valuation, bringing its total raised to $881M
The digital small business insurance company has doubled its valuation since its last financing round six months ago.
WhatsApp gets approval from Brazil's Central Bank to offer P2P payments via Mastercard and Visa, but is still seeking approval to operate with merchants
Carolina Mandl / Reuters :
Foxconn, the world's top contract electronics manufacturer, says the chip shortage will result in it shipping 10% fewer products, without specifying a timeframe
Chinese cryptocurrency wallet imToken raises $30M Series B led by Qiming and says it has 12M users with over $50B in crypto assets
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg :
Facebook announces Fairness Flow, an internal toolkit for assessing AI bias, amid criticism of its work on AI biases and skepticism of the tool from experts
Join Transform 2021 for the most important themes in enterprise AI & Data. Learn more. — Facebook today published …
Sources: Google plans to release “Pixel Buds A” in 2021, which will almost be visually indistinguishable from current Buds and offered in white and green colors
Kyle Bradshaw / 9to5Google :
Chinese police and Tencent seize $46M in assets during bust of what they claim is “world's biggest” video game cheating operation, which made ~$76M in revenue
Substack raises $65M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz
Survey: trust in tech declined globally in 2020 due factors like misinfo and privacy concerns; in the US, tech fell from the “most trusted” in 2019, to ninth
Trust in tech — including companies specializing in AI, VR, 5G and the internet of things — fell all around the world last year … Tweets: @omertene , @azeem , and @axios Tweets: Omer Tene / @omertene ...
A group of ad-tech companies, including PubMatic, details SWAN, an anonymous identifier that lets users control ads they see, as an alternative to web cookies
Netflix says it wants to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2022, by reducing electricity use by 45%, hiring local crews, and offsetting the rest
Facebook says Chief Revenue Officer David Fischer will be leaving the company in the fall after more than a decade
PEN America calls on Facebook, Twitter, and others to implement product design changes, like an “SOS” button and filters for content, to address harassment
Hannah Miao / CNBC :
IHS Markit: global chip shortage and Texas winter storm likely cost carmakers production of about 1.3M vehicles this quarter
Craig Trudell / Bloomberg :
Amazon has acquired Perpule, a startup in India that helps offline stores go online; filings show Amazon paid $14.7M to acquire Perpule, plus staff compensation
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Hitachi says it will acquire US-based software developer GlobalLogic for $9.6B to expand its IoT platform Lumada
Nikkei Asia :
ConsenSys announces Palm, an Ethereum-connected NFT ecosystem, and claims its new protocol can deliver 99% more energy efficiency than proof of work systems
Opswat, which protects critical infrastructure by attempting to eliminate malware and zero-day attacks, raises $125M from Brighton Park Capital
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Coursera prices its shares at the top of the IPO range, at $33, raising $519M and giving it a market value of ~$4.3B
A look at Roku's experiment with original programming: acquiring shows at a fire-sale price instead of committing billions of dollars to original shows
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg : Tweets: @lucas_shaw and @lucas_shaw Tweets: Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw : I spoke to Roku's head of programming about why the company is buying/funding original series, and how ...
Rightway, maker of an app that helps employees at its client companies navigate digital care and pharmacy benefits, raises $100M Series C at a $1.1B valuation
Katie Jennings / Forbes :
BrightInsight, which helps drug/device makers build apps for patients and doctors, raises $101M Series C led by General Catalyst, source says at $750M valuation
John Tozzi / Bloomberg :
JD.com says it sold its JD Cloud and AI businesses for a combined ~$2.4B to its fintech unit
Chavi Mehta / Reuters :
Windfall, which is developing an AI-based service to help nonprofits engage donors, raises $21M Series A, bringing its total raised to $30M
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
LightShed Partners: SVOD subscribers will nearly double by 2024 to 1.25B from 650M at the end of 2020
Sources: India is considering giving cash incentives of more than $1B to each company that will set up chip fabrication units in the country
Reuters : Tweets: @amitbhawani Tweets: Amit Bhawani / @amitbhawani : The Govt will give cash incentives to each company which will set up chip fabrication units. “We're assuring them that the govt wi...
Chinese grocery app Nice Tuan, which focuses on community group buying and claims to have 15M orders per day, raises $750M led by Alibaba and DST Global
Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg :
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.