Biden names Lina Khan, an antitrust expert who wrote the “Amazon Antitrust Paradox”, as FTC chair, after the Senate voted 69-28 to confirm her as commissioner
Ms. Khan, who first attracted notice as a critic of Amazon, was confirmed by the Senate as a commissioner on the agency on Tuesday.
Sources: some of Apple's healthcare efforts, including a pilot primary healthcare service with Apple-employed doctors, have stalled due to internal concerns
Tech giant has envisioned hiring doctors to offer primary care, now focused on Watch — Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook …
Overview of House lawmakers' recent antitrust-focused bills, which target consumer tech giants, vary in radicalness, and at times conflict with each other
From the Wall Street Journal: — These bills are the ultimate outcome of the House Subcommittee on Antitrust's investigation …
Ahead of Microsoft's event to unveil the next gen of Windows, a Windows 11 build leaks, showing a revamped UI, like a new taskbar with centered app icons, more
Screenshots have leaked online — Screenshots of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 11 operating system have appeared online today.
Spotify launches Spotify Greenroom, a new app that allows Spotify users worldwide to join or host live audio rooms, and turn those conversations into podcasts
In March, Spotify announced it was acquiring the company behind the sports-focused audio app Locker Room to help speed its entry into the live audio market.
Waymo raises $2.5B from Alphabet, a16z, Tiger Global, and others, to advance its autonomous driving tech and grow its team
- Google sibling company Waymo announced a $2.5 billion investment round Wednesday, which will go toward advancing its autonomous driving technology and growing its team.
Japan Display, which sold its smartphone screen factory last year, is pivoting to VR; LCDs are projected to dominate the VR headset market over the next 5 years
- Superseded on mobile, LCDs can better compete with OLED in VR — JDI believes headset business could grow into a linchpin
The Oversight Board accepts its first policy advisory opinion request from Facebook, on the sharing of private residential info, issues call for public comments
It involves how it should handle private residential information Source: About Facebook .
Mark Zuckerberg says the original Oculus Quest will receive Air Link support in a post about the upcoming v30 update for Quest
He also showed off multitasking in VR — Owners of the original Oculus Quest will get the ability to stream from their PCs to their headsets wirelessly …
Facebook launches a new suite of tools for admins of Groups, including AI-powered Conflict Alerts that identify “contentious or unhealthy conversations”
Part of a suite of new tools for managing Facebook communities — Facebook is launching a suite of new tools to help group admins get a grip on their communities.
IBM unveils the Quantum System One, its first quantum computer physically built outside of the US, in Germany in partnership with research institute Fraunhofer
Big Blue has, for the first time, built a quantum computer that is not physically located in its US data centers.
Alibaba's Taobao was clandestinely scraped by a web crawler for 8 months, leading to a leak of 1.1B pieces of user data, including user IDs and phone numbers
Software developer scrapes 1.1 billion pieces of user data, including IDs and phone numbers, over eight months
Interview with Apple's VP for Technology Kevin Lynch on Apple Watch's evolution, future health capabilities through sensor fusion with AirPods, and more
Apple VP of Technology Kevin Lynch charts a path from Apple Watch's early days to the sophistication of Health today.
Amazon blames social media companies for its failure to remove fake reviews, saying they are slow to act when warned about such reviews
Firm says sites are slow to act when warned that fake reviews are being solicited on their platforms — Amazon has blamed social media companies …
At a Senate antitrust hearing, Amazon and Google defended their smart home device businesses from criticism by Democrats and Republicans
Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Amazon.com Inc. defended their smart-speaker businesses as U.S. senators warned the grip the companies have over the market could harm competition and consumer privacy.
After years of pop-up experiments, Google says its first retail store, located in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC, will open on June 17
Pixel, Nest, Fitbit, and third-party accessories will be on sale — After years of pop-up experiments, Google is finally dipping its toes …
DuckDuckGo says it raised $100M+ in “mainly secondary investment” in late 2020 from WhatsApp founder Brian Acton, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and others
Privacy tech continues cooking on gas. To wit: Non-tracking search engine DuckDuckGo has just revealed that it beefed …
Amazon's planned new African HQ, located in Cape Town, has met with fierce resistance and protests by indigenous people, with 50,000 objections
- Khoisan group trying to stop building of $291 million project — City of Cape Town says venture will add jobs, boost economy
Novo, a neobank targeting small businesses, raises $40.7M Series A led by Valar Ventures
Small businesses have traditionally been underserved when it comes to IT — they are too big and have too many requirements that can't be met by consumer products, yet are much too small to afford …
GM says it will spend $35B through 2025 on electric and autonomous vehicles, a 30% increase from earlier plans
- GM will increase spending on electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion through 2025, a 30% increase from plans announced late last year.
Mark Zuckerberg drops off Glassdoor's Top 100 CEOs list for the first time since 2013, as worker sentiment declines, especially during last months of 2020
- Co-founder fails to make Top 100 for first time since 2013 — Glassdoor ranks company leaders based on employee surveys
Honor says Google apps will return to its phones, starting with the 50 series, announced in China today, after Huawei sold off the brand at the end of last year
Officially announced today in China — The Honor 50 series will be able to ship with Google's apps and services …
Introhive, which offers SaaS tools to automate CRM, raises $100M Series C led by equity firm PSG, bringing its total raised to $140M+
Elevate your enterprise data technology and strategy at Transform 2021. — Introhive, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) customer relationship management …
Google unveils features for Android including end-to-end encryption for RCS-based one-to-one chats in Messages, starred messages, emoji mashup suggestions, more
Mitchell Clark / The Verge :
Twitter is asking for feedback on a new feature letting users “unmention” themselves as an anti-abuse tool and to help users control unwanted attentions
UK's CMA says it will launch an investigation into Apple and Google's mobile ecosystems over whether their market power is harming users
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac :
Investigation explores Apple's censorship or removal of LGBTQ+ apps globally; Apple's App Stores for Saudi Arabia and China are missing the most apps
Sources detail Airbnb's failures to prioritize anti-discrimination outside of talking points, including its Smart Pricing algorithm, which widened inequalities
Sources say the company prioritizes anti-discrimination in its talking points, but not in its spending. Tweets: @haydenfield , @haydenfield , @haydenfield , @haydenfield , @peterslattery3 , and @hayde...
India-based Apna, whose Android app lets blue collar workers connect with others, upskill, and find jobs, raises $70M Series B led by Insight and Tiger Global
Privacy activists worry about the lack of transparency and detailed info on how Apple plans to implement driver's licenses and other digital IDs on its devices
Digital driver's licenses have had a slow start in the US so far, but iOS 15 Wallet will give the nascent technology a serious push.
Nearly five months after his inauguration, Biden has yet to nominate a Democratic FCC commissioner to fill the empty fifth slot
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica :
Andreessen Horowitz launches Future, a media property that will focus on informational and editorial content created by full-time staff and outside contributors
Analysis: total NFT sales reached $2B in Q1 2021, with a seven-day peak of $176M on May 9, but have fallen in recent weeks, with sales of $8.7M on June 15
but is he already too late?
Bringg, which builds software to help retailers with last-mile logistics, raises $100M Series E led by Insight Partners at a $1B valuation
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Examining the commercialization of ideas and interactions via newsletters, NFTs, and tip jars, where money empowers but reduces expression to mere commerce
or at least feels like—commerce?” https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... @tinaduryea : I'd really like to just paint, but to be able to make a living with my art I need social media. The world has changed a...
Bitwise Asset Management, known for managing crypto index funds, raises $70M Series B co-led by Elad Gil and Electric Capital and says it's now valued at $500M+
Fox Corp. creates a $100M creators fund for the NFT market, as part of a broader effort that includes Blockchain Creative Labs, a new business unit to sell NFTs
dYdX, which develops decentralized financial derivative products on the Ethereum blockchain, raises $65M Series C after a $10M Series B four months ago
London-based 10x Future Technologies, which helps established banks add or retool their existing tech offerings via its SaaS platform, raised $187M Series C
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
A look at the rise and fall of Phan Huynh Anh Khoa, aka “The King of Squirrels”, who used Facebook to become one of Vietnam's most notorious wildlife traders
and Facebook's negligence — to build a wildlife trading empire ~Wild~ story by @AshLampard from Ho Chi Minh City. Photographs by @phamhaduylinh https://restofworld.org/... @restofworld : “It was the b...
Amazon brings its cashierless tech to a full-size grocery store for the first time in a new 25K square foot Amazon Fresh location in Seattle
BrowserStack, a cross-browser website testing service for DevOps, raises $200M Series B led by BOND, at a $4B valuation
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat :
Krafton, the company behind popular game PUBG and backed by Tencent, files for an IPO in South Korea, seeking to raise as much as $5B
Sohee Kim / Bloomberg :
Gloat, which provides AI-based internal job boards to big organizations, raises $57M Series C led by Accel
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Oracle reports Q4 revenue of $11.23B, up 8% YoY, vs $11.04B est., with revenue from its Fusion ERP up 46% and NetSuite ERP up 26%
Shopify expands its one-click checkout, Shop Pay, to any merchant on Facebook or Google in the US, even if they don't use Shopify to power their online stores
Denmark-based Templafy, which offers document creation software, raises $60M Series D led by Blue Cloud Ventures, bringing its total raised to $125M
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch :
Brazilian payments company Ebanx receives a $430M investment from Advent International ahead of Ebanx's planned US IPO in the beginning of 2022
Full Truck Alliance, a Chinese startup providing an Uber-like service for trucks, aims to raise about $1.57B from its US IPO at a maximum valuation of $21B
on paper — in the Chinese ride sharing market
Bangalore-based payments app FamPay, which is aimed at teens, raises $38M Series A led by Elevation Capital; Sequoia Capital India and others participated
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Chile-based Betterfly, which lets companies offer digital benefits to reward healthy habits, raises $60M from SoftBank and others at a $300M valuation
Eduardo Thomson / Bloomberg : Tweets: @bloombergau Tweets: Bloomberg Australia / @bloombergau : SoftBank makes its first foray into Chile by taking part in a $60 million funding round for Betterfly, ...
Uberall, a location-based marketing startup that provides services to brick and mortar retailers, raises $115M, acquires MomentFeed, sources say for $50M+
Payments company dLocal and Amazon announce an agreement that enables international vendors to sell products on Amazon's Brazil marketplace for the first time
Jimin Kang / Reuters : Source: Business Wire Source: Business Wire : dLocal Unlocks the Brazilian Market to International Sellers
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.