Excerpt from An Ugly Truth: from Jan. 2014 to Aug. 2015, Facebook fired 52 staffers for exploiting access to user data, prompting an overhaul of data governance
and about the somewhat different conclusions it brought me to https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/... @platformer : For all followers today: - An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle ...
Facebook says it is seeking the recusal of FTC chair Lina Khan in the agency's deliberations over a new antitrust case, following a similar move by Amazon
Social-media giant follows Amazon in citing Lina Khan's tech criticisms, congressional work to question her impartiality
Sources: Apple has asked suppliers to build up to 90M next-generation iPhones this year, up 20% YoY; this year's update will be more incremental than iPhone 12
- Company targets 90 million shipments of this year's new models — Iterative iPhone upgrade to boost chips, cameras and displays
The current version of Apple's Weather app won't show 69 degrees, rounding a degree, potentially due to sourcing data in Celsius and converting to Fahrenheit
It's not so nice — If you're an iPhone user, the weather is always a particularly nice 70 degrees. Or 68 degrees.
Microsoft announces Windows 365, letting businesses stream a version of Windows 10 or 11 in a web browser or through its Remote Desktop app, launching August 2
Windows 365 is a new service that creates Cloud PCs — Microsoft is putting Windows in the cloud.
Facebook employees detail a clash over CrowdTangle, a tool that showed high engagement with right-wing media, which was moved under the Integrity team in April
Executives at the social network have clashed over CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data tool that revealed users' high engagement levels with right-wing media sources.
European Central Bank says it will begin a 24-month “investigation phase” that could lead to the creation of a digital euro by around 2025
- Process will take 24 months before decision on adoption taken — ECB says infrastructure would use far less energy than Bitcoin
Microsoft says the attacks targeting SolarWinds Serv-U software with a now-patched RCE exploit are the work of Chinese hacking group DEV-0322
Microsoft said today that the recent wave of attacks that have targeted SolarWinds file transfer servers are the work of a Chinese hacking group …
Sources: Apple and Goldman Sachs are working on a “buy now, pay later” service to let consumers pay for any Apple Pay purchase in installments, rivaling Affirm
- Service to let users pay off any Apple Pay purchase over time — Fresh partnership with Apple could boost Goldman consumer push
REvil's infrastructure and websites are offline, including its data leak sites, less than two weeks after attacking 1,500+ businesses with ransomware via Kaseya
The infrastructure and websites for the REvil ransomware operation have mysteriously gone offline as of last night.
An Ugly Truth attributes many of Facebook's scandals to its capitalist origins, while arguably the biggest scandals extend from it impacting human psychology
Three ways of looking at a Facebook scandal — I. The CSO and The Wire — As the second season of the great 2000s crime drama …
Facebook is rolling out the ability for Group administrators to designate “group experts”, partly in an effort to help Facebook combat misinformation
The social network has been trying to combat misinformation by elevating authoritative sources.
Sources: Alibaba and Tencent are separately working on plans to open their services to each other, as China's crackdown makes keeping barriers more difficult
Mounting regulatory pressure could bring about a major shift in how China's tech giants operate
As very few iOS users opt into tracking, Facebook's many advertisers are noticing a negative impact on tracking campaigns, targeting new customers, and more
People give iOS apps permission to track their behavior just 25% of the time — When users get asked on iPhone devices …
In April, Amazon acquired over a dozen staff from Facebook to boost its own low earth orbit satellite internet efforts; Amazon paid Facebook to seal agreement
Amazon has acquired a team of more than a dozen wireless internet experts from Facebook in an effort to boost its multibillion-dollar effort …
Microsoft fixes 13 critical flaws, four of which are under active attack, and updates a fix for the “PrintNightmare” RCE flaw impacting Windows Print Spooler
Microsoft today released updates to patch at least 116 security holes in its Windows operating systems and related software.
Apple announces a $99 MagSafe Battery Pack for the iPhone 12 lineup, with a total capacity of 1460mAh, arriving July 19
Two GOP lawmakers are pointing to previously unreleased emails to allege that Amazon unfairly used its influence in competing for Pentagon's JEDI cloud contract
Newly released emails show particular praise of Amazon among top Defense Department officials during the Trump administration …
Internal documents: Amazon considered building an Alexa-powered, GPS-enabled wearable device for kids aged 4-12 as part of its 2020 product roadmap
- Gadget would give kids aged 4 to 12 access to movies, games — Company is also exploring a ‘Magic Band’ wearable with Disney
Profile of Cyberspace Administration of China, a once-obscure agency for internet censorship, which now enforces data regulations against China's tech giants
Bloomberg :
Inside the World Wide Web Consortium as members debate the future of online privacy, with browsers' engineers often at odds with companies that rely on tracking
James Rosewell could see his company's future was in jeopardy. — It was January 2020, and Google had just announced key details … Tweets: @issielapowsky , @hkanji , @jason_kint , @tiffanycli , @davi...
Netflix launches two tools for parents: a Top 10 row for age-restricted profiles and a bi-weekly Kids Recap Email to give insights into watching habits
Just like on regular Netflix — Netflix is launching two new tools this week that should help make finding age-appropriate content …
India has indefinitely banned Mastercard from issuing new debit, credit, or prepaid cards over noncompliance with local data storage rules
Reserve Bank of India has indefinitely barred Mastercard from issuing new debit, credit, or prepaid cards to customers in the South Asian market over noncompliance with local data storage rules.
Twitter says governments made 361 demands to remove content from 199 verified accounts of journalists and news outlets in H2 2020, up 26% from H1
Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) saw a surge in demands over the course of last year from governments around the world to take down content posted …
A coalition of 35 organizations demand that top US retailers, including Macy's and Lowe's, stop using facial recognition to identify customers
Lowe's, Albertsons, Macy's are already using the tech — More than 35 organizations are demanding top US retailers cease using facial recognition …
TikTok has passed 3B installs globally across iOS and Android, the first non-Facebook app to do so
ByteDance's TikTok had an eventful 2020, setting new records and thriving despite threats of government bans in more than one country. Although the app was removed from India …
UK's BT, which runs EE, says it will phase out 3G by 2023 and plans 5G coverage across the entire country by 2028; iPhone 12 quadrupled 5G traffic since October
Paul Sandle / Reuters :
France fines Google $593M for failing to comply with a 2020 order to negotiate in good faith with publishers for displaying article snippets in Google News
Profile of Spotify's chief legal officer Horacio Gutierrez, who leads its campaign against Apple in the US and EU, painting Apple as an abusive monopolist
Horacio Gutierrez made his name in U.S. corporate law two decades ago defending Microsoft Corp. against charges of anticompetitive behavior … Tweets: @lucas_shaw Tweets: Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw : For...
Google will now take a 15% cut on the first $3M in sales for “newly signed games” on Stadia from October through the end of 2023
Chicago-based investing app M1 Finance raises $150M Series E led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 at a $1.45B valuation, following $75M Series D in March 2021
Just over four months after announcing a $75 million Series D, M1 Finance today is announcing a new $150 million Series E round of funding led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2.
Stytch, which is building APIs for passwordless authentication, raises $30M Series A led by Thrive Capital, sources say at a $200M+ valuation
There are far fewer annoying things than managing one's passwords. — There are a bunch of companies out there to help you attempt to do that.
DevRev, which is building APIs to give developers insights into their customers, raises $50M seed from Mayfield Fund, Khosla Ventures, and others
Today a new software company from two former Nutanix executives called DevRev emerged from stealth with a $50 million seed round from Mayfield Fund …
Sources: Broadcom is no longer in talks to buy SAS after the founders of SAS had a change of heart and decided not to sell to Broadcom
Cara Lombardo / Wall Street Journal :
China's crackdown on crypto mining has led miners on a hunt for cheap sources of power for their operations, with many turning to nearby Kazakhstan
Bloomberg :
Bitdefender says hackers behind TrickBot botnet, which was disrupted by US Cyber Command and Microsoft last year, have quietly rebuilt much of their operations
Zomato says it has raised $562.3M from anchor investors ahead of its IPO share sale, open Wednesday to Friday, with a goal of raising $1.3B
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
PE firm Permira says it has bought a 10.2% stake in Norway-listed online classifieds giant Adevinta, worth €1.9B, from eBay
Robin Wauters / Tech.eu :
Poll: about 20% of UK adults have deleted UK's NHS COVID tracking app; 33%+ aged 18-34 have deleted the app and 20% of all age groups plan to do so
Kevin Rawlinson / The Guardian :
LinkSquares, which develops AI-based contract management and analytics tools, raises $40M Series B led by Sorenson Capital, bringing total funding to $61.4M
Blockchain audit service CertiK raises $37M Series B led by Coatue Management and Shunwei Capital and says it has 1,000+ clients, including Binance
Yogita Khatri / The Block :
Discord buys Sentropy, which emerged from stealth last summer with AI-powered moderation software to fight online abuse and $13M in funding
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch :
Virsec, which helps companies ward off cyberattacks in real-time by integrating into their software, rather than using AI, raises $100M Series C
Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News :
Vienna and Munich-based Meister, which makes workplace collaboration tools, raises $52M, its first funding since a 2008 angel round, and says it has 25M users
Twitch says it is “closely monitoring gambling content”, after a review finds some top streamers promote crypto gambling sites, potentially violating local laws
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired :
Pratilipi, which operates an online storytelling platform in India, raises a $48M Series D led by South Korean gaming giant Krafton
The Economic Times :
London-based YuLife, an insurance startup that offers gamified rewards, raises $70M Series B at a $346M valuation
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Castor, which develops software to run clinical trials, raises $45M Series B, bringing its total raised to $65M
Christine Hall / TechCrunch :
Railsbank, which develops APIs for banking, credit products and payment cards, raises $70M led by Anthos Capital; CEO says the company is “near unicorn” status
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
China-based AI chatbot developer Xiaoice, which spun off from Microsoft last year, raises $77M Series A at a $1B valuation and says it has over 660M users
Cardless, which helps brands launch custom co-branded credit cards by handling back-end tasks, raises $40M Series B Activant Capital
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch :
Syfe, a Singapore-based robo-advisor app, has raised ~$29.6M Series B led by Valar Ventures; CEO says Syfe's valuation has increased 3.6x from its Series A
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch :
AttackIQ, which provides a breach and attack simulation system to help businesses validate their cyber defenses, raises $44M Series C to expand internationally
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.