Mozilla's analysis says Facebook's justifications for cutting off access to researchers running NYU's Ad Observatory project “simply do not hold water”
The company says privacy concerns forced it to block access for a team of academics. Whose privacy, exactly? Source: The Mozilla Blog .
Facebook says it has disabled the accounts, apps, Pages, and access to its APIs for researchers running NYU's Ad Observatory Project, citing TOS violations
whose ads are already public and whose data Facebook stores in a public archive. https://www.protocol.com/... Dell Cameron / @dellcam : NEW: Senate Intel Chair @MarkWarner condemns Facebook's decision...
Apple is reportedly considering using on-device hashing algorithms to match photos with known child abuse material, a potentially problematic practice
Apple is reportedly set to announce new photo identification features that will use hashing algorithms to match the content of photos … Source: @matthew_d_green .
Senators Lummis, Wyden, Toomey propose amendment to infrastructure bill excluding crypto developers, miners, node operators, others from the “broker” definition
A trio of U.S. senators is proposing a legislative exclusion for crypto companies, including miners and software developers …
TikTok says it is testing TikTok Stories; source says Stories are available in a handful of markets outside the US
Twitter may have shut down its Stories features known as Fleets, but the Stories format will continue to invade other social platforms. TikTok today confirmed it's piloting …
Nintendo misses in Q1 with $1.09B operating profit, down 17.3% YoY, on $2.94B revenue, down 9.9% YoY, as Switch sales decline by 21.7% YoY to 4.45M units
It was not exactly a normal quarter this time in 2020 — Nintendo has released its earnings for the April-June quarter … Source: Nintendo Investor Relations .
Google refreshes its Nest lineup, including its video doorbell and indoor-only camera, with a unified design language and lower prices
A whole new lineup of cameras for Nest smart homes — Google has announced a new line of home security cameras and a video doorbell under its Nest brand.
Apple places female engineering program manager on administrative leave after she tweeted about sexism in the office
Ashley Gjøvik says the employee relations team implied she should stay off Slack pending an ongoing investigation — Apple has placed senior engineering program …
Ethereum's “London” hard fork has been activated, with changes to how transaction fees are calculated to decrease volatility, among other fixes
- Ethereum's “London” hard fork has just activated, and it's a major change. — One of the changes alters the way transaction fees …
Amazon's free, ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV arrives on iOS and Android, more than two years after launching
More than two and a half years after IMDb launched its free, ad-supported streaming service, IMDb TV is now available on iOS and Android mobile devices.
Report: 25 oil and gas organizations spent $9.5M+ on 25K+ Facebook ads in 2020, seen 431M+ times, potentially undermining Facebook's ban on oil and gas misinfo
Thinktank InfluenceMap accuses petroleum giants of gaming Facebook to promote oil and gas as part of climate-crisis solution
Researchers studying 300,000 YouTube viewers from 2016-2019 suggest that radicalization via algorithm is not widespread; most stick to their ideological corners
Tracking user behavior shows that most people don't go down radical rabbit holes. — We've all seen it happen …
Scammers are abusing Instagram's protections against self-harm and impersonation to purposefully target and ban Instagram accounts, some charging $60 per ban
An underground industry is abusing Instagram's mechanisms for removing self-injury and impersonating content to censor and harass people. Tweets: @josephfcox , @josephfcox , @audreyjcarleton , @joseph...
Indian digital bank Jupiter raises $45M Series B, led by Brazil-based Nubank, Global Founders, Sequoia, and Matrix Partners India, at a $300M+ valuation
Industry veteran Jitendra Gupta's neobank for consumers in India — Jupiter — has raised $45 million in a new financing round …
Source: ByteDance has laid off hundreds of employees working on its online education businesses, following China's crackdown on the sector
- It's shutting one service while pivoting others to comply — China's new online tutoring curbs include a ban on profits
Cryptocurrency analytics firm Messari raises $21M Series A led by Point72 Ventures with Kraken Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, and Coinbase among investors
Point72 Ventures,, the venture capital firm of billionaire Steve Cohen, whose unconventional style helped inspire the hit television show Billions …
DHS unveils the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative to combat ransomware and cyberattacks, in partnership with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others
Creation of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative follows high-profile cyberattacks on critical U.S. infrastructure
Qualcomm offers to buy Veoneer, which develops advanced driver-assistance systems for autonomous vehicles, for $4.6B, topping Magna's $3.8B bid from last month
- Veoneer would give Qualcomm lift in driver-assistance tech — Magna unlikely to try to top Qualcomm bid, analysts say
Kuaishou drops by over 15% in Hong Kong as its post-IPO lockup expired, highlighting widening fears about China's crackdown
- Shares plummet 15% after a post-IPO lockup on sales expired — Selloff underscores nervousness during the online crackdown
Sony beats estimates with Q1 operating profit of $2.6B and says the PS5 is no longer selling at a loss; PS Plus subscribers declined to 46.3M from 47.6M QoQ
Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg : Source: Sony Investor Relations .
Kuaishou says it will shut down its Zynn video sharing app on August 20, ending its ill-fated attempt to compete with TikTok in North America
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg :
Indian startup MindTickle, which offers tools to improve sales staff, raises $100M Series E led by SoftBank at a $1.2B valuation, bringing total raised to $281M
So-called sales readiness technology provider MindTickle Inc. is running with the unicorns today after landing a $100 million Series E round of funding.
Uber beats estimates in Q2 with record gross bookings of $21.9B, up 114% YoY, adjusted EBITDA loss of $509M, an improvement from $837M YoY
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC : Source: Uber .
Microsoft pauses free trials of its new Windows 365 service, which lets users stream Windows 10 or 11 via web browser, after “significant demand”
Tom Warren / The Verge :
Amazon delays its return to offices from September 3 to January 3, 2022
Amazon told employees Thursday morning that it will delay its timeline for returning to regular work in the office until early next year. — The new date: Jan. 3, 2022. Previously, Amazon had expect...
European virtual events platform Hopin raises $450M led by Arena Holdings and Altimeter Capital at a $7.75B valuation
Ryan Browne / CNBC :
Verizon is using an AI model to analyze variables on the ground like trees, buildings, and bridges to find optimal spots to place thousands of 5G transmitters
The carrier uses an AI model to crunch through variables on the ground like trees, buildings and bridges to find the optimal spots to place thousands of 5G transmitters
EA beats estimates with Q1 total net revenue of $1.55B, up from $1.46B YoY, net income of $204M, down from $365M YoY, and net bookings of $1.34B, down 3% YoY
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat : Source: Electronic Arts .
Denver-based Reserve Trust, which enables domestic and international B2B payments, raises $30.5M Series A led by QED Investors
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch :
Internal document: Google fired dozens of engineers between 2018 and 2020 for abusing their access to data and tools
Instacart hires longtime Facebook ads chief Carolyn Everson, who left in June, as president, starting Sept. 7, following other high-profile hires from Facebook
Bluecore, which helps brands improve e-commerce offerings across platforms, raises $125M Series E led by Georgian at a $1B valuation
Ron Miller / TechCrunch :
Amnesty International: of the world's 53 largest VC firms, only one meets UN human rights due diligence standards
Atomico — invested in Palantir acquiree Silk. https://blog.silk.co/... https://www.atomico.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Etsy drops by 10%+ after reporting better-than-expected Q2 results, with revenue up 23.4% YoY to $528.9M, but Q3 guidance suggests pandemic sales boost is over
Annie Palmer / CNBC : Source: Etsy Investor Relations .
Dataiku, which helps enterprises use AI for data analytics, raises $400M led by Tiger Global at a $4.6B valuation
Bloomberg :
SentiLink, which offers identity verification APIs to financial institutions, raises $70M Series B led by Craft Ventures with participation from a16z and others
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch :
Roku beats with Q2 total net revenue of $645M, up 81% YoY, reaching 55.1M active accounts, up 1.5M QoQ, and 17.4B streaming hours, down 1B QoQ; stock drops 8%+
Todd Spangler / Variety :
Amazon and Google patch a bug in their DNS-as-a-Service platforms that exposed users' internal networks and traffic; other DNS providers are likely vulnerable
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record :
Tencent resumes accepting user registrations on WeChat, after suspending them on July 27 for a “security technical upgrade” to comply with Chinese regulations
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg :
A look at Amazon's dilemma around mandating worker vaccinations, which could alienate the many virus skeptics in its warehouse ranks, amid a tight labor market
Email service Superhuman, which charges $30/month and hasn't formally launched, raises $75M Series C led by IVP, source says at a $825M valuation
A look at a new labor force using microtask platforms like Remotasks to create and edit data sets for self-driving cars, located primarily in the Global South
Philadelphia-based ZeroEyes, which uses AI to detect guns, raises $20.9M Series A led by Octave Ventures
Third Wave Automation, a startup adding automation tech to forklifts to augment human workers, raises $40M Series B led by Norwest Venture Partners
Tinder parent company Match Group says it will add audio and video chat, including group live video, to several of its brands over the next 12 to 24 months
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : Tweets: @quinnypig Tweets: Corey Quinn / @quinnypig : Introducing DikTok: https://twitter.com/...
Human Interest, a 401(k) provider for SMBs that promises zero transaction fees, raises $200M at a $1B valuation, less than six months after its $55M Series 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.