Facebook announces Horizon Workrooms, a virtual meeting space with avatars, spatial audio, a whiteboard, and more, in beta on Oculus Quest 2
It wasn't long into a recent press briefing I attended in virtual reality when Mark Zuckerberg showed up to talk about the metaverse. Source: Oculus .
Facebook, for the first time, shares a report on the most widely viewed domains, links, posts, and Pages on Facebook in the US during Q2
A video of two cats walking, tails intertwined, looking like the best of friends. A resource site for Green Bay Packers alumni. Source: Facebook Transparency Center .
Sources: Amazon plans to open several large physical stores across the US, starting in Ohio and California, to extend its reach in clothing and other areas
Online shopping pioneer wants a larger retail presence to sell clothing and household items and facilitate exchanges
Nvidia beats with record Q2 revenue of $6.51B, up 68% YoY, Gaming revenue of $3.06B, up 85% YoY, and Data Center revenue of $2.37B, up 35% YoY
Kif Leswing / CNBC :
Intel details its Alder Lake lineup, coming this fall, which uses a 10nm process and offers hybrid performance and efficiency x86 cores
Coming this fall — Intel has spent much of 2021 announcing plans for its future: a new IDM 2.0 strategy, new naming schemes for its process nodes, and new desktop GPUs.
Apple says NeuralHash flaw found by researchers in CSAM detection system was in a generic version of the software and not in the final version it plans to use
Apple said the version of NeuralHash analyzed by researchers is not the final version that will be used for iCloud Photos CSAM detection.
FTC files a new antitrust complaint against Facebook, after a judge dismissed the first complaint in June; Facebook has until October 4 to respond
- The Federal Trade Commission filed a new antitrust complaint against Facebook on Thursday. — A federal judge dismissed … Source: United States District Court .
Coinbase launches Coinbase Japan in partnership with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, initially supporting the five highest-trading cryptocurrencies
Crypto exchange Coinbase is entering the Japanese market through its partnership with Japanese financial giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). Source: The Coinbase Blog .
Nvidia says its planned acquisition of Arm is unlikely to be completed within the planned 18-month time frame, due to investigations in the UK and China
US chipmaker acknowledges delay due to global regulatory scrutiny but remains confident of approval — Nvidia has admitted …
Netflix says it is now rolling out support for Spatial Audio on iPhones and iPads
Netflix has confirmed that it is now rolling out Spatial Audio support to its iPhone and iPad applications. This enables an immersive experience using directional audio filters, and it has been a lon...
Facebook's new report reinforces its narrative that most content on the News Feed is not news, but doesn't provide enough data to make meaningful conclusions
What content is popular on Facebook? — This is a surprisingly difficult - and very important - question to answer.
Robinhood reports Q2 revenue of $565M, up 131% YoY, net loss of $502M, down from $58M net income in Q2 2020, and crypto revenue of $233M; stock down 5%+
Robinhood's revenue more than doubled in the second quarter to $565 million, bolstered by a massive surge in crypto trading …
Toyota says it will cut production in Japan by 40% in September due to the global chip shortage, after touting its ability to insulate itself
Car maker says it will cut production in Japan by 40% in September — TOKYO—The global semiconductor shortage has finally started to bite …
Report: Apple is scaling back HealthHabit, an internal app that its staff used to track fitness goals, talk to clinicians, and manage hypertension
Apple is reportedly scaling back one of its most ambitious healthcare projects. According to a new report from Insider … Source: Insider .
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 review: good inside screen and water resistant but long-term durability is unknown, cover screen is too small, and hard to use one-handed
Third time is maybe the charm — The story of folding phones thus far has been one of compromise.
SEC sues three ex-Netflix software engineers and two others for allegedly using confidential subscriber growth numbers to trade ahead of earnings announcements
- Group allegedly made $3 million in profits from illicit tips — Scheme involved illegal trades on subscriber data, SEC says
Facebook says it took action against 12 COVID vaccine misinfo “superspreaders” but disputes claims that those 12 were responsible for 73% of misinfo on Facebook
Back in March, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) published — a report linking more than two-thirds … Source: About Facebook .
Sources: OnlyFans is struggling to find investors, possibly due to hosting adult content; Pitch Deck shows it predicts $5.9B GMV in 2021 and $1.2B net revenue
OnlyFans, the online creator platform known for its adult content, is struggling to find outside investors, according to multiple sources.
Robinhood says crypto accounted for ~52% of all transaction-based revenue in Q2, and 62% of crypto revenue came from dogecoin
Microsoft has made changing default browsers in Windows 11 unnecessarily complex compared to Windows 10, drawing criticism from Firefox and Opera
Facebook says it is testing Reels in the News Feed and Groups in the US, after launching the feature in India, Mexico, and Canada earlier this year
Reels are coming to Facebook in the U.S. The company this morning announced it will begin testing a new feature, Facebook Reels …
Tencent says it will give an additional $7B to aid the Chinese government's wealth redistribution plans and warns investors of more government regulations
- Tech giant pledges $7.7 billion to help wealth redistribution — Company had flagged further regulations for the tech industry
Profile of Andrey Shumeyko, who advertised internal Apple docs and devices on forums while being an Apple informant and who says Apple took advantage of him
Epic says its Game Store has 58M MAUs, up from 56M at the end of 2020 and 32M in 2019; Steam's Valve had 120M MAUs in 2020
Nick Statt / Protocol :
How Big Tech companies use shell corporations to get massive tax breaks from US cities for data centers that create few jobs and consume a lot of power
Local governments are dangling hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to persuade companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft to build server farms in their backyards. Tweets: @forbes , @hele...
Podcasters say Apple Podcasts Connect, a requirement for using its new subscriptions product, is buggy and has a confusing UI
Survey of 11,178 US adults: 48% say the government should restrict false info online, up from 39% in 2018; 59% think tech companies should, up from 56% in 2018
Pew Research Center : Tweets: @pewresearch , @ggreenwald , @asmitch , @pewresearch , @pewjournalism , @elisashearer , @heathercampbell , and @pewresearch Tweets: @pewresearch : Roughly half of U.S. a...
Hamburg-based Sport Alliance, which offers tools for the fitness industry, including for payments and bookings, raises €60M from PSG
Dan Taylor / Tech.eu :
WhatsApp shuts down Taliban helpline in Kabul that was allegedly for reporting violence and looting, as Facebook blocks other “official Taliban channels”
Cisco beats in Q4 with revenue of $13.1B vs. $13.0B est., up 8% YoY, Infrastructure Platforms sales of $7.55B, up 13% YoY, and WebEx sales of $1.34B, down 1%
Jordan Novet / CNBC :
Sources: chipmaker GlobalFoundries confidentially files for US IPO with a valuation of roughly $25B, planning to go public by early 2022
Google outlines MUM, an AI model it plans to use to improve Search by answering users' “fuzzy information needs” that aren't formulated into specific questions
a large-scale AI model known as MUM — could one day turn internet search into a far more sophisticated service, acting like a virtual research assistant as it sifts the web for solutions to complex qu...
Facebook says it will spend $5M on multi-year deals with 25 local journalists for its Bulletin newsletter
Facebook Inc (FB.O) has chosen 25 local independent journalists to be paid out of a $5 million pot to write for its newsletter site Bulletin through multiyear deals, the company told Reuters on Thursd...
E-commerce infrastructure startup Nacelle raises $50M Series B from Tiger Global, six months after raising $18M Series A
Christine Hall / TechCrunch :
Analysis: VCs have invested $1B+ in cryptosecurity so far in 2021, up 10x YoY, as technologies for securing crypto wallets and transactions become more popular
a sector involving technologies that help secure digital wallets and transactions involving cryptocurrency—has already seen more money invested in it in 2021 than in all earlier years combined, and in...
Canada Drives, which launched an online used car shopping and next day delivery service last year, raises ~$79.4M Series B, bringing its total raised to ~$159M
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch :
Twitter adds support for Twitter Spaces in its new API and says it hopes developers will build new products that let users find Spaces more easily
Sources: data analytics service Databricks is raising new funding at a valuation of $38B, with Morgan Stanley leading a round of at least $1.5B
Bloomberg : Tweets: @mcbridesg , @katie_roof , and @mmcandycheng Tweets: Sarah G McBride / @mcbridesg : Valuations are rising so fast that Databricks, a startup valued at $28 billion six months ago, ...
Amazon is emailing some third-party merchants warning them that Congress' proposed antitrust reforms could limit their ability to sell on Amazon
Berlin-based Moss, which offers virtual credit cards and other services, raises $29M Series A extension led by Valar Ventures, bringing total funding to $64M
Dan Taylor / Tech.eu :
After grocery delivery startup Gopuff raised $1B, a workers' rights group says drivers at 35 locations across the US saw their hourly rate drop by $4 on average
Dave Lee / Financial Times :
Baidu has raised $1B in a heavily oversubscribed bond sale, even as Beijing's regulatory crackdown hits shares; sources say the sale attracted $5B-$6B in orders
Financial Times :
Sens. Markey and Blumenthal ask the FTC to investigate Tesla's marketing of Autopilot, saying Tesla has “repeatedly overstated the capabilities of its vehicles”
Sean O'Kane / The Verge : Source: Senator Edward Markey … Source: Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts : Markey & Blumenthal Call For FTC Investigation Into Tesla's Misleading Advertising of Drivin...
Coinbase CFO says it has $4.36B in cash reserves as of June 30, about four times higher than at the end of 2020, as it prepares for possible tighter regulation
Kristin Broughton / Wall Street Journal :
One, a digital bank aimed at the middle class, raises $40M Series B led by Progressive Investment Company, bringing its total funding to $66M
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch : Thanks: @kirstenerickson
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
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