Source: Apple's upcoming Watch is suffering production snags as manufacturers adjust to a new design, likely leading to supply constraints or shipment delays
- Revamped device has a larger screen and other new features — Wearables category has been one of fastest-growing for Apple
Apple says Arizona and Georgia will be first to support adding IDs to Wallet in iOS 15, with six states, including Utah, Maryland, and Iowa, expected to follow
Apple's plan to digitize your wallet is slowly taking shape. What started with boarding passes and venue tickets later became credit cards … Source: Apple .
Sources: Google is developing Arm-based chips for laptops and tablets that run on Chrome OS, set to launch around 2023
US software giant ramps up hiring blitz for semiconductor and hardware ambitions — TAIPEI — Google is developing its own central processors for its notebook and tablet computers …
Analysis: governments intentionally blocked internet access nearly 850 times in the past decade, including 213 shutdowns in 2019, 155 in 2020, and 50 in 2021
A favorite tactic for stifling dissent in the 21st century — The number of government-led internet shutdowns has exploded … Source: Jigsaw .
LinkedIn is abandoning its Stories format at the end of September and has told advertisers to adjust their ad campaigns accordingly
Brands will have to adjust ad campaigns when video format leaves the platform after September — LinkedIn is telling advertisers to prepare for the end … Source: LinkedIn .
A look at the implications of South Korea's alternative app store payment law: confusion for non-technical users, difficulty managing subscriptions, and more
Apple defines in-app purchases as “App Store purchases”, which I disagree with. I see a clear difference between purchasing …
More than 135 subreddits have gone private in protest of Reddit's refusal to ban communities that spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines
PokemonGo, Futurology among big subreddits going private until Reddit takes action. — Over 135 subreddits have gone dark …
Sources: Apple is planning to add health features, including a blood pressure monitor and thermometer to track fertility, to Watch as soon as 2022
Tech giant seeks to push past obstacles in adding health features on your wrist — Apple Inc. is working on new health-related features for its smartwatch …
SEC's Gary Gensler says crypto trading platforms need to work with regulators to survive, as most trading happens with “really sparse” investor protections
Gary Gensler warns $2tn industry is too big to exist outside of ‘public policy framework’
Microsoft announces an online-only Surface hardware event for September 22, where an updated Surface Duo and Laptop are expected
New Surface hardware is on the way — Microsoft is holding a special Surface hardware event on September 22nd. The software maker has started sending media invites … Source: Microsoft .
Apple bars staff from making a Slack channel about pay equity; Apple says it is because the channel is not work related, despite others on pets and jokes
The company's rules around Slack usage are not being evenly enforced — Apple has barred employees from creating a Slack channel to discuss pay equity.
Andy Jassy says Amazon plans to hire over 55,000 corporate employees globally, including over 40,000 in the US, a 20% increase in tech and corporate staff
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) is planning to hire 55,000 people for corporate and technology roles globally in the coming months, Chief Executive Andy Jassy told Reuters.
El Salvador's plan to make Bitcoin legal tender has been unpopular, with protests over concerns of money laundering, forcing trade in BTC, unconstitutionality
El Salvador will soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender, but not everybody shares the President's enthusiasm as citizens took to the streets this week.
Sources: Intuit is in talks to buy Mailchimp for more than $10B; Mailchimp has also considered offering a minority stake and another buyer could still emerge
Intuit Inc., the software company that owns TurboTax, is in talks to buy email marketing startup Mailchimp for more than $10 billion …
Australia passes bill that lets police hack user devices to modify, collect, or delete data and take over social media accounts without a judge's warrant
The Microsoft database hack shows that data stored in the cloud must always be encrypted end-to-end.
Telegram releases an update that removes the cap on live stream viewers, from 1,000 to unlimited, introduces more options for forwarding messages, and more
Along with more forwarding options — Telegram, the messaging app that's becoming more and more like a fully-fledged social media network … Source: Telegram .
Twitter introduces Safety Mode, which blocks harassing accounts for seven days, in beta for some English-language accounts
Feeling safe on Twitter looks different for everyone. We've rolled out features and settings that may help you to feel more comfortable and in control of your experience …
Facebook says it accidentally removed thousands of posts around the Jan. 6 riots from CrowdTangle, blaming a now-fixed error that has existed since at least May
The social media company said it was a technical error, and has been fixed, but tens of thousands of posts are still missing. Tweets: @markscott82 , @natematias , @markscott82 , @jason_kint , @profcar...
FTC's refiled Facebook suit does not offer market definitions reflective of reality, misunderstands ad markets, and highlights harms of regulatory interference
It is coming up on two weeks since the FTC refiled its case against Facebook;1 from the Wall Street Journal: Tweets: @robleathern and @stratechery Tweets: Rob Leathern / @robleathern : From @benthomps...
Facebook says it is launching Facebook Fantasy Games in the US and Canada, available free on the Facebook app
Facebook is getting into fantasy sports and other types of fantasy games. The company this morning announced the launch of Facebook Fantasy Games in the U.S. and Canada on the Facebook app for iOS an...
Samsara, a cloud-based fleet vehicle management service, says it has confidentially filed for an IPO; Samsara raised $400M at a $5.4B valuation last year
Samsara Inc., a software company valued at $5.4 billion last year, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering.
Facebook plans to downrank current events content and political posts in the News Feed, after users approved of tests that limited such content
Sundar Pichai informs Google employees that plans to return to offices are being pushed back again, from October to January 10
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times : Source: The Keyword .
Israeli startup PayEm, which offers accounting tools for businesses to manage invoices, bills, and more, comes out of stealth with $20M Series A and $7M seed
Itamar Jobani was a software developer working for a medical company and “hated that time of the month” when he had to use the company's chosen reimbursement tool.
Humane, a hardware and software startup run by two ex-Apple executives that is currently in stealth, raises $100M Series B led by Tiger Global
A stealthy startup co-founded by a former senior designer from Apple and one of its ex-senior software engineers has picked up a significant round funding to build out its business.
Sources: Chinese state-backed firms are set to take an 80%+ stake in Ant Group's credit scoring joint venture, potentially gaining access to data of 1B+ users
State-backed firms are set to take a sizeable stake in a key Ant Group asset for the first time, three people told Reuters …
Coinbase erroneously sent “Your 2-step verification settings have been changed” messages to 125,000 customers, prompting confusion and alarm among investors
United Talent Agency signs NFT art projects CryptoPunks, Meebits, and Autoglyphs, all created by Larva Labs, for representation across film, TV, games, and more
Streamers organize #ADayOffTwitch walkout to bring awareness to the recent increase of “hate raids”, and say Twitch isn't taking the issue seriously enough
Seattle-based Carbon Robotics, which offers an AI-powered deweeding robot, raises $27M Series B, bringing total funding to $36M
Investors are putting more cash behind the self-driving weed-zapping machines made by Carbon Robotics that are attracting attention from farmers across the world.
Investigation shows Accenture is Facebook's biggest content moderation partner, employing over a third of its moderators, with annual contracts exceeding $500M
and none have been more important than Accenture. https://www.nytimes.com/... Marc Owen Jones / @marcowenjones : Accenture doing content moderation for Facebook. Seems like a downgrade. The Silent Par...
Malaysian used car marketplace Carsome Group raises $170M from MediaTek and others at a $1.3B valuation, making it Malaysia's largest tech startup
Carsome Group, an online platform for buying and selling used cars, said on Wednesday that it had become Malaysia's largest tech unicorn …
Insurify, which has built an ML-based virtual insurance agent to help people get better rates, raises $100M Series B led by Motive Partners
How many of us have not switched insurance carriers because we don't want to deal with the hassle of comparison shopping? — A lot, I'd bet.
Code Climate, which offers software engineering project management tools, raises $50M Series C from PSG, USV, and others
The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility. Register now! — Code Climate, a platform …
Report: Amazon runs 164 flights per day on average to move stock in the US, up 17% over the past six months; 70% of Americans live near an Amazon Air presence
Dave Lee / Financial Times : Source: Chaddick Research & Publications .
Bellevue-based ProbablyMonsters, which operates multiple AAA game studios, raises $200M Series A led by LKCM Headwater Investments
Trilby Beresford / The Hollywood Reporter : Source: ProbablyMonsters .
Verizon and Microsoft announce private edge compute solution that will leverage Verizon's 5G Edge and Azure Stack Edge to offer low-latency for business apps
Ventana Micro Systems, which is building datacenter processors on the open source RISC-V architecture, raises $38M Series B, bringing total funding to $53M
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat :
Sources: Didi is helping workers establish their first union, likely including drivers, as China imposes rules to curb excessive work
Bloomberg :
Study: in 2020, 77 ransomware attacks affected over 1,740 US schools and colleges, potentially impacting 1.36M students and costing ~$6.6B in downtime alone
Playtika, which makes free-to-play casino games such as Bingo Blitz, is buying 80% of Finland's Reworks Oy, maker of a home decorating game, for $400M in cash
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg : Source: GlobeNewswire News Room .
German startup CoachHub, which uses AI to match individuals to business coaches, raises $80M Series B2, following $30M Series B in December 2020
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat :
Alpaca, which offers APIs for fintech apps to connect and trade in US stocks, raises $50M Series B led by Tribe Capital and says it is expanding into crypto
UK-based Oviva, which offers personalized diet and lifestyle advice via apps, raises $80M Series C led by Sofina and Temasek, bringing total funding to $115M
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch :
Vic.ai, which offers AI-powered tools that it says can automate accounting tasks, raises $50M Series B led by Iconiq Growth, bringing total raised to $63M
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch :
Trengo, which streamlines emails, social media, WhatsApp messages, and calls into a collaborative inbox, raises $36M Series A led by Insight Partners and Peak
Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE :
Refinitiv: Tencent has invested in 34 international companies in H1 2021, including 16 in Europe, compared to four overseas deals in 2020 and three in 2019
Financial Times : Tweets: @zhugeex , @arjunkharpal , @tihobrkan , and @therealjoshye Tweets: Daniel Ahmad / @zhugeex : I was quoted in this @FinancialTimes article about how Tencent has boosted its i...
FTX acquires US-regulated crypto derivatives exchange LedgerX for an undisclosed sum, to expand its futures and options products in the US
Wall Street institutions are increasingly tracking amateurs on Reddit, Twitter, and Discord to find trading opportunities, following GameStop's meteoric rise
CrowdStrike beats in Q2 with revenue of $337.7M, up 70% YoY; ARR rose 70% YoY to $1.34B, subscription revenue was $315.8M, up 71% YoY, net new subs grew 81% YoY
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet :
Kevala, which provides cloud-based data analytics software for managing energy grid infrastructure, raises $21M Series A led by C5 Capital and Thin Line Capital
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch :
Roundup of 180+ companies that launched at YC's Summer 2021 Demo Day 1, including food delivery, investment, edtech, AI, and payment startups
TechCrunch : Tweets: @iamgurusingh , @quinnypig , and @sdianahu Tweets: Guru Singh / @iamgurusingh : It was so much fun to pitch @scispot_io at the @ycombinator S21 demo day! YC companies are making ...
Checkr, whose tech for employment background checks is used by Uber, Airbnb, and others, raises $250M led by Durable Capital at a $4.6B valuation
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.