YouTube says it is banning prominent anti-vaccine activists, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and blocking all anti-vax content, not just about COVID-19 vaccines
The Google-owned video site previously only banned misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. Facebook made the same change months ago. Source: YouTube Official Blog .
Apple says the “jelly scroll” issue on the 6th-gen iPad mini is normal for LCD screens; the issue isn't noticeable on other latest iPad models with LCD screens
Apple says the issue is caused by normal LCD screen behavior. — Update, 9/28/2021: In response to our inquiry …
Amazon debuts Astro, a $1K short robot with an Echo Show-like 10" display on top, meant to roam around the home; invite-only program is open for applications
Amazon's Astro isn't a home robot, it's a camera on wheels C. Scott Brown / Android Authority : Everything Amazon announced at its Fall 2021 hardware event Mitchell Clark / The Verge : Amazon Astro is...
Internal docs detail Amazon's Astro, including its use of facial recognition and “Sentry” mode; sources who worked on Astro say it is a “privacy nightmare”
Leaked meetings show the robot will heavily rely on facial recognition and user behavior, but sources who worked on Astro say the robot is flawed.
Russia arrests Ilya Sachkov, the CEO of cybersecurity company Group-IB, on suspicion of treason and will hold him in custody for two months
Russia has arrested Ilya Sachkov, the chief executive of top Russian cybersecurity company Group IB, on suspicion of state treason and will hold …
Netflix acquires its first game studio, Night School Studio, which was founded by Sean Krankel and Adam Hines in 2014 and is best known for the game Oxenfree
Netflix has acquired its first game studio with the acquisition of Oxenfree creator Night School Studio. The purchase price wasn't disclosed. Source: Night School Studio .
Microsoft opens the Windows app store to third-party app stores; Amazon and Epic Games will add the first storefront apps in the coming months
Amazon and Epic Games Store will be the first to integrate into the Microsoft Store — Microsoft is opening up its own app store in Windows even further today …Source:Windows Developer Blog.
Researcher discloses AirTag Lost Mode vulnerability that enables a phishing attack, and says Apple spent three months investigating and refused basic questions
The new $30 Airtag tracking device from Apple has a feature that allows anyone who finds one of these tiny location beacons …
Amazon opens an invite-only program for its previously-announced $250 home surveillance drone, the Always Home Cam
Ring's $250 Always Home Cam is real and ready to fly into your living room — First announced at last year's Amazon hardware event, the Ring Always Home Cam is now ready for take-off.
Researchers discover a malware operation that has infected 10M+ Android devices in 70+ countries via benign-looking apps, netting $1.5M-$4M per month
- Zimperium discovers GriftHorse, a new Android malware that subscribes users to premium SMS services. — The GriftHorse malware gang … Source: Zimperium Mobile Security Blog .
Internal docs: Facebook was “exploring playdates as a growth lever”, including engaging tweens as they hung out together
It has investigated how to engage young users in response to competition from Snapchat, TikTok; ‘Exploring playdates as a growth lever’
CFTC fines Kraken $1.25M for illegally offering margined crypto products from June 2020 to July 2021 and not registering as a futures commission merchant
“Margined, leveraged or financed digital asset trading offered to retail U.S. customers must occur on properly registered …
AngelList launches AngelList Stack, a set of tools to help founders start and run their companies, including end-to-end incorporation and banking services
AngelList Stack is a new suite of workflow products for founders — AngelList this week launched AngelList Stack … Source: AngelList Venture and AngelList Venture Tweets: @angellist , @alexh_johnson ...
Russia threatens to block YouTube unless it restores two of RT's German-language channels that it banned for COVID-19 misinformation
Russia has threatened to block YouTube unless the Google-owned video service restores two German-language channels managed by Russia's state media company RT …
Sources: the FTC is considering strengthening online privacy protections, including for children, in an effort to bypass legislative logjams in Congress
Agency is looking at strengthening rules that govern how digital businesses collect user data — WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission …
UK Met Office and DeepMind partner to use AI to improve short-term weather forecasts, particularly predictions of storms and heavy rain
Better rainfall predictions could save lives when floods threaten, say researchers — Artificial intelligence improves the accuracy of short-term weather forecasts …
Facebook is rolling out Reels to all US mobile users, after launching a beta last month, and announces a Reels Play bonus program for creators
After launching into beta tests just last month, Facebook today is rolling out Reels to all Facebook users in the U.S. on both iOS and Android. Source: About Facebook .
Analysis by Swiss AI company Art Recognition of 148 paintings suggests UK National Gallery's Samson and Delilah by Peter Paul Rubens, bought in 1980, is a fake
Long-held doubts about the authenticity of the National Gallery's masterpiece, bought for £2.5m in 1980, are backed by pioneering technology
Andela, which trains African programmers to work remotely for US companies, raises $200M Series E led by Vision Fund 2 at a $1.5B valuation
Andela, a fully remote company that helps tech companies build remote engineering teams (initially from Africa but now a global market) …
Sens. Blackburn and Blumenthal say a Facebook whistleblower will testify at an October 5 Senate hearing on child safety
Two U.S. senators said on Tuesday a Facebook Inc (FB.O) whistleblower will testify at a Senate hearing next week about what one of them called the social media company's “toxic effects” on young users...
Chinese regulators jointly detail a three-year plan to regulate algorithms and hold companies accountable for misusing them, following draft rules from August
A three-year plan jointly published by nine central government bodies asks local authorities to regulate the use of algorithms …
Seattle-based Read AI, which offers a dashboard for Zoom meetings to measure engagement, sentiment, and more, emerges from stealth with $10M in seed funding
Meetings can go one of two ways... either be productive, or be ineffective. Read AI wants all meeting goers to be engaged and feel productive …
Ripple Labs says it is starting a $250M fund for NFT creators, exploring new use cases and providing financial, creative, and technical support
- Mintable, mintNFT, VSA Partners will have access to the fund — Projects will be tokenized on the XRP Ledger blockchain Source: Ripple .
Investment and savings app Betterment raises $100M debt and $60M Series F at a ~$1.3B valuation led by Treasury and says it has around 700,000 clients
Betterment LLC has raised an additional $160 million, pushing the robo-adviser's market value to almost $1.3 billion.
Cocoon, which offers a service to help companies and employees manage leave, raises $20M Series A led by Index Ventures
Employee leave benefits are a complicated web of company and government policies, and Cocoon is out to bring clarity and simplicity to both the employer and employee experience.
Affirm plans to debut a debit card and allow its customers to buy and sell crypto directly from Affirm savings accounts
- Customers will be able to buy, sell crypto including Bitcoin — 'We won't let you do crazy things,' Affirm's Levchin says — Affirm Holdings Inc. is planning … Source: Affirm .
Amazon unveils $250 Ring Alarm Pro with a built-in Eero network, package delivery alerts, and an optional Virtual Security Guard subscription
Amazon's head of hardware Dave Limp underscores how Amazon's new devices aid its push toward a future with “ambient intelligence”
CNN restricts access to its Facebook Pages in Australia after a ruling that makes news organizations legally liable for comments on their Facebook posts
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal :
Amazon's Blink announces $50 Blink Video Doorbell, with Alexa integration, 1080p video, more, and a $130 solar-powered camera bundle and $140 flood light cam
Facebook asks Oversight Board for guidance on what content should get a second review via its cross-check program, which reportedly shields VIPs from its rules
not half measures & empty apologies from Mr. Zuckerberg. The new happy talk strategy won't cut it—concealment has done destructive harm. https://www.wsj.com/... Nick Clegg / @nickclegg : Facebook is a...
Tonic.ai, which helps engineers create synthetic data sets, raises $35M Series B led by Insight Partners, bringing its total raised to $45M
The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility. Register now!
1Password partners with email host Fastmail to introduce Masked Email, which creates unique emails for logins
FDA clears an AI program from computational diagnostics startup Paige, which can help detect cancerous cells in prostate tissue slides
Conor Hale / FierceBiotech : Source: US Food and Drug … .
UK study: ~0.4% of artists generated enough streams in 2020, around 1M/month, to make a living, up from 0.1% in 2015, with 65%-75% of streams from back catalogs
Cherie Hu / Water & Music : Source: UK Intellectual Property Office . Tweets: @modooborahae , @cheriehu42 , @a2im , and @brokep See also Mediagazer Source: UK Intellectual Property Office : Music Cre...
Amazon details Amazon Glow, a family-oriented $300 device with an 8" display and projector that creates a 19" touch-sensitive area on a surface in front of it
As sanctions derail Huawei's traditional business, it is turning to areas less dependent on foreign chips, such as cloud services and software for smart cars
Financial Times :
Vaccine passport app Portpass, which has 650,000+ registered users across Canada according to the company's CEO, had a security flaw exposing private user info
Sarah Rieger / CBC News : Tweets: @tommy_slick , @sarahcrgr , @sarahcrgr , @bonstewart , @francesca6365 , @dartmouthderek , and @tylerrdawson Tweets: Tom Ross / @tommy_slick : Huge no bueno right her...
Bangalore-based Vedantu, which offers an online tutoring service, raises $100M led by ABC World Asia at a $1B valuation, up from $600M last year
The Economic Times :
Stockholm-based Hedvig, which offers app-based insurance aimed at millennials, raises $45M Series B and says it has 70K users in its three Scandinavian markets
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
UFC owner Endeavor to buy OpenBet, a UK-based sports betting software maker, from Scientific Games for $1.2B in cash and stock
Scientific Games Announces Sale of Sports Betting Business, OpenBet, to Endeavor for $1.2 Billion Reuters : Endeavor to buy sports betting unit from Scientific Games for $1.2 bln Rob Golum / Bloomberg...
Amazon debuts $80 Halo View fitness band, the first device from its Halo health and wellness initiative with a screen, alongside a Halo Fitness service and more
Vancouver-based Semios, which develops real-time crop data and pest management tools connected to IoT sensors, raises $100M CAD, after a $100M CAD raise in 2020
Meagan Simpson / BetaKit :
China is increasingly using “anti-suit” injunctions, which prevent foreign companies from suing globally over patents, to protect Huawei, Xiaomi, and others
Josh Zumbrun / Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @jodixu and @jchengwsj Tweets: Jodi Xu Klein / @jodixu : Chinese courts adopt new tactic by granting so-called “anti-suit injunctions” in four major cases...
Totango, which offers subscription tools to track and improve customer engagement, raises $100M Series D led by Great Hill Partners
Christine Hall / TechCrunch :
Tim Sweeney and Epic execs discuss Epic's metaverse plans, contrasting it with Facebook's “manicured” feed and emphasizing the role of creators
Gene Park / Washington Post : Tweets: @andresegers , @genepark , @genepark , @genepark , @genepark , @launcherwp , @karinagrotz , @genepark , and @minimaxir Tweets: Andr / @andresegers : The internet...
Sisu Data, which offers an ML-powered “decision intelligence engine” for businesses, raises $62M Series C led by Green Bay Ventures
On Amplitude's trading debut, the mobile analytics company opened at $50, 43% above its reference price, valuing the company at ~$5B, before closing at $54.80
Amazon launches a $19.99/month elder care subscription service, Alexa Together, with an emergency helpline feature, care alerts, tools for caregivers, and more
Acceldata, which makes AI-based data observability software for data quality, pipelines, and system infrastructure, raises $35M Series B led by Insight Partners
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Filings: General Catalyst is aiming to raise up to $300M for a fund to buy sales contracts from tech startups, one of the first and largest funds to do so
Miles Kruppa / Financial Times : Tweets: @jstrauss Tweets: @jstrauss : Financial engineering has been a key feature of the later stages of modern Minsky Cycles (cc @BehavioralMacro). Add this to a lo...
Stellar Health, whose cloud-based tools help health care providers offer value-based care to patients, raises $60M+ Series B led by General Atlantic
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.