Whistleblower Frances Haugen accepts an invitation to brief Facebook's Oversight Board, which she claims Facebook has lied to “repeatedly”
Ivana Saric / Axios : Source: Oversight Board .
Internal messages, documents, and a Zuckerberg Q&A show Facebook's attempts to calm staff, including sending out talking points and holding briefing sessions
“good! Bad! So-so!” — and how company execs are attempting to contain it https://www.nytimes.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : This is Facebook comms sending a message to employees saying disparaging...
Microsoft says it mitigated a 2.4Tbps DDoS attack on an Azure customer at the end of August, breaking AWS' record of mitigating a 2.3Tbps attack in Feb. 2020
Microsoft said its Azure cloud service mitigated a 2.4 terabytes per second (Tbps) distributed denial of service attack this year … Source: Azure Cloud Computing Services .
Twitter now lets web users remove followers without having to block them, after testing the option for over a month
All Twitter users can now remove a follower without having to block them. The company started testing this option last month, and starting today, everyone will have access to it.
Frances Haugen's lawyer says the SEC has been communicating with her lawyers over her claims about Facebook
Whistleblower allegations don't resemble a typical securities-fraud case, but the pressure to investigate is strong — WASHINGTON—The controversy over what Facebook Inc …
Instagram says it is testing Activity Feed notifications in the US that will alert users of service outages and technical issues
One week after a massive Facebook outage that took all of the social network's apps offline for more than six hours, Instagram says it's testing notifications … Source: Instagram .
Microsoft makes a preview version of Windows Subsystem for Linux for Windows 11 available in the Microsoft Store, decoupling the app from the Windows image
Microsoft is taking the first step toward making WSL available as a decoupled app available via the Microsoft Store via a first preview release. Source: Windows Command Line .
Ex-Pentagon software chief Nicolas Chaillan, who recently resigned, says China is headed for global dominance due to advances in AI, ML, and cyber capabilities
Katrina Manson / Financial Times :
Nick Clegg says that Facebook will put “more friends, less politics” in News Feed and will “nudge” teens away from toxic Instagram content
UK Gambling Commission is investigating soccer NFT trading service Sorare for failing to obtain licenses; Sorare says it does not offer “regulated gambling”
Sorare, the fast-growing European fantasy soccer and digital collectible platform, is being investigated by the U.K. Gambling Commission.
Tile revamps its lineup with IP67 water resistance, longer ranges, and safety features to avoid unwanted tracking, and announces Tile Ultra with UWB support
Tile adds a new lost and found feature, safety from unwanted tracking, and a new ultra-wideband tracker. Sound familiar? — Alerts
Magic Leap raises another $500M and says its second-gen AR headset will arrive in 2022 with a slimmer form factor and twice the field of view
Augmented reality startup Magic Leap has raised a new $500 million round of funding at a $2 billion valuation, CEO Peggy Johnson told CNBC on Monday. Source: Magic Leap .
1Password launches Psst!, which lets users share login credentials with just a link
Even those who don't have a 1Password account. — Password sharing in the workplace and at home is a common practice, but doing so securely can be tricky. 1Password aims to address that with its new...
Apple says a virtual event, titled “Unleashed”, will be held on October 18 at 10am PT, where new MacBook Pros with M1X are rumored
Apple today announced that it will be holding a special event on Monday, October 18 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Nigerian startup Mono, which is building open banking tools for businesses, raises a $15M Series A led by Tiger Global
Nigerian fintech startup Mono, which is building open banking infrastructure that enables access to customer financial data and bank payments for digital businesses in Africa …
Despite fears in the West, China's alleged AI prowess is mostly limited to computer vision, useful for domestic control of citizens, while the US is far broader
The nation excels in computer vision and facial recognition, but practical applications are limited to surveillance. Tweets: @s8mb , @parmy , @tculpan , and @markscott82 Tweets: Sam Bowman / @s8mb : P...
Celsius Network, a DeFi lending platform that uses the Ethereum blockchain, raises $400M led by WestCap and CDPQ at a $3B+ valuation, up from $120M last year
Management hopes investment will open doors in mainstream financial markets — Cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network …
Q&A with Sundar Pichai, Thomas Kurian, and other Google executives on Google Cloud's new sustainability features, which help customers track emissions, and more
Many companies are reacting to the climate crisis by hastily formulating long-term plans to go carbon neutral. Not Google.
Sources: China is expanding its anti-monopoly bureau, increasing its headcount from over 40 to 100, as its yearlong crackdown on monopolies continues
- SAMR plans to more than double antitrust staff to 100 people — Alibaba, Meituan were targeted during 1-year-old crackdown
Canva announces Canva Video, a suite of video editing tools available as part of its free tier
Canva, the $40 billion software startup looking to make design accessible to everyone, has today announced a video editing suite. — Launched in 2013, Canva emerged during the design rennaissance …
Facebook says it will stop linking Facebook and Instagram accounts behind the scenes for advertising purposes due to privacy and regulatory changes
- Facebook will stop linking user accounts behind the scenes — Company says update is due to privacy, regulatory changes Source: Facebook .
Fairphone 4 review: water and dust resistant, five-year warranty, and years of software support, but camera is so-so and performance can be sluggish
It's been hard to fault Fairphone's sustainable credentials over the years, whether it's the company's lengthy support periods, easy repairability, or ethically sourced materials.
Draft EU Commission proposals, set to be unveiled on Nov. 23, would compel Google and Facebook to share data on how political groups target ads or face fines
Social media companies could face hefty fines if they don't publish detailed information on political ad buyers, according to an EU internal document. Tweets: @markscott82 and @clothildegouj See also ...
In an email to employees, Andy Jassy says Amazon will leave remote work decisions to team leaders, instead of having everyone return by January
Todd Bishop / GeekWire :
Facebook adds an Audio hub to its app in the US, featuring podcasts, Live Audio Rooms, and short-form audio, and rolls out Live Audio Rooms globally
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch :
Source: HTC's Vive Flow VR headset, to be released on Thursday, features six degrees of freedom tracking and is mostly for content consumption and casual gaming
Janko Roettgers / Protocol :
Plume, which develops an AI-powered adaptive home Wi-Fi mesh network system, raises $300M led by Vision Fund 2 at a $2.6B valuation
Plume — a communications startup that partners with carriers to provide smart mesh WiFi to improve broadband connectivity in homes, and then offers …
Bangalore-based neobank Open, which offers tools to SMBs, raises $100M Series C led by Temasek, source says at a $500M valuation, with Google and others joining
Manish Singh / TechCrunch :
Microsoft and Nvidia claim to have trained the largest and most capable AI language model yet, containing 530B parameters
a 530 billion parameter generator language model! https://www.microsoft.com/... Hugh Howey / @hughhowey : We are 10-15 years from AI language models that rival the human brain. I don't think we are pr...
Hubilo, which helps businesses host virtual and hybrid events with real-time analytics, raises a $125M Series B, following a $23.5M Series A in February
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Israeli AI chipmaker Hailo raises $136M Series C at a ~$1B valuation led by Poalim Equity and Gil Agmon, bringing total funding to $224M
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
How influencer-organized campaigns are succeeding at “ampliganda”, shaping public perception via messaging that is amplified by social networks' algorithms
Analysis of leaked data from 4.9M Twitch accounts: the top 1% of streamers made over half of the money paid out in 2021, 3/4 made under $120, and more
Top 1% of Twitch streamers earn 50%+ all revenue —Top 1% podcasters earn almost all ad revenue —Top 10 Substacks make $20M Tipping and micropayments may help solve this. But prob not meaningfully or s...
Binance launches a $1B fund to support projects on its Smart Chain blockchain, with around $500M going to gaming, VR, and financial services
Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg :
Patreon's Memberful, which helps manage subscriptions, debuts a newsletter feature that takes a 4.9% cut plus $25/month or $100/month depending on pricing plan
Between Facebook outages and Twitch data breaches, last week was bumpy for social platforms and the creators who build businesses on them.
How autonomous trains, likely easier to deploy than autonomous vehicles, could help unclog America's congested supply chains and offer a greener alternative
Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @brunotourne , @megankstack , and @tunguz Tweets: Bruno Tourne / @brunotourne : « Self-driving trains could be greener, carry more stuff, and help unc...
Sources: Tiger Global and Coatue are co-leading a $400M round for cryptocurrency payments startup MoonPay at a $3.4B valuation in its first VC funding
Kate Clark / The Information :
SupportLogic, which offers AI-powered customer service analytics tools, raises a $50M Series B led by WestBridge Capital and General Catalyst
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Munich-based Personio, maker of cloud-based HR and recruiting software for SMBs, raises a $270M Series E led by Greenoaks Capital Partners at a $6.3B valuation
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Alviere, an embedded finance startup helping brands deliver financial products and services to customers and employees, raises $70M from Series A and B rounds
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch :
London-based Elliptic, which helps analyze blockchain transactions, raises a $60M Series C from Evolution Equity Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and others
Evolution Equity Partners, Softbank Bolster Series C Elliptic Blog : Elliptic Raises $60m Series C Funding Round Jacquelyn Melinek / Blockworks : Blockchain Analytics Firm Elliptic Raises $60M SoftBan...
DoorDash introduces an ad platform, letting restaurants buy ads atop search results through a bidding system
Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal :
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.