Sources: Activision CEO failed to inform the board about allegations an employee had been raped by her supervisor in 2016 and 2017, even after a settlement
new accusations reveal it's much, much worse Kellen Browning / New York Times : A group of Activision workers say their C.E.O. should step down. Imogen Beckhelling / Rock, Paper, Shotgun : Activision ...
Apple announces Self Service Repair, a program starting next year that will publish repair manuals, let customers buy parts and tools, and more
The tech giant says it will publish repair manuals and allow everyday customers to buy the same parts and tools certified technicians and repair shops use.
Amazon tells UK customers it won't accept Visa credit cards issued in the UK from January 19, 2022, citing high transaction fees
- Customers told the change will come into effect in Jan. 2022 — Amazon cites high fees charged by Visa as reason for change
LA's iconic Staples Center to be renamed as Crypto.com Arena, sources say in a deal worth $700M+ for 20 years
Staples Center is getting a new name for Christmas: Crypto.com Arena. — The downtown Los Angeles venue — home of the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks …
Meta details a haptic glove prototype that uses air pockets to simulate touching objects in VR and has been in development for seven years
A new sci-fi interface for the metaverse — You cannot pet a dog in Meta's new, high-tech virtual reality gloves. But researchers are getting closer.
Over 100 Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout on Tuesday, the second in four months, demanding CEO Bobby Kotick step down, after a WSJ report
This story has been updated from a previous version. — IRVINE, Calif. — Employees at beleaguered video game company Activision Blizzard walked …
Miramax sues Quentin Tarantino over copyright infringement for selling NFTs based on Pulp Fiction screenplay excerpts; Miramax says it owns screenplay rights
Miramax filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing Quentin Tarantino of copyright infringement by selling NFTs based on the screenplay for “Pulp Fiction.”
Netflix expands its Top 10 lists to display the most-viewed shows and movies, for English and non-English titles, ranked by aggregate viewing hours
Netflix says it's heard the complaints about how it “cherry picks” the self-reported data it releases about content viewed on its platform. Source: About Netflix .
Microsoft shifts Windows 10 from two major updates per year to one, and announces that only Windows 11 will support emulating x64 apps on ARM devices
You'll have to upgrade your Windows on ARM PC to use x64 emulation. — What you need to know — Microsoft discussed the status of x64 emulation for Windows on ARM today.
iOS 15.2 beta code shows a private “SportsKit” framework, currently integrated with the Apple TV app, Siri, and home screen widgets
It's no secret at this point that Apple is becoming more interested in the sports segment, as the company has been investing and hiring related professionals …
HaptX, a developer of haptic gloves for VR and robotics, says Meta's prototype is “substantively identical” to tech it claims to have demoed to Facebook execs
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire :
ConsenSys, which develops and invests in projects built on the Ethereum blockchain, raises $200M at a $3.2B valuation from HSBC, Coinbase Ventures, and others
Quick Take — ConsenSys, a company that develops and invests in the ethereum blockchain, has raised $200 million …
Analysis: the top five most-followed accounts on TikTok do not rank in the top 50 on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram
The creator economy has produced thousands of social media entrepreneurs who have built mega-audiences in the millions — larger than many media companies.
Sources: Republican FTC commissioners and some career officials feel excluded under the current leadership; Lina Khan rejected the claims in an agency-wide memo
Criticized by Republicans, Khan tells agency staffers she aims to build bridges going forward Tweets: @wsj , @hotlinejosh , @karlbode , @brkend , and @sidhubaba Tweets: @wsj : Lina Khan, the new Feder...
Cybersecurity firm Mandiant says it has “high confidence” that Belarus is partially responsible for Ghostwriter, a hack-and-leak operation in some EU states
Mandiant says the government is likely to blame for anti-NATO campaigns, and more. — The Belarusian government … Source: Mandiant .
Singapore, which is often portrayed as an aspiring techno-utopia, is edging closer to a surveillance state amid a nationwide move toward constant vigilance
In the “smart nation,” robot dogs enforce social distancing and an app can claim to neutralize racism. The reality is very different. Tweets: @hackylawyer , @eashanghosh , @gquaggiotto , @angabridged...
Source: BlockFi faces SEC scrutiny for offering high interest rates for lending out crypto; Texas, New Jersey, and others are already investigating BlockFi
- U.S. regulator examining whether lending product is a security — Fast-growing firm already responding to state-level inquires
The FDA authorizes AppliedVR's EaseVRx as a prescription VR treatment for chronic lower back pain in adults
It joins a handful of other digital therapeutics — The Food and Drug Administration authorized a virtual reality system as a prescription treatment for chronic back pain, the agency announced today....
QuEra Computing, which is building a commercially accessible cloud-based quantum device, emerges from stealth with $17M from Rakuten and others
QuEra Computing, a Boston-based quantum computer developer, is coming out of stealth mode today with $17 million in funding from Rakuten, Day One Ventures and Frontiers Capital.
Tel Aviv-based Overwolf, a modding service for game developers, raises a $75M Series D led by a16z, following a $52.5M raise in March, and says it has 20M MAUs
Overwolf has raised $75 million in funding to jumpstart community-created mod experiences for games.
Qualcomm CFO says the company expects to supply just 20% of Apple's modem chips by 2023, supporting rumors that Apple's modem chips are launching soon
Analysis: Pakistan-based startups have raised ~$300M in 2021, more than the previous six years combined, with investors from the US, UAE, and Singapore
Global investors are pouring money into Pakistan's budding tech sector. Funding this year has outstripped the last six combined. Tweets: @xparacha , @faseehmangi , and @hassshad Tweets: Zubair Naeem ...
Place, which offers tools for real estate agents covering accounting, hiring, ads, and more, raises a $100M Series A led by Goldman Sachs at a $1B valuation
Proptech startup Place raised $100 million in a Series A round led by Goldman Sachs, the company said Wednesday. — Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily
Microsoft launches a datacenter region in Sweden that runs solely on renewable energy, in partnership with state-owned utility Vattenfall
Charles Daly / Bloomberg :
Israeli spyware vendor Candiru, recently blacklisted by the US, waged “watering hole” attacks on UK and Middle East websites critical of Saudi Arabia and others
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE :
Tel Aviv-based Laminar, which helps companies manage public cloud data security, emerges from stealth with $37M across seed and Series A
The cloud may be the direction that much of enterprise IT is moving today, but it still remains a major source of security issues …
Hightouch, which offers tools to sync data from disparate sources, raises a $40M Series B led by Iconiq Growth at a $450M post-money valuation
Data integration platform Hightouch has raised $40 million in a series B round of funding led by Iconiq Growth, a venture capital firm …
The US Senate confirms Google critic and competition lawyer Jonathan Kanter as Biden's DOJ antitrust chief
Brave now has a built-in cryptocurrency wallet, sidestepping the need for extension-based wallets like MetaMask
Mitchell Clark / The Verge : Source: Brave Browser .
Profile of Vignesh Sundaresan, aka MetaKovan, who bought the $69M Beeple NFT, as customers and investors in his companies say they lost millions of dollars
Vignesh Sundaresan, aka MetaKovan, has amassed a digital art collection worth tens of millions of dollars. His path to riches was sometimes rocky. Tweets: @reuters , @saurabhsherry , @e_howcroft , an...
Mozilla launches Firefox Relay, which offers up to five email aliases, out of beta, and introduces a $0.99/month premium tier for unlimited aliases
Richard Speed / The Register :
A look at the promise and perils of personalized avatars in Meta's metaverse, as some experts worry it might make body image issues even worse
or worse? My story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... @techreview : Facebook's metaverse might make body image issues even worse. Imagine idealized, unhealthy versions of people: puffing out ...
Nym Technologies, which provides network-level privacy through its blockchain-based “mixnet”, raises a $13M Series A led by a16z at a $270M valuation
I cover cryptocurrencies and other applications of blockchain — Working to make the internet more private …
Netlify, which offers a cloud-based service for automating web development projects, raises a $105M Series D at a $2B valuation, bringing funding to $200M+
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Indian startup GoKwik, which helps e-commerce merchants improve conversions and lower return rates, raises a $15M Series A led by Sequoia Capital India
The Economic Times :
GitHub fixes major security flaws in Node.js package manager npm that could have let attackers bypass authentication and publish versions of any package
Cash flow management service Settle raises a $60M Series B led by Ribbit Capital, bringing its total funding to $100M
Cashflow management startup Settle announced its second round of funding in five months, this time $60 million in Series B financing as it aims to carve out a niche …
Online lender Oportun agrees to buy neobank Digit for $212.9M in equity and cash to expand its AI and digital capabilities
We have an exciting update to share: Digit has signed an agreement to be acquired by Oportun.
South African payments gateways service Ozow, which makes online transactions simpler, raises a $48M Series B led by Tencent
Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch :
Micfo CEO Amir Golestan pleads guilty to wire fraud charges after fraudulently acquiring thousands of IP addresses from nonprofit ARIN, a first-of-its-kind case
Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @jeffstone500 , @dnvolz , and @dnvolz Tweets: Jeff Stone / @jeffstone500 : don't sleep on this @dnvolz @ByronTau story, about an executive who's pleading guilty to creat...
Some Grab users in Southeast Asia are still reporting problems with the app over a day after outages started; Grab says “core services” have been restored
A look at Meta's attempts to decrease info sharing internally, especially for its research and Integrity divisions, some worry at the expense of product safety
Microsoft and Uber leave the Internet Association; Microsoft says its decision was part of a periodic review to “ensure alignment with our policy agenda”
Ashley Gold / Axios :
PlanetScale, a serverless database powered by Vitess and MySQL, raises a $50M Series C led by Kleiner Perkins, bringing its total raised to $105M
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
Sources: China is empowering a quasi-government body to certify local suppliers in areas like cloud and semiconductors to reduce reliance on foreign tech
Bloomberg : Tweets: @pelstrom , @blompfjunior , @bradstone , and @chinabeigebook Tweets: Peter Elstrom / @pelstrom : Scoop: China is accelerating plans to replace foreign technology with domestic alt...
As Moscow Metro introduces Face Pay, digital privacy activists express alarm at the implications of introducing city-wide facial recognition
Celestine Bohlen / New York Times : Tweets: @davidzipper Tweets: David Zipper / @davidzipper : Moscow Metro's new Face Pay will “take 2-3 sec for a passenger to clear the turnstile, easing the crush ...
GrubMarket, an online marketplace connecting farmers and customers, raises a $200M Series E from Tiger Global, BlackRock, and others at a $1.2B+ valuation
Gillian Tan / Bloomberg :
Braze, a marketing campaign management software startup, raises $520M in its IPO at a ~$5.87B valuation
Katie Roof / Bloomberg :
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.