Sources: Apple has delayed adding a blood pressure monitor to Watch until 2024, possibly 2025, after difficulties with accuracy during testing
Apple Inc.'s plan to add a highly anticipated blood-pressure monitor to its smartwatch has hit some snags and the technology isn't expected …
Meta rolls out a test for some creators to sell virtual items and effects in Horizon Worlds, which will take a 25% cut of any sale after app store fees
Horizon Worlds will take a 25 percent cut of any sale after app store fees — Meta is testing new features to let creators …
Ethereum developers launch the so-called mainnet shadow fork, a key stress test ahead of the proof-of-stake Merge upgrade, expected to reduce energy use by ~99%
Ethereum's network is inching closer toward its much-anticipated software upgrade known as the Merge, having just entered a key testing step.
Circle, which maintains the USDC stablecoin, raises $400M from BlackRock, Fidelity, and others, after raising $440M in May 2021
BlackRock and Fidelity headlined the stablecoin issuer's latest funding round, which follows a $440 million raise from last May.
Netflix is rolling out a Double Thumbs Up ratings option, which will appear next to the thumbs up and down buttons, to let it refine content recommendations
For nearly five years, Netflix has had simple thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons to express viewing preferences and help its algorithms provide better recommendations.
DuckDuckGo launches its privacy-focused browser on macOS in beta through a private waiting list
DuckDuckGo started out as a private search engine. Now its web browser is debuting on Macs to rival Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Brave. — When Google launched Chrome back in 2008, it changed the web o...
Last Week Tonight's John Oliver weighed in on data brokers, showing how easy it was to target members of Congress with ads after obtaining their personal info
John Oliver escalated his typical shenanigans on Sunday night's episode of “Last Week Tonight,” going from poking fun at politicians to outright blackmailing them.
RaidForums, used by Lapsus$, Babuk, and other extortion gangs, is seized in a US-led international operation; Europol says the hacking forum had 500K+ users
The RaidForums hacker forum, used mainly for trading and selling stolen databases, has been shut down and its domain seized …
Coinbase will produce a movie trilogy based on the Bored Ape Yacht Club, set to premier at NFT.NYC in June; BAYC owners can submit their apes for consideration
The trio of films will tie into the launch of Coinbase's long-awaited NFT marketplace. — The Bored Ape Yacht Club is getting …
Filing: Meta spent $26.8M on Mark Zuckerberg's security in 2021, up 6% from 2020, far above other execs, such as Sundar Pichai ($4.3M) and Jeff Bezos ($1.6M)
The cost of keeping Mark Zuckerberg safe keeps going up for Meta Platforms Inc., far outstripping what similar technology companies with high-profile executives are spending.
Research: TikTok's ad revenue is projected to triple in 2022 to $11B+, surpassing Twitter and Snapchat combined, which are expected to make $5.58B and $4.86B
Video-sharing app TikTok's advertisement revenue is likely to triple in 2022 to more than $11 billion, exceeding the combined sales …
A profile of a16z's Chris Dixon, whose early bets on crypto startups, including Coinbase, Uniswap, and Dapper Labs, have made him Forbes' top VC in the space
The Andreessen Horowitz partner is the new no. 1 on Forbes' 21st annual Midas List of top venture investors, thanks to savvy bets on tokens …
A look at Stripe's $925M Frontier initiative, which funds carbon-removal startups and has received funding from Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, and others
Some of the world's largest companies will spend $925 million buying offsets from startups that remove carbon dioxide from the air.
Fitbit receives FDA clearance for passive heart rhythm monitoring to detect signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) and will roll out the feature in the US soon
The Food and Drug Administration has given Fitbit the green light to monitor users' heart rhythms in the background.
Spotify rebrands companion app Spotify Greenroom as Spotify Live and integrates its live audio capabilities in the main app minus the interactive features
As an earlier report had suggested, Spotify today announced it will integrate the live audio capabilities from its companion app …
Observe.ai, which develops call center software that analyzes conversations, raises a $125M Series C led by Vision Fund 2, bringing its total funding to $213M
Contact centers play a key part in call a company engages with customers, amounting to what is a $400 billion market globally.
Major iPhone manufacturer Pegatron, Mac manufacturer Quanta, and iPad maker Compal suspend factory operations near Shanghai amid strict COVID-19 measures
TAIPEI — Three key Apple suppliers have suspended production in and near Shanghai as strict COVID-19 lockdown measures show signs …
Some business customers say Microsoft's licensing rules make it harder and costlier to run Windows and Office on rival cloud platforms like AWS and Google Cloud
The current tide of antitrust scrutiny and regulations focused on big technology companies has conspicuously omitted one company …
Sources: Singapore-based fashion marketplace Zilingo suspends CEO Ankiti Bose, after attempts to raise $150M-$200M led to an investigation over its accounting
Zilingo Pte, one of Singapore's highest-profile startups, has suspended Chief Executive Officer Ankiti Bose after an effort …
NFT avatar startup Genies raises $150M led by Silver Lake at a $1B valuation, bringing its total funding to $250M
Silver Lake is leading a $150 million funding round for Genies, an avatar technology company that provides digital tools to create and sell online characters, clothes …
Elon Musk appears to have deleted some tweets critical of Twitter and its leadership; Musk liked a tweet saying he was “told to play nice and not speak freely”
Chicago-based BloXroute, which develops blockchain agnostic tools for DeFi trading, raises a $70M Series B led by Vision Fund 2
Yogita Khatri / The Block :
Over 14,000 Etsy sellers start a week-long strike over an increase in transaction fees from 5% to 6.5%, grievances with Etsy's Offsite Ads program, and more
which tick up from 5% to 6.5% starting Monday — has garnered nearly 50,000 signatures https://www.abc12.com/... @modestproposal1 : “Ms. Cassidy said Etsy's strategy is incompatible with how many of th...
Voyager Innovations, owner of popular Filipino financial app PayMaya and neobank Maya Bank, raises $210M led by SIG Venture Capital at a $1.4B valuation
Voyager Innovations, the owner of Philippines' payment and financial services app PayMaya and neobank Maya Bank, announced today …
Marc Andreessen has tweeted ~350 times in the past two weeks, often referring to “the current thing” meme, joined by Elon Musk and others
Brad Stone / Bloomberg :
IAB: US digital ad spend rose 35% YoY to $189B in 2021, the largest gain since 2006; 10 publishers and platforms took 78.6% of the total, up from 78.1% in 2020
78.6%—of total digital ad revenue...” ~$40b+ remaining is a lot, but that % should trend the other way. Why? https://twitter.com/... Meg Graham / @megancgraham : New IAB report on 2021: Digital ad rev...
Meta has sent ~90 subpoenas related to the FTC's antitrust case to companies including Dispo, which says the requests are “overbroad, vexatious, and harassing”
On a quest to show the FTC that it isn't a monopoly, Meta flooded a wide swath of major tech companies with subpoenas last month. Tweets: @nmasc_ , @dlisscious , @seyitaylor , and @tayhatmaker Tweets:...
Educators say esports infrastructure company PlayVS is misrepresenting itself as the exclusive provider of interscholastic high school esports for some games
publishers. If you work for a studio that oversees a major esports title, I'd like to hear your point-of-view. My DMs open. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Kevin Hitt / @kevin_hitt : There are two...
Okta, IBM, and other companies are increasingly setting aside college degree requirements for US job applicants, opening up tech jobs to a range of new talent
Wall Street Journal :
Mental health app Real, which offers subscriptions from $13 per month, raises a $37M Series B led by Owl Ventures, bringing its total funding to $53M
Real, a mental health app, has raised a $37 million oversubscribed Series B. The round was led by Owl Ventures, with participation …
Kubit, which helps track and analyze user engagement data, raises an $18M Series A led by Insight Partners, bringing its total capital raised to $24M
Showing that the product analytics industry is alive and well, Kubit today announced that it raised $18 million in a series A funding round led …
Cloud services provider Sungard files for bankruptcy with $424M in secured debt, its second bankruptcy filing in three years
Maria Chutchian / Reuters :
French social app BeReal, which encourages users to post one selfie per day, has exploded in popularity with Gen Z users; Apptopia says MAUs are up 315% in 2022
Critical Start, a managed detection and response service for enterprises, raises $215M from Vista Equity Partners
Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE :
A look at the use of AI in some US hospitals, including adopting predictive models to help identify and prioritize ER and ICU patients who are most at risk
Laura Landro / Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @dukehospitalist , @wsj , and @aboutkp Tweets: @dukehospitalist : Congrats to our own Dr. Cara O'Brien, DUH hospitalist, and great colleagues featured in ...
Filing: Chipmaker Ampere Computing, founded by former Intel president Renee James, has filed for an IPO; Oracle reportedly has a 20%-50% stake in Ampere
Max A. Cherney / Protocol :
NFT project Pudgy Penguins, once highly successful, is attempting a comeback after being acquired for 750 ETH; NonFungible says trading peaked at $13.6M/day
Gm Folks and Happy Monday! A relatively quiet week … Tweets: @crypto : Pudgy Penguins, a once hugely successful NFT project that got blown off course by drama that included the ousting of its founder...
EvolutionIQ, which uses AI to help insurers analyze claimant data to speed up processing, raises $21M Series A led by Brewer Lane Ventures at a $150M+ valuation
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch :
US policy makers identified stablecoins as an initial target for regulation, asking lawmakers to pass legislation that would treat stablecoin issuers like banks
Berlin-based Choco, which makes ordering tools for restaurants and suppliers, raises a $111M Series B2 at a $1.2B valuation, bringing its funding to $282.5M
Christine Hall / TechCrunch :
Sources: Meituan plans to lay off 10%-20% of staff from its core business units, days after announcing that it added 17K jobs from July 2021 to mid-March 2022
Coco Feng / South China Morning Post :
Substack rolls out 2FA, initially for writers and account holders who log in via its web platform, but plans to make it available for mobile app users soon
Kim Zetter / Zero Day : Tweets: @kimzetter , @briankrebs , and @kimzetter . Thanks: @thekenyeung Tweets: Kim Zetter / @kimzetter : Second time Techmeme has picked up a story I published on my Substac...
Stenn, which uses data analytics to provide loans to SMBs working in international trade, raises $50M from Centerbridge at a $900M valuation
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Beijing-based Cocos, which develops the open-source Cocos Creator engine for 2D and 3D games, used by 1.4M developers to date, raises a $50M Series B
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat :
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.
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.