Tech News
Tech News and Analysis from around the web
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Simpplr, which develops AI-powered intranet software for employee directories, raised $10M Series B led by Norwest Venture Partners — Simpplr today raised $10 million for its AI-powered intranet platform that is designed to streamline communications. CEO Dhiraj Sharma says the funds …
Sara Harrison / The Markup:
While US adoption of the Google-Apple Exposure Notification API has been slow, 16 nations have used it in apps; Ireland's has 1.4M downloads since early July — Contact tracing—monitoring who's getting COVID-19 and tracking down anyone who might have been in contact with that person so they can quarantine …
Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech:
Samsung Display reveals new generation of variable refresh rate mobile display panels, making its debut in the Note20 Ultra, helping lower device power usage — By now we've become quite familiar with high refresh-rate displays in the mobile space, as the first pioneering 90Hz devices …
Bloomberg:
CuriosityStream, a streaming service for documentaries on science and history, has agreed to go public through a ~$330M merger with Software Acquisition Group — CuriosityStream, a streaming platform for documentaries on science, history and other topics, has agreed to go public through …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Trump's executive order to ban TikTok by Sept. 20 is a gross abuse of power and sets an alarming precedent for the executive branch's control over software — An alarming precedent for government control over software — For months, President Trump has been teasing some kind of ban on TikTok …
Erin Griffith / New York Times:
Former Pinterest COO accuses the company of gender bias in a new lawsuit, alleges she was fired in April after complaining about sexist treatment — Françoise Brougher, Pinterest's former chief operating officer, said she was fired after speaking up about mistreatment.
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
NJ Supreme Court ruled that compelling a suspect to unlock their cell phone doesn't violate Fifth Amendment, following opposite ruling by Indiana SC in June — Courts are split on whether phone unlocking orders violate the Fifth Amendment. — New Jersey's Supreme Court has ruled …
Wall Street Journal:
Analysis: TikTok used an Android security hole to collect MAC addresses, possibly for ad tracking, without an ability to opt out; the practice ended in November — The tactic, which experts in mobile-phone security said was concealed through an unusual added layer of encryption, appears to have violated Google policies
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft commits to launching the Xbox Series X in November and will delay Halo Infinite until 2021 — Halo Infinite will not be available until 2021 — Microsoft is committing to launching its next-generation Xbox Series X console in November. The company had previously only confirmed a vague …
Dani Kass / Law360:
A Texas federal jury said Apple should pay PanOptis and related companies $506M+ for willfully infringing patents covering 4G LTE technology — In the country's first in-person jury trial over patents since the COVID-19 pandemic led to nationwide court closures, a Texas federal jury on Tuesday …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Pinterest says it is expanding its skin tone search tool, which debuted in US in 2018 and uses machine vision to sort beauty-related pins, to five more markets — Users can filter by skin tone to get more relevant results — Pinterest is upgrading its skin tone search feature …
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Sources: about a month before BigCommerce's successful IPO, Intuit offered to buy the company for $1.5B — - Intuit offered to buy BigCommerce for $1.5 billion about a month before the e-commerce software company's IPO. — BigCommerce opted to go public instead, and the stock jumped over 200% in its debut last week.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn says it has sold presentation-sharing service SlideShare to Scribd, which will take over its operation on September 24 — SlideShare has a new owner, with LinkedIn selling the presentation-sharing service to Scribd for an undisclosed price. — According to LinkedIn …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Filing breaks down Microsoft's revenue by product line and shows it made 15 acquisitions for a total amount of $2.4B in FY 2020, down from $9B the previous year — Microsoft may be toying with the idea of buying Tik-Tok, but more than ever, its bread-and-butter is basic cloud services and server software for businesses.
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
RevenueCat, a startup offering in-app subscription tools, raises $15M Series A led by Index Ventures, says over 3,000 apps are using its services — RevenueCat raised a $15 million Series A round, led by Index Ventures, to help developers find subscribers for their applications.
Most of the people my age when we were in school never imagined computers would be used by normal people to communicate. They resisted the idea.
So what are most of us missing today? I think it has to do with who will be doing our daily journalism. Imho, we all will. Why?
- A void is being left as professional journalists focus on fewer stories.
- We’re learning how to do it with blogging and social media.
- We need and want journalism.
- It’s like jury duty, it’s uplifting, gives our life purpose and meaning. It’s its own reward.
From a thread on Facebook.
- My two cents on Kamala Harris and baggage.
- She has the worst kind of baggage. She's already tried to humiliate Biden, unfairly, in public. It didn't work. My experience in life is if you let something like that go, they do it again and again. The relationship is over. She took a calculated risk and it didn't work. That's the way business and politics work. You don't often get do-overs.
- She can run for president again, maybe she'll win, but it would be a sign of weakness and ignorance, even naiveté for Biden to choose her. There are so many other possibilities.
- He may just have to weather the nonsense from Harris supporters, and there are many and they are vocal, and pushy (not her, her supporters, some of whom I consider friends), and then we can tell the people who are trying to raise hell that they're playing with our lives and their own lives, and they should just let it rest.
- That said, she's also from California, which won't get you a lot of votes in Iowa or Wisconsin.