Techmeme
February 23, 2020, 4:15 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Intuit is nearing a deal to buy personal finance portal Credit Karma for about $7B in cash and stock; the deal could be announced as soon as Monday  —  Acquisition would be Intuit's largest ever and the first sizable transaction under CEO Sasan Goodarzi
Pew Research Center:
Survey of 979 tech experts: 49% say tech will “mostly weaken” democracy between now and 2030, 33% say it will “mostly strengthen” democracy, 18% see no change  —  About half predict that humans' use of technology will weaken democracy between now and 2030 due to the speed …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
CB Insights: fintech startups across the world raised $33.9B across 1,912 deals in 2019, which is down from $40.8B raised across 2,049 deals in 2018  —  Financial services startups raised less money in 2019 than they did in 2018 as VC firms looked to back late stage firms and focused on developing markets, a new report has revealed.
McKinsey Insights & Publications:
McKinsey: low- to mid-band 5G will reach 80% of world's population by 2030 and cost $400B to $500B to deploy; high-band 5G will cover ~25% and cost $700B-$900B  —  The promise of 5G has captured the attention of business leaders, policy makers, and the media.  But how much of that promise is likely to be realized anytime soon?
FinSMEs:
Cyber insurance company At-Bay, which helps businesses assess risk across their tech stack with continuous vulnerability monitoring, raises $34M Series B  —  At-Bay, a Mountain View, CA-based cyber insurance company, raised $34m in Series B funding.  —  The round was led by Acrew Capital and Munich Re Ventures, through its HSB fund.
Will Knight / Wired:
Interview with Garry Kasparov, the first chess world champion to be defeated by a computer, about chess, AI, and a strategy for staying a step ahead of machines  —  Twenty-three years after he lost to Deep Blue, Kasparov says people need to work with machines.  You have to “nudge the flock of intelligent algorithms.”
Mon(IoT)r Research Group:
Study: smart speakers accidentally activate to random words between 1.5 and 19 times per day on average, with HomePod and Cortana devices activating the most  —  WHEN SPEAKERS ARE ALL EARS  —  Understanding when smart speakers mistakenly record conversations

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More News

Johannes Hellstrom / Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Leila McNeill / BBC Future:
Los Angeles Times:
Joseph Cox / VICE: