Techmeme: CB Insights: cloud computing startups raised almost $3B across 97 deals in Q2 2020, up from 76 deals in Q2 2019, with deal volume reaching a three-year high (Sara Castellanos/Wall Street Journal)

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September 26, 2020, 8:30 PM

Top News

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Inside eBay's alleged plot that targeted a blogging duo and a Twitter gadfly using cockroaches, porn, death threats, physical surveillance, and pizza deliveries — “People are basically good” was eBay's founding principle. But in the deranged summer of 2019, prosecutors say …

Financial Times:

US sets export restrictions on China's biggest chipmaker SMIC, saying exports to SMIC posed an “unacceptable risk” of being diverted to “military end use” — Move against SMIC further hurts chip sector after penalties on Huawei — The US government …

Alex Thompson / Politico:

Facebook exec says right-wing drives more engagement because its “populism is always more engaging” as it speaks to “an incredibly strong, primitive emotion” — Throughout 2020, Democrats have denounced Facebook with growing ferocity as a “right-wing echo chamber” …

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

Fitbit says its OS 5.0 has been developed exclusively for the new Versa 3 and Sense smartwatches, and older devices, including last year's Versa 2, won't get it — Fitbit Sense and Versa 3 start shipping today to customers, and as promised, they're arriving with a new software experience on board.

More: Fitbit SDK, Zatz Not Funny!, Android Headlines, Android Authority, and Android Central. Tweets: @sushubh

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Source code of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 has leaked online on various file sharing sites this week; Microsoft says it is “investigating the matter” — Windows Server 2003 source also included — Microsoft's source code for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 has leaked online.

Sara Castellanos / Wall Street Journal:

CB Insights: cloud computing startups raised almost $3B across 97 deals in Q2 2020, up from 76 deals in Q2 2019, with deal volume reaching a three-year high — 'It's like digital transformation on steroids': Cloud-computing funding deals reached a three-year high in the second quarter

Tweets: @scastellwsj. Thanks:@keithswiader

New York Times:

Putin calls for a “reboot” between the US and Russia in cyberspace, offering “nonintervention into internal affairs of each other” including in elections — With an eye to a possible Biden presidency, the Russian leader called for a “reboot” on information security but offered no concessions.

Tweets: @antontroian, @edbott, @rstephens, @ewong, and @kenroth

Kim Lyons / The Verge:

DOJ files its opposition to TikTok's request to halt Trump ban, says blocking the ban will infringe on Trump's authority, calls ByteDance CEO mouthpiece for CCP — TikTok is seeking to stave off a ban set to take effect Sunday — The Justice Department filed its opposition Friday …

More: South China Morning Post, Washington Examiner, NPR, The Hill, Techdirt, AppleInsider, and CNET

Tweets: @npr and @stokel

Forbes:

Interview with Visa's Terry Angelos and Cuy Sheffield on the future of blockchain networks, partnering with crypto payment firms, and the Libra Association — Bitcoin was invented to disrupt existing monetary systems that many felt were too expensive and exclusionary.

More: CoinDesk, InsideBitcoins.com, BitcoinExchangeGuide, The Daily Hodl, CryptoGlobe, and Cryptonews

Tweets: @forbescrypto, @mdudas, @mdudas, @forbescrypto, and @forbescrypto

Alexander George / Popular Mechanics:

Apple's Craig Federighi details how ML behind handwriting recognition on iPad works, which was trained using data sourced directly from people as they wrote — The more intuitive a task is for humans, generally, the harder it is for — can't hear your commands, or when your spam filter traps an important email.

Tweets: @popmech and @bruceqburke

Jennifer Elias / CNBC:

Alphabet settles shareholder lawsuit over its handling of sexual harassment claims, agrees to eliminate mandatory arbitration and limit Google's use of NDAs — - Alphabet has reached a settlement with shareholders in a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct mishandling and cover-up by executives …

Mehr Nadeem / Rest of World:

A look at how Iranians are using satellite file-casting app Toosheh to bypass state internet blackouts as the country pushes its national intranet — With the threat of another big internet blackout looming, companies are creating workarounds for Iranians using satellite dishes. — • LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Tweets: @cengizyar, @mehrnadeem3, @anupkaphle, @restofworld, and @_meher

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From Mediagazer

Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:

Warner Bros. Discovery says John Malone is not seeking re-election to the board of directors and will instead take on the role of chairman emeritus

Natalie Korach / Vanity Fair:

Q&A with Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway on covering Trump's tariffs; their Odd Lots newsletter saw sign-ups jump 142% in April vs. March average

Julian Clover / Broadband TV News:

A group of current and former BBC World Service journalists warn that cuts to the international service risk fracturing “the core identity of the World Service”

More News

Ashley Gold / Axios:

Poll: 52% of US voters support shutting down social media platforms for the week of the election, with 62% not confident platforms can stop election misinfo

Tweets: @niemanlab, @accountabletech, @tayhatmaker, and @joshsternberg

Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:

Tech groups consider legal action against Trump's EO barring federal contractors from offering Diversity and Inclusion training, raising First Amendment issues

Tweets: @carnage4life, @bizcarson, and @uche_blackstock

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Epic acquires SuperAwesome, a UK-based platform offering devs a toolkit for implementing kids' safety features in their products; will remain standalone company

More: VentureBeat, Adweek, Pocket Gamer.biz, GamesIndustry.biz, WRAL TechWire, Gamasutra, Engadget, and The Irish Times. Tweets: @hkanji

Karissa Bell / Engadget:

Future AR wearables from Facebook, Apple, and Amazon will track how we move and react in real time, setting up a privacy minefield

Tweets: @txitua

Ethan Gach / Kotaku:

Report: longtime Ubisoft veteran and Rayman creator Michel Ancel retired from the game publisher earlier this month while being investigated for toxic behavior

Source: Libération. More: Game Rant, CCN.com, GameSpot, Libération, PC Gamer, Digital Trends, Fanbyte, Wccftech, USgamer.net, and Blue's News

Tweets: @icotom, @henereyg, @brendan_lh, and @ethangach

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Google has announced the general availability of AI Platform Prediction, a service for developers to prepare, build, run, and share ML models in the cloud

More: SiliconANGLE

Earlier Picks

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:

SEC filing: Alexis Ohanian is raising a fund called 776, with a target of $150M, three months after leaving Initialized Capital

More: New.blicio.us. Tweets: @shobz, @nmasc_, and @kateclarktweets

Alex Heath / The Information:

Stan Chudnovsky, head of Messenger at Facebook, says Facebook has asked Apple for years to give users an option to make Messenger the default iOS messaging app

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Apple has agreed to allow Facebook to process payments for its paid online events feature via Facebook Pay, without taking a 30% cut, until December 31

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

The European Commission says it will appeal the July 2020 ruling that reversed the original $15B fine against Apple and Ireland over State Aid and taxes

Kate Cox / Ars Technica:

Former director at Facebook, Tim Kendall, told Congress Facebook “took a page from Big Tobacco's playbook, working to make our offering addictive at the outset”