Techmeme: iUNU, whose LUNA robot moves on greenhouse roofs and uses AI to detect problems with plants and find spots that are ready to harvest, raises a $24M Series B (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)

Dan Seifert / The Verge:

iPad Air (2022) review: fast with the M1 chip and great display but Touch ID is not as convenient as Face ID and the front camera is awkward in landscape mode — The new iPad Air is a blend of familiar features with predictable results — Much of the new iPad Air from Apple is a known quantity.

More: MacStories, iMore, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, ZDNet, The Guardian, CNET, CNN, Tom's Guide, CNBC, Wired, TechRadar, Popular Science, MobileSyrup, Six Colors, Pocket-lint, YouTube, NextPit, and Apple Support

Tweets: @viticci, @bstoly, @chris_lawley, @viticci, @panzer, and @dcseifert

Sam Byford / The Verge:

Hands-on with Universal Control: Apple's most impressive new feature in years that bridges the gap between macOS and iPadOS without requiring Apple peripherals

More: Computerworld and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @jbrooksuk, @simonbs, @jeffseibert, @briantong, @bengeskin, @mcsquared96, and @jeffnolan

Karissa Bell / Engadget:

Mark Zuckerberg says NFT support will be coming to Instagram over the next several months and that users will “be able to mint things within that environment” — Love them or hate them, NFTs will soon be coming to Instagram. Speaking at SXSW, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed …

Bloomberg:

Foxconn resumes partial operations at two Shenzhen campuses closed on Monday, one of which makes iPhones, after authorities approved its “closed loop” process — Apple Inc. supplier Foxconn Technology Group has resumed partial operations in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen …

More: Reuters, South China Morning Post, CNET, Nikkei Asia, MacRumors, CNBC, iMore, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog, Livy's Newsletter, and Apple Must

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft says an ad in Windows 11 File Explorer “was not intended to be published externally and was turned off” after a Microsoft MVP found it in latest build — We may still see File Explorer ads in the future — Microsoft appears to be testing a new type of ad inside File Explorer on Windows 11.

More: BleepingComputer, ZDNet, ExtremeTech, Neowin, PC Gamer, BetaNews, Softpedia News, Android Headlines, The Register, TechRadar, OSnews, XDA Developers, Laptop Mag, Review Geek, Pureinfotech, KnowTechie, MUO, Input, Thurrott, PCWorld, Android Authority, TechSpot, OnMSFT.com, and BigTechWire

Tweets: @flobo09, @tomwarren, @thurrott, @gossithedog, @giano, @bdsams, @evanderburg, @theregister, @androidauth, @bleepincomputer, @epro, @utsavtechie, and @starfire2258

Jon Porter / The Verge:

Meta launches Family Center, a suite of parental supervision tools for its apps, starting with Instagram in the US and rolling out globally in the coming months — Allowing parents and guardian to keep a watchful eye — Instagram's new parental controls, announced in December, are launching today in the US.

More: Meta, TechCrunch, Protocol, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, and Adweek

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

The FBI and CISA warn that Russian state-sponsored hackers accessed an unnamed NGO's network by exploiting default MFA protocols and the PrintNightmare flaw — The FBI says Russian state-backed hackers gained access to a non-governmental organization (NGO) cloud after enrolling their own device …

More: CISA, cybernews.com, ZDNet, Security Affairs, SecurityWeek, Silicon Republic, Bob's Newsletter, infosecurity-magazine.com, and VentureBeat

Tweets: @cisagov, @cisagov, and @cisagov

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google says Steam launched in alpha “on select Chromebooks”; code changes previously showed that the PC game store would require a high-performance Chromebook — The long-awaited availability of Steam on Chromebooks was just more or less announced (in alpha) at the 2022 Google for Games Developer Summit.

Sean Hollister / The Verge:

Google details Stadia plans, including letting developers offer trials, port Unreal Engine and Unity games more easily, and white label cloud gaming services

More: TechCrunch, 9to5Google, 9to5Google, Wccftech, Pocket-lint, iPhone in Canada Blog, Stevivor, Protocol, Android Headlines, Android Central, Engadget, Engadget, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, MobileSyrup, Stadia Source, Thurrott, 9to5Google, Forbes, and VentureBeat. Tweets: @ashrust

Chris Bengel / CBS Sports:

Spotify signs a sponsorship deal with FC Barcelona, including rebranding the soccer club's stadium to Spotify Camp Nou, reportedly worth $310M over four years — FC Barcelona have agreed to a sponsorship deal with Spotify to have the audio streaming platform become the club's main partner.

Source: Spotify and FC Barcelona. More: The Verge, ESPN, Variety, Silicon Canals, Marca, Daily Mail, Goal.com, Sky Sports, beIN SPORTS News, Associated Press, The Athletic, BBC, Gizchina, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Huddle Up, Music Ally, and GSMArena.com

Tweets: @fcbarcelona, @tim_burgess, @jacquesgreene, @joepompliano, @ohboyrecords, @imohumoren, and @spotifynews

See also Mediagazer

Kris Holt / Engadget:

Google Domains launches out of beta in 26 countries, after seven years, offering 300+ domain endings and “around-the-clock customer support from real people” — Seven long, long years ago, Google started offering users a way to buy a domain without having to deal with a host provider.

More: The Keyword, TechRadar, ZDNet, Ubergizmo, The Verge, and Thurrott

Tweets: @jeffnolan, @zackkanter, @google, @dangoodin001, and @sh4na

Douglas Soltys / BetaKit:

Montreal-based job search portal Talent.com raises a $120M Series B led by Inovia and discloses a $30M in debt finance it raised in January from BMO — Co-CEO says startup wants to be Pepsi to Indeed's Coke. — It has been a tumultuous few years for Montréal's Talent.com.

More: VentureBeat and TechCrunch. Thanks:@tron

Yogita Khatri / The Block:

Hex Trust, which offers crypto custody, staking, brokerage, and financing services to institutional clients in Hong Kong and Singapore, raises an $88M Series B — Quick Take — Asian crypto custodian Hex Trust has raised $88 million. — Animoca Brands and Liberty City Ventures co-led the round.

More: Hex Trust, CoinDesk, Coinspeaker, Blockworks, Australian Financial Review, Blockchain News, and CryptoNinjas

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Multiplier, which lets companies hire and pay remote workers while complying with local laws, raises a $60M Series B at a $400M valuation — Multiplier, a startup that enables companies to hire and pay remote workers while complying with local laws, announced today that it has raised …

More: FinSMEs, The Economic Times, and Tech in Asia

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:

Linktree, which creates simple “link in bio” landing pages for people and companies, raises a $110M Series C led by Index and Coatue at a $1.3B valuation — Who would've thought that an entire swath of startups would spring up all because Instagram, TikTok and Twitter only let you link to one website in your bio?

More: Protocol

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:

Wasoko, formerly Sokowatch, a Kenya-based B2B marketplace that offers a BNPL service to retailers, raises a $125M Series B, source says at a $625M valuation — Informal retail is king in Africa, with hundreds of billions of dollars of consumer goods are sold through its channels yearly.

More: FinSMEs, Disrupt Africa, TechCabal, and Quartz

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

RISC-V chip designer SiFive raises a $175M Series F at a $2.5B valuation led by Coatue Management, bringing its total funding to $350M+ — Chip design firm SiFive has raised $175 million at a $2.5 billion as RISC-V emerges as an alternative processor architecture.

More: Bloomberg, SiliconANGLE, Protocol, San Francisco Business Journal, The Register, and Reuters

Thomas Brewster / Forbes:

A look at Ukraine's “invisible heroes”, internet technicians who are risking their lives avoiding bombs and thwarting Russian hackers to keep Ukraine online — They're fixing internet in bombed-out buildings, finding rogue operators providing Russians with mobile connections and thwarting hackers.

More: 9to5Mac. Tweets: @iblametom, @netblocks, @a_picazo, @x0rz, @davemaasland, @iblametom, @iblametom, and @kimzetter

Margaret Harding McGill / Axios:

With Congress divided over passing a national privacy law, tech industry groups are lobbying Utah and other states to pass privacy laws weaker than California's — The tech industry is lobbying statehouses across the country to pass privacy bills that critics call weak.

More: 9to5Mac. Tweets: @accountabletech, @axios, and @fightfortheftr

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

iUNU, whose LUNA robot moves on greenhouse roofs and uses AI to detect problems with plants and find spots that are ready to harvest, raises a $24M Series B — Not going to lie, iUNU (pronounced “you knew") is not the easiest name (further confusing matters is the presence of a robot called “LUNA").

More: GeekWire

Clive Thompson / Wired:

An in-depth look at GitHub and OpenAI's Copilot, which writes 35% of its users' code, and how AI tools can make developers more efficient and democratize coding — OpenAI's new tool can autocomplete lines of programming or conjure software from a simple prompt. It could also riddle the internet with even more bugs.

Tweets: @sama. Thanks:@colegarry2

Andrés Engler / CoinDesk:

OXIO, a “carrier-as-a-service” company that lets brands launch mobile services by turning data into blockchain-based digital assets, raises a $40M Series B — The company's white label product allows any brand to serve as a mobile operator. It's already working with Grupo Bimbo and other big brands in Mexico.

Rest of World:

Six months after El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender, dozens of citizens, economists, and developers detail cracks in the country's crypto revolution — As El Salvador prepares to launch its ‘Bitcoin bond’, interviews with citizens, economists and technologists reveal cracks in the country's crypto revolution.

More: Crypto Daily, Common Sense, The Overspill, The Daily Hodl, and Blockworks

Tweets: @vickiturk, @somospostpc, @skinosian, @ricardovalp, @terencehuynh, @counternotions, @smdiehl, @leomschwartz, and @restofworld

Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk:

Treehouse, which provides DeFi data analytics, raises an $18M seed led by an “undisclosed large fintech investor”, with Binance and others participating — Treehouse aims to provide retail investors the infrastructure needed for them to make informed decisions on their DeFi positions

Masha Borak / Wired:

As China's delivery firms use algorithms to force drivers to work faster, couriers have started to band together and form unofficial unions on WeChat and Douyin — Food delivery drivers are using platforms' data-powered systems, mass WeChat groups, and unofficial unions to fight unfair conditions.

Tweets: @wiredscience and @wired

Christine Hall / TechCrunch:

Rutter, whose universal e-commerce API helps companies integrate with commerce, accounting, and payments services, raises a $27M Series A led by a16z — Seven months after publicly launching its company, Rutter is back with a new capital injection, this time $27 million in a Series A financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

More: Finextra, Crowdfund Insider, PR Newswire, and FinSMEs

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