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March 31, 2021, 8:10 PM
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| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
The Pentagon says Microsoft will build 120K custom HoloLens headsets for the US Army; Microsoft says the contract could be worth up to $21.88B over 10 years — - Microsoft will deliver to the U.S. Army more than 120,000 devices based on its HoloLens augmented reality headset.
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The Official Microsoft Blog, Program Executive …, Financial Times, The Verge, CNET, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Engadget, ZDNet, The Register, Associated Press, Thurrott, PCMag, Windows Central, Road to VR, CRN, Reuters, GeekWire, Ars Technica, The Hill, Game Rant, Neowin, Washington Post, MSPoweruser, and Nextgov
Tweets: @carnage4life, @bdsams, @onekade, @ryanfduffy, @esportsian, @kyweise, @stevekovach, @jordannovet, @againstgop, @kylebrussell, @ethangach, @tomwarren, and @dinabass. Thanks:@fxshaw
| Nick Clegg / Medium: |
Nick Clegg defends Facebook, saying it is not in the company's interest, financially or reputationally, to continually push users toward more extreme content — In — a recent article for The Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance compared Facebook to a Doomsday Machine: “a device built with the sole purpose of destroying all human life.”
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About Facebook, The Verge, Adweek, TechCrunch, Vox, Platformer, USA Today, appadvice.com, Social Media Today, The Hill, BBC, KnowTechie, Android Central, Silicon Republic, CityAM, Wccftech, Pocketnow, and Forbes
Tweets: @nick_clegg, @nick_clegg, @andymstone, @mikarv, @jjvincent, @mathewi, @jason_kint, @mattnavarra, @carolecadwalla, @craigsilverman, @janoschdelcker, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @nick_clegg, @nick_clegg, @ceciliakang, @jesselehrich, @redsteeze, @caseynewton, @jeffjarvis, @janoschdelcker, @imbadatlife, @shiraovide, @olifranklin, @katiecollins, @adrianweckler, @craigsilverman, @joshsternberg, @mikarv, @silvermanjacob, @etherington, @hypervisible, @jtemperton, @damiancollins, @janoschdelcker, @nick_clegg, and @pkafka
| Sami Fathi / MacRumors: |
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CNBC, The Verge, iMore, TechCrunch, and Android Headlines
Tweets: @jjvincent, @jjvincent, @cjzero, @reckless, @jason_kint, and @abelardinelli
| Josh Taylor / The Guardian: |
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TechSpot, iPhone Hacks, and BGR
Tweets: @benv_w, @missrobinson, @adamholmes010, @manjusrii, and @flipprior
| Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: |
Apple says it is introducing two new Siri voices for English speakers and eliminating the default selection of a female voice, as part of iOS 14.5 beta 6 — Apple is adding two new voices to Siri's English offerings, and eliminating the default ‘female voice’ selection in the latest beta version of iOS.
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Reuters, Apple Support, 9to5Mac, The Verge, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, CNN, AppleInsider, TheStreet, 9to5Mac, XDA Developers, TechRadar, BGR, Engadget, Pocket-lint, MUO, Tom's Guide, Appleosophy, SlashGear, Fast Company, 9to5Mac, The Verge, digg.com, iClarified, Mashable, Laptop Mag, BGR, iDownloadBlog.com, MacRumors, Redmond Pie, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, Neowin, 9to5Mac, Wccftech, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, iClarified, and MacRumors
Tweets: @connor_g, @panzer, @codycombsnews, @caseynewton, and @joannastern
| Makena Kelly / The Verge: |
Biden announces $2T American Jobs Plan focused on improving US infrastructure, with $100B allocated for high-speed broadband access over eight years — It sets aside $100 billion for the effort — President Biden plans to announce a sweeping infrastructure plan Wednesday that includes $100 billion …
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The White House, Ars Technica, Washington Post, GeekWire, PCMag, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Register, Axios, Politico, GameSpot, Variety, CNBC, 9to5Mac, The White House, CNET, and Axios
Tweets: @sophaskins, @ronwyden, @lymanstoneky, @elidourado, @jstein_wapo, @jrosenworcel, @jstein_wapo, @jake_k, @yamiche, @senschumer, and @karavoght
| Ina Fried / Axios: |
Memo: Google tells employees that it expects some US-based workers to return to the office in April, but won't require employees to come in until at least Sept. — Google told workers in an email Wednesday that it expects some U.S. employees to be able to return to the office in the coming month.
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CNBC, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Google, CNET, New York Times, Thurrott, The Hill, The Verge, Insider, Android Headlines, and Bloomberg
Tweets: @maccaw and @kateconger
| Financial Times: |
Deliveroo closed down 26% in its LSE debut, after pricing shares at £3.90, valuing it at £5.2B — Fall comes after food delivery company priced its shares at bottom end of range — Deliveroo's shares plunged 26 per cent in the company's London debut on Wednesday …
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Wall Street Journal, BBC, TechCrunch, London Stock Exchange, Bloomberg, CNBC, CityAM, New York Times, CNN, Reuters, and Insider
| Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: |
Apple leads $50M Series B in music distributor UnitedMasters, with a16z and Alphabet participating; UnitedMasters enters a strategic partnership with Apple — Independent music distribution platform and tool factory UnitedMasters has raised a $50M series B round led by Apple.
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Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Music Business Worldwide, Financial Times, Benzinga, Billboard, TheStreet, MarketWatch, Variety, AfroTech, KnowTechie, MacDailyNews, MacRumors, CNET, iMore, and Crunchbase News
Tweets: @navjosh, @adamsingolda, and @ingridlunden
| Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: |
Facebook says a now-removed interview with Trump posted by daughter-in-law Lara Trump falls under its ban as it spoke “in the voice of President Trump” — Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump promoted a new interview with the former president on Facebook and Instagram Tuesday …
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Fox News, Instagram, The Hill, USA Today, Insider, The Wrap, Washington Times, The Guardian, CNBC, Variety, New York Post, and Fox News
Tweets: @mzhemingway and @trumpwarroom
| Katie Roof / Bloomberg: |
Squarespace says it is acquiring online restaurant services provider Tock for over $400M in cash and stock — - IPO candidate Squarespace raised funds at $10 billion value — Chicago-based Tock works with restaurants on reservations — Website-hosting service Squarespace Inc. …
More:
New York Business Journal, PR Newswire, MarketWatch, Insider, Nation's Restaurant News, Restaurant Business, and Eater Chicago. Tweets: @kazanjy
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Instagram announces Remix, a way to record Reels alongside other users, similar to TikTok's Duets — Instagram today is officially launching a new feature called Remix, which offers a way to record your Reels video alongside a video from another user. The option is similar …
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WWD, Social Media Today, Android Central, Android Headlines, 9to5Mac, Neowin, CNET, Pocketnow, Engadget, Mashable, and MUO
Tweets: @instagram, @scarredntscared, and @loudmouthjulia
| Yogita Khatri / The Block: |
Enjin, a blockchain startup that created the NFT standard used by Microsoft and Nike, raises $18.9M to build a Polkadot-based blockchain network — Quick Take — Enjin has raised $18.9 million to build a Polkadot-based blockchain network, dubbed Efinity, with a focus on non-fungible tokens or NFTs.| Bloomberg: |
Sources: draft Biden executive order would require companies doing business with the federal government to report hacks of their networks within a few days — - Biden using cyber crisis to mandate tighter security practices — Order would require basic security practices for U.S. agencies
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The Hill
| Eric Geller / Politico: |
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SC Media. Tweets: @ericgeller, @kevincollier, @howelloneill, @likethecoins, @politico, @mastersonmv, and @ericgeller
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
Discord debuts Stage Channels, a Clubhouse-like way of broadcasting audio to a room, available on all platforms; only Community servers can make Stage Channels — Another app adding live audio spaces — Discord is the latest company to introduce a Clubhouse-like feature …
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Discord Blog, TechCrunch, Engadget, XDA Developers, Platformer, Reuters, Tubefilter, and Adweek
Tweets: @ashleyrcarman, @stevebartlettsc, and @miyagawa
| Cade Metz / New York Times: |
Turing Award goes to Jeffrey Ullman and Alfred Aho for their work on compilers, which underpin computer programming languages — Jeffrey Ullman and Alfred Aho developed many of the fundamental concepts that researchers use when they build new software. — When Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman met …
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Columbia Engineering, Stanford News, New Jersey Online, CNET, EurekAlert!, and Forbes
Tweets: @gvanrossum, @codeslack, and @columbia
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
App Annie: users spent $32B on apps across iOS and Play Store globally in Q1 2021, up 40% YoY and the largest quarter on record; iOS beat Android $21B to $11B — The pandemic's remarkable impact on the app industry has not slowed down in 2021. In fact, consumer spending in apps has hit … | Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Comcast's NBCUniversal is considering pulling its movies from HBO Max and Netflix and keeping future releases for Peacock — Media giant's NBCUniversal division wants to boost its own streaming service, Peacock — Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal is considering pulling its movies …
More:
The Verge, IGN, and GameSpot
| Emily Feng / NPR: |
How Wuhan's HSMC created an unusable chip factory, becoming one of six multibillion-dollar Chinese chip project failures in the last two years — WUHAN, China — In 2019, the U.S. sanctioned two major Chinese telecom firms, temporarily cutting them off from a vital supply of semiconductor chips … | Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Source: Apple is planning to announce a mixed reality headset “sometime” in the next several months, possibly at an in-person event — On Tuesday, Apple Inc. announced what will be at least its fifth virtual product launch in a row and one of its most important events of the year …
More:
MacRumors, Pocketnow, Apple Terminal, MSPoweruser, Laptop Mag, MacDailyNews, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone Hacks, Wccftech, Redmond Pie, and Cult of Mac
Tweets: @bengeskin, @toddheberlein, and @lanceulanoff
| Caitlin McCabe / Wall Street Journal: |
Robinhood says it will remove a confetti animation from its app, which appears upon making a first trade, after criticism that it “gamifies” investing — The confetti, which critics alleged was a gamification strategy, will be replaced with new designs| Alex Konrad / Forbes: |
Common Room, a service to track online interactions with products, used by Figma and others, raises $32.3M Series B led by Greylock — Covering venture capital, software and startups — Linda Lian believes the next generation of software businesses will find customers differently … | Peter Rubin / Wired: |
A reflection on Facebook's VR efforts as the Oculus Rift turns five: an astonishing number of problems have been solved but many big challenges remain — A lot's happened since Facebook's first headset brought virtual reality to the masses. Facebook might have been a first mover, but it also wants to be the last one.
Tweets: @techatfacebook, @wired, @haydencd, @boztank, and @tomgara
| Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: |
Huawei reports 2020 revenue of $136.7B, up 3.8% YoY but slower than the 19%+ growth it saw in 2019, and net profit of $9.9B, up 3.2% YoY — - Huawei's revenue for 2020 totaled 891.4 billion yuan ($136.7 billion), a 3.8% year-on-year rise in yuan terms. That was slower than the more than 19% revenue growth Huawei saw in 2019.
More:
The Verge, Huawei, South China Morning Post, Bloomberg, TechRadar, TechSpot, Thurrott, CNN, Telecoms.com, and Huawei Central
| Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information: |
Gupta Media: Facebook ad prices, measured in cost per thousand impressions, rebounded from a $1 monthly average last spring to almost $5 in November — With consumers glued to phones and laptops, the year of pandemic shut-ins ended up being great for the biggest digital advertising businesses …
Tweets: @joshua_sisco and @lauramandaro
| Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg: |
Google promises not to silence workers discussing pay, as part of a settlement with a new union that represents hundreds of employees and contract workers — - Alphabet Workers Union accused Google and vendor of wrongdoing — Contract worker said pro-union Facebook post got her suspended
More:
National Labor Relations Board, The Hill, The Verge, Slashdot, and Insider
Tweets: @josheidelson, @quinnypig, and @josheidelson
| Axios: |
Survey: trust in tech declined globally in 2020 due to factors like misinfo and privacy concerns; in the US, tech fell from the “most trusted” in 2019, to ninth — Trust in tech — including companies specializing in AI, VR, 5G and the internet of things — fell all around the world last year …
Tweets: @omertene, @karaswisher, @techwontsaveus, @azeem, and @nathanleamerdc
| Nick Statt / The Verge: |
Sponsor of Arizona's HB2005 bill, which allows alternative payment systems in app stores, says it won't get a hearing this year after being pulled last week — Arizona House Bill 2005, a hotly contested piece of legislation that would have imposed developer-friendly changes to Apple …
More:
iMore, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, GameSpot, 9to5Mac, and Engadget
Tweets: @nickstatt, @nickstatt, and @nickstatt
| Riley de León / CNBC: |
Coursera closes at $45 per share, up 36% from its IPO price of $33 per share, giving Coursera a market cap of ~$5.9B — - Education tech company Coursera made its market debut Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange through an IPO and is now trading under the ticker symbol “COUR.”
More:
Protocol, Crunchbase News, TheStreet, Barron's Online, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Insider, Business Wire, EdSurge, Bloomberg, and PYMNTS.com
| Lawrence Weru / Slate: |
The rise of Clubhouse and other audio-only social networks marginalizes people with speech impediments like stuttering — It's before sunrise and I'm doing some accounting while listening to conversations on Clubhouse. On the app, people can schedule and host audio chat rooms …
Tweets: @futuretensenow and @nicolasmagand
| Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
Uniphore, which uses AI to analyze and improve customer support provided over voice and video calls, raises $140M Series D, bringing its total raised to $210M — - Company working on technology that analyzes facial expressions — Startup looking to expand beyond call-center software
More:
VentureBeat and Uniphore
| Zheping Huang / Bloomberg: |
Chinese cryptocurrency wallet imToken raises $30M Series B led by Qiming and says it has 12M users with over $50B in crypto assets — ImToken, a Chinese startup that built one of the most used cryptocurrency wallet apps, has raised $30 million from investors including Qiming Venture Partners and Breyer Capital.
More:
Business Wire and Tech in Asia
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