| 11:45 PM • | Emily Birnbaum / Protocol: Biden's COVID-19 relief bill earmarks $9B to beef up the CISA and $200M to hire technology and cyber experts to support the federal CISO and US Digital Service |
| 10:20 PM • | South China Morning Post: A look at the rise and fall of Xiami, Alibaba's discontinued music streaming service, which only had 22.4M MAUs by Oct. vs. 450M+ for Tencent's three music apps |
| 9:35 PM • | Calum Marsh / New York Times: Profile of New Zealand-based Letterboxd, a social network for reviewing movies, which has grown to 3M member accounts during the pandemic |
| 9:00 PM • | Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: A security researcher was able to purchase one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's top-level domains, potentially preventing malicious use by attackers |
| 8:00 PM • | Wall Street Journal: FAA approves the first fully automated commercial drone flights, letting Massachusetts-based American Robotics operate its drones in rural areas below 400 feet |
| 7:35 PM • | Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Israel-based social casino game developer Playtika closes up 17.1% on its first day of trading, valuing the company at $14.5B, after raising $1.88B in its IPO |
| 7:25 PM • | Tom Warren / The Verge: Microsoft is planning to fix a Windows 10 vulnerability that could corrupt a NTFS-formatted hard drive simply by viewing a folder with a malicious shortcut |
| 6:45 PM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Oqton, which is developing a factory OS that combines several fabrication processes like CNC and polymer 3D printing, raises $40M Series A |
| 6:20 PM • | Megan Graham / CNBC: Ahead of Biden's inauguration, Facebook blocks users from creating new events near the White House and Capitol, restricting features for some users |
| 6:05 PM • | Shannon Vavra / CyberScoop: Rob Joyce will replace Anne Neuberger as the director of NSA's Cybersecurity Directorate; Neuberger will join the Biden admin as deputy adviser on the NSC |
| 5:40 PM • | Zoe Schiffer / The Verge: Leaked screenshots show GitHub employees using the term “Nazi” in its internal Slack to protest the unexplained firing of an employee that used the same word |
| 5:35 PM • | Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo: A deep dive into the WhatsApp privacy policy change that prompted an exodus of users from the app and why Facebook struggled to communicate what was in it |
| 4:50 PM • | Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Apple has begun preliminary work on an iPhone model with a foldable screen, while testing an in-screen fingerprint reader for 2021 |
| 4:25 PM • | Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Apple has started to block the sideloading of unsupported iOS and iPadOS apps using third party software on M1 Macs |
| 3:15 PM • | Jonathan Stempel / Reuters: Federal judge denies Apple's appeal of a $502.8M patent infringement verdict favoring VirnetX; Apple's total payout in two lawsuits could cross $1.1B |
| 2:55 PM • | Abner Li / 9to5Google: Google says it will remove the inadvertent ability for Chromium browsers to access Chrome bookmarks and other sync features when users are logged into Google |
| 2:45 PM • | Ari Levy / CNBC: GitLab is considering going public after an employee share sale valued it at $6B; GitLab revenue crossed $150M annually after growing 74% in the latest quarter |
| 2:36 PM • | Nick Statt / The Verge: WhatsApp to delay new privacy policy by three months following widespread confusion over whether the policy would mandate data sharing with Facebook |
| 1:41 PM • | Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch: Bumble files for an IPO, says it had 42M MAUs, 2.4M total paying users, and lost $117M on revenue of $417M in the first nine months of 2020 |
| 1:35 PM • | Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Apple to launch redesigned iMacs this year with a Pro Display XDR-like design, and is working on two new Mac Pros, one of which may use Intel CPUs |
| 12:45 PM • | The Information: Sources: Apple is discussing launching a new subscription service that would charge people to listen to podcasts |
| 12:15 PM • | Mike Rogoway / Oregonian: Sources: at an all-hands staff meeting, incoming CEO says Intel has to deliver better products for PCs than what a “lifestyle company in Cupertino” makes |
| 11:55 AM • | Lauren Feiner / CNBC: Twitter outlines its plans for Wednesday's Inauguration Day, including transitioning @POTUS and other handles to Biden and archiving several official accounts |
| 11:30 AM • | Jason Del Rey / Vox: Interview with Walmart's e-commerce chief Marc Lore, who is leaving the company at the end of the month to build “a city of the future” |
| 10:50 AM • | Alex Kantrowitz / OneZero : Services like Substack, Spotify, and Clubhouse are coming under scrutiny now that platforms like Facebook and YouTube have warmed to aggressive moderation |
| 10:20 AM • | Taylor Lorenz / New York Times: As Snapchat starts competing with TikTok via its Spotlight program, some creators begin earning small fortunes and look for ways to expand |
| 9:40 AM • | Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider: Kuo: Apple is “aggressively” testing vapor chamber thermal systems to cool its upcoming iPhones |
| 8:55 AM • | Financial Times: US commerce department finalizes powers for commerce secretary to issue licenses or block imports of foreign tech including drones and surveillance cameras |
| 8:20 AM • | Nick Statt / The Verge: Amazon launches Alexa Custom Assistant, which will let car makers build their own custom AI assistants with their own wake words, custom voices, and more |
| 7:15 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: OneWeb, which to date launched 110 out of a planned constellation of 648 satellites to provide internet access, raises $1.4B with $400M from SoftBank and Hughes |
| 6:50 AM • | Casey Newton / Platformer: New research outlines how insights into thriving public spaces in the physical world can help social media platforms in building healthy online communities |
| 4:10 AM • | Sujeong Lim / Counterpoint Research: 238M units of true wireless stereo hearables were shipped in 2020, up 83% YoY, with Apple devices comprising 29% market share, Xiaomi 13%, and Samsung 5% |
| 1:00 AM • | Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: Kuo: 14" and 16" MacBook Pros coming in Q3 2021 with Apple Silicon, MagSafe charging, no Touch Bar, new design with squared-off sides and more built-in IO ports |
| 12:05 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Nayya, which uses AI to help guide employees in selecting a health plan offered by their employers, raises $11M Series A led by Felicis Ventures |
| 11:15 PM • | Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: X1 Card, which offers a credit card with limits based on current and future income instead of credit score, raises $12M funding round led by Spark Capital |
| 10:55 PM • | FinSMEs: Computational diagnostics startup Paige raises $100M Series C led by Casdin Capital and Johnson & Johnson Innovation |
| 10:35 PM • | Rebecca Klar / The Hill: Hagens Berman files suit against Amazon alleging collusion with Big Five big publishers to fix eBook prices; they successfully sued Apple in 2011 for the same |
| 10:00 PM • | Adam Satariano / New York Times: After Facebook and Twitter suspended Trump's account, activists and human rights groups have urged the companies to apply their policies evenly around the world |
| 9:50 PM • | Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Intel updates its NUC desktop line with 11th-gen processors, adds a gaming-focused model called NUC 11 Enthusiast, and a NUC Pro line that can drive 8K displays |
| 8:40 PM • | Andy Boxall / Digital Trends: Samsung debuts the Galaxy Book Flex2 5G, its first 5G laptop, featuring a 2-in-1 design, 11th-gen Intel CPUs, S Pen stylus, for preorder in the UK from £1,649 |
| 7:35 PM • | Kate Clark / The Information: Source: Sequoia Capital recently bought shares of online automation firm Zapier from its founders on the secondary market, with the sale valuing Zapier at $4B+ |
| 7:25 PM • | Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: Facebook says it has filed a suit against the makers of four malicious Chrome extensions used for scraping user data and other info from Facebook's website |
| 6:25 PM • | Jared Council / Wall Street Journal: IBM says it will acquire Taos, an IT firm that helps companies migrate from in-house servers to cloud infrastructure; terms of the deal were not disclosed |
| 5:50 PM • | Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: Apple has removed a controversial feature in macOS 11.2 beta 2 that allowed its own apps to bypass third-party firewalls, security tools, and VPNs |
| 5:40 PM • | Mike Stone / Reuters: The Trump admin adds Xiaomi, along with 8 other Chinese firms, to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, forcing US investors to divest by Nov. 11 |
| 5:20 PM • | Hugh Son / CNBC: Accolade, a health care service for employees to manage benefits, is buying telemedicine startup 2nd.MD for up to $460M, in a split cash and stock deal |
| 4:30 PM • | Bloomberg: Netflix diversity report: women make up 47.1% of its global workforce; 8% of US staff are Black, more than 2x the share in 2017; 8.1% of employees are Hispanic |
| 3:50 PM • | Ryne Hager / Android Police: Samsung confirms Galaxy S21 series and future devices will not support MST for Samsung Pay, which enabled it to be used with legacy magnetic strip terminals |
| 3:45 PM • | Financial Times: Researchers: Telegram, which had 11.9M downloads the week of the Capitol riot, began shutting down public white supremacist groups for the first time Wednesday |
| 3:05 PM • | Kerry Flynn / CNN: Medium is acquiring Glose, a digital platform for buying, reading, and discussing books; Glose's 20 employees, most of whom are based in Paris, will join Medium |
| 2:55 PM • | Wall Street Journal: TSMC says it will raise capital expenditures to between $25B and $28B in 2021, an increase of at least 47% YoY |
| 2:45 PM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Israeli startup Carbyne, which is developing a cloud-based service to improve emergency response times, raises $25M Series B1 |
| 2:05 PM • | Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal: Cisco says it has struck a new deal to buy Acacia Communications for around $4.5B, boosting the original purchase price by 64% |
| 2:00 PM • | Sarah Emerson / OneZero : The far-right is flocking to MeWe, a privacy-focused Facebook alternative that has Tim Berners-Lee on its board, with membership growing to 15M in recent months |
| 1:40 PM • | Chris Sanders / Reuters: DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim to resign effective Jan 19, a day before the Biden administration takes over |
| 1:25 PM • | Axios: Silicon Valley's leading lobby, the Internet Association, is struggling to manage the competing interests of member companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon |
| 1:00 PM • | Bloomberg: Norway's consumer protection agency details how Amazon riddles the process of canceling Prime with “dark patterns,” calls on regulators to investigate |
| 12:45 PM • | Sam Shead / CNBC: A coalition of health and tech companies, including Microsoft, Salesforce, and Oracle, says it is developing a digital COVID-19 vaccination “passport” |
| 12:20 PM • | David Jeans / Forbes: Sources: TPG invested $47M in HR software startup Greenhouse and spent around $450M buying shares from existing investors including Benchmark and Thrive Capital |
| 12:05 PM • | Annie Palmer / CNBC: Poshmark closed up more than 141% on its first day of trading, valuing the company at more than $3B, after raising $277M in its IPO |
| 12:00 PM • | Bloomberg: Customer service software provider LiveVox to go public through a merger with a SPAC in a transaction valued at $840M |
| 11:50 AM • | Tom Warren / The Verge: A leak of a near-final version of Windows 10X shows a strong similarity to Chrome OS, with the Start button centered on the taskbar, lack of Live Tiles, more |
| 11:40 AM • | Mary Ann Azevedo / FinLedger: LendingPoint, which provides lending software tools for e-commerce, merchants, lending institutions, and other customers, raises $125M from Warburg Pincus |
| 11:25 AM • | Jon Porter / The Verge: BMW announces Digital Key Plus, a keyless access system that uses the UWB chip in iPhones to let users unlock select BMW cars without taking out their phones |
| 11:20 AM • | Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Ring says it has fixed a security flaw in its Neighbors app that was exposing the precise locations and home addresses of users who had posted to the app |
| 11:10 AM • | Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal: Axios says it will launch AxiosHQ, which lets companies write internal memos styled like Axios newsletters, next month, starting at $10K a year |
| 10:50 AM • | Igor Bonifacic / Engadget: Samsung's entire lineup of Galaxy S21 phones will not include a power adapter in the box; Samsung to reduce the price of its 25W adapter to $20, down from $35 |
| 10:45 AM • | Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Harness, a continuous app delivery and integration platform for engineering and DevOps teams, raises $85M Series C led by Alkeon at a $1.7B valuation |
| 10:40 AM • | Cherlynn Low / Engadget: Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra has a 6.8" 120Hz AMOLED screen, a quad-rear camera with dual telephoto lenses for 100x zoom, and supports S Pen stylus |
| 10:35 AM • | David Carnoy / CNET: Samsung announces Galaxy Buds Pro with a new design, active noise cancelation, an Ambient mode, and 360 Audio, available now to order for $200 |
| 10:20 AM • | Dieter Bohn / The Verge: Samsung announces Galaxy SmartTag, a $29.99 Tile competitor that works only with Samsung Galaxy devices, available on January 29 |
| 10:17 AM • | Jason Cipriani / CNET: Samsung announces Galaxy Buds Pro with a new design, active noise cancelation, an Ambient mode, and 360 Audio, available now for $200 |
| 10:08 AM • | Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: Samsung unveils the $799 Galaxy S21, $999 Galaxy S21+, and $1,199 Galaxy S21 Ultra, available now to preorder and launching on January 29 |
| 9:55 AM • | YouTube: Samsung Galaxy Unpacked January 2021 live stream, where it's expected to unveil the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, S21 Ultra, and more |
| 9:45 AM • | New York Times: Review of public posts of dozens of Facebook users sharing extreme right-wing views shows how Facebook rewards their lies and helped incubate the insurrection |
| 9:30 AM • | Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: Chinese driverless car startup WeRide raises $310M led by commercial vehicle manufacturer Yutong Group |
| 9:20 AM • | Reuters: PayPal has become the first foreign operator with 100% control of a payment platform in China, after buying the remaining 30% stake in GoPay on December 31 |
| 9:08 AM • | Rick Osterloh / The Keyword: Google completes Fitbit acquisition, vows to protect users' privacy, says “deal has always been about devices, not data” |
| 8:50 AM • | Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: Sana Labs, which uses AI to personalize training courses for professionals, raises $18M Series A led by EQT Ventures |
| 8:25 AM • | Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch: DecisionLink, which develops software for cost-benefit analyses of business services, raises an $18.5M round led by Accel Partners |
| 8:05 AM • | Shaun Walker / The Guardian: After denouncing Trump's social media bans, Poland says it plans to make it illegal for tech companies to take similar actions in the country |
| 7:55 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Lumiata, which provides AI-powered predictive analytics for managing health care costs, raises $14M Series B led by Defy.vc, bringing its total raised to $45M+ |
| 7:45 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Xentral, which develops enterprise resource planning software for online SMBs, raises $20M Series A led by Sequoia Capital |
| 7:35 AM • | Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu: Swedish startup Minna, developer of a subscription management app, raises €15.5M Series B round led by Element Ventures, bringing its total funding to €23M+ |
| 7:25 AM • | Sifted: Berlin-based Sennder, which connects commercial businesses with freight carriers, raises $160M Series D at a $1B+ valuation |
| 7:00 AM • | Lily Hay Newman / Wired: New research details iOS and Android issues that may allow third parties and law enforcement to access user data and suggests mitigation techniques |
| 5:35 AM • | Asa Fitch / Wall Street Journal: Experts say widespread adoption of RISC-V, which was partly developed with DARPA's backing, could help China reduce its dependence on Western chip technology |
| 4:10 AM • | Wall Street Journal: Internal docs: in hours ahead of Capitol riot, user reports of violent content on Facebook jumped 10x, and false news surged to ~40K reports/hour, 4x daily peak |
| 2:30 AM • | Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet: Microsoft Cloud for Retail opens for preview, combining services and features from Microsoft Advertising, Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform |
| 1:55 AM • | Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post: Sandberg deflected blame for Capitol riot, but fliers and hashtags promoting the pro-Trump rally circulated on Facebook and Instagram weeks beforehand |
| 1:10 AM • | John Callaham / Android Authority: Asus announces Chromebook Flip CX9 for enterprises, with Titan C security, and CX5 for students, both equipped with Intel 11th-gen Core i7 and Iris Xe graphics |
| 12:50 AM • | Jay Peters / The Verge: What to expect from Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event: Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra, with S Pen support, Galaxy Buds Pro, SmartTag, and more |
| 12:05 AM • | Isabelle Kirkwood / BetaKit: Ontario-based Prodigy Education, which offers an e-learning platform and math-focused games for elementary and middle school students, raises $159M CAD Series B |
| 11:20 PM • | Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg: Report: VC funding in the US reached a record high of $130B in 2020, up 14% YoY, but the total number of deals fell to 6,022, down for the second year in a row |
| 10:57 PM • | Mercedes Ruehl / Financial Times: Grab raises $300M led by Hanwha Asset Management for its financial services business, which spun out of Grab in 2018 and is now valued at $3B |
| 10:35 PM • | The Guardian: Audio and chat logs of walkie-talkie app Zello reveal some Capitol rioters communicated via the app; Zello says it has now deleted 2K+ militia-related channels |
| 9:20 PM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Telehealth startup NeuroFlow, which uses applied AI to treat patients with behavioral health conditions, raises $20M Series B led by Magellan Health |
| 9:05 PM • | Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post: Jack Dorsey says Trump ban was the right decision for Twitter but reflects a “failure” to promote healthy conversation and sets a dangerous precedent |
| 8:40 PM • | Catherine Shu / TechCrunch: Japan-based SODA, which operates sneaker reselling marketplace SNKRDUNK, raises $22M Series B led by SoftBank Ventures Asia |
| 7:40 PM • | Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: Facebook says it's removing posts of fliers promoting events leading up to Biden's inauguration, echoing warnings from law enforcement about another attack |
| 7:15 PM • | Sara Fischer / Axios: Snapchat says it will permanently ban Trump's account on January 20 in the interest of public safety and based on repeated violations of Snapchat's guidelines |
| 7:10 PM • | Megan Graham / CNBC: Google says it will pause political ads, and those referencing “impeachment, inauguration or protests at the US Capitol” on all its platforms starting Jan. 14 |
| 6:55 PM • | Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters: In an interview, Parler CEO John Matze says he is not sure whether the social network will ever return after being cut off by service providers |
| 6:20 PM • | Bloomberg: Sources: Poshmark is pricing its IPO at $42 per share, raising $277M, up from its $35-$39 price initially noted in an earlier filing |
| 5:35 PM • | Mike Butcher / TechCrunch: UK-based Weezy, whose grocery delivery app claims delivery in 15 minutes, raises $20M Series A led by Left Lane Capital |
| 3:50 PM • | Gené Teare / Crunchbase News: Global VC report 2020: overall funding rose 4% YoY to ~$300B, despite a slow Q1, with ~$13.6B seed, $88.4B early-stage, and $198.4B late-stage and growth |
| 3:00 PM • | Makena Kelly / The Verge: Some moderators say Nextdoor's policies don't adequately address QAnon and aren't well communicated to users; Nextdoor says it classifies QAnon as a hate group |
| 2:50 PM • | Jeff John Roberts / Fortune: Crypto startup Anchorage says it has received a federal bank charter, making it easier for big banks to use Anchorage to offer cryptocurrencies to customers |
| 2:20 PM • | Rest of World: Profile of Russian online retail giant Wildberries, owned by Russia's richest woman, which grew by catering to low-income shoppers via offline collection points |
| 1:55 PM • | Monica Chin / The Verge: Asus unveils 14- and 15-inch ZenBook Duo dual-screen laptops with a second display built into the keyboard; the 14-inch version ships this month from $1,000 |
| 1:40 PM • | Benjamin Powers / CoinDesk: Ledger offers a 10 bitcoin bounty for details on the hacker who stole info on 272K crypto wallet device owners and says 20K more user records have been exposed |
| 1:30 PM • | Ben Thompson / Stratechery: Actions taken by Big Tech after violence at the Capitol may have sowed the seeds for Internet 3.0, which will be defined by open protocols and decentralization |
| 1:10 PM • | Anthony Capaccio / Bloomberg: Internal report: DoD halts deployment on classified networks of its $2B+ cybersecurity system for detecting intrusions and stopping attacks, citing poor results |
| 1:01 PM • | Anthony Ha / TechCrunch: E-commerce optimization startup Tradeswell raises $15.5M Series A led by SignalFire |
| 12:40 PM • | Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC: Affirm began trading at $90.90 and closed at $97.24, up 98% after pricing shares at $49; the company raised $1.2B after pricing shares above its $41-$44 range |
| 12:30 PM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Israeli startup Vdoo, which helps detect and fix vulnerabilities in IoT devices, extends its Series B by $25M to $57M |
| 12:15 PM • | Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC: Airbnb says it is canceling and blocking reservations made for the week of Biden's inauguration in the Washington, DC metro area |
| 12:05 PM • | Reuters: Polish parcel locker company InPost, widely used by sellers on Allegro, says it is planning an Amsterdam IPO as early as February |
| 11:45 AM • | Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: Ring says it is adding opt-in end-to-end encryption for eight cameras in technical preview for US users |
| 11:30 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Molecula, which is developing a cloud-based feature store for AI and machine learning workloads, raises $17.6M Series A led by Drive Capital |
| 11:21 AM • | Christine Hall / Crunchbase News: MX, which develops analytics tools for financial institutions, raises $300M Series C led by TPG Growth at a $1.9B valuation, taking total raised to $475M |
| 11:10 AM • | Mike Butcher / TechCrunch: NYC-based Rho, a startup bank aimed at high-growth businesses, raises $15M Series A led by M13 Ventures |
| 11:05 AM • | Bloomberg: Online therapy service Talkspace agrees to merge with a SPAC in a deal worth $1.4B that provides Talkspace with $250M in funding |
| 10:55 AM • | Phuong Nguyen / Reuters: Vietnam's biggest e-wallet company MoMo raises $100M+ from Warburg Pincus and five others |
| 10:30 AM • | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Stacklet, which is commercializing the Cloud Custodian open-source cloud governance project, raises $18M Series A, bringing its total raised to $22M |
| 10:10 AM • | Mary Ann Azevedo / FinLedger: Blend, which provides tech to banks for facilitating loans, raises $300M Series G at a $3.3B valuation led by Coatue and Tiger Global Management |
| 10:05 AM • | Sara Fischer / Axios: Scoop: Google pausing all political ads following Capitol siege |
| 9:55 AM • | Sam Shead / CNBC: German online car trading service Auto1 plans to raise $1.2B in an IPO on Frankfurt Stock Exchange, aiming to go public in Q1 |
| 9:45 AM • | Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch: Webflow, which helps businesses build no-code websites, raises $140M Series B led by Accel and Silversmith at a $2.1B+ valuation |
| 9:35 AM • | Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC: Dropbox says it will cut about 11% of its global workforce, affecting about 315 employees, and COO Olivia Nottebohm will leave on February 5 |
| 9:25 AM • | Tony Connelly / RTÉ: EU's top court says a GDPR complaint against Facebook can be handled in any EU member state, which could lead to a flood of complaints against tech giants |
| 9:06 AM • | Lauren Feiner / CNBC: Intel CEO Bob Swan will step down on February 15 and VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger will replace him; Intel's stock is up 6%+, VMware's stock is down 6%+ |
| 9:00 AM • | Tom Warren / The Verge: Google says it has issued a fix for Android's Exposure Notifications System for COVID-19; users worldwide reported apps had slowed down significantly |
| 8:40 AM • | Stephen Nellis / Reuters: Qualcomm acquires chip startup Nuvia for $1.4B, with plans to put the company's tech into its smartphone, laptop, and automotive processors |
| 8:25 AM • | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: App Annie: mobile app downloads grew 7% YoY to 218B in 2020, while consumer spending grew ~20% to $143B; app usage in US surged ahead of time spent on live TV |
| 8:15 AM • | Karissa Bell / Engadget: TikTok makes accounts of users aged 13 to 15 private by default, limiting who can comment on the videos and how other users can download or remix their videos |
| 8:05 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Rapyd, which provides an API-based “fintech-as-a-service” platform, raises $300M Series D at a $2.5B post-money valuation |
| 7:55 AM • | Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu: France-based iziwork, which helps temporary workers find jobs, raises $43M from Cathay Innovation and Bpifrance, bringing its total raised to $68M |
| 7:42 AM • | Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: Apple announces new projects related to its $100M pledge for racial equity and justice, including a developer academy focused on Black entrepreneurs |
| 7:30 AM • | Gaurav Laghate / The Economic Times: Amazon launches a mobile-only Prime Video plan in India starting at Rs. 89, or ~$1.30, per month, in partnership with Bharti Airtel |
| 7:10 AM • | Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Amazon launches Academy, a preparation app with curated learning material for admission to engineering colleges in India, available free for “next few months” |
| 6:55 AM • | Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: A look at Spotify's push into podcasting as it seeks profitability: ~2M podcasts are available, up from 2,500 in 2017, and 20% of its users listen to podcasts |
| 6:20 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Report: Intel, Apple, and Qualcomm made the top 10 patent recipients list in 2020; IBM received the most with 9,130, Samsung Electronics came second with 6,415 |
| 4:05 AM • | Deepti Sri / Tech in Asia: Report: Grab led SE Asia's food delivery market in 2020, which grew 183% YoY to $11.9B, with $5.9B of gross merchandise value; Foodpanda had $2.5B+, Gojek $2B |
| 2:25 AM • | Catherine Shu / TechCrunch: Ajaib, an Indonesia-based stock trading and investment app that claims to have 1M monthly active users, raises $25M Series A led by Horizons Ventures |
| 11:17 PM • | Axios: YouTube says it has taken down newly posted videos from Trump for violating its policies against inciting violence and bans new uploads for a week |
| 10:52 PM • | Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: Source: Chinese video platform Bilibili files for a secondary Hong Kong listing, which could raise over $2B |
| 9:05 PM • | Will Oremus / OneZero: Facebook has long embraced a “view from nowhere”, favoring political neutrality, but comments from Instagram's head suggest that agnostic stance is changing |
| 8:35 PM • | Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: Interview with Dr. Lisa Su, AMD's CEO, on the new Ryzen 5000 Series Mobile lineup, Apple's M1 chip, supply shortages, AMD's acquisition of Xilinx, and more |
| 7:55 PM • | Billy Steele / Engadget: Outdoor grill company Weber has acquired smart oven startup June for undisclosed sum; June worked previously to help develop Weber's smart grilling system |
| 7:40 PM • | Maggie Miller / The Hill: European Medicines Agency says that hackers leaked third-party documents on COVID-19 vaccines and medicines as part of a breach discovered late last year |
| 7:20 PM • | Bloomberg: Sources: Affirm priced its IPO at $49 per share, above the marketed range of $33 to $38 set earlier this week, raising roughly $1.2B |
| 7:10 PM • | Gavin Bonshor / AnandTech: AMD says it will now directly sell Threadripper Pro CPUs to consumers, which support up to 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes and eight-channel memory, starting in March |
| 6:30 PM • | Dave Nyczepir / FedScoop: White House launches the National AI Initiative Office, which will implement national AI strategy and coordinate research across gov., industry, and academia |
| 5:55 PM • | Zoe Schiffer / The Verge: Report: GitHub fired an employee who used the term “Nazis” in an internal Slack during the US Capitol riot; ~200 staff signed a letter questioning the firing |
| 5:45 PM • | Anna Schecter / NBC News: How right-wing extremists are using Telegram channels, including some affiliated with Proud Boys, to call for violence against government officials on Jan. 20 |
| 5:40 PM • | Sean O'Kane / The Verge: Sources: Apple held talks with EV startup Canoo in 2020; Apple was largely interested in Canoo's unique scalable electric vehicle platform |
| 5:10 PM • | Pew Research Center: Survey of 9,220 US adults: 53% get news from social media at least sometimes; 36% regularly get news from Facebook, 23% from YouTube, 15% from Twitter |
| 4:40 PM • | Wall Street Journal: Visa is abandoning its $5.3B planned acquisition of fintech firm Plaid after the DOJ sued over antitrust concerns in November |
| 4:15 PM • | Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: E-commerce infrastructure startup Nacelle closes $18M Series A led by Inovia, after closing a $4.8M seed round in mid-2020 |
| 3:55 PM • | Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: Google details a sophisticated hacking operation first detected in early 2020 that used several novel Chrome exploits to compromise users on Android and Windows |
| 3:30 PM • | Gizmodo: GPS metadata from videos posted to Parler on Jan. 6 shows several users deep inside the Capitol; source: FBI has expressed interest in examining the data |
| 3:25 PM • | Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: CrowdStrike details Sunspot, a newly discovered malware strain that was the first to be used in the SolarWinds supply chain attack, beginning in September 2019 |
| 3:10 PM • | Jeff Stone / CyberScoop: Europol says it has shut down DarkMarket, the largest online marketplace for illicit goods with 2,400+ vendors, and apprehended a suspect, an Australian man |
| 3:00 PM • | Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post: Gig workers and unions sue in CA Supreme Court to have Prop 22 overturned, alleging it violates the state constitution and limits the power of legislators |
| 2:40 PM • | Nathaniel Popper / New York Times: A look at those unlucky enough to forget the password to access their bitcoin; Chainalysis says 20% of all bitcoin, or ~$140B, appears to be lost or stranded |
| 2:20 PM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Gett, a ride-hailing platform focused on business users, raises $115M, bringing its total raised to $965M, says it's now “operationally profitable” |
| 1:55 PM • | Swetha Gopinath / Bloomberg: UK online greeting cards company Moonpig says it will list on London's stock exchange, sources say with an expected valuation of over £1B |
| 1:50 PM • | Freya Pratty / Sifted: Finnish startup M-Files, which helps businesses organize and track internal documents and data, raises $80M, bringing total raised to $127M |
| 1:40 PM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Descript, which offers smart video and audio editing tools, raises $30M Series B led by Spark Capital |
| 1:32 PM • | Nick Statt / The Verge: WhatsApp clarifies its new data sharing policy with Facebook, which mostly concerns businesses, after recent backlash and surge in Telegram and Signal downloads |
| 1:30 PM • | Shibani Mahtani / Washington Post: Chinese authorities are ramping up the use of digital tools to clamp down on Hong Kong activists, including website blocking, as some fear broader surveillance |
| 1:20 PM • | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Facebook expands its Access Your Information tool, adding six new categories of data, a search tool, and more, available now on its Android and iOS apps |
| 1:15 PM • | Andy Greenberg / Wired: After reports of all of Parler's data being downloaded by third parties, analysis shows Parler lacked basic security measures to prevent such a data breach |
| 1:10 PM • | Bloomberg: Zoom says it is seeking to raise $1.5B through a new stock offering |
| 1:05 PM • | Jeff Grubb / VentureBeat: Nvidia unveils RTX 3060, 3070, and 3080 GPUs, suited for mobile gaming, and says laptops with the RTX 3070 and 3080 will start rolling out this month |
| 1:00 PM • | Will Knight / Wired: After an outcry, HireVue, which offers automated assessments of job applicants, will stop using facial analysis but will still analyze intonation and behavior |
| 12:45 PM • | Brianna Sacks / BuzzFeed News: GoFundMe has banned fundraisers for traveling to political events “where there's risk of violence by the attendees”, following the violence at the Capitol |
| 12:18 PM • | Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: AMD unveils its Ryzen 5000 Series, 8-core x86 chips for gaming laptops and thin-and-light notebooks coming in February, alongside third-gen Epyc server chips |
| 11:30 AM • | Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech: Samsung unveils the Exynos 2100 flagship SoC, produced on a 5nm process node, touting 19% better single core and 33% better multi-core performance than last gen |
| 11:25 AM • | Reuters: Memo: Uganda has blocked all social media in the country ahead of its election; source says ban is retaliation for Facebook removing pro-government accounts |
| 11:10 AM • | Bijan Stephen / The Verge: Spanish gamer David “TheGrefg” Martínez had 2M+ concurrent viewers on Twitch watching him reveal Icon series Fortnite skin, breaking the previous record of 635K |
| 11:00 AM • | Mike Dano / Light Reading: AT&T, Verizon, Airbnb, Comcast, and others are halting donations to lawmakers who opposed certifying election results, such as Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley |
| 10:36 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Workato, provider of app integration and workflow automation services for businesses, raises $110M Series D at a post-money valuation of $1.7B |
| 10:25 AM • | Tony Romm / Washington Post: House Democrats plan to investigate the role of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media in the Capitol riot as part of broad inquiry into disinformation |
| 9:55 AM • | Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Cockroach Labs, which develops the cloud-native SQL database CockroachDB, raises $160M Series E at a $2B valuation led by Altimeter Capital |
| 9:40 AM • | Alex Heath / The Information: Memo: following its Trump ban, Facebook has told employees to avoid wearing company-branded apparel in public as it might put staff at risk |
| 9:35 AM • | Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: Jellyfish, which develops software engineering management tools, raises $31.5M Series B led by Insight Partners |
| 9:25 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Jedox, which develops financial modeling and analytics software, raises $100M+ led by Insight Partners, bringing its total raised to ~$150M |
| 9:15 AM • | David Z. Morris / Fortune: Modern Treasury, which develops software to help integrate direct banking services with online services, raises $38M led by Altimeter Capital |
| 8:55 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: AirSlate, which automates repetitive business processes, raises $40M, bringing its total raised to $80M |
| 8:40 AM • | Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal: Video-sharing site Rumble, popular among conservatives, sues Google, accusing it of diverting traffic to YouTube |
| 8:25 AM • | Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: JumpCloud, a cloud-native directory service for enterprises, raises $100M Series E led by BlackRock, bringing its total raised to $191M |
| 8:05 AM • | Patrick Frater / Variety: Study: Asia's online video market passed $30B in 2020 as subscription revenue overtook ads for the first time; avg. growth/year is projected at 12% until 2025 |
| 7:45 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Jobber, which makes management software for home services professionals, raises $60M led by Summit Partners |
| 7:30 AM • | Jim Wilson / Safety Detectives: Chinese startup Socialarks leaked 400GB of scraped data of 200M+ Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn users |
| 7:10 AM • | Nick Carey / Reuters: Aptiv announces its next-gen self-driving platform, which it claims could save up to 20%-30% of costs for carmakers compared to its earlier system |
| 6:35 AM • | Jason Koebler / VICE: Salesforce said it had “taken action” against RNC to stop it from sending emails that may lead to violence; RNC says it has stopped all online fundraising |
| 4:00 AM • | Jay Greene / Washington Post: Amazon says it will begin removing QAnon products from its site and third-party merchants attempting to list QAnon goods may have selling privileges revoked |
| 2:25 AM • | Ryan Browne / CNBC: Curve, which combines all of a customer's debit and credit cards into one app and a linked “smart” card which they can use for payments, raises $95M Series C |
| 12:00 AM • | Catherine Shu / TechCrunch: Indonesia-based BukuKas raises $10M Series A led by Sequoia Capital India to digitize SMBs with an “end-to-end software stack”, bringing total raised to $22M |
| 11:15 PM • | Katie Roof / Bloomberg: London-based payments company Checkout.com raises $450M in funding led by Tiger Global at a $15B post-money valuation, up from $5.5B last year |
| 10:40 PM • | Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: Intel previews 14nm Rocket Lake Core i9-11900K, its next consumer flagship processor, coming in Q1, promising up to 50% better integrated graphics performance |
| 10:25 PM • | Monica Chin / The Verge: Lenovo announces ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga: less than half an inch thick, 2K touch display with 450 nits of brightness, 11th-gen Intel i7 vPro, starts at $1,899 |
| 9:05 PM • | Twitter: Twitter says it has suspended over 70K accounts involved in spreading harmful QAnon-associated content since Friday |
| 8:30 PM • | Emily Czachor / Newsweek: North Idaho ISP Your T1 WIFI will block Facebook and Twitter for customers that request it after it received complaints over censorship |
| 8:00 PM • | Joseph Cox / VICE: Muslim prayer app Salaat First, with 10M+ Android downloads, tracks users' location in the UK, Germany, France, and Italy and sells it to data broker Predicio |
| 7:15 PM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Mobileye announces autonomous vehicle pilot programs in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Paris for early this year, after commencing in Detroit and Munich last year |
| 6:55 PM • | Melissa Repko / CNBC: Walmart says it will launch a fintech startup, with Ribbit Capital owning a minority share in the new company |
| 5:12 PM • | Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: Roundtable interview with Intel CEO Bob Swan on ramping up 10nm production, possibly sub-licensing leading process node technology from other foundries, more |
| 5:00 PM • | Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Intel unveils four chip families, including Intel Core H-series for laptop gaming and Core vPro focused on hardware-based security, for the enterprise market |
| 4:55 PM • | Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch: Parler is suing Amazon after its AWS suspension, leveling far-fetched antitrust allegations, including that Amazon hoped to reduce competition for Twitter |
| 4:50 PM • | Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: Qualcomm announces the next generation of its ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, saying it's 77% larger and 50% faster than the previous gen |
| 4:14 PM • | About Facebook: Facebook says it is now removing content containing the phrase “stop the steal”, under Facebook and Instagram's Coordinating Harm policy |
| 3:45 PM • | Tom Warren / The Verge: IDC: PC shipments for 2020 were up 13.1% YoY, the most annual growth in the market since 2010's 13.7% increase |
| 2:55 PM • | Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal: As tensions rise, China has found a subtle way to make life difficult for US tech companies: slowing down regulatory approval for acquisitions and other deals |
| 2:30 PM • | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Following Trump's ban on Facebook and Twitter, alternative social apps and private messengers top the app stores, including Signal, Telegram, MeWe, and CloutHub |
| 2:25 PM • | Evelyn Douek / Lawfare: Facebook should refer its decision to indefinitely block Trump to its Oversight Board, even though the board typically reviews individual pieces of content |
| 1:55 PM • | Jessica Guynn / USA Today: Facebook hires Roy L. Austin, Jr., a renowned civil rights attorney and advocate, to establish a new civil rights organization inside Facebook |
| 1:25 PM • | Bloomberg: Angela Merkel says social media's ban of the president's accounts is “problematic” and rules governing speech should happen by law, a sentiment echoed by France |
| 1:00 PM • | Chase / Legendary Live Streaming: Livestreaming report: Twitch had 17B watch hours in 2020, up 83% YoY, and Facebook Gaming had 3.59B, up 166%; YouTube had 100B watch hours across live and VOD |
| 12:30 PM • | Kathrin Hille / Financial Times: Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese companies, including contract electronics manufacturers, are moving away from China over trade tensions and rising costs |
| 12:20 PM • | Katie Roof / Bloomberg: Enfusion, a fintech startup specializing in software for asset managers, says Iconiq Growth has invested $150M in the company at a $1.5B valuation |
| 11:58 AM • | Ashley Gold / Axios: Facebook says it's freezing all contributions from its PAC through at least Q1 as it reviews its political spending, joining Microsoft and Google |
| 10:55 AM • | Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal: Airbnb, often forgotten in the Section 230 debate, has relied on the law to avoid responsibility for some listings and is lobbying to reshape it |
| 10:40 AM • | Reuters: Chinese government data shows domestic smartphone shipments dropped to 296M in 2020, down 20.4% from 372M in 2019 |
| 10:15 AM • | Wall Street Journal: Amazon, Walmart, and others are using AI to decide whether it makes economic sense to skip returns and let customers keep the products, which is often cheaper |
| 9:45 AM • | Chris Welch / The Verge: LG says Google Stadia and Nvidia's GeForce Now are coming to its latest TVs in the second half of 2021 |
| 9:30 AM • | Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal: Intercontinental Exchange says its crypto venture Bakkt will go public via a SPAC merger at a $2.1B valuation |
| 9:10 AM • | Dell Cameron / Gizmodo: A researcher says she archived 99.9% of posts on Parler, many with users' location data, as Apple, Google, and Amazon took the service offline |
| 8:55 AM • | Julie Zhu / Reuters: Sources: China will push tech giants, including Ant Group, Tencent, and JD.com, to share consumer credit data in a bid to prevent excess borrowing and fraud |
| 8:50 AM • | Thomas Seal / Bloomberg: Twitter stock fell 7%+ in first trading since permanently banning Trump; one analyst says Twitter could be inviting regulation by making editorial decisions |
| 8:25 AM • | Wilson Rothman / Wall Street Journal: As CES kicks off, a look at how the mammoth trade show pivoted to a virtual event this year with ~1,900 exhibitors participating, far shy of 2020's 4,500 |
| 7:55 AM • | FinSMEs: Italian grocery delivery service Cortilia raises €34M Series C led by Red Circle Investments |
| 7:35 AM • | Peter W. Singer / Defense One: After years of dodging the issue, social media platforms finally seem to acknowledge that they are not just a communication space but a conflict space |
| 7:20 AM • | Bloomberg: Turkey starts an antitrust investigation into Facebook and WhatsApp over new data sharing terms that have sparked privacy concerns |
| 7:10 AM • | France 24: Facebook says it has shut down a slew of accounts run by Ugandan government officials accused of seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of elections |
| 6:10 AM • | Jillian C. York: A list of things pundits are getting wrong about content moderation for precedent-setting events like deplatforming Trump, online purges, and banning Parler |
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirch
You don't have to be Elon Musk to have your own AI lab — Join Tribe's community of top ML engineers, executives and product leaders in bringing machine learning to companies around the world.
5 major drivers of employee engagement — Both employee happiness and employee engagement help to build a more positive and productive workplace. However, does focusing merely on employee happiness drive engagement?
Ten Tips to get Better, Deeper Sleep — Want to feel more rested in the morning? This weekend, try these strategies and see what works for you.
Mobileye's new lidar system-on-a-chip bolsters Intel's XPU strategy — Intel's multi-dimensional roadmap is delivering now the computing and intelligence that will be required for our connected future.
