| 12:10 PM • | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Amazon says it is bringing Amazon PayCode, which allows customers to checkout using cash at Western Union locations, to the US |
| 12:05 PM • | Lauren Smiley / Wired: How data from the victim's Fitbit and a neighbor's Ring surveillance camera played a crucial role in the arrest of a 90-year-old suspect in a murder trial in CA |
| 11:50 AM • | Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Documents found on an unprotected backup drive of a Nokia Networks employee shed light on Russia's secret network surveillance system, known as SORM |
| 11:35 AM • | Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times: Researchers: many streaming dongles and TVs, including those made Amazon, Roku, Samsung, and LG, are sending user data to firms such as Netflix and Facebook |
| 11:25 AM • | Jordan Crook / TechCrunch: PlayVS, a platform that provides esports infrastructure for US schools, raises $50M Series C led by NEA, bringing its total raised to $96M |
| 11:15 AM • | Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal: Facing mounting antitrust pressure, Google and Facebook have been cozying up to publishers, offering oft-requested fees and news-ranking changes |
| 11:00 AM • | Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: Researchers discover a weakness in the WS-Discovery protocol, found in over 800,000 IoT devices, that lets hackers amplify DDoS attacks |
| 10:55 AM • | Sean Silcoff / Globe and Mail: Toronto-based TouchBistro, which offers a payments platform and more for restaurants globally, raises $158M Series E led by OMERS Growth Equity |
| 10:50 AM • | Justine Calma / The Verge: Salesforce announces Sustainability Cloud, a platform that helps companies track and analyze their environmental footprint, which began as an in-house tool |
| 10:40 AM • | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: IBM unveils a 53-qubit quantum computer, scheduled to arrive next month, making it the largest universal quantum computer available for external use |
| 10:20 AM • | Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic: Instagram's Close Friends feature proves controversial as both an influencer revenue stream and superficial gateway to intimacy |
| 9:50 AM • | Dan Seifert / The Verge: Sonos Move review: loud and full sound that is great indoors or out, reliable wireless connectivity, but too big and heavy for travel, significant setup bugs |
| 9:30 AM • | Katrina Brooker / Fast Company: As Google develops more powerful AI and proliferates it across the tech world, its real-world ethical ramifications become more consequential and murky |
| 9:10 AM • | Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal: Report: ~75 countries are using AI for surveillance and Huawei is providing surveillance tech in 50 countries, far more than its nearest competitor Hikvision |
| 8:45 AM • | Bloomberg: Facebook confirms it was collecting Portal audio clips, some of which were transcribed by contractors, says 2nd-gen Portal devices will offer an opt-out option |
| 8:30 AM • | Nick Statt / The Verge: Facebook unveils second-gen 10-inch Portal for $179, and 8-inch Portal Mini for $129, with WhatsApp call support, picture-in-picture viewing, and Prime Video |
| 8:25 AM • | Josh Constine / TechCrunch: Facebook debuts Portal TV, a TV accessory for video calling, streaming, AR gaming, and co-viewing Facebook Watch shows, shipping November 5 for $149 |
| 7:40 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Acronis, which provides backup software and data protection tools, raises $147M round led by Goldman Sachs at a $1B+ valuation |
| 7:25 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Descript, which offers tools for creating podcasts, raises $15M Series A from a16z and Redpoint, and acquires Lyrebird, which built audio transcription tools |
| 7:05 AM • | Dieter Bohn / The Verge: Apple Watch Series 5 review: the best smartwatch with an always-on screen, a beautiful display, and new apps, but its battery life hasn't improved |
| 6:45 AM • | Mark Sullivan / Fast Company: A look at how Facebook's AI researchers are trying to build smart chatbots using unsupervised training of neural networks for natural language processing |
| 5:15 AM • | Will Oremus / OneZero: Studies that try to place a monetary value on consumer privacy have such varying results that researchers are beginning to conclude that it's the wrong approach |
| 4:30 AM • | Leo Kelion / BBC: London's Gatwick to become the UK's first airport to use facial recognition cameras on a permanent basis for ID checks for passenger boarding |
| 3:01 AM • | Cherlynn Low / Engadget: HP debuts 13" Elitebook Dragonfly ultra-light business convertible with Intel Core vPro processor, 2TB storage, 16GB RAM, available Oct. 25, starting at $1,549 |
| 2:45 AM • | Tavi Gevinson / The Cut: Founder of the Rookie mag reflects on being an early influencer and the effect that Instagram had on her life and career as Instagram's aesthetic keeps evolving |
| 1:30 AM • | Amy Thomson / Bloomberg: Mike Muller, who has served as ARM's CTO for nearly 20 years and was one of about 16 founders, is retiring at the end of the month |
| 12:25 AM • | Steve Dent / Engadget: HTC names former Orange exec Yves Maitre as its new CEO; HTC had $770M in revenue in 2018, the first time its annual revenue fell below $1B as a public company |
| 11:10 PM • | Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch: FarmWise, which is developing autonomous farming robots for removing weeds, raises $14.5M Series A, following a $5.7M seed round in 2017 |
| 10:45 PM • | Juli Clover / MacRumors: Judge in California certifies lawsuit against Apple for offering refurbished replacement devices under AppleCare and AppleCare+, as a class action |
| 10:25 PM • | Reuters: Adobe beats with Q3 revenue of $2.83B, up 24% YoY, and Digital Media revenue of $1.96B, up 22% YoY, forecasts $2.97B Q4 revenue, vs. $3.03B expected by analysts |
| 9:30 PM • | Tim Peterson / Digiday: Sources: as Amazon gets ready to add linear TV channels to IMDb TV, partners push back against its plans to sell all ads with 55% revenue share to publishers |
| 8:02 PM • | Financial Times: Facebook to give body cameras to UK Met for firearms training exercises and will use the footage to train algorithms on real-life first person shooter incidents |
| 6:55 PM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Trulioo, a Vancouver-based electronic identity and address verification startup, raises ~$53M Series C led by Goldman Sachs, bringing its total raised to $96.6M |
| 6:00 PM • | Janko Roettgers / Variety: VENN, a Cheddar-like TV network that wants to mix esports with Twitch-like game streaming, raises $17M seed round, plans to launch in 2020 |
| 5:05 PM • | Ben Thompson / Stratechery: As Amazon's spend on One Day shipping aligns with its customer-centric focus, its product selection policies stressing profitability risk its “Day One” culture |
| 4:06 PM • | Makena Kelly / The Verge: Facebook shares more on its upcoming Oversight Board for content decisions and how members are picked, says decisions will be binding even if Facebook disagrees |
| 3:40 PM • | Harriet Agnew / Financial Times: France says it has received €5B from institutional investors to invest in tech startups over the next three years, as it seeks to grow more unicorns |
| 2:56 PM • | Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: Sources: after setbacks, Facebook partners with Luxottica to help make “Orion” AR smart glasses designed to replace smartphones, with 2023-2025 launch timeframe |
| 2:40 PM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Facebook says it has updated its definition of “terrorist organizations” and changed its counterterrorism team's structure to curb white supremacist violence |
| 2:30 PM • | Stephen Hall / 9to5Google: Sources: Google plans “Nest Wifi” with a different design from Google's routers, featuring Eero-like satellite units with built-in Assistant-enabled speakers |
| 2:05 PM • | Wall Street Journal: Sources: Trump to visit Silicon Valley for a fundraiser on Tuesday, but its location is a mystery, even to donors; ex-Sun CEO Scott McNealy is the likely host |
| 2:00 PM • | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Google will start surfacing key moments from videos in search results, highlighting them with direct links to timestamps provided by creators |
| 1:50 PM • | Dieter Bohn / The Verge: Google Fi debuts a more traditional unlimited plan for $70/mo. for a single line, but “may optimize” video to 480p and will throttle data past 22GB per month |
| 1:25 PM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: LinkedIn begins the global roll out of Skills Assessments, multiple-choice tests for users to verify their expertise across ~75 skills like coding |
| 1:21 PM • | U.S. Department of Justice: US files civil lawsuit against Edward Snowden after the publication of his book Permanent Record, alleging he violated NDA agreements with the CIA and NSA |
| 1:00 PM • | Carolina Mandl / Reuters: Brazilian home goods retail platform MadeiraMadeira, which offers around 1M products, raises $110M led by SoftBank's $5B Latin America fund |
| 12:55 PM • | Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Boston-based DataRobot, which helps companies train and deploy ML models, raises $206M Series E led by Sapphire Ventures, bringing its total raised to $431M |
| 12:30 PM • | Bijan Stephen / The Verge: Microsoft has started testing ads on Mixer, including on some partnered channels like Ninja's, but says creators are not getting a cut of ad revenue for now |
| 12:05 PM • | Brian X. Chen / New York Times: The new iPhones' improvements, while nice, do not warrant upgrading for those with an iPhone X or later and aren't even must-haves for iPhone 6s owners |
| 11:40 AM • | Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge: Uber says RideCheck, its tool that uses GPS and other sensors to detect abnormalities with the ride, such as a crash, is now live across the US |
| 11:30 AM • | Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter: NBCUniversal says its ad- and subscription-supported streaming service will be called Peacock and will launch in April 2020 with over 15,000 hours of content |
| 11:25 AM • | Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: Despite saying he was leaving 15 months ago, Facebook's former policy chief Elliot Schrage is still working as a full time employee with a new title |
| 10:55 AM • | Daniel Palmer / CoinDesk: Following JPMorgan's JPM Coin, Wells Fargo announces plans to pilot a US dollar-linked stablecoin for internal settlement beginning next year |
| 10:35 AM • | Nilay Patel / The Verge: iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max review: its camera system outperforms the Pixel 3 and Note10 in bright light and, with Night mode, usually beats Pixel 3 in low light |
| 10:00 AM • | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Ironclad, a platform for legal teams to manage their contracts workflow, raises $50M Series C led by Y Combinator Continuity, bringing its total raised to $83M |
| 9:20 AM • | Alex Konrad / Forbes: DevOps platform GitLab raises $268M Series E co-led by Iconiq Capital and Goldman Sachs at a $2.75B valuation, says its annualized revenue is growing 143% YoY |
| 9:15 AM • | Dieter Bohn / The Verge: Amazon launches Amazon Music HD, offering lossless audio for streaming or downloading, for $14.99/month or $12.99/month for Prime customers |
| 9:00 AM • | Apple: Apple awards an additional $250M from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to Corning, bringing its total investment in the precision glass maker to $450M |
| 8:45 AM • | ProPublica: Medical images and health data, including X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans, with names and birthdates, from 16M scans worldwide are available unprotected online |
| 8:30 AM • | Zheping Huang / Bloomberg: Crypto-exchange giant Binance makes a strategic investment in Chinese crypto media firm Mars Finance, at a post-money valuation of ~$200M |
| 8:15 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Snapchat adds a 3D camera mode with 3D effects, lenses, and filters, which can be used by those with iPhone X and above, and viewed by users with other phones |
| 8:05 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Autonomous truck startup TuSimple adds a $120M extension to its Series D round led by Sina, at a $1B valuation, bringing its total raised to $298M |
| 7:45 AM • | Mary Loritz / EU-Startups: Munich-based Holidu, a price comparison and booking site for vacation rentals active in 21 markets, raises €40M Series C led by Prime Ventures |
| 7:30 AM • | Joshua Franklin / Reuters: WeWork parent says it expects to complete its IPO by the end of the year after shelving plans to launch an investor road show this week |
| 7:10 AM • | Nicole Sperling / New York Times: A new memoir by Marc Randolph, Netflix's co-founder and first CEO, recounts the entertainment giant's startup days, when DVDs in red envelopes were all the rage |
| 6:25 AM • | Chris Velazco / Engadget: iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max review: improved battery life, flexible triple camera system, and great performance, but ultra-wide camera sometimes lacks detail |
| 6:20 AM • | Nilay Patel / The Verge: iPhone 11 review: has a terrific battery life and excellent camera, and is the best phone for the average consumer, but iOS 13 is buggy |
| 4:35 AM • | Gregory Barber / Wired: AI researchers are beginning to acknowledge and confront the “reproducibility” crisis, which makes it hard for others to replicate the results of AI systems |
| 3:50 AM • | Nathaniel Gleicher / Facebook: Facebook removes accounts for spreading disinformation on Instagram and FB, hundreds from Ukraine, linked to PR firm, and from Iraq, posting on societal issues |
| 3:00 AM • | Adam Satariano / New York Times: A new generation of cameras in the UK that feed into facial recognition software, enabling real-time identity checks, raises new privacy concerns among citizens |
| 1:40 AM • | Amanda / Prime Unicorn Index: Filing: DevOps platform Gitlab has authorized a Series E round that could raise up to $268M at a $2.55B valuation |
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