Techmeme: Opendoor, which buys homes from sellers directly and then sells them at a profit, raises $400M from SoftBank's Vision Fund, source says at $2B valuation (Connie Loizos/TechCrunch)

Top News

Weaknesses in DEP, Apple's free service for remote enterprise device management, may give attackers access to the network by guessing serial numbers of devices — Researchers check bootstrap enrolment tech, suck teeth, whistle — Hackers can blow holes in Apple's managed service technology …

More: The Duo Blog, Forbes, CNET, Computerworld, Ars Technica, BetaNews, Dark Reading, ZDNet, iDownloadBlog.com, Neowin, VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, Threatpost, Cult of Mac, and MacDailyNews

Tweets: @iblametom and @dangillmor

David Stringer / Bloomberg:

Unnamed Australian teenager sentenced to eight months probation for breaching Apple's systems; investigators recovered 1TB of sensitive info copied from Apple — - Youth found accessing Apple networks addictive, court hears — Customers' data wasn't compromised by the attacks, Apple says

More: The Age, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Gizmodo, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, and CNET

Dan Thorp-Lancaster / Windows Central:

Microsoft will end support for “classic” Skype 7.0 in November, with desktop support ending November 1, mobile and tablets on November 15 — It looks like Microsoft is ready to take a second stab at moving Skype users to the modernized desktop app.

More: Skype Blogs, Thurrott.com, and TechCrunch

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Alphabet's Chronicle launches VirusTotal Enterprise, a business version of its free offering that, it says, increases malware search speed by 100x — Alphabet in January unveiled Chronicle as the latest project to graduate from the X moonshot factory. Focusing on cybersecurity …

More: Chronicle Blog, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and gHacks Technology News

Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:

Opendoor, which buys homes from sellers directly and then sells them at a profit, raises $400M from SoftBank's Vision Fund, source says at $2B valuation — It's official. Two weeks ago, we reported that Opendoor — the four year-old, San Francisco-based company aiming to make it possible …

More: SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, PYMNTS.com, Bloomberg, Axios, Fortune, and The Real Deal New York

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Google says it will now include creator and credit metadata in photos it displays on Google Images and will add copyright notice metadata in the coming weeks — Google hasn't always had the best of relationships with photographers, but today it announced a small measure that should go some way toward appeasing image rightsholders.

More: Engadget, The Keyword, Search Engine Journal, IPTC, and Neowin. Tweets: @samharrelson

Nour Al Ali / Bloomberg:

Swiss-based Seba has secured ~$104M in funding, dependent on being granted a banking license from Finma, to create a cryptocurrency focused regulated bank — - Seba raises $104 million from private, institutional investors — Company in talks with Swiss financial regulator since April

More: Reuters, CoinDesk, Financial Times, PYMNTS.com, Coingeek, Cointelegraph, Virtual Mining Bitcoin News, NewsBTC, and Bitsonline

CoinDesk:

Crypto mining company Bitmain files for Hong Kong IPO; draft filing shows $2.8B in revenue as of June 30 and $422.05M raised in funding round that ended Aug. 7 — Bitmain, the Beijing-based cryptocurrency mining giant, has officially filed an application to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX).

Bloomberg:

SoftBank's Vision Fund has already committed $65B; Masayoshi Son says that he plans to raise a new $100B fund every two or three years and spend ~$50B per year — The Japanese dealmaker says he'll raise a new $100 billion fund every few years. Silicon Valley's disruptors are struggling to keep up.

More: Silicon Valley Business … and Bloomberg

Tweets: @teddyschleifer, @business, @mcbridesg, @pelstrom, @peter_tl, @robinwauters, @selina_y_wang, @tmfassociates, and @martinsfp. Thanks:@pelstrom

Matthew Prince / The Cloudflare Blog:

Cloudflare launches its own domain registrar called Cloudflare Registrar, promises to never charge anything more than the wholesale price each TLD charges — “I love my domain registrar.” Has anyone ever said this? From before Cloudflare even launched in September 2010 …

More: Domain Name Wire and TechCrunch

Benjamin Mayo:

Apple's first iOS apps on Mac, via its universal framework Marzipan, are sluggish, have UI quirks, non-standard behaviors, should not be preinstalled on Mojave — I don't like marzipan. And I don't like Marzipan. — I haven't been running Mojave on my machine in the beta period.

Tweets: @jerkob, @zeveisenberg, @fakebaldur, and @stroughtonsmith

Consumer Reports:

Most Microsoft Surface laptops regain Consumer Reports' “recommended” status; Surface Go is still not recommended, mainly due to its slow performance — New reliability ratings prompt the change, but Surface Go falls short on performance — Microsoft Surface laptops are now eligible for …

More: ZDNet, Windows Central, BGR, The Verge, TechSpot, Thurrott.com, MSPoweruser, GeekWire, and Neowin

Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo:

Amazon's anti-union tactics revealed in leaked 45-minute video that it sent to team leaders at Whole Foods; Amazon says Gizmodo “cherry-picked soundbites” — Amazon, the country's second-largest employer, has so far remained immune to any attempts by U.S. workers to form a union.

More: Mercury News, Forbes, The Guardian, Boing Boing, and Fast Company

Tweets: @heidigroover, @bryandisagrees, @tylerkenthill, @alexpalombo, @fightfor15, and @alibreland. Thanks:@andrewcouts

Kate Clark / TechCrunch:

The Infatuation, a restaurant discovery platform which bought Zagat from Google, raises $30M from Jeffrey Katzenberg's WndrCo — WndrCo, the consumer tech investment and holding company founded by longtime Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, has invested $30 million in The Infatuation, a restaurant discovery platform.

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Cargo, which makes boxes of items such as gum, phone chargers, and snacks to help drivers sell goods to ride-hailing passengers, raises $22.5M Series A — In-car commerce startup Cargo has raised $22.5 million in a series A round of funding led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund …

More: PE Hub Blog, Forbes, and FinSMEs

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

A look at how, ten years after Google introduced Android to prevent the industry's other players from becoming dominant, its mobile OS has become just that — It's an Android world; we just live in it — Android is 10 years old now, give or take. It was revealed on September 23rd …

More: The Register. Tweets: @ow, @brchastain, @indeadline, and @verge

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Microsoft's Swiftkey keyboard adds two-way translation for 60+ languages, to translate both outgoing and incoming messages on Android — Microsoft-owned mobile keyboard company SwiftKey has announced a new translation feature in its Android app, one that leverages Microsoft Translator …

More: GeekWire and Android Police

Steve Blank:

A look at how the Apple Watch is poised to disrupt the highly regulated healthcare industry and what diagnostics and screening apps Apple may add in the future — I don't own an Apple Watch. I do have a Fitbit. But the Apple Watch 4 announcement intrigued me in a way no other product has since the original IPhone.

More: ZDNet

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:

Oculus announces the standalone Oculus Quest, shipping next spring for $399 with touch controllers and 50+ games at launch — Opening up the Oculus Connect 5 keynote with some announcements, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that its newest headset, called Oculus Quest …

More: Oculus, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, Oculus Blog, CNBC, Facebook, The Verge, Engadget, Wired, Ars Technica, Wired, CNET, Inquirer, Engadget, Polygon, ILMxLAB, Engadget, The Verge, Windows Central, Variety, Quartz, Mashable, The Verge, Geek News Central, SiliconANGLE, MIT Technology Review, and VentureBeat

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Mark Zuckerberg says all Oculus VR content will be forward-compatible with upcoming Rifts

More: Oculus and VentureBeat

Tweets: @iansherr and @joshconstine

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Real estate tech company Compass raises $400M Series F, led by SoftBank's Vision Fund and the Qatar Investment Authority, at a $4.4B valuation — Compass, the New York startup that has built a tech-first platform to take on the antiquated market of real estate, is building up its own house today.

More: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and VentureBeat. Tweets: @shaig. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Sara Atske / Pew Research Center:

Study of US teens finds 59% say they have been bullied or harassed online, 79% say elected officials are doing only a fair or poor job of addressing the problem — 59% of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, and a similar share says it's a major problem for people their age.

More: TechCrunch. Tweets: @sarahintampa, @pewinternet, and @pewresearch

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