Techmeme: Analysis: in 2017 and 2018, quantum tech startups received at least $450M in private funding, more than 4x the $104M disclosed over the previous two years (Elizabeth Gibney/Nature)

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October 7, 2019, 8:55 PM

Top News

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Apple releases macOS Catalina with new apps Find My and Screen Time, as well as Music, TV, and Podcast apps to replace iTunes, Sidecar for companion iPads, more — Apple today released the newest version of its operating system for Macs, macOS Catalina, to the public. macOS Catalina comes …

More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, Ars Technica, The Verge, Mac App Store, 9to5Mac, Six Colors, iMore, MacRumors, iMore, The Next Web, Computerworld, VentureBeat, Gotta Be Mobile, Ars Technica, Macworld, Gizmodo, MacStories, TechCrunch, CNET, Engadget, and VentureBeat

Tweets: @coolasspuppy, @popcrave, @benjedwards, @zdnet, @backlon, @ow, and @ryansatin

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Catalina review: Sidecar is great, Arcade is solid but has fewer games than on iOS, iPad apps via Catalyst are lacking, and security prompts are overbearing — iTunes is gone, but what comes next? — It's been a messy fall for Apple software releases. iOS and iPadOS have already …

More: 9to5Mac, iMore, and MacStories

Tweets: @danideahl and @reckless

Katie Notopoulos / BuzzFeed News:

Instagram is removing the Activity feed's Following tab, which showed users what their friends were liking, saying that few people used it — Instagram is ditching the “Following” tab in the Activity feed. — A Catholic priest notices a fellow priest liking gay porn star pics on Instagram.

Mishaal Rahman / XDA Developers:

Google to require new devices launching with Android 9 or later to come with a wellness app and parental controls, either Google's own apps or third-party ones — One of the biggest themes of Google I/O 2018 was improving digital wellness. As consumers realized they're spending way too much time online …

More: XDA Developers, Android Police, The Verge, XDA Developers, 9to5Google, Android Headlines, Neowin, and Android Central. Thanks:@mishaalrahman

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

The latest Google Mobile Services agreement states that OEMs' custom gesture navigation controls for Android must be enabled only via settings moving forward

More: Android Police, Android Open Source Project, Engadget, Gotta Be Mobile, Android Police, Neowin, Android Headlines, Ars Technica, MSPoweruser, Gizchina, and Android Central

Tweets: @enyibinakata and @mishaalrahman

Financial Times:

Sources: Apple has recently approached big music labels about bundling together Apple Music and Apple TV+ for one flat monthly fee — Apple's hopes of creating a super-bundle of media content for one flat monthly fee have run into early opposition, with some record labels nervous …

Bloomberg:

Trump admin blacklists eight Chinese tech companies, including video surveillance camera giants, implicated in human rights violations against Muslim minorities — - Move comes as U.S.-China high-level trade talks set to resume — Action targets Chinese surveillance companies, public entities

More: The Verge, New York Times, The Hill, and BuzzFeed News

Tweets: @kenroth, @hayekf1, @kennedycsis, @chadbown, @business, and @anaswanson

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Hulu launches support for offline viewing, letting users download up to 25 titles across 5 devices, initially available only to iOS users on its “No Ads” plan — Hulu is finally adding downloads to its streaming service, years after Netflix and Amazon Prime Video did the same.

More: The Verge, iMore, Ars Technica, Thurrott, Engadget, MacRumors, The Next Web, Gizmodo, CNET, 9to5Mac, Variety, Fast Company, Cord Cutters News, and Polygon

Tweets: @sabartonwrites and @dcseifert

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:

Indian hotel-booking startup Oyo is raising $1.5B at a $10B valuation, of which $700M is from the founder Ritesh Agarwal, who plans to raise his stake to 30% — - 25-year-old founder will spend $700 million for new shares — Existing investors such as SoftBank, Sequoia will add the rest

More: TechCrunch, Reuters, Crunchbase News, Trak.in, Coinspeaker, PYMNTS.com, Business Insider, and Inc42 Media

Tweets: @joshsteinvc, @saritharai, @taylor_soper, @varun_mathur, @bsindia, @iamsamirarora, @hadip, and @r0h1n

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Roku to sell low-cost versions of its Smart Soundbar and Wireless Subwoofer under Walmart's onn brand for $129 — Roku will produce lower-cost versions of its new Smart Soundbar and Wireless Subwoofer for Walmart under the retailer's own onn brand, the company announced this morning.

More: Business Wire, CNET, SlashGear, Variety, TechSpot, and Android Police. Tweets: @ophirgottlieb

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

SCOTUS refuses to review a 2018 decision by appeals court that found Apple didn't infringe on a Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison patent and threw out $506M in damages — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a bid by the University of Wisconsin's patent licensing arm …

More: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, and iMore

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Next Insurance, which offers digital insurance products for small businesses, raises $250M Series C at a valuation of $1B+, bringing its total raised to $381M — Next Insurance, a three-year-old U.S.-based firm that sells insurance products to small businesses, has become the latest unicorn …

More: Wall Street Journal, PR Newswire, Coinspeaker, Silicon Valley Business …, SiliconANGLE, FinSMEs, Financial Times, and Crowdfund Insider

David Carnoy / CNET:

Amazon launches $110 Kindle Kids Edition, with a choice of four cases, one year free FreeTime Unlimited subscription, and features like achievement badges — Amazon's been selling kid-friendly editions of Fire tablets for a while, but now it's bringing the Kids Edition concept to its Kindle e-reader.

More: Digital Trends, GeekWire, Digital Trends, Ars Technica, Financial Times, BetaNews, iPhone Hacks, Thurrott, VentureBeat, PCWorld, Gizmodo, and The Verge

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From Mediagazer

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Source: Bari Weiss is planning to create a masthead for CBS News as part of a broader overhaul of standards and procedures

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Trump says Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic trainwreck” and “CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW”; earlier CBS aired the Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Trump

Lorcan Lovett / Nieman Reports:

A look at the state of independent media in Myanmar, which lost US and Swedish funding this year and where subscriptions aren't a dependable source of revenue

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More News

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

SCOTUS rejects Amazon's appeal to avoid a lawsuit from Nevada warehouse workers seeking compensation for time spent in required post-shift security searches

More: The Next Web and Bloomberg

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:

SCOTUS affirms lower court ruling that found the Americans With Disabilities Act protects access not just to physical businesses but also their websites, apps

More: Slate and Fast Company

Tweets: @merylkevans, @michaelgrant_cj, @leeflower, @latimes, and @jschwabish

VICE:

Twitter employees explain the platform's more relaxed approach to policing content, while keeping a 1,500-strong enforcement team vs. Facebook's 15,000

Tweets: @josephfcox, @jess_miers, @vice, @agoldmund, @katiedrumm, @devonzuegel, @josephfcox, @davezatz, @maxsparber, @josephfcox, and @davidsven

Lisa Bonos / Washington Post:

Tinder debuts Swipe Night, a choose-your-own adventure game inside its app with weekly episodes, and hopes to match users based on their in-game choices

Jeremy Burge / Emojipedia:

In iOS 13.1.2, Hong Kong users' emoji keyboard does not include the Taiwanese flag, a year after a more complete ban on the flag for iOS in mainland China

More: The Verge, Boing Boing, and iPhone in Canada Blog

Tweets: @emojipedia, @sallyshin, @callumj, @wongmjane, and @smile_lee

Wall Street Journal:

Egyptian authorities are targeting online dissidents and activists and imposing random searches of phones and laptops on the streets to clamp down on unrest

Tweets: @jmalsin, @wsj, @afekki, and @hima_follower

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Integration platform as a service provider and MuleSoft rival Celigo raises $20M Series B, says its Salesforce-NetSuite integration app is used by 1,000+ firms

More: Enterprise Times and FinSMEs

Earlier Picks

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Facebook agrees to pay $40M in proposed settlement with several advertising agencies that claimed the company misstated video metrics by 150-900%

More: Silicon Valley Business … and Fortune

Tweets: @chronotope, @seldo, @joshtpm, @moorehn, @alexweprin, @robblatt, @hayesbrown, @cjane87, @theryanford, @mattnavarra, and @ayyy_west