Techmeme: HeadSpin, which offers a testing and performance analytics platform for apps and devices, raises $60M Series C, valuing the company at $1.16B (Alex Konrad/Forbes)

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Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:

Amazon opens Amazon Go Grocery in Seattle, its first full sized grocery store without cashiers or checkout lines — Amazon Go is going full grocery. — Two years after launching a chain of convenience stores without cashiers or checkout lines, Amazon is opening its first “Amazon Go Grocery” …

More: TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, Vox, Bloomberg, Reuters, TechSpot, Newser, SlashGear, TechRadar.com, PYMNTS.com, Yahoo Finance, Protocol, and CNET

Tweets: @laurenthomas, @pierslinney, @nbcnightlynews, @humanvsmachine, @jowyang, @kantrowitz, @raju, @kushkatakia, @sallyshin, @delrey, @delrey, @jensmithwsj, @ranimolla, and @mdudas. Thanks:@taylor_soper

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Firefox begins rollout of encrypted DNS over HTTPS (DoH) by default for US-based users to thwart snooping ISPs — US-based Firefox users get encrypted DNS lookups today or within a few weeks. — Firefox will start switching browser users to Cloudflare's encrypted-DNS service today and roll …

More: The Verge, LaptopMag, Yahoo Finance, CNET, New America, Windows Central, Open Policy & Advocacy, Gizmodo, CircleID, 9to5Mac, PCWorld, BleepingComputer, MSPoweruser, SlashGear, Input, gHacks Technology News, Thurrott, Mashable, Neowin, Computer Business Review, ZDNet, VentureBeat, and BetaNews

Tweets: @firefox, @switch_d, @kimzetter, @kennwhite, and @andybeal

TechCrunch:

Grab raises up to $856M from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and TIS INTEC, a Japanese IT solutions business — Southeast Asian on-demand transport startup Gojek denies that it is involved in talks to merge with Grab but today Grab announced a piece of news that — at the very least …

More: The Information, KrASIA, South China Morning Post, Bloomberg, Axios, Bloomberg, PYMNTS.com, Tech in Asia, ZDNet, and Yahoo Finance

Sarah Emerson / OneZero :

Survey of 11,500+ H-1B visa holders at US tech companies finds discomfort with Trump's policies, with many feeling their place in the US is highly conditional — OneZero conducted a 10,000-person poll to shed light on the plight of H-1B workers — This article is part of Into the Valley …

More: 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, and The Verge

Tweets: @ozm, @ustechworkers, @histoftech, @indivisible_usa, @organizejs, @arjunblj, @janelytv, @datarade, @s_m_i, @sarahnemerson, @kozemoze, @dlberes, @joshsternberg, @ow, and @davegershgorn. Thanks:@dlberes

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google patches a Chrome zero-day bug found by its Threat Analysis Group, the third actively exploited Chrome zero-day discovered in the past year — This is the third Chrome zero-day discovered being exploited in the wild in the past year. — Google has released today a Chrome update …

More: Google Chrome Releases, Threatpost, The Hacker News, Security Affairs, SecurityWeek, and Pocketables. Tweets: @campuscodi

Biz Carson / Protocol:

Bird says it's testing Bird Pay, a feature that lets users buy products from local businesses by scanning a QR code in the Bird app, as it looks to stem losses — Investors want to see profits. Is adding payments to products the solution? — Bird, the scooter company, is pivoting into payments — kind of.

More: Mashable and TechCrunch

Tweets: @zck, @bhwags, @issielapowsky, and @neerajka

Andrew Chung / Reuters:

U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Apple's appeal to avoid paying ~$440M in damages to VirnetX in longstanding patent infringement case — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Apple Inc's bid to avoid paying about $440 million in damages …

More: TechRadar.com, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone Hacks, Wccftech, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Slashdot, and MacRumors. Tweets: @thekenyeung

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Firefox for Mac and Linux will begin using a newly-developed security sandbox system called RLBox to minimize impact of errors in its largely C/C++ codebase — Firefox's new RLBox sandbox system to ship to Linux users in Firefox 74 and Mac users in Firefox 75.

More: Mozilla Hacks. Tweets: @eroc, @mozhacks, @campuscodi, and @campuscodi

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google says a planned server update gone awry caused Nest cameras to go down for over 16 hours — Google Nest is facing an outage this afternoon that sees “camera connectivity impacted.” At the moment, “Nest Cam Live Video” and “Video History” are down, though all other smart home services are operational.

More: The Verge and iMore

Amir Efrati / The Information:

Source: as it struggles to achieve a breakthrough, Waymo has doubled its headcount to 1,500 over the past year, mostly focusing on engineers — Alphabet's Waymo still hasn't perfected a self-driving car. So it is throwing more money at the problem. — Waymo nearly doubled its headcount …

Tweets: @jessicalessin and @amir

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

Revolut, a UK-based digital bank and payments company, raises $500M led by TCV at a $5.5B valuation, up 3x from April 2018, bringing its total raised to $836M — - Revolut has raised $500 million in a funding round led by TCV, an early investor in Facebook and Netflix.

More: TechCrunch, EU-Startups, Business Insider, Financial Times, Fortune, CryptoGlobe, BetaNews, coinspeaker.com, Cointelegraph, Reuters, The Block, Crypto Briefing, AltFi, The Guardian, Quartz, Yahoo Entertainment, and Wall Street Journal

Tweets: @borrellpepe and @jpwiseuk

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

HeadSpin, which offers a testing and performance analytics platform for apps and devices, raises $60M Series C, valuing the company at $1.16B — Covering venture capital, software and startups — When you stream YouTube clips on an airplane or watch TikTok videos in the back of a car …

Tweets: @forbeseurope, @alex, and @alexrkonrad. Thanks:@alexrkonrad

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Graphcore, which designs processors for AI applications, raises $150M extension to its Series D at a $1.95B valuation — The UK has a strong history when it comes to processors, but the global chip market has seen some ups and downs of late. Today comes some big news that underscores …

More: MarketWatch and Bloomberg

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Expedia is laying off ~3,000 employees, 12% of its workforce, says it has been “pursuing growth in an unhealthy and undisciplined way” in email to employees — Expedia Group is laying off 12 percent of its workforce, about 3,000 employees, in an effort to “streamline and focus” …

More: Investors Overview, TechSpot, CNBC, and Seeking Alpha. Thanks:@cskuhlman

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

Taiwan-based blockchain security startup CoolBitX raises $16.75M Series B led by SBI Holdings to help exchanges improve compliance with AML rules — CoolBitX, a blockchain security startup based in Taiwan, announced today it has raised a $16.75 million Series B led by returning investor SBI Holdings, a Japanese financial group.

More: FinSMEs, Bloomberg, and CoinDesk

Will Oremus / OneZero :

In-depth look at the iOS App Store and the potentially anti-competitive ways it restricts consumers and third-parties, an increasing area of regulatory scrutiny — Its App Store has a choke hold on your devices. That may not last much longer. — ou've just dropped $500 on a new iPad Air.

Tweets: @siobhannyc, @dlberes, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, and @willoremus

David Gilbert / VICE:

As China ramps up efforts to control the narrative around the coronavirus outbreak, it is leveraging platforms like WeChat and Twitter to track down critics — Joshua Left, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who runs a self-driving car startup in Wuhan, China, arrived in San Francisco in mid-January for a vacation …

More: Reclaim The Net, The Verge, Slashdot, and Telecoms.com

Tweets: @keegan_hamilton, @daithaigilbert, @vicenews, and @nathanattrill

Cyrus Farivar / NBC News:

A county judge in San Diego has ruled that Instacart's classification of its California workers is not compliant with AB5; Instacart says it will appeal — The judge says Instacart is not complying with the new “gig economy” law that requires workers to be considered employees, not independent contractors.

More: VICE and Objective-See's Blog

Tweets: @aprilaser, @lorenasgonzalez, @cfarivar, and @saltygulf

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Eaze finally closes a $15M bridge round and $20M as part of a Series D, as it works through cash flow, legal issues and aims to start selling its own cannabis — Six weeks after we broke the news that cannabis startup Eaze was running out of money, laying off more employees and scrambling …

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