Techmeme
May 14, 2020, 4:25 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple acquires California-based VR startup NextVR; a report in April said the deal is valued at around $100M  —  - NextVR provides virtual-reality sports content to headsets  — Apple developing virtual reality, augmented reality headsets  —  Apple Inc. confirmed it acquired NextVR …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Nvidia unveils its A100 AI chip with 54B transistors and 5 petaflops of performance, about 20 times more than the previous-generation Volta  —  Nvidia unwrapped its Nvidia A100 artificial intelligence chip today, and CEO Jensen Huang called it the ultimate instrument for advancing AI.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
From August, Chrome will start blocking ads that consume 4MB of network data, 15 seconds of CPU usage in any 30 second period, or 60 seconds of total CPU usage  —  Google today announced that Chrome will start blocking resource-heavy ads.  The company ads that mine cryptocurrency …
Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
As tech giants introduce new work from home guidelines, employees are considering moving away from Silicon Valley and companies contemplate adjusting salaries  —  Sachin Dhar thought he and his fiancée had a great deal paying $2,650 per month for a one-bedroom rental in South San Francisco …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft says it will acquire Metaswitch Networks, a provider of virtualized network software whose customers include telecom companies like BT and Sprint  —  - The announcement comes less than a month after Microsoft closed the acquisition of another company focused on the telecommunications market, Affirmed Networks.
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
A coalition of 20 children's advocacy and consumer groups says TikTok has flouted an agreement it made with the FTC to protect the privacy of children  —  Twenty consumer groups said the video app had failed to make some changes it agreed to carry out last year to settle federal charges.
Bloomberg:
Dara Khosrowshahi, who completed 41 transactions with a total value of $12.7B as Expedia's CEO, is following the same playbook at Uber of buying competitors  —  In nearly three years at the helm of Uber Technologies Inc., Dara Khosrowshahi has focused mostly on cutting costs.
Celia Wan / The Block:
Reddit is beta testing Community Points, to reward users for contributing content to subreddits r/Cryptocurrency and r/FortniteBR with two Ethereum-based tokens  —  Reddit, the popular online forum, is beta testing two Ethereum-based tokens for users to earn rewards for contributing content, The Block has learned.
Bloomberg:
Sony says it has developed the world's first image sensors with built-in AI, which would give “intelligent vision” to cameras for retail and industrial uses  —  - Turning the chip into a tiny computer, company touts privacy  — Benefits for factory automation and retail footfall analysis
Claire Downs / ELLE:
OnlyFans had a major increase in signups in April, with 150,000 signups/day, as digital sex work becomes a more viable source of revenue during the pandemic  —  Ansel Elgort, Blac Chyna, and Caroline Calloway have all popped up on the adults-only platform.  But what about the actual professionals?
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
DigitalOcean raises $50M Series C at a $1.15B valuation led by Access Industries, after announcing a $320M debt financing round in February  —  DigitalOcean, which describes itself as “the cloud for developing modern apps,” announced today that it has raised a $50 million Series C at a valuation of $1.15 billion.
Joe Maring / Android Central:
Report: Google's Pixel division has lost Marc Levoy, the engineer leading the camera division, and GM Mario Queiroz over the past year, as sales disappoint  —  The general manager for the Pixel division is also gone.  —  What you need to know  — According to The Information, Marc Levoy and Mario Queiroz have both left Google.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
In an open letter, Brian Huseman, Amazon's VP of public policy, calls for the establishment of a federal price gouging law amid coronavirus scams  —  - In a blog post Wednesday, Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy, called for the establishment of a federal price gouging law.
Vanessa Friedman / New York Times:
Amazon partners with Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America to launch a new online store featuring independent luxury designers  —  With some help from Vogue and the CFDA, the e-commerce giant is opening a new store to showcase independent designers.  Does this mark the moment the two worlds finally get hitched?

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