Techmeme: A look at the rise of “solo capitalists”, micro VC funds, and AngelList's Rolling Venture Fund product that lets users subscribe and invest on a quarterly basis (Biz Carson/Protocol)

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July 27, 2020, 12:25 AM

Top News

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Digital banking app and tech unicorn Dave confirms a security breach after a hacker published personal information on 7.5M+ of its users on a public forum — Dave user data is now available for download on a public hacking forum. — Digital banking app and tech unicorn Dave.com confirmed today …

More: A Banking Blog for Humans, BleepingComputer, and Slashdot

Tweets: @notsolpon, @haveibeenpwned, @ungarino, @campuscodi, @mdudas, and @ws

Ian Tucker / The Guardian:

Q&A with Yaël Eisenstat, who was briefly hired as Facebook's global head of elections integrity in 2018 and, she says, intentionally sidelined from the start — The ex-CIA officer on why she lasted only six months at the tech giant and her fears about its role in the forthcoming US election

More: Memex 1.1. Tweets: @0xcaffee, @ericgarland, @ideagov, @jankybrain, and @_brohrer_

Associated Press:

Trump is running Facebook ads accusing Twitter and Snapchat of election interference, while Biden's Facebook ads accuse Facebook of posing a threat to democracy — This photo combo of images shows, clockwise, from upper left: President Donald Trump speaking during a news conference …

More: Slashdot. Tweets: @ap, @ashleymayer, @bruno_j_navarro, @benedictevans, @nickpacilio, and @jason_kint

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

A Garmin employee confirms that the company's servers were hit by WastedLocker, a ransomware variant developed by Russia-based cybercriminal group Evil Corp — 07/24/20 Update below. This article was originally published on July 23rd, 2020. It has been updated to reflect that BleepingComputer …

More: TechCrunch, ZDNet, TechRadar, Cointelegraph, Forbes, and TalkAndroid.com

Tweets: @rdrv3, @campuscodi, @jjoque, @amirmizroch, @theharrymcc, @find_evil, @kimzetter, @jim_casey_, @tomlawrencetech, @quentynblog, @zackwhittaker, @zackwhittaker, @zackwhittaker, @bikehugger, @benthompson, @benthompson, and @garmin

Kevin Roose / New York Times:

The debate over TikTok is a chance to come up with a thoughtful model to regulate big tech companies, whether they're based in China, Copenhagen, or California — There is plenty the U.S. government could do to ensure that TikTok acts responsibly without getting rid of it altogether.

Tweets: @taylorlorenz, @rabois, @taylorlorenz, @slhamlet, @hunterwalk, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, @andylalwani, @taylorlorenz, and @taylorlorenz

Adam Conner / Margins:

TikTok's rise in the US should serve as a cautionary tale for social media startups, as it had to spend billions of dollars on ads on rival platforms to compete

Tweets: @readmargins, @mdudas, @hkanji, @mattzeitlin, @readmargins, @adamconner, @adamconner, @ruima, @aaschapiro, and @can. Thanks:@adamconner

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Given TikTok's potential future value, ByteDance shouldn't sell its majority stake in it at the reported $25B-$40B valuation, despite the risk of a US ban

Tweets: @sherman4949, @taylorlorenz, and @sherman4949

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

SAP announces plans to spin out Qualtrics, a user experience management platform it acquired in 2018 for $8B, with an IPO in the US — Twenty months after SAP swooped in and announced its plan to acquire Qualtrics for $8 billion as it was on the cusp of an IPO, the experience management software company may be going public after all.

More: SAP, diginomica, Fortune, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @katie_roof, @derekjandersen, @trengriffin, @alexrkonrad, and @nongaap. Thanks:@alexrkonrad

Robert McMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Audit finds six election boards in MI, MO, ME, NH using a buggy version of email software Exim, which the NSA says has been targeted in attacks by Russia's GRU — Six jurisdictions used software that Russian spies have targeted in cyberattacks — Many of the thousands of county …

More: Gizmodo, Area 1 Security, The Verge, and Engadget

Tweets: @wsj, @wsjpolitics, and @dabeard

Scott Galloway / No Mercy/No Malice:

Some ideas for questions and visual aids that House antitrust subcommittee members can use when questioning the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google — The CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google are scheduled to testify in front of the US House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee.

More: The Verge, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Reuters, Politico, Business Insider, Protocol, CNET, Bloomberg, Windows Central, Memex 1.1, Benedict Evans, and Axios

Tweets: @rishad, @profgalloway, @pythiar, @profgalloway, @tedstew, @carnage4life, @aleighmp, @profgalloway, @profgalloway, @peter_atwater, @jmrybnicek, @ashimehta23, and @justinhendrix

Biz Carson / Protocol:

A look at the rise of “solo capitalists”, micro VC funds, and AngelList's Rolling Venture Fund product that lets users subscribe and invest on a quarterly basis — Hello and welcome to Pipeline. This week: The art of Twitter VC bios, hypocrisy at Carta, and how to raise a VC fund through Twitter.

Tweets: @protocol, @bizcarson, @helen_min, @bizcarson, @bizcarson, @bizcarson, @rednieves, and @bizcarson

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

EU watchdogs warn that there is no grace period after Schrems II ruling and transfers of personal data from EU to US relying on Privacy Shield are now illegal — European data watchdogs have issued updated guidance in the wake of last week's landmark ruling striking down a flagship transatlantic …

Chase / StreamElements:

Arsenal.gg: in Q2 Facebook Gaming grew 75% QoQ and reached 334M hours watched in June 2020, up from 111M YoY; Twitch dominated with 5B+ hours watched in Q2 — Livestreaming has been on the rise for years, but the pandemic definitely supersized the amount of streamers and content being watched.

Tweets: @streamelements

Ian King / Bloomberg:

Intel's decision to consider outsourcing manufacturing heralds the end of an era in which the company, and the US, dominated the semiconductor industry — - World's largest chipmaker considers outsourcing manufacturing — Crucial technology expertise is shifting overseas, to TSMC

More: Globes Online. Tweets: @chrismattmann, @mcuban, @amirmizroch, @ralpheezy, @gavinsbaker, @iancutress, @newtbyrd, @kausmickey, @tpetruno, @bilalfarooqui, @esaagar, @scottlincicome, and @business

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The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Wall Street Journal:

President Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner after loud sounds were heard in the hotel; a shooting suspect has been apprehended

Aidan McLaughlin / Vanity Fair:

A look at Tony Dokoupil's tenure, with tumbling ratings and his kid-glove questioning of the powerful, as he became the face of the Weiss revolution at CBS News

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Sources: AG Todd Blanche, WHCA President Weijia Jiang, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, and Bari Weiss attended Paramount's dinner at the US Institute of Peace

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More News

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:

Facebook hired StopFake in Ukraine to flag Russian disinformation, but critics accuse the fact-checking group of ties to the far right and of bias in its work

Tweets: @dpol_un, @arictoler, and @maximeristavi

Brian Merchant / OneZero :

Q&A with Tim Maughan, the sci-fi writer whose dystopian visions of AR-powered surveillance capitalism now seem to be turning into reality with uncanny accuracy

More: The Prepared. Tweets: @cherylmorgan, @jathansadowski, @hpredko, @ricksearle1, and @techwontsaveus

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

A survey of 500+ cybersecurity pros sheds light on which skills they find most useful in cybersecurity job candidates, and which are most frequently lacking

Tweets: @infosecsherpa, @briankrebs, @bettersafetynet, and @foresightcyber

Mengmeng Zhang / Counterpoint Research:

Despite smartphone sales in China declining 17% YoY in Q2, Huawei grew 14%, capturing 46% of the market, as Apple grew 32%, becoming the fastest growing OEM

More: equalocean.com and Huawei Central

Tweets: @trengriffin and @neiltwitz

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

A vigilante hacker has been sabotaging the Emotet malware botnet, replacing a quarter of daily payloads with animated GIFs, stopping victims from being infected

More: Explica, iTnews, DataBreaches.net, and Wired

Tweets: @z_edian and @campuscodi

Earlier Picks

Oshry Alkeslasi / GeekTime:

StuffThatWorks, a crowdsourcing platform for data-driven treatments for chronic conditions, raises $9M seed funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and others

More: SiliconANGLE, Stuff on Stuff, PR Newswire, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, FinSMEs, and Silicon Canals

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Sea Machines Robotics, a provider of software and equipment for autonomous boats and ships, raises $15M Series B led by Accomplice

More: Sea Machines, The Robot Report, The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, gCaptain, and Splash 247

Tweets: @technexus and @thisisdynamo

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

NTT Disruption, which acquired Jibo's assets, says the social robot will remain operational for existing owners as it plans to target the enterprise market

Tweets: @ifixit, @kevinpurdy, @dcseifert, and @ashleyrcarman

Kim Lyons / The Verge:

After user reports, Instagram says it is “fixing a bug in iOS 14 Beta that mistakenly indicates that some people are using the camera when they aren't”