Techmeme: Afresh, which offers grocers an AI-powered service to manage fresh food orders, inventory, and merchandising, raises $12M in Series A follow-on round of funding (FinSMEs)

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July 27, 2020, 8:55 AM

Top News

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, @fabiochiusi, @nickpacilio, and @jason_kint

Matt Johnston / iTnews:

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sues Google for allegedly expanding the use of users' personal data without gaining explicit consent — This time over expanded use of personal data. — The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has again taken aim at Google …

More: Australian Competition …, The Register, MediaNama, Reuters, ZDNet, and Neowin

Tweets: @wolfiechristl and @acccgovau

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.

More: Beyond Search, Margins, and CNBC

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

A look at work-from-home trends: rise of “desktop as a service”, purpose-built hardware for remote communication, and more investment in home office equipment — Tens of millions of Americans are working from home and many will never go back; employers scramble to figure out what tools they'll need to stay productive

Tweets: @dianeswonk, @idpharmacometrx, @cindyotis_, @prof_smurph, @wsj, @genszen, @cbdawson, @k_morrissey, @profmusgrave, @mims, @mims, @mims, and @mims

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, @ungarino, @mdudas, @haveibeenpwned, @troyhunt, @troyhunt, @ws, and @campuscodi

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 …

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: Area 1 Security, Gizmodo, Mashable, 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: 9to5Mac, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, The Verge, Reuters, CNET, Business Insider, Politico, Bloomberg, Windows Central, Benedict Evans, Memex 1.1, and Axios

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

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, SAP News Center, Coinspeaker, Enterprise Times, diginomica, Fortune, and Bloomberg

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

Prasid Banerjee / Livemint:

A look at how India has become a “hack-for-hire” hub, as the growing, dark, and shady industry targets politicians, companies, and activists — - Politicians, companies and activists are increasingly being targeted by a secretive industry. How does it work?

Tweets: @dillidurast and @razhael

Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu:

cargo.one, a Berlin-based digital booking service for air cargo, raises $18.6M Series A led by Index Ventures — Berlin-based cargo.one, a digital booking platform for freight forwarders, has raised $18.6 million in Series A funding to develop its business into a global operating system for air cargo.

More: TechCrunch, Silicon Canals, and EU-Startups

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From Mediagazer

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: David Ellison has asked CNN CEO Mark Thompson to stay on after the WBD acquisition closes; Thompson's current deal extends into 2027

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Disney plans a TV restructuring that is expected to result in more layoffs and consolidation of divisions as it pivots from linear TV toward streaming

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

A US judge dismisses Penske Media's lawsuit against Google over traffic and revenue loss due to AI Overviews since Google never promised any traffic to Penske

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More News

FinSMEs:

Afresh, which offers grocers an AI-powered service to manage fresh food orders, inventory, and merchandising, raises $12M in Series A follow-on round of funding

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Seoul-based Riiid, which uses AI to offer personalized study plans to students in its test prep app Santa, raises $41.8M, bringing its total raised to $70.2M

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

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

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: @polinaivanovva, @dpol_un, @maximeristavi, @arictoler, and @maximeristavi

Earlier Picks

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: @ricksearle1, @hpredko, @jathansadowski, @cherylmorgan, 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. Tweets: @trengriffin and @neiltwitz

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

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

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

Tweets: @z_edian and @campuscodi