Techmeme: Skillshare, a subscription marketplace for online courses, raises $66M led by OMERS Growth Equity and says it has 12M registered members (Anthony Ha/TechCrunch)

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August 10, 2020, 4:40 PM

Top News

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

Facebook says it has created Facebook Financial, a new group headed by David Marcus that will run all payments projects, including Facebook Pay — - Libra cryptocurrency co-creator David Marcus to lead new group — Former UpWork CEO Stephane Kasriel joins as payments VP

More: Decrypt, Cointelegraph, The Block, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Business Insider, Engadget, Cryptonews, and PYMNTS.com

Facebook: David Marcus. Tweets: @melt_dem, @kurtwagner8, and @patrickmcgee_

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google announces that Google Maps now has CarPlay Dashboard support and a simple version of the app will be rolling out to Apple Watch in the coming weeks — Google today announced two big features for its mapping service on Apple platforms. After removing in 2017, Google Maps is bringing …

More: The Keyword, The Verge, ZDNet, Ars Technica, Thurrott, Appleosophy, iMore, AppleInsider, Softpedia News, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch

Tweets: @googlemaps, @rustybrick, and @dcseifert

Dara Khosrowshahi / New York Times:

Uber CEO defends treating gig workers as contractors, suggesting gig economy companies should be required to establish funds that give workers cash for benefits — Gig workers want both flexibility and benefits — we support laws that could make that possible. — Mr. Khosrowshahi is the chief executive officer of Uber.

More: Uber Newsroom, Gizmodo, The Hill, The Rideshare Guy Blog …, Engadget, CNBC, CNET, PYMNTS.com, and Axios

Tweets: @gabedelahaye, @bcmerchant, @nickgillespie, @bcmerchant, @helaineolen, @arthurdelaneyhp, @jfh, @zohrankmamdani, @nytopinion, @bigblackjacobin, @dkhos, @enpancotti, @uber, @silvermanjacob, @darakerr, and @benyt

Bloomberg:

In a lawsuit brought by CA's AG, judge issues a preliminary injunction ordering Uber, Lyft to convert their drivers to employees, paused for 10 days for appeals

Tweets: @alex, @josheidelson, and @daveleeft

Reuters:

Sources: TikTok's separation from ByteDance could take over a year, well beyond Trump and Microsoft's Sept. 15 timeline, as Microsoft negotiates the transition — (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) bid to carve out parts of TikTok from its Chinese owner ByteDance will be a technically complex endeavor …

More: Business Insider, Windows Central, CNBC, TechCrunch, and Digital Trends

Tweets: @reutersbiz, @b_fung, and @kenli729

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Sequoia, which first invested in ByteDance in 2014 and holds a 10%+ stake, has been pressing its White House contacts to help land a deal for TikTok

Reuters:

Russian competition watchdog FAS says Apple abused its dominance of the mobile apps market and must resolve issues with iOS App Store; Apple says it will appeal — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian competition watchdog FAS on Monday said that Apple Inc has abused its dominant position …

More: MacRumors, Interfax, 9to5Mac, Thurrott, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, AppleInsider, and iDownloadBlog.com

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:

Kuo: iPhone shipments could decline by 25-30% if Apple is forced to remove WeChat from its App Stores around the world under Trump's EO — In a worst-case scenario, Apple's annual global iPhone shipments could decline by 25-30% if it is forced to remove WeChat from its App Stores around the world …

NBC News:

Sources: an internal Facebook probe into QAnon shows the size of the conspiracy theory's community: millions of members and followers across thousands of Groups — An internal investigation by Facebook has uncovered thousands of groups and pages, with millions of members and followers …

Tweets: @johnpaczkowski, @alkapdc, @brandyzadrozny, @kevinroose, and @benpu_nbc

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

In iOS 14, Apple News+ publishers' web links are opened in the Apple News app by default for Apple News+ subscribers, though this feature can be turned off — Apple News in iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur has a toggle that's designed to open web links from ‌Apple News‌+ publishers directly …

More: TechCrunch, Michael Tsai, Apple Must, and iDownloadBlog.com

Tweets: @arctictony, @tomcoates, @tomgara, @scmitchp, @charlesarthur, @charlesarthur, @tiedtiger, @timccopeland, @kempius, @baekdal, @tomcoates, @robpegoraro, @lizmair, @nathanblawrence, @krave, and @juliamacfarlane

See also Mediagazer

Sonali Basak / Bloomberg:

Robinhood says its daily average revenue trades were 4.31M in June, about 4x E*Trade's fee-generating trades and higher than other publicly traded rivals — - 4.31 million daily average revenue trades recorded in June — Company has blocked access to data that was used by Robintrack

More: Seeking Alpha. Tweets: @ericbalchunas

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Amazon rebrands Twitch Prime as Prime Gaming; the service will still give Prime subscribers perks, including free games, on the live streaming platform — Prime Gaming now sits more logically alongside Prime perks like Prime Video and Prime Reading — Amazon is rebranding Twitch Prime …

More: Washington Post, New York Times, Polygon, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, GeekWire, Bloomberg, PC Gamer, CNET, Business Insider, Variety, Engadget, GameSpot, GamesIndustry.biz, and Seeking Alpha

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:

In the wake of a widely protested presidential election in Belarus, nonprofits and companies including Twitter are reporting parts of the internet being blocked — Twitter, local journalists, and internet freedom organizations report that there are widespread internet blocks in Belarus.

More: CyberScoop, NetBlocks, Engadget, Finbold, CNN, and Digital Trends

Tweets: @policy, @netblocks, @netblocks, @hannaliubakova, @durov, and @netblocks

See also Mediagazer

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Mux, an API-based video streaming and analytics service, raises $37M Series C led by a16z, following its $20M Series B in 2019 — This morning, Mux, a startup that provides API-based video streaming tooling and analytics, announced that it has closed a $37 million Series C round of capital.

More: Andreessen Horowitz and VentureBeat. Tweets: @alex

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From Mediagazer

New York Times:

Sources: Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo discussed a joint all-cash offer for Paramount, which is still in an exclusive negotiation window with Skydance

David Ingram / NBC News:

Hyundai says it is pausing ads on X, after one ad appeared next to antisemitic and pro-Nazi content; the ad appeared on a user profile that had 55K+ followers

Sara Fischer / Axios:

CalMatters, a nonprofit focused on CA politics and policy, acquires tech news nonprofit The Markup; CalMatters has ~$12.5M in funding and The Markup has $5M

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More News

Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:

US announces it will reallocate the 3.45GHz to 3.55GHz spectrum reserved for military use for consumer 5G instead, slated to be up for auction in December 2021

More: CNET, TechCrunch, and Reuters

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Skillshare, a subscription marketplace for online courses, raises $66M led by OMERS Growth Equity and says it has 12M registered members

More: FinSMEs. Tweets: @ldrogen, @mokoyfman, @jmelaskyriazi, and @mikekarnj

John Koetsier / Forbes:

Apple Advertising seems to be on by default in iOS 14, while other advertisers and ad networks will have to ask for permission to track users

Tweets: @eric_seufert, @johnkoetsier, @eric_seufert, @eric_seufert, and @eric_seufert

See also Mediagazer

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Google expands developer tools for Android TV, including instant apps and speech-to-text support, and says monthly active devices have grown more than 80% YoY

More: Android Police, XDA Developers, 9to5Google, 9to5Google, Android Headlines, ZDNet, Android Police, and 9to5Google. Tweets: @epro

New York Times:

A look at the tight links between employees at big tech companies and Joe Biden's campaign, despite his criticism of the Silicon Valley giants

Tweets: @awinston, @wexler, @oneunderscore__, @jason_kint, @ron_miller, @econ_marshall, @nytimes, and @ddayen

Alex Barker / Financial Times:

With 2,500 claims of improper use of unlicensed music on Twitch in June, the Artists Rights Alliance, a trade body, criticizes Jeff Bezos' “wilful blindness”

Tweets: @financialtimes and @daveleeft

See also Mediagazer

Cade Metz / New York Times:

Frances Allen, who conducted groundbreaking work on software compilers in the 1960s and won the Turing Award in 2006, has died at 88

More: Gizmodo, Engadget, and The Verge

Tweets: @drewharwell, @k8em0, @arvindkrishna, @nytobits, and @infosecsherpa

Earlier Picks

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

McAfee report: NetWalker ransomware operators have made ~$25M from ransom payments since March, putting them in the same league as Ryuk, Dharma, REvil groups

Tweets: @philippederyck and @brianhonan

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

Amid an explosion in demand for home-delivered goods, shippers like FedEx are increasingly adopting industrial robot arms equipped with computer vision and AI

Tweets: @mfordfuture, @sub8u, @mileskimball, @mims, @2peterharris, and @farshchi

Steve Evans / ReinsuranceNe.ws:

Buckle, an insurer for ridesharing platforms with coverage in 47 US states, raises $31M Series A led by HSCM Bermuda and Eos

More: Business Wire, Insurance Journal, and Business Wire

Jack Purcher / Patently Apple:

Apple responds to AirPods patent infringement suit by countersuing Koss Corporation for breach of contract and breaking a confidentiality agreement

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, MacRumors, Engadget, AppleInsider, and Digital Trends

FinSMEs:

Charleston, SC-based startup Palmetto, which helps consumers calculate potential energy costs and savings by using green tech like solar, raises $29M Series B

More: TechCrunch and PR Newswire

Lucas Kunce / Pro Market:

While Facebook claims its size helps it defend the US against Chinese companies like TikTok, history shows TikTok succeeded partly due to FB's corporate goals

More: BIG by Matt Stoller. Tweets: @joshconstine, @asherschechter, @karenkornbluh, @promarket_org, @phirephoenix, and @matthewstoller

Ben Smith / New York Times:

Facebook, Google, and Twitter are making the same mistakes big news outlets made decades ago, trying to placate hyperpartisan critics who are “working the refs”