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January 4, 2021, 11:05 AM
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| Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch: |
A group of over 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their plan to form a union, open to both employees and contractors — A group of more than 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their efforts to form a union. With the help of Communication Workers of America Union's Campaign …
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New York Times, The Verge, VICE, Android Central, Washington Post, CNET, TWC Newsletter, Gizmodo, coinspeaker.com, Fast Company, and Slashdot
| New York Times: |
Executives of the Alphabet Workers Union say discrimination and harassment continue and the company cracks down on those who are to speak out — Our company's motto used to be “Don't be evil.” An organized work force will help us live up to it. — Ms. Koul and Mr. Shaw are, respectively …
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Engadget, Alphabet Workers Union, 9to5Google, Forbes, VentureBeat, Axios, Reuters, Mercury News, Reuters, New York Post, CNBC, and Neowin
Tweets: @aaschapiro, @cgreensit, @byjacobward, @flyingwithsara, @gigworkersrise, @balkissoon, and @alphabetworkers
| New York Times: |
A British judge rules against extraditing Julian Assange to the US, which has accused him of violating the Espionage Act, citing mental health concerns — U.S. officials want the WikiLeaks founder to face charges of violating the Espionage Act. But a judge in London ruled that he was at extreme risk of suicide.
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BBC, Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, The Guardian, CoinDesk, Associated Press, TechCrunch, CNET, The Verge, Gizmodo, CNN, Business Insider, Wired, Reuters, Fortune, Financial Times, SecurityWeek, Al Jazeera, Variety, International Business Times, and NBC News
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Sources: Google and Snap are in advanced talks to invest $200M+ in Indian Twitter-like social network ShareChat at a $1B+ valuation — ShareChat, which added Twitter as an investor in 2019, is in talks to add two more American giants to its captable. — The Indian social network …
Tweets: @sameer_singh17
| Zak Doffman / Forbes: |
While Facebook touts e2e encryption on WhatsApp, Apple's privacy labels highlight how much user metadata WhatsApp collects compared to iMessage — WhatsApp, the world's leading messenger with 2 billion users sending 100 billion messages each day, popularized secure messaging.
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9to5Mac. Tweets: @sub8u, @scottdavis99, @timsweeneyepic, @howtaobrowncow, @cpottruck, @blopeur, @stroughtonsmith, @mcbill, @bartclaeys, @thechowdery, @stroughtonsmith, @timsweeneyepic, @codinghorror, @jamesthomson, @bradmillscan, and @jcallico
| Kim Lyons / The Verge: |
Slack confirms it has been experiencing a widespread outage since 10am ET — Users began reporting problems around 10AM ET — Slack is down on the first full work day of 2021. The company said Monday morning “Customers may have trouble loading channels or connecting to Slack at this time.
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Slack System Status, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, Forbes, New York Times, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, CNET, Pocketnow, and BleepingComputer
Tweets: @slackstatus, @mgsiegler, @alexrkonrad, @idiot_girl, @mattzeitlin, @nichcarlson, @connorperrett, and @tomwarren
| Gabrielle Coppola / Bloomberg: |
Aeva, a lidar company started by two Apple engineers, says it is raising $200M at a ~$3B valuation from a Hong Kong-based hedge fund ahead of reverse merger — - Deal values Aeva around $3 billion ahead of reverse merger — Volkswagen shareholder Porsche SE is strategic investor
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PR Newswire and MacDailyNews
| The Verge: |
Samsung announces its Galaxy Unpacked event will be held on January 14, where it's expected to unveil the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra — Ring in 2021 with Samsung's latest smartphones — Samsung will officially be announcing its latest lineup of Galaxy flagship phones … | Taylor Lorenz / New York Times: |
A look at the biggest TikTok trends of 2020, the industries it impacted, the lens it offered on service workers amid COVID-19, and how it shaped US culture — Business, entertainment, news, activism and social connection will never be the same. — It's been well over two years since TikTok arrived …
Tweets: @taylorlorenz, @v_ness, and @taylorlorenz
| Hannah M. Mayer / Forbes: |
How GPT-3 may reshape the AI and SaaS space, with OpenAI's commercial API creating a unique dependence on a closed AI model, and empowering “citizen developers” — The global artificial intelligence (AI) community rocked excitedly in their home office chairs in anticipation … | Jennifer Ouellette / Ars Technica: |
Interview with two anthropologists about combining “pick and trowel” field work with the use of big data to bring a new birds-eye perspective to archeology — Combining traditional “pick and trowel” field work with a sweeping birds-eye view.
Tweets: @rockdocgeoarch
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
AMP Robotics, which creates robotics systems that sort recyclable material, raises $55M Series B led by XN, bringing its total raised to $75M — AMP Robotics, a Denver, Colorado-based startup creating robotic systems that sort recyclable material, this morning announced that it has closed …
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