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January 6, 2021, 8:25 AM
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| Alexandra Alper / Reuters: |
Trump signs an executive order banning transactions with Ant Group's Alipay, Tencent's WeChat Pay and QQ, and five other Chinese payment apps — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group's Alipay.
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The White House, Reuters, Bloomberg, MacRumors, Wall Street Journal, AppleInsider, The Verge, Fortune, Engadget, PingWest, Fast Company, Neowin, TechRadar, Android Central, New York Times, Tech in Asia, Pocketnow, SlashGear, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, and MarketWatch
Tweets: @secretaryross, @commercegov, @chriskeall, @niubi, @mdudas, and @niubi
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Google plans to add privacy labels across its iOS app catalog this week or next, after a report claimed none of Google's iOS apps have been updated since Dec. 7 — Contrary to reports, Google is not delaying updates to its iOS apps because it doesn't want to comply with Apple's recently announced App Store Privacy Labels policy.
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CNBC, 9to5Mac, TechRadar, news.com.au, BGR, MacRumors, NextPit, Slashdot, Wccftech, Pocketnow, phonearena.com, SlashGear, SiliconANGLE, AppleInsider, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, TechSpot, Reuters, BGR, Thurrott, iPhone in Canada Blog, Apple Terminal, MacRumors, iPhone Hacks, iDownloadBlog.com, iMore, and AppleInsider
Tweets: @metacurity, @mjtsai, @taupeavenger, @davewoodx, @volt4ire, @mattnavarra, @jernejv, @hunterwalk, @campuscodi, @elkmovie, @hanse00, @alexeheath, and @michaelgrothaus
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: after NYSE said it wouldn't delist China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, it now mulls reverting to original plan following Mnuchin criticism — - Possible reversal follows Mnuchin call to NYSE's Cunningham — Exchange's surprise announcement caught White House off guard
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Intercontinental Exchange, csrc.gov.cn, BBC, Wall Street Journal, ZDNet, CNBC, New York Times, CNN, TechCrunch, coinspeaker.com, Light Reading, Pandaily, MediaNama, Telecoms.com, infosecurity-magazine.com, caixinglobal.com, TechNode, Telecoms.com, TechCrunch, Reuters, Associated Press, and ZDNet
Tweets: @benbain, @hraleighspeaks, @kylej_sullivan, @jchengwsj, @thestalwart, @ltabb, @sandyhendry, @jenniferjjacobs, @ruima, @lisaabramowicz1, @felixsalmon, @business, and @skupor
| Will Heaven / MIT Technology Review: |
OpenAI introduces two new GPT-3 models: CLIP, which classifies images into categories from arbitrary text, and DALL·E, which can generate images from text — With GPT-3, OpenAI showed that a single deep-learning model could be trained to use language in a variety of ways simply by throwing it vast amounts of text.
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The Next Web, OpenAI, Axios, New Scientist, FlowingData, Neowin, Towards Data Science, TechCrunch, Synced, and VentureBeat
Tweets: @calebwatney, @deljohnsonvc, @danielrakh, @dillonliam, @neil_chilson, @adamludwin, @dflieb, @gdb, @mark_riedl, @ilyasut, @humansofflat, @0x49fa98, @fcain, @liv_boeree, @techreview, @wongmjane, @sama, @sama, @km, @viss, @jonathanberte, @esyudkowsky, and @mmasnick
| Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: |
FBI, CISA, and ODNI, with support from NSA, say an APT “likely Russian in origin” is responsible for all or most of the recently discovered hacks of US agencies — Joint statement from the FBI, CISA, ODNI, and NSA says SolarWinds hack was “likely Russian in origin.”
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Ars Technica, Washington Post, ODNI Newsroom, Engadget, Bloomberg, CSO, Associated Press, The Independent, ComputerWeekly.com, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Insider, Gizmodo, The Hacker News, CNBC, Voice of America, CRN, Dark Reading, Financial Times, CNET, Boing Boing, Security Affairs, and BleepingComputer
Tweets: @froomkin, @file411, @file411, @georgecroner, @campuscodi, @miekeeoyang, and @campuscodi
| Mike Dano / Light Reading: |
Verizon says that it will indefinitely delay the shutdown of its 3G network, after pushing the shutdown from the end of 2019 to the end of 2020 — Verizon has backtracked on its plan to turn off its 3G network by the end of 2020. — In response to questions from Light Reading …
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Engadget, The Verge, phonearena.com, SlashGear, Android Police, Liliputing, CNET, iDownloadBlog.com, Pocketnow, MacRumors, and Droid Life. Tweets: @thethomaspauls1
| Corin Faife / The Markup: |
Study of 58 Facebook users' feeds in Georgia found partisan content elbowed out traditional news sites after Facebook reversed its political ad ban — Ahead of crucial senate runoffs, Facebook reversed its political ad ban, and the impact was visible on users' feeds
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The Markup, The Overspill, TechCrunch, The Verge, and The Guardian
Tweets: @juliaangwin, @andymstone, @suryamattu, @themarkup, @juliaangwin, @evelyndouek, @fboversight, @jilliancyork, @willoremus, @slpng_giants, @leonyin, @leonyin, @carnage4life, @eric_seufert, @deaneckles, @fboversight, @randfish, @elipariser, @corintxt, @stokel, @janelytv, @lauraedelson2, @hari, @emilybell, @stevemullis, @billypuntove, @_loganmcdonald, @rswitzer, @niemanlab, @jonkeegan, @corintxt, @stokel, @blackamazon, @jason_kint, @mozilla, @adrjeffries, @adrjeffries, @andymstone, @jlowcock, @suryamattu, @themarkup, and @rashadrobinson
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
CIRP: iPhone 12 mini made up 6% of total iPhone sales in US during Oct. and Nov., while the 6.1" iPhone 12 garnered 27% and 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max each took ~20% — A new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) today seen by 9to5Mac highlights the continued success of the iPhone 12 lineup.
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THE ELEC, Korea …, appleosophy.com, Gizchina, iMore, Pocketnow, iPhone Hacks, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, GSMArena.com, Maxwell Weinbach, AppleInsider, MakeUseOf, Wccftech, MacRumors, MacDailyNews, Patently Apple, and The Mac Observer
Tweets: @bradleychambers, @alexhcranz, @mcwm, @reneritchie, and @lukemiani
| Matt Grossman / Wall Street Journal: |
IBM names Gary Cohn, former Goldman Sachs executive and economic adviser to Trump, as its vice chairman and member of its executive leadership team — Past Goldman Sachs president named vice chairman as tech icon develops stronger growth strategy — International Business Machines Corp …
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IBM, Financial Times, CNN, CNBC, Business Insider, and ZDNet
Tweets: @gary_d_cohn, @gary_d_cohn, @danielnewmanuv, @jstrauss, @eisingerj, @mattegancnn, @davidenrich, and @edleafe
| Lingling Wei / Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: China's regulators aim to force Ant Group, which owns Alipay, to share its consumer-credit data with China's central bank or an entity controlled by it — Request is part of Beijing's crackdown on what it believes is Ant's unfair advantage over other lenders
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CNBC, Business Insider, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @jchengwsj, @tim_morrison, @baldingsworld, @realjunsonchan, @jchengwsj, @wsj, @chorzempamartin, @edwardnh, @joshchin, @macaesbruno, and @cnbcnow
| Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet: |
Open source developer David Recordon named Biden's director of technology, returning to the White House after serving as its first director of IT under Obama — With a background in open source, open standards, and security, Recordon may be ideal for President Joe Biden's White House.
More:
TechRadar, FedScoop, MeriTalk, Executive Gov, and President-Elect Joe Biden
Tweets: @sjvn, @johnolilly, and @dalmaer
| Freya Pratty / Sifted: |
EU makes its first direct equity investment in startups, with €178M invested across 42 companies, from a new European Innovation Council Fund — Under the new European Innovation Council Fund, each of the companies will receive between €500,000 and €15m, with €178m invested overall.| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
UK-based autonomous vehicle startup Oxbotica raises $47M Series B led by BP Ventures, bringing total raised to $80M, to deploy its tech in industrial use cases — While the world continues to await the arrival of safe, reliable and cost-effective self-driving cars, one of the pioneers …
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FinSMEs, Silicon Canals, The Robot Report, VentureBeat, and Reuters. Tweets: @ccavgovuk. Thanks:@ingridlunden
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Atlanta-based SalesLoft, which provides AI-based tools to help salespeople run their sales process virtually, raises $100M at a $1.1B post-money valuation — The Covid-19 pandemic and specifically need for social distancing to slow the spread of the virus have continued to keep many of us away from the office.| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
India's Udaan, which operates a B2B marketplace, adds $280M to its $585M Series D, bringing its total raised to $1.15B, source says at a valuation of $3.1B — Business-to-business marketplace Udaan has raised $280 million from new and existing investors as the Indian startup builds a war-chest …
More:
The Economic Times, TechCircle, and Reuters
| Gabriel Geiger / VICE: |
Italian court rules a “reliability index” algorithm used by food delivery app Deliveroo to rank riders was discriminatory, ordering €50K paid to suing parties — An Italian court determined that companies can be held liable even if an algorithm unintentionally discriminates against a protected group.
Tweets: @hypervisible, @bigblackjacobin, @merbroussard, @casuallaw, and @bmleejr
| Matt Day / Bloomberg: |
Amazon says it is buying 11 used Boeing 767-300 planes from Delta and WestJet, the first time the company has purchased aircraft for its air cargo operation — - Retailer will buy 11 767-300 planes from Delta, WestJet — Amazon expects fleet to have more than 85 jets by end of 2022
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About Amazon, ZDNet, Gizmodo, CBC News, Android Headlines, CNBC, Associated Press, Digital Trends, SlashGear, TechSpot, CNET, Engadget, TechRadar, PYMNTS.com, GeekWire, and The Hill
| Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers: |
WhatsApp updates its Terms and Privacy Policy to mandate data sharing with Facebook, including transaction data, mobile device information, IP address, and more — WhatsApp users are receiving an in-app notice today regarding the service's new terms and privacy policy.
More:
MacRumors, The Next Web, The Hacker News, WhatsApp.com, Wccftech, TechRadar, and Android Authority
Tweets: @martinsfp, @jochendo, @psawers, and @pitermach
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Indian startup boAt, which makes hardware accessories for phones, raises $100M Series B from Warburg Pincus, to shift more of its production from China to India — Boat, an electronics and lifestyle startup in India, has raised $100 million in a new financing round that many independent investors termed … | Eugene Kim / Business Insider: |
Sources: Amazon is working on a contactless Alexa-enabled device that can track and monitor sleep apnea, primarily using millimeter-wave radar — - Amazon is working on a new Alexa-enabled device that can track and monitor sleep apnea, Business Insider has learned.
More:
The Verge
| Daphne Leprince-Ringuet / ZDNet: |
As Brexit progresses, 81K .eu domains registered by 50,000 UK citizens are suspended, with three months given to transfer domains or demonstrate EU citizenship — The UK lost its right to a .eu website when it left the European bloc, leaving many domain name owners in limbo.
More:
EURACTIV.com, Bird & Bird, The Register, and TechRadar
Tweets: @jonippolito, @codepo8, and @robinwauters
| Evan Selinger / Pando: |
Q&A with Frank Pasquale on his new book “New Laws of Robotics”, engaging with science fiction, ethics in AI, big tech, professionalism, and more — Four years ago, Frank Pasquale, Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, catalyzed a debate over algorithmic and corporate power …
Tweets: @pandodaily, @evanselinger, @allison_pugh, and @iethics
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