Techmeme
May 29, 2021, 7:05 AM

Top News

Jay Peters / The Verge:
WhatsApp reverses course and says it won't limit functionality for users who don't accept its new privacy policy  —  The new policy went into effect on May 15th  —  Earlier this month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp said that users would lose functionality over time if they didn't accept its new privacy policy by May 15th.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
In an email to podcasters, Apple says it is delaying the launch of its Podcasts Subscriptions and channels until June and plans improvements to its Podcasts app  —  Apple has announced in an email to podcasters today that it is delaying the launch of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions.
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Anthropic, a new startup from former GPT-3 researchers that aims to build large-scale, general AI systems, raises $124M Series A led by Skype's Jaan Tallinn  —  As AI has grown from a menagerie of research projects to include a handful of titanic, industry-powering models like GPT-3 …
Aislinn Keely / The Block:
SEC charges five people with promoting BitConnect, which it alleges was an unregistered digital securities offering that raised $2B+ from retail investors  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a civil lawsuit against five people accused of promoting BitConnect, a now-defunct crypto Ponzi scheme.
New York Times:
Microsoft: hackers behind SolarWinds recently breached State Dept. aid agency to send emails with malicious code to 150 orgs, including NGOs critical of Putin  —  Microsoft reported that it had detected the intrusion and that the same hackers behind the earlier SolarWinds attack were responsible.
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Circle, the company behind the US dollar-backed stablecoin USDC, raises $440M, sources say ahead of a potential SPAC deal targeting a valuation of $4B  —  Quick Take  — Circle has raised $440 million in a new funding round  — The firm — which is behind the fast-growing USDC stablecoin …
BuzzFeed News:
Venmo will now let users control the visibility of their friends list, following a report in which Biden's Venmo account and connections were easily found  —  Venmo, the mobile payments app owned by PayPal, is changing its privacy settings after a BuzzFeed News story uncovered President Joe Biden's account earlier this month.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple tried to buy rap battle livestreaming service Verzuz before it was acquired in March by Triller  —  - Tech giant floated a lower price for Timbaland's platform  — Talks show Apple's continued interest in social music offering  —  Apple Inc. aimed to purchase …
Foeke Postma / bellingcat:
US soldiers at nuclear bases in Europe are inadvertently revealing secrets, like base installations, while using apps with publicly visible learning flashcards  —  For US soldiers tasked with the custody of nuclear weapons in Europe, the stakes are high.  Security protocols are lengthy, detailed and need to be known by heart.
Liam Tung / ZDNet:
Google says Chrome 91 has 23% faster performance thanks to Sparkplug, a new non-optimizing compiler for its V8 JavaScript engine  —  Google says its new JavaScript compiler saves 17 years of Chrome users' CPU time each day.  It should also benefit all Chromium browsers that use it.
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Doximity, a LinkedIn for doctors, files for an IPO, and says it has allocated 15% of shares offered to doctors; Doximity's revenue grew 78% in 2020 to $206.9M  —  - Doximity, which is often described as the LinkedIn for doctors, filed its IPO prospectus on Friday.
Reuters:
Sprinklr, a provider of customer service software, files for an IPO and reports revenue of $386.9M and net loss of $41.2M in the year ended January 31  —  Software startup Sprinklr on Friday made public its plans for a stock market listing in the United States, revealing a 19.3% rise in annual revenue.

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