Techmeme
July 20, 2021, 8:20 PM

Top News

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q2 revenue of $7.34B vs. $7.32B est., up 19% YoY, global paid net additions of 1.54M vs. 1.19M expected; US and Canada region lost 433K subs QoQ  —  - Netflix reported earnings that missed on the bottom line.  — The company's revenue and global paid net subscriber additions beat estimates.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Netflix says its expansion into gaming will start with mobile games, which will be included with a subscription at no additional cost  —  Games will be included at no added cost with a Netflix subscription  —  Netflix revealed that its initial efforts in gaming will be focused on mobile games …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Verizon joins AT&T and T-Mobile in switching Android Messages default to RCS, raising questions about when or if Apple will swap its SMS default with RCS  —  That's all three big US carriers, is Apple next?  —  Beginning next year, Verizon will join AT&T and T-Mobile in preloading Android Messages …
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Dave Gershgorn / The Verge:
DuckDuckGo launches a new Email Protection service that scans emails for trackers then forwards them from a free “@duck.com” address to a user's regular inbox  —  This is your chance to get an ‘@duck.com’ email address  —  DuckDuckGo is launching a new email privacy service meant …
Bloomberg:
Biden nominates Jonathan Kanter, a long-time foe of Google, to become the DOJ's antitrust chief  —  - Kanter has represented Microsoft, Yelp in anti-Google push  — Biden's appointments signal aggressive antitrust agenda  —  President Joe Biden plans to nominate Jonathan Kanter as head …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Twitter begins rolling out a preview of a revamped TweetDeck in the US, Canada, and Australia, featuring an option for wider columns, an Explore column, more  —  Twitter is beginning to test a completely redesigned version of TweetDeck, the company announced today.
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:
Crypto derivatives exchange FTX raises $900M from SoftBank, Sequoia, and others, valuing it at $18B; CryptoCompare: FTX handles $10B+/day in trades on average  —  Investors include SoftBank, Sequoia Capital and Daniel Loeb's Third Point hedge fund  —  Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has raised money …
Washington Post:
Phone numbers belonging to ten prime ministers, three presidents, and a king were among the list of 50K potential NSO targets, leaked to Amnesty International  —  Spies for centuries have trained their sights on those who shape destinies of nations: presidents, prime ministers, kings.
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
YouTube debuts Super Thanks, which lets users tip creators for individual uploaded videos rather than livestreams and have their message highlighted in comments  —  YouTube announced its latest feature, Super Thanks, on Tuesday.  This is YouTube's fourth Paid Digital Good …
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Product Hunt's Josh Buckley and others launch Hyper, a $60M early-stage fund offering $300K fixed checks, a mentorship network, and Product Hunt distribution  —  Hyper is a $60M early-stage fund co-founded by Josh Buckley, Product Hunt's current CEO along with writer, founder and designer Dustin Curtis.
The Information:
Sources: Bolt, which offers a one-click checkout service, is raising a $333M Series D at a post-money valuation of $4B, nearly five times its December valuation  —  Bolt, a San Francisco-based startup that offers software for online shopping, is raising $333 million in Series D funding …
Jennifer Surane / Bloomberg:
Venmo says it is ditching its global social feed, making it so users can no longer see payments between people they don't know  —  - App, owned by PayPal, is removing its global transactions feed  — For years, Venmo has faced criticism for its privacy controls
Washington Post:
Top US Catholic Church official resigns after a Catholic media site obtained his alleged Grindr app and phone location data from an undisclosed data broker  —  The top administrator of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops resigned after a Catholic media site told the conference it had access …
Keith Barry / Consumer Reports:
Videos of Tesla customers using Full Self-Driving beta 9, rolled out to select users, show a system that seems dangerous for users to be testing on public roads  —  Consumer Reports' car safety experts worry that Tesla continues to use vehicle owners as beta testers for its new features, putting others on the road at risk
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is delaying return to office deadline by at least a month to October amid rising COVID cases, will give employees a month's notice before return  —  - The iPhone maker is now eyeing an October return for workers  — Covid-19 variants continue to spread across many countries
Forbes:
BlockFi CEO confirms it received an order from the New Jersey Bureau of Securities to stop accepting new Interest Accounts; existing users won't be impacted  —  I write about how digital assets are going to change the world  —  According to a draft press release from the New Jersey Office …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Titan, an investing app with ~30,000 users and ~$500M in assets under management, raises $58M Series B led by a16z, valuing the startup at $450M  —  Titan, a startup that is building a retail investment management platform aimed at the new generation of “everyday investors,” …
Kanishka Singh / Reuters:
Report: UK suspends grants to its largest fab, Newport Wafer Fab, which was bought by a Dutch firm owned by China's Wingtech, amid national security concerns  —  British ministers have cut off taxpayer-funded payments to Britain's biggest microchip factory after its sale to a Chinese-owned technology company …
Source: TelegraphMore: CNBC
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sheera Frenkel / New York Times:
Sources: a group of Facebook data scientists asked for resources to measure COVID misinfo on Facebook at the start of the pandemic, but execs denied the request  —  The company doesn't know some specifics about how falsehoods about Covid-19 and vaccines for the virus spread on its social network.
Liam Tung / ZDNet:
Google unveils a public preview of Google Cloud Armor Adaptive Protection, a ML-powered service for Google Cloud apps and sites to protect against DDoS attacks  —  Google Cloud customers can now test out Google's answer to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Substack is funding the launch of podcast network Booksmart, which will start with five podcasts; subscribers will get extra content for $7/month or $70/year  —  Substack is funding the launch of a new podcast network called Booksmart Studios, executives tell Axios.

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