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October 21, 2021, 4:50 AM
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| Bloomberg: |
Sources: PayPal has approached Pinterest about an acquisition, potentially valuing it at $39B; Pinterest stock had dropped 16% this year but is up 10%+ today — PayPal Holdings Inc. is exploring an acquisition of social media company Pinterest Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg News reports.
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Reuters, New York Times, PYMNTS.com, Bloomberg, Finextra, Pocketnow, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Benzinga, The Information, TechSpot, Ubergizmo, SiliconANGLE, phonearena.com, Search Engine Journal, San Francisco Business Journal, Engadget, CNN, and The Hill
Tweets: @kylascan, @zamosta, @iiiitsandrea, @palmettocapital, @seyitaylor, @shiraovide, @shenlucinda, @modestproposal1, @djsnm, @delrey, @shetalksfinance, @morningbrew, @maybebullish, @ldignan, @ericstromberg, @jonerlichman, @kylascan, @kwong47, @economyapp, @villi, @speechu, @jeffjohnroberts, and @chrismessina
| Casey Newton / Platformer: |
Sources: Mark Zuckerberg has not settled on a new name for Facebook, which could be announced as early as Monday — See you Monday! — Facebook is changing its name. Perhaps you heard. The news was broken by Alex Heath of The Verge on Tuesday night, and I've since confirmed it with sources of my own.
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CNBC, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, Wired, Input, VICE, The Economic Times, Common Dreams, Insider, Yahoo Finance, TNW, FrontPageTech.com, Fortune, Vox, Social Media Today, New World Notes, Quartz, and Gizmodo
Tweets: @caseynewton, @udiwertheimer, @inafried, @matt_levine, @jack, @jjvincent, @bcmerchant, @carlquintanilla, @stevekovach, @tallneil, @amyklobuchar, @jonstewart, @marshablackburn, @bigblackjacobin, @ryanlawler, @steveschmidtses, @martinsfp, @steveschmidtses, @nycsouthpaw, @aoc, @levie, @jacksondame, @duty2warn, @amrith, @timsweeneyepic, @ron_miller, @duty2warn, @caseynewton, @steveschmidtses, @suhail, @calcsam, @jyarow, @levynews, @jason, @quinnypig, @steveschmidtses, @steveschmidtses, @wongmjane, and @dcwomenkicknass
| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Microsoft begins letting Windows 11 beta testers try Android apps from the Amazon Appstore, starting with 50 apps including Kindle, Apple Music, and Signal — Beta Channel testers get access first — Microsoft is now allowing Windows 11 testers to try out Android apps.
Source:
Windows Blog. More:
Windows Insider Blog, Pocketables, Amazon Developer Services, Windows Central, OnMSFT.com, HotHardware.com News, CNET, Android Headlines, BleepingComputer, BleepingComputer, MobileSyrup, TNW, Tom's Hardware, TechPowerUp, BGR India, Pureinfotech, TechPP, XDA Developers, Tom's Guide, TechSpot, Liliputing, Wccftech, BetaNews, Gizmodo, PCWorld, GeekWire, and Pocket-lint
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Twitter acquires London-based Sphere, which develops a group chat app and has raised $30M to date — Twitter has acquired London-based Sphere, which operates an eponymous groups chat app, the latest in a series of recent moves from the social network as it looks to aggressively broaden and improve its product offerings.
More:
Sphere and Social Media Today
Tweets: @nickdaloisio, @sam_l_shead, @investmenttalkk, @elliotturn, @ruskin147, @thekenyeung, @richlightshed, @tsuvik, and @caseynewton
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Internal email: Apple will test unvaccinated corporate staff each time they enter offices starting Nov. 1, and asks US staff to report vaccine status by Oct. 24 — - The company is still stopping short of requiring the shots — Unvaccinated retail staff will be asked to test twice a week
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MacRumors, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, iThinkDifferent, CNET, and iMore
Tweets: @markgurman and @markgurman
| Aisha Counts / Protocol: |
Since May, Google says it has blocked 1.6M messages and restored ~4,000 YouTube influencer accounts affected by a phishing campaign offering fake collaborations — A network of Russian-speaking hackers are phishing YouTube influencers with fake collaboration offers in order to hijack their accounts …
Source:
The Keyword. More:
The Record, Security Affairs, Dark Reading, and Threatpost
Tweets: @shanehuntley, @t_gidwani, @ashl3y_shen, @anttitikkanen, and @lanceulanoff
| Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post: |
US Commerce Department announces rules banning the export or resale of hacking tools to China, Russia, and other countries of concern — The Commerce Department on Wednesday announced a long-awaited rule that officials hope will help stem the export or resale of hacking tools to China …
Source:
U.S. Department of Commerce. More:
SiliconANGLE, The Register, Gizmodo, CyberScoop, Nextgov, BleepingComputer, Protocol, and The Record
| Emily Birnbaum / Politico: |
Source: Pierre Omidyar's philanthropic organization Luminate handles Frances Haugen's PR in Europe; Omidyar donated $150K to Whistleblower Aid in 2020 — Support from eBay-founder-turned-tech-critic Pierre Omidyar is helping Frances Haugen take on one of the world's most powerful companies.
More:
Omidyar Network and The Verge
Tweets: @birnbaum_e, @alexeheath, @carolecadwalla, @karlbode, @teddyschleifer, @blackamazon, @jason_kint, @anabmap, @dylanbyers, @aaronjmate, @willoremus, @gerritd, @yashalevine, @jason_kint, @moonalice, @yaeleisenstat, @cultexpert, @timkarr, @jamespoulos, @jason_kint, @stevekrak, @birnbaum_e, @ksato_phillips, @rmac18, @kimzetter, and @logandobson
| Alex Webb / Bloomberg: |
Apple's product design has improved since Jony Ive left, as it seems to be putting the emphasis back on function over form and is less obsessed with thinness — At one time, even broaching the idea would have been sacrilegious. But here goes: might Apple Inc.'s product design have improved since the departure of Jony Ive?
More:
Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Notebookcheck.net, Ubergizmo, MacDailyNews, iPhone in Canada Blog, and MacRumors
Tweets: @nheagy, @appleproleeks, @atbwebb, @reyml10, @thomasclaburn, @primalanomaly, @emanuelsa, @sirwill, @josejacas, @sdw, @xerusdesign, @jonyiveparody, @jonyiveparody, @sdw, and @sdw
| ABC News: |
Trump announces the Trump Media & Technology Group and TRUTH Social, a social network coming in Nov. to “stand up” to Big Tech, in the App Store for preorder — The former president has been banned from several platforms. — Silenced by many major platforms …
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TechCrunch, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Insider, Financial Times, Salon, The Hill, Insider, Raw Story, Mediaite, Newsweek, CNET, and Bloomberg
Tweets: @reallizusa, @bradheath, @danprimack, @santucci, @cd_hooks, @noupside, @reckless, @danprimack, @benjamint0001, @frankluntz, @alexstamos, @killedbygoogle, @donie, @jack, @williamturton, @noupside, @donie, @samstein, @randirhodes, @tomwatson, @pkafka, @iansherr, @pkafka, @kim, @drewharwell, and @danprimack
| Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information: |
Internal memo: Facebook has quietly killed the “Hey Facebook” wake word for Portal, as customers were confused by the phrase and it was affecting usage — Facebook has quietly abandoned the phrase “Hey Facebook” as a way for customers of its Portal video-chat device to start …
Tweets: @grahamstarr and @amir
| Todd Spangler / Variety: |
Spotify partners with Shopify to let artists list merch on profiles for $29/month to $299/month, starting in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — Spotify on Wednesday announced a new partnership with ecommerce provider Shopify to let artists list merchandise directly on their profiles …
More:
Shopify, TechCrunch, Tubefilter, and BetaKit
Tweets: @shopify, @shopify, @tobi, @sarthakgh, @value_invest12, @carnage4life, @danlesac, @johnpaul, @rhiankatie, @dalmaer, @sebastienlintz, @alex_danco, @profgalloway, @payusnomind, @mr_trick, @duncan, @mehrotra_saket, @ecommerce, @eggroli, @itsdaveedwards, @shopify, @harleyf, @psawers, and @micahsingleton
| Ron Miller / TechCrunch: |
Hex, which simplifies storing and sharing large data sets with integrations for Snowflake, BigQuery, and others, raises a $16M Series A led by Redpoint Ventures — Data is everywhere inside organizations, and employees are increasingly trying to find ways to put it to work to improve business outcomes.
Tweets: @itunpredictable, @ttunguz, @redpointvc, @sarahcat21, @dhaliwas, and @wesmckinn
| Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider: |
Report: Yahoo Finance's mobile app disappeared from the App Store in China, days after republishing a Bloomberg story critical of China's tech crackdown — Yahoo Finance appears to be the latest victim of China's suppressive internet regulations, as the iOS app used by many to access foreign news coverage … | Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: |
Superplastic, which owns an animated collab house of “synthetic superstars” on social media, raises a $20M Series A, bringing its total funding to $38M — A company from the creator of Ello and Kidrobot is announcing a new $20 million funding round to build out an imagined virtual world populated … | Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Honeycomb, which develops a software observability tool used by companies including Stripe and Slack, raises a $50M Series C led by Insight Partners — Honeycomb, a software observability platform used by developers at companies such as Stripe, Slack, Heroku, and LaunchDarkly, has raised $50 million in a series C round of funding.| Stephen Nellis / Reuters: |
SAP's Qualtrics reports Q3 revenue of $271.6M, up 41% YoY, subscription revenue of $220.3M, up 49% YoY, Q4 projected sales of $297M, vs $264M est.; stock up 5%+ — Business software firm Qualtrics International (XM.O) on Wednesday raised its full-year sales forecast above analyst estimates …
More:
qualtrics.gcs-web.com, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, and Yahoo Finance
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
SkyHive, which develops workforce planning software that lets customers benchmark against competitors by analyzing labor market data, raises a $40M Series B — SkyHive Technologies, a company developing workforce planning software, today announced that it closed a $40 million series B round led … | Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
YouTube Music's free tier will transition to audio-only with background listening next month, with videos reserved for Premium subscribers — Starting next month, YouTube Music is getting free background listening in a major revamp of the streaming service's ad-supported tier.| CoinDesk: |
Bitcoin crosses $66K, an all-time high, after the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF rose by nearly 5% on the NYSE — The latest rally appears fueled by the successful debut on Tuesday of the first U.S. bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund. — Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency … Sponsor Posts
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Zoho:
Enhancements to Zoho Writer's automation flow designer: New PDF operations, password protection, and more — Once we rolled out the automation flow designer in Zoho Writer's merge templates …
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