Techmeme: In a letter, 42 Democratic lawmakers urge Google to stop collecting and keeping unnecessary user data that could be used to identify people seeking abortions (Lauren Feiner/CNBC)

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May 25, 2022, 12:35 AM

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Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Microsoft unveils Project Volterra, an ARM-powered developer kit to explore “AI scenarios” coming in 2022, as Windows gains support for neural processing units — Today at Build 2022, Microsoft unveiled Project Volterra, a device powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform that's designed …

João Carrasqueira / XDA Developers:

Microsoft debuts Power Pages, a low-code website builder, and Power Apps Express Design, which can turn images into an app with controls and data storage — It's that time of the year again when Microsoft holds its Build developer event, and with it comes a ton of news for all kinds of Microsoft products.

More: SiliconANGLE, InfoWorld, The New Stack, TechRadar, Computerworld, IT PRO, Tom's Hardware, ZDNet, Neowin, Thurrott, TechRepublic, TechCrunch, TechCrunch, OnMSFT.com, and Petri IT Knowledgebase. Tweets: @fxshaw

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft plans to support third-party Windows 11 widgets later in 2022, letting developers offer them as “companion experiences” to their Win32 or PWA apps — Widgets might appear on the Windows 11 desktop soon, too — Microsoft is planning to support third-party widgets inside Windows 11 later this year.

More: Windows Blog, 9to5Google, BleepingComputer, PCMag, MobileSyrup, Engadget, XDA Developers, WinBuzzer, BigTechWire, Thurrott, and Windows Central

Tweets: @daniel_rubino, @tomwarren, and @daniel_rubino

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft debuts Dev Box, a cloud service offering Windows 365-integrated developer workstations, in private preview; a public preview arrives in a few months

More: Visual Studio Magazine, SiliconANGLE, WinBuzzer, Petri IT Knowledgebase, InfoWorld, DEVCLASS, BigTechWire, ZDNet, Microsoft Tech Community, TechRadar, TechCrunch, Protocol, Windows Central, and Thurrott

Shawn Amick / Bitcoin Magazine:

Stripe partners with OpenNode to let businesses convert fiat payments into bitcoin via OpenNode's Stripe app; Stripe suspended bitcoin support in 2018 — Stripe, a global payment processor, is working with OpenNode to enable businesses to convert fiat payments into bitcoin.

More: CoinDesk and Bloomberg. Tweets: @opennode

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Stripe launches an apps marketplace to bring third-party tools directly into Stripe, starting with 50+ apps from companies like Dropbox, Mailchimp, and DocuSign

More: PYMNTS.com and Stripe Blog

Tweets: @stripe, @patrickc, @patio11, and @ow

Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:

Apple says that starting on June 30, 2022, all App Store apps that offer account creation must also offer an in-app option to let users delete their account — Apple last year announced a change in the App Store guidelines that would require all apps that support account creation to offer …

More: Apple Developer, The Verge, iMore, MacRumors, and iClarified

Tweets: @dimsartz_ and @dimsartz_

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

In a letter, 42 Democratic lawmakers urge Google to stop collecting and keeping unnecessary user data that could be used to identify people seeking abortions — - Democratic lawmakers urged Google CEO Sundar Pichai to stop collecting and keeping unnecessary or non-aggregated location data …

More: Ron Wyden, Engadget, Associated Press, CNET, Nextgov, BuzzFeed News, VICE, The Verge, CyberScoop, The Register, and Politico

Tweets: @evan_greer, @lauren_feiner, @asymmetricinfo, @accountabletech, @daveixd, and @tonyajoriley

Simon Jessop / Reuters:

Flowcarbon, a blockchain-based carbon credit trading service backed by WeWork's Neumann, raises $32M led by a16z and $38M from selling its Goddess Nature Token — LONDON (Reuters) - Flowcarbon, a blockchain-enabled carbon credit trading platform backed by WeWork founder Adam Neumann …

Krystal Hu / Reuters:

New Jersey-based Semperis, a cybersecurity startup offering tools to protect enterprises using Microsoft Active Directory, raises a $200M+ Series C led by KKR — U.S. cybersecurity software firm Semperis said it has raised over $200 million in a funding round led by private equity firm KKR & Co Inc …

More: SC Media, Business Wire, govinfosecurity.com, SiliconANGLE, CRN, FinSMEs, SecurityWeek, and Tech News. Tweets: @semperistech

Alex Heath / The Verge:

Niantic debuts Visual Positioning System, a developer platform for building location-aware AR apps, and Campfire, a location-based social network for its games — The maker of Pokémon Go is releasing its AR map for other apps and a location-based social network called Campfire

More: CNET, TechCrunch, Niantic, Transistori, Platformer, Road to VR, Game Developer, SiliconANGLE, The Information, and Protocol

Tweets: @benz145, @reneritchie, and @verge

Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:

DeFi Llama: the total value locked across DeFi protocols has dropped to ~$112B, down from ~$195B before UST and LUNA collapsed, amid a broader decline in crypto — The collapse of one of decentralized finance's most ambitious experiments has knocked more than $83 billion off the sector's total value …

Tweets: @emilyjnicolle

Wall Street Journal:

Internal memo: Lyft plans to slow US hiring, cut some department budgets, and grant new stock options to some employees to make up for its eroding share price — President John Zimmer is expected to announce the measures to staff Tuesday — Lyft Inc. LYFT -17.27%▼ will slow hiring …

More: Reuters and Bloomberg

Tweets: @carnage4life, @wallstcynic, @akikofujita, and @mrinaldesai

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

As Snap's growth warning sends its stock down 43.04%, other tech stocks drop too: Meta by 7.62%, Pinterest by 23.64%, Alphabet by 4.95%, and Twitter by 5.55% — - Snap CEO Evan Spiegel warned of slowing growth in a note to employees made public on Monday. — His message sent a chill across the digital advertising industry.

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From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says there was no “pressure from the outside” on the agency leading to an early review of ABC's TV broadcast licenses

Reporters Without Borders:

RSF Press Freedom Index hits a 25-year low: over 50% of the world's countries fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories; Norway holds the top spot

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Amazon executives, including MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins, have discussed rebooting The Apprentice for Prime Video, with Donald Trump Jr. as the host

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More News

Moneycontrol:

Indian startups are resorting to layoffs, a hiring freeze, shutting down non-core verticals, and rationalizing ad spends as a two-year funding spree slows down

Tweets: @avlesh, @aaravmeanspeace, @chandrarsrikant, @k_p_ganesh, @binoy_prabhakar, @nimsaw, @chandrarsrikant, @rmantri, @_prashantnair, @derzuschauer7, @latha_venkatesh, @abhilivian, @adadithya, @anandlunia, and @nicks103

Tracy Qu / South China Morning Post:

Kuaishou reports Q1 revenue up 24% YoY to ~$3.2B, vs. ~$3.1B est., a ~$939M net loss, down 89% YoY from ~$8.7B, and 346M DAUs, up 17% YoY from 295M

More: Kuaishou Technology

Paresh Dave / Reuters:

Clearview AI expands sales by offering private companies and organizations a facial recognition tool allegedly using data collected with subjects' permission

More: The Register, Protocol, and ComputerWeekly.com

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

Microsoft says 10M+ players stream games with Xbox Cloud Gaming; in September 2021, Nvidia said GeForce Now had 12M+ users; Google has not shared Stadia numbers

More: The Official Microsoft Blog, SiliconANGLE, MobileSyrup, XDA Developers, and OnMSFT.com

Tweets: @satyanadella and @johnkoetsier

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Chrome now lets all desktop users right-click an image and perform a Lens search to translate text, identify an object, get the original source, and more

More: Pocket-lint, BGR, Search Engine Land, Android Police, iPhone in Canada Blog, Tom's Guide, Android Headlines, 9to5Google, Android Central, and The Verge

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:

Mexico-based Nowports, an automated digital freight forwarder in Latin America, raises a $150M Series C at a $1.1B valuation led by SoftBank Latin America Fund

More: Crunchbase News. Tweets: @ycombinator, @maxcasal13, @ponchodelosrios, and @bayareawriter

Ann-Marie Alcántara / Wall Street Journal:

San Mateo-based Firework, whose tools help companies livestream shopping events, raises a $150M Series B led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 at a $750M valuation

More: PR Newswire, Firework, Moneycontrol, TechCrunch, FinSMEs, PYMNTS.com, and The Economic Times

Earlier Picks

Gené Teare / Crunchbase News:

Monte Carlo, which uses AI to monitor data reliability, raises a $135M Series D led by IVP at a $1.6B valuation, bringing its total funding to $236M

More: SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, Monte Carlo Data, nocamels.com, Globes Online, FinSMEs, and Forbes

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Cribl, which helps companies monitor and analyze data created by their infrastructure, raises a $150M Series D led by Tiger, a source says at a $2.5B valuation

More: SiliconANGLE, CRN, FinSMEs, Cribl, VentureBeat, and PR Newswire. Tweets: @stepstonevc. Thanks:@kellyengemoen

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

How Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's $419M donation to US local and state election officials in 2020 has become a target of right-wing conspiracies

More: Crypto Briefing and Cointelegraph

Tweets: @issielapowsky, @teddyschleifer, @ianclucas, @justinhendrix, @radicalalarmist, @issielapowsky, @protocol, @protocol, @protocol, @tianaej, @issielapowsky, and @issielapowsky

Financial Times:

Filings: at Amazon's first annual shareholder meeting helmed by Andy Jassy on May 25, the company will oppose all 15 proposals, the most it has faced since 2010

More: New York Post and Protocol

Tweets: @uniglobalunion, @quinnypig, @muradahmed, and @jasonwardcictar

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

Google Research announces Imagen, an AI text-to-image generator rivaling OpenAI's DALL-E 2, but decides “not to release code or a public demo” at this time

Source: Google Research. More: Engadget, MSPoweruser, The Register, PetaPixel, Android Headlines, Analytics, Silicon Republic, The Verge, Slashdot, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @jeffdean, @multimodalart, @ak92501, @jjvincent, @jjvincent, @gonzauri, @jasonbaldridge, @joshelman, @billyperrigo, @jjvincent, @jelleprins, @yoavgo, @kevin2kelly, @cgarciae88, @michael_nielsen, @iscienceluvr, @parmy, @nabeel, and @daveleeft

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget:

As Street View for Google Maps turns 15, Google announces updates such as historical imagery on Android and iOS, a smaller camera system for its cars, and more

More: The Keyword, MacRumors, The Keyword, The Verge, Fortune, SlashGear, TechSpot, MobileSyrup, Android Central, 9to5Google, CNN, Fossbytes, GSMArena.com, and Mashable

Tweets: @wittednote, @google, and @jinkiesjerrica

James Vincent / The Verge:

Delivery startup Gorillas lays off half of its “global office workforce”, ~300 staff, and plans to reassess its operations in Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Belgium

More: TechCrunch, Sifted, gorillas.io, Insider, PYMNTS.com, Protocol, Silicon Canals, and Silicon Republic

Tweets: @parismartineau, @slingshotcap, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @sarthakgh, @sameer_singh17, @yattisoni, and @mparts_

Adam Beam / Associated Press:

California's State Assembly passes a bill to let parents sue social media companies if children become “addicted” to their products; the bill needs a final vote