Techmeme
September 14, 2023, 5:25 PM

Top News

Mehul Srivastava / Financial Times:
MGM was likely hacked by Scattered Spider, an English-speaking group that previously used help desk calls to get passwords and planned to hack the slot machines  —  Person claiming to represent cybercriminals explains techniques used to evade detection by casino resort company
Wall Street Journal:
Filing: Caesars confirms the casino operator was hacked via a social engineering attack on an outsourced IT support vendor; sources: Caesars paid a ~$15M ransom  —  Caesars is second major casino operator hit by hackers in recent weeks  —  paid roughly half of a $30 million ransom …
CNBC:
Arm opens up 10% to ~$56 in its Nasdaq debut, valuing the company at $59.9B, after Arm priced shares at the upper end of its expected $47 to $51 range  —  - Arm Holdings has started trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker “ARM.”  — The chip design company is valued at a steep premium relative …
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Unity cancels a town hall and closes two offices after receiving what the company says was a credible death threat, following its controversial install fee news  —  Management announced a controversial pricing decision two days ago  —  Unity Technologies Inc. canceled a planned town hall …
Neil Long / Mobilegamer.biz:
Sources: Unity is offering a 100% Runtime Fee waiver to studios using its LevelPlay mediation platform and 80%-100% waivers to those switching from AppLovin  —  Unity is quietly offering developers a Runtime Fee waiver if they switch to its LevelPlay mediation platform, we're told.
Kat Bailey / IGN:
Nicole Nguyen / Wall Street Journal:
Google plans to offer Chromebook software updates for up to 10 years, starting in 2024, so no current device expires within the next two years, to help schools  —  With the change, no existing Chromebook will have to expire within the next two years  —  Google is working to push …
Monica Chin / The Verge:
HP unveils the $5,000+ Spectre Fold, an OLED foldable PC that can be used as a 17-inch tablet, a 17-inch laptop, or a 12.3-inch laptop and weighs less than 3lbs  —  Over the past few years, companies across the PC space have been engaged in a slow, but steady race to build a foldable laptop that people might actually want to buy.
Sam Rutherford / Engadget:
Bloomberg:
How Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, both renowned Stanford scholars, opened doors for their son, Sam, and provided a halo effect for FTX before its implosion  —  Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, both renowned Stanford scholars, opened doors for their son and provided a halo effect for his company.
Washington Post:
Day two of Google's trial: Apple complained the DOJ may have violated confidentiality rules, after the DOJ said Google paid Apple $4B to $7B for search in 2020  —  Protection of trade secrets versus transparency has been a major debate between Google and activists in the case
Steven Rosenbush / Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft and Oracle expand their cloud partnership with Oracle Database@Azure, which offers access to Oracle services on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in Azure  —  The new level of collaboration reflects how technology and customer demand have fostered more cooperation among software companies
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Automattic releases ActivityPub 1.0.0 for WordPress, letting fediverse users follow WordPress blogs on apps like Mastodon and receive replies as blog comments  —  In March, WordPress.com owner Automattic made a commitment to the fediverse — the decentralized social networks that include …
Maria Heeter / The Information:
Sources: in H1 2023, Flexport burned ~$300M and its revenue fell nearly 70% to $700M; founder Ryan Petersen, back as the CEO, says Flexport has $1B+ in net cash  —  Flexport's revenue fell nearly 70% in the first half of the year to $700 million and the company burned through cash, people familiar with the company's financials said.
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Databricks raised a $500M+ Series I at a $43B valuation, after raising $1.6B at a $38B valuation in August 2021, before a possible IPO, and reports 10K+ clients  —  Data analytics and AI software maker Databricks has raised a Series I round worth more than $500 million, earning a valuation of $43 billion.
Bloomberg:
SCOTUS pauses a lower court's order limiting the White House, FBI, and public health agencies from making social media requests, hours after DOJ filed a request  —  - Administrative stay lets government keep communicating freely  — Alito order comes hours after Justice Department filed request

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Earlier Picks

Tyler Cowen / Bloomberg:
Mariana Lenharo / Nature:
Alex Ivanovs / Stack Diary:
Reuters: