Apple unveils new 16-inch MacBook Pro starting at $2,399 with new processors, better speakers, and a new keyboard, available for pre-order now  —  Apple has launched a new 16-inch MacBook Pro today, available for pre-order now and in stores later this week.

Report: Google is planning to offer checking accounts to users, in partnership with banks and credit unions, starting as early as next year  —  Google is the latest big tech company to make a move into banking and personal financial services: The company is gearing up to offer checking accounts to consumers …

Privacy-focused open source browser Brave officially launches version 1.0, available on all major platforms  —  And it has a plan to pay users and publishers for ads  —  Today marks the official launch of Brave 1.0, a free open-source browser.  The beta version has already drawn 8 million monthly users …

Source: DoorDash is raising $100M at a ~$13B valuation from T. Rowe Price Group and others  —  DoorDash Inc.'s $2 billion war chest is getting even bigger.  The food delivery startup, backed by the likes of SoftBank Group Corp. and Sequoia Capital, is receiving a new cash infusion of $100 million …

Popular health websites in UK are sharing sensitive user data with dozens of companies including Google and Facebook along with data-brokers and adtech firms  —  Some of the UK's most popular health websites are sharing people's sensitive data — including medical symptoms, diagnoses …

Nike will stop selling its sneakers and apparel directly on Amazon, ending a pilot program that began in 2017  —  - Move follows naming of ex-EBay CEO as Nike's next chief  —  Nike Inc. is breaking up with Amazon.com Inc.  —  The athletic brand will stop selling its sneakers …

Ping, which uses AI to track the hours lawyers work and fill out timesheets, raises $13.2M Series A led by Upfront Ventures  —  Counting billable time in six-minute increments is the most annoying part of being a lawyer.  It's a distracting waste.  It leads law firms to conservatively under-bill.

Freshworks, which offers a range of customer support and sales software, raises $150M Series H led by CapitalG, Sequioa Capital, and Accel at a $3.5B valuation  —  Freshworks, a company that provides customer service software and automation tools for businesses, has confirmed …

Mirantis says it has acquired Docker Enterprise, including the business, team, and IP, as Docker raises $35M from Benchmark amid difficulties at the company  —  Mirantis today announced that it has acquired Docker's Enterprise business and team.  Docker Enterprise was very much the heart …

Facebook says requests from governments for user data in H1 2019 were up 16% over H2 2018 to 128,617, the highest on record, led by 50,741 demands from the US  —  Facebook's latest transparency report is out.  —  The social media giant said the number of government demands for user data increased …

Disney says Disney+ has seen 10M signups since launching on Tuesday  —  Disney's new streaming service has already seen 10 million sign-ups since launching Tuesday, the company announced Wednesday.  —  Disney's stock was up slightly on the news.  Netflix shares were down 1%.

New York-based Hive, which develops a productivity platform for workers, raises $10.6M Series A led by Comcast Ventures  —  Yesterday, Hive announced a $10.6 million Series A round of capital, led by Comcast Ventures.  The new round was larger than all the capital that Hive …

Microsoft says Executive VP Harry Shum, who oversaw AI and Research, is leaving in February 2020, with CTO Kevin Scott taking over his responsibilities  —  Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott is going to be heading up Microsoft's combined AI and Research Group, effective immediately.

Alibaba's IPO application approved by the Hong Kong stock exchange; sources say shares to be priced on Nov. 20 with expected trading in the week of Nov. 25  —  Alibaba aims to sell 500 million new shares, with every eight Hong Kong-listed shares equal to one ADS traded in the US in value …

Africa-focused payments startup PalmPay, which has just launched in Nigeria, raises $40M seed round led by Chinese mobile phone maker Transsion  —  Africa focused payment startup PalmPay has launched in Nigeria after raising a $40 million seed-round led by Chinese mobile-phone maker Transsion.

A look at Facebook's past views on China and how they changed as TikTok became popular; sources: Facebook held serious acquisition talks with Musical.ly in 2016  —  Three years ago, Mark Zuckerberg considered buying the Chinese company that became the basis of TikTok.

Mozilla, Intel, Red Hat, and Fastly announce the launch of Bytecode Alliance, which aims to take WebAssembly and other related open standards beyond the browser  —  Mozilla, Intel, Red Hat and Fast today announced the launch of the Bytecode Alliance, a new open-source group that focuses on …

Federal judge rules Trump administration's decision to let 3D-printed gun blueprints be shared online was illegal, following lawsuits from several states  —  - State Department reversed an Obama policy to block publication  — Some states sued claiming 3-D guns would endanger police

Chicago-based ThreeKit raises $20M Series A for its platform that creates 3D product renderings for clients on the fly  —  Predictably, the vast majority of ecommerce customers prefer to visually preview products before deciding whether to pull the trigger.

Amid labor tensions Google says it fired a staffer for leaking employee info to media, put two on leave for sharing internal docs and tracking staffer calendars  —  - Employee terminated for leaking names, details to media  — Rifts with management roiling company known for openness