Techmeme: A historic drop in releases of pirated content has followed a US-led bust targeting SPARKS and other piracy communities, with dozens of topsites taken down (Ernesto Van der Sar/TorrentFreak)

Top News

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Report: Apple has hired Tim Connolly, a former executive at Hulu and Quibi, to work on Apple TV+, as the company explores bundling content — In addition to expanding the amount of content on the service, Apple has shown an interest in bundling Apple TV+ with other properties.

Source: Telegraph. More: iMore, MacRumors, New.blicio.us, and AppleInsider. Tweets: @annemariebridy

See also Mediagazer

Steven Levy / Wired:

Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs on the “Holy Wars of Wireless” and why there is no US equivalent to Huawei that is pioneering next gen wireless infrastructure — Plus: Wireless at the turn of the century, a highly anticipated question, and a surprise in the stratosphere.

More: New.blicio.us and Beyond Search. Tweets: @jaygoldberg

Patrick McGee / Financial Times:

How iOS app developers draw on behavioral psychology to design user ratings pop-ups that appear at opportune times, like after a high score or on payday — Rating an iPhone app takes just a second, maybe two. “Enjoying Skype?” a prompt will ask, and you click on a 1-5 star rating.

More: Tom's Guide and Slashdot

Tweets: @bzamayo, @joshspero, @ftopinion, @financialtimes, @carnage4life, @daveleeft, @patrickmcgee_, and @faktoider

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Italy's antitrust authority says it has opened an inquiry into Google, Apple, and Dropbox over cloud computing services, including “unfair clauses in contracts” — Italy's competition authority has opened an investigation into cloud storage services operated by Apple …

More: SiliconANGLE, Reuters, AppleInsider, Thurrott, 9to5Mac, Tech Xplore, Engadget, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacRumors, CNBC, and Cult of Mac

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Interview with Reed Hastings, on the future of Hollywood, the US election and social media, his new book about Netflix's aggressive company culture, and more — Netflix started with sending DVDs — remember them? — through the mail, but now the streaming pioneer sits atop a Hollywood it has thoroughly upended.

More: New.blicio.us. Tweets: @mwanikih, @nytimes, @nytimesbusiness, @harper4nc, @sub8u, @shannon_liao, @nuitseracalme, @mbrandolph, @morganhousel, @maureendowd, and @ericliptonnyt

Andreessen Horowitz:

Traditional tabletop games are being reinvented by digital tools such as live-streaming, UGC, and audio to provide new experiences and reach larger audiences — Dungeons & Dragons, the granddaddy of all role-playing games, has never been more popular than it is today.

Tweets: @a16z

Sohee Kim / Bloomberg:

Samsung Electronics says it has won a $6.6B order to provide 5G wireless solutions to Verizon in the US — - It's one of Samsung's largest so far in 5G networking — Samsung is pushing hard to compete with Nokia and Ericsson — Samsung Electronics Co. won a 7.9 trillion won …

More: International Business Times, Wall Street Journal, CNET, Reuters, Nikkei Asian Review, Light Reading, ZDNet, Reuters, Financial Times, Coinspeaker, Android Headlines, South China Morning Post, Neowin, and ajudaily.com

Tweets: @lanceulanoff, @vijayshekhar, and @adrianweckler

Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak:

A historic drop in releases of pirated content has followed a US-led bust targeting SPARKS and other piracy communities, with dozens of topsites taken down — Every day, millions of people download or stream pirated content including movies, TV-shows, games, MP3s, and books.

More: BBC and TorrentFreak. Tweets: @campuscodi

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Apple says it stores Hong Kong users' iCloud data in US and that HK authorities' data requests go through DOJ, after saying it was “assessing” HK's security law — After Beijing unilaterally imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong on July 1, many saw the move as an effort …

Tweets: @zackwhittaker

FinSMEs:

Seattle-based Cloudentity, which offers cloud application security and identity-aware authorization services, raises $13M Series A led by ForgePoint Capital — Cloudentity, a Seattle, WA-based provider of cloud application security and identity-aware authorization solutions, raised $13M in Series A funding.

Jeanne Whalen / Washington Post:

US government is considering putting export restrictions on SMIC, which would block US companies from selling SMIC tech without a license; stock down 20%+ — Pentagon says the Trump administration is weighing possible trade sanction on SMIC — The Trump administration …

More: BBC, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Engadget, CNBC, Reuters, MSPoweruser, Softpedia News, MediaNama, XDA Developers, Bloomberg, Android Headlines, Coinspeaker, Interconnected, CNBC, Bloomberg, Digital Trends, and TheStreet

Tweets: @benktallmadge, @danrdimicco, @markseibel, and @jchengwsj

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

London-based ThoughtRiver, which uses AI to speed up legal contract pre-screening, announces $10M Series A led by Octopus Ventures — ThoughtRiver, a London-based legaltech startup that's applying AI to speed up contract pre-screening, has announced a $10 million Series A round of funding led by Octopus Ventures.

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