Techmeme: Report: in the Middle East, $704M was invested across 564 different startups in 2019, compared to only $15M in five venture deals in 2009 (Damian Radcliffe/ZDNet)

Top News

GoDaddy confirms some of its staff fell for a social engineering scam, after hackers changed the email and DNS records for a number of crypto trading platforms — Fraudsters redirected email and web traffic destined for several cryptocurrency trading platforms over the past week.

Tweets: @briankrebs and @eastdakota

Samuel Axon / Ars Technica:

Craig Federighi, Johny Srouji, and Greg Joswiak on how Apple designed M1, the importance of UMA, non-linear increase in performance at higher power levels, more — Craig Federighi, Johny Srouji, and Greg Joswiak tell us the Apple Silicon story. — Some time ago, in an Apple campus building, a group of engineers got together.

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:

A look at the growing world of virtual HQs on services like Branch, Gather, and Huddle, which are using spatial tech to create a metaverse dedicated to work — ‘The future of transportation is no transportation’ — In retrospect, 2019 feels like the working world's last dance with spontaneity.

Tweets: @nmasc_, @drorpoleg, @zck, @azeem, and @joshelman

Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:

Canvas, which develops machine learning-powered robots for installing drywall at construction sites, emerges from stealth with $19M in funding — Canvas, a company that uses machine learning to install drywall at construction sites, emerged from stealth today.

More: San Francisco Business Journal, Wired, and RoboticsTomorrow.com News

Nick Statt / The Verge:

A year in, Stadia's free-to-play and added phone support are great, but it needs a successful Cyberpunk 2077 launch to be seen as a true console alternative — Firing up a big-budget modern video game inside a Chrome browser window for the first time feels like you're tapping into some arcane magic …

More: Redmond Pie and BGR India

Tweets: @nickstatt, @nickstatt, and @starfire2258

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

A look at Google Pay redesign as an all-encompassing money app with P2P payments, personal finance insights, deals, and banking services, rolling out in the US — Today, Google Pay for both Android and iOS is relaunching with a giant array of new features.

More: 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Fintech Today, iLounge, FinLedger, NFCW, and One Degree. Tweets: @brianmcc

TechCrunch:

a16z closes two new funds totaling $4.5B, focused on early and later-stage investments, bringing total assets under management to $16.5B — Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has closed a pair of funds totaling $4.5 billion, the firm confirmed in a blog post this morning.

More: Andreessen Horowitz, FinLedger, FinSMEs, PitchBook, and Crunchbase News

Tweets: @a16z, @anneleeskates, @mikebutcher, @bencasnocha, @andrewchen, @shaig, @sub8u, @stevesi, @danielsunread, and @abrams

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:

Fourteen states and DC released their contact tracing apps so far, with CA and others to follow, but adoption has been uneven due to politicization of COVID-19 — Exposure notification technology, now available to more Americans, shows promise — Covid-19 contact-tracing apps from Apple Inc …

Tweets: @dseetharaman

Damian Radcliffe / ZDNet:

Report: in the Middle East, $704M was invested across 564 different startups in 2019, compared to only $15M in five venture deals in 2009 — The coronavirus is having an impact, but the Middle East's startup scene is showing some unexpected trends. — At the end of last year, the Middle East's startup scene was on the up and up.

More: New.blicio.us. Thanks:@damianradcliffe

FinSMEs:

CAIS, an alternative investment service that also offers an AI-powered training system for independent financial advisors, raises $50M Series B from Eldridge — Cais, a NYC-based alternative investment platform, raised $50M in Series B equity funding. — Eldridge made the investment …

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:

Zillow usage since March is up 50%+ YoY, as surfing real estate listings on home buying websites becomes a form of escapism amid the pandemic — Scrolling through real estate listings in far-flung destinations is a way to visualize an alternate life, whether you're trying to move or not.

Tweets: @westcoastbill, @taylrn, @menendezrand, @marybschneider, and @taylorlorenz

Hartley Charlton / MacRumors:

Apple Support page says the company is working with Microsoft on adding support for Xbox Series X controller to Apple devices — Apple and Microsoft are working on adding support for the Xbox Series X controller to Apple devices, according to an Apple Support page spotted by a Reddit user.

More: The Verge, TechRadar, SlashGear, Gizchina, 9to5Mac, Ubergizmo, Digital Trends, Engadget, iPhone in Canada Blog, AppleInsider, iDownloadBlog.com, and iMore. Tweets: @tomwarren

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