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January 6, 2021, 3:30 PM
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| Queenie Wong / CNET: |
Facebook updates Pages with a cleaner design, tools for hosting text-based Q&As, a dedicated News Feed, removes the total amount of “likes”, and more — The social network will also remove the total amount of “likes” a Page receives.
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About Facebook, TechCrunch, XDA Developers, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Social Media Today, TechRadar, iClarified, Pocketnow, SlashGear, Neowin, Tubefilter, iPhone in Canada Blog, MSPoweruser, Reuters, and New York Post
Tweets: @alexvoica, @alexvoica, @elanazak, @sarafischer, @stshank, @mattnavarra, @alexvoica, and @taylorlorenz
| Dina Bass / Bloomberg: |
An oral history from 24 people describing how Microsoft developed the original Xbox, initially an over-budget ungainly product, and reshaped the gaming industry — The original product was ungainly, over-budget and nearly canceled. Here's how it became a hit and reshaped an industry.
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Windows Central, Thurrott, The Verge, Neowin, OnMSFT.com, IGN, Game Rant, Kotaku, GoNintendo, and GameSpot
Tweets: @dinabass, @dinabass, @bradstone, @jeffsand, @nickstatt, @swiftonsecurity, @jasonschreier, @tomwarren, @newsynick, @markmilian, @bdsams, @inafried, and @dinabass
| Pranob Mehrotra / XDA Developers: |
WhatsApp updates its Terms and Privacy Policy to mandate data sharing with Facebook, including transaction data, mobile device information, IP address, and more — WhatsApp users are receiving an in-app notice today regarding the service's new terms and privacy policy.
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The Hacker News, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, WhatsApp.com, HotHardware.com News, Social Media Today, Tom's Guide, Fast Company, Input, HackRead, iDownloadBlog.com, BleepingComputer, The Economic Times, iPhone Hacks, TechRadar, Wccftech, and IT Management
Tweets: @hypervisible, @ediggs, @pitermach, @psawers, @stilldelvingh, @martinsfp, and @jochendo
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Apple says App Store users spent $1.8B on goods and services between December 24 and New Year's Eve and $540M on New Year's Day alone; Books has 90M MAUs — Apple has announced today that App Store customers spent a record amount throughout the holiday season.
More:
Apple, Computerworld, TheStreet, Thurrott, appadvice.com, CNET, AppleInsider, Bloomberg, and MacRumors
| Alexandra Alper / Reuters: |
Trump signs an executive order banning transactions with Ant Group's Alipay, Tencent's WeChat Pay and QQ, and five other Chinese payment apps — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group's Alipay.
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The White House, Bloomberg, Reuters, MacRumors, HotHardware.com News, CyberScoop, Fortune, PYMNTS.com, The Hill, Neowin, Engadget, Fast Company, Android Central, TechRadar, AppleInsider, U.S. Department of Commerce, Tech in Asia, New York Times, SlashGear, and Pocketnow
Tweets: @secretaryross, @commercegov, @niubi, @chriskeall, @niubi, and @mdudas
| Jesse Pound / CNBC: |
In a reversal, NYSE says it will go ahead with its plan to delist China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, following Mnuchin criticism — The New York Stock Exchange will delist three Chinese telecommunication giants after all. — The stock exchange will remove U.S.-traded shares of China Telecom …
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TechCrunch, Financial Times, Telecoms.com, Reuters, Bloomberg, ir.theice.com, Protocol, and Wall Street Journal
Tweets: @katie_martin_fx, @benedictevans, @markgongloff, @jchengwsj, @felixsalmon, and @business
| Bloomberg: |
Facebook's Andrew Bosworth says its smart glasses, built in partnership with Ray-Ban, will arrive “sooner than later” in 2021 without AR features — - Company has more than 6,000 staff on AR, VR and hardware tasks — Zuckerberg seeking the next computer platform after smartphone
More:
Facebook Technology, Social Media Today, Input, TechSpot, PYMNTS.com, Axios, UploadVR, and VRFocus
Tweets: @boztank, @kurtwagner8, @sarahfrier, @grady_booch, @boztank, @nickstatt, @nickstatt, @alexvoica, @mshannahmurphy, @techatfacebook, and @schrep
| Emily Birnbaum / Protocol: |
As Democrats are poised to win Georgia's Senate seats, a look at potential tech legislation under a unified government, including a federal privacy bill — As of Wednesday morning, Democrats looked poised to win both Georgia Senate seats, taking back control of the Senate after five years of Republican leadership.
More:
Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Verge, Politico, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Variety, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, and New York Times
Tweets: @cat_zakrzewski, @repjones, @eff, @freepress, @jason_kint, @foxcahn, @reckless, and @issielapowsky
| Will Heaven / MIT Technology Review: |
OpenAI introduces two new GPT-3 models: CLIP, which classifies images into categories from arbitrary text, and DALL·E, which can generate images from text — With GPT-3, OpenAI showed that a single deep-learning model could be trained to use language in a variety of ways simply by throwing it vast amounts of text.
More:
OpenAI, Axios, BBC, ExtremeTech, FlowingData, The Next Web, New Scientist, Neowin, Towards Data Science, and Slashdot
Tweets: @calebwatney, @dillonliam, @mark_riedl, @humansofflat, @0x49fa98, @fcain, @liv_boeree, @wongmjane, @sama, @esyudkowsky, @techreview, @gdb, @ilyasut, @deljohnsonvc, @danielrakh, @neil_chilson, @adamludwin, @dflieb, @sama, @km, @viss, @jonathanberte, and @mmasnick
| Nicole Friedman / Wall Street Journal: |
Amazon commits $2B+ over five years to create and preserve affordable housing in three of its employment hubs: Seattle, WA; Arlington, VA; and Nashville, TN — Tech giant to make investments over next five years in and around Seattle, Arlington, Va., and Nashville, Tenn.
More:
Amazon.com, Inc., The Verge, aboutamazon.com, Reuters, Fortune, GeekWire, PCMag, Engadget, New York Post, and The Hill
Tweets: @alexhern, @kylebrussell, @brycecovert, @amazonnews, @delrey, and @davidzapolsky
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Intel launches RealSense ID, an on-device facial authentication tool, launching in Q1 2021 for $99 and aimed at smart locks, ATMs, and kiosks — Intel today launched the newest addition to RealSense, its product range of depth and tracking technologies designed to give machines depth perception capabilities.
More:
Intel Newsroom, ZDNet, MacRumors, and Gizmodo
| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Microsoft says it will shut down Minecraft Earth, which let users play Minecraft in real life through AR, on June 30, due to the pandemic — The ambitious project to cover the world in blocks is over — Microsoft is closing down its Minecraft Earth mobile game in June, due to the ongoing pandemic.
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Minecraft.net, Engadget, SiliconANGLE, help.minecraft.net, VRFocus, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Game Rant, iPhone in Canada Blog, WinBuzzer, coinspeaker.com, MacRumors, XDA Developers, TouchArcade, Digital Trends, CNET, Neowin, PCWorld, PC Gamer, GamingBolt, PCMag, Windows Central, Wccftech, Thurrott, HotHardware.com News, OnMSFT.com, 9to5Mac, GeekWire, Game Rant, Android Authority, Engadget, and Ubergizmo
Tweets: @minecraftearth, @minecraft, @alexhern, and @sithaizawa
| Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: |
Jim Keller, a star chip designer at Apple, AMD, Tesla, Broadcom, and Intel, has joined Toronto-based Tenstorrent, a startup building AI chips — It is high praise when someone like Jim Keller says that your company ‘has made impressive progress, and has the most promising architecture out there’.
More:
Fortune, CRN, insideHPC, and Tom's Hardware
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Atlanta-based SalesLoft, which provides AI-based tools to help salespeople run their sales process virtually, raises $100M at a $1.1B post-money valuation — The Covid-19 pandemic and specifically need for social distancing to slow the spread of the virus have continued to keep many of us away from the office.| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Dremio, which offers tools for companies to help streamline and curate data, raises $135M Series D led by Sapphire Ventures at a $1B post-money valuation — Dremio, a startup offering tools to help streamline and curate data, today announced that it raised $135 million in series D funding at a post-money valuation of $1 billion.
More:
FinSMEs, News ‘n’ Updates, ZDNet, and SiliconANGLE
| Andrew Brust / ZDNet: |
Starburst, a startup based around an open-source data analytics project from Facebook called Presto, raises $100M Series C led by a16z, valuing it at $1.2B — The second data lake funding announcement of the day brings Starburst's valuation to $1.2B — Data virtualization … | Hunter Walk / Medium: |
To help creators avoid burnout, platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok need to explore new ideas like rate limiting of posts and paid time-offs — Creator Wellness Will Be A Key Goal of New Products — Being a modern creator is, for many, exhausting.
Tweets: @sarthakgh, @medium, @cnyari, @scottbelsky, and @hunterwalk
| Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet: |
Open source developer David Recordon named Biden's director of technology, returning to the White House after serving as its first director of IT under Obama — With a background in open source, open standards, and security, Recordon may be ideal for President Joe Biden's White House.| Lauren Feiner / CNBC: |
DOJ says SolarWinds hackers accessed about 3% of its email accounts, but there's no indication that the breach impacted classified systems — - Hackers who tapped into government networks through SolarWinds software potentially accessed about 3% of the Justice Department's email accounts, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
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Associated Press, CRN, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Reuters, New York Times, SecurityWeek, BleepingComputer, and CyberScoop
Tweets: @b_fung, @b_fung, @ericgeller, and @dnvolz
| Reuters: |
Sources: Alibaba is planning to raise $5B to $8B in a USD-denominated bond sale this month, as China increases scrutiny of Jack Ma's empire — HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans to raise at least $5 billion through the sale of a U.S. dollar-denominated bond this month …
More:
Nikkei Asia, Tech in Asia, and DealStreetAsia
| Eugene Kim / Business Insider: |
Sources: Amazon is working on a contactless Alexa-enabled device that can track and monitor sleep apnea, primarily using millimeter-wave radar — - Amazon is working on a new Alexa-enabled device that can track and monitor sleep apnea, Business Insider has learned.
More:
Gizmodo, GeekWire, KnowTechie, and The Verge
| Ryan Browne / CNBC: |
Kahoot, a game-based online learning service, says it had revenues of $45.2M in 2020, up 247% YoY, and plans to list on the main Norwegian stock market — - Kahoot is a game-based online learning service that lets players create and engage in multiple-choice quizzes.Thanks:@ryan_browne_
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Google plans to add privacy labels across its iOS app catalog this week or next, after a report claimed none of Google's iOS apps have been updated since Dec. 7 — Contrary to reports, Google is not delaying updates to its iOS apps because it doesn't want to comply with Apple's recently announced App Store Privacy Labels policy.
More:
AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Ars Technica, BGR, MakeUseOf, Apple Terminal, iDownloadBlog.com, KnowTechie, NextPit, TechRadar, news.com.au, MacDailyNews, Wccftech, phonearena.com, SlashGear, Pocketnow, and SiliconANGLE
Tweets: @mjtsai, @davewoodx, @taupeavenger, @metacurity, @volt4ire, @mattnavarra, @jernejv, @hunterwalk, @campuscodi, @elkmovie, @hanse00, @alexeheath, and @michaelgrothaus
| Freya Pratty / Sifted: |
EU makes its first direct equity investment in startups, with €178M invested across 42 companies, from a new European Innovation Council Fund — Under the new European Innovation Council Fund, each of the companies will receive between €500,000 and €15m, with €178m invested overall.Sponsor Posts
Command Line:
GitHub Universe 2026: Highlights from the developer's developer conference — Copilot Fusion was the belle of the ball, but the hero at the heart of the two-day event was the developer community.
GitHub Universe 2026: Highlights from the developer's developer conference — Copilot Fusion was the belle of the ball, but the hero at the heart of the two-day event was the developer community.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting. Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach. — Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting. Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach. — Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Introducing the new Zoho Analytics: Agentic analytics for every business — We're excited to announce the launch of the new Zoho Analytics! This release marks a major shift for the product …
Introducing the new Zoho Analytics: Agentic analytics for every business — We're excited to announce the launch of the new Zoho Analytics! This release marks a major shift for the product …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
The Upstarts Podcast:
The Accidental YC Founder Solving AI's GPU Crisis | SF Compute's Evan Conrad
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Cheeky Pint:
Why Sam Altman is against a single superintelligence
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Great Chat:
The case for AI optimism
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Sources:
Tobi Lütke on the AI agent revolution and future of Shopify
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Big Technology Podcast:
This AI Expert Argues We're Underestimating AI's Productivity Impact — With Ethan Mollick
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Machine Gods:
Inside Anthropic's IPO + How AI agents spy on your messages
The official podcast of the singularity, from Casey Newton and Kevin Roose. Twice-weekly news, analysis, and interviews with the people who are building the future.
Subscribe to Machine Gods.
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