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July 21, 2021, 2:05 PM
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| CTech: |
NSO CEO claims leaked list of 50K+ phone numbers potentially targeted with NSO spyware has “nothing to do with us” and had first heard about the list last month — “I'll give you a simple statement: Journalists, human rights activists, and civil organizations are all off-limits,” said Shalev Hulio| Matthew Green / A Few Thoughts …: |
More:
Morning Brew, The Guardian, Threatpost, BGR, Tech Monitor, Slate, Schneier on Security, 9to5Mac, Tech Xplore, and Pixel Envy
Tweets: @nicoleperlroth, @patrickwardle, @reedalbergotti, @mkvenu1, @gruber, @gf_256, @gf_256, @elcomsoft, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @dogemocenigo, @matthew_d_green, @andreasharsono, @dcuthbert, @k8em0, @zackwhittaker, @snowden, @fbdnstories, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, @matthew_d_green, and @matthew_d_green
| Mehul Srivastava / Financial Times: |
Tweets: @jsrailton, @shashj, @rajrishisinghal, @tonytassell, @benabyad, @sub8u, @arashmassoudi, @kabirtaneja, @karmel80, @johnreedwrites, @justinspratt, @aaschapiro, @geoffreyyork, @poplak, @tarunkhaitan, @reaproy, @snowden, @markc_anderson, @geoffreyyork, @snowden, @snowden, @zackwhittaker, and @washingtonpost
| Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: |
Epic Games acquires Sketchfab, which operates a repository with 4M+ 3D assets, for an undisclosed sum; Sketchfab reduces its store commission from 30% to 12% — New York-based startup Sketchfab has been acquired by Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
More:
Sketchfab Community Blog, Epic Games, VentureBeat, Engadget, UploadVR, Road to VR, VRFocus, and thegamer.com
Tweets: @albn, @jackbohmart, @liasae, @sketchfab, @hmltn, @balderton, @epicnewsroom, @tinyruin, @diregoldfish, @techstars, @jessedamiani, @nehon_42, @iveytron, @samuelbass, @jpwiseuk, and @pplux
| Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal: |
Tumblr starts testing Post+, which allows users to charge their followers a monthly fee in exchange for access to exclusive content, with Tumblr taking a 5% cut — Social platform is the latest to let users earn money from posting — Microblogging stalwart Tumblr on Wednesday began …
More:
The Verge, TechCrunch, Engadget, 9to5Mac, Mashable, SlashGear, and The Mac Observer
Tweets: @dollydeighton, @film_girl, @jake_k, @meaghano, @mikeelgan, @nicolasmagand, @iansherr, @hushes, @wongmjane, and @martinsfp
| BBC: |
EU Commission proposes a new law that would force companies that transfer Bitcoin or other crypto-assets to collect details of recipients and senders — Proposed changes to EU law would force companies that transfer Bitcoin or other crypto-assets to collect details on the recipient and sender.
More:
European Commission, Reuters, CNET, Tom's Hardware, The Daily Hodl, and VICE
Tweets: @exiledsurfer, @davidcasamep, and @eu_commission
| Ashley Carman / The Verge: |
Clubhouse is no longer invite-only as it exits beta and says the 10M people on its waitlist will be added to the app over time — The app goes wide — Clubhouse is going wide. Co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth announced today that the app is no longer invite-only.
More:
Clubhouse Blog, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Livemint, Engadget, The Wrap, and Adweek. Tweets: @djnailz
| Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: |
Researchers detail two new local privilege escalation vulnerabilities, one in recent builds of Windows 10 and the preview of Windows 11, and the other in Linux — Both OSes have flaws that allow attackers with a toehold to elevate access. — The world woke up on Tuesday to two new vulnerabilities …
Source:
US-CERT, Qualys Security Blog, and Qualys Security Blog. More:
BleepingComputer, Windows Central, HotHardware.com News, Thurrott, SlashGear, Tech Xplore, BetaNews, and The Register
Tweets: @jonaslyk, @qualys, @sergeybratus, @bad_packets, @jeffmcjunkin, @wdormann, and @gossithedog
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
YouTube says it will test a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos, starting with a few creators and brands — YouTube will begin pilot testing a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos.| Jon Porter / The Verge: |
Google Maps expands its crowdedness predictions to 10K+ transit agencies in 100 countries, and will show how crowded individual carriages are in NYC and Sydney — Expanding to ‘over 10,000 transit agencies in 100 countries’ — Google is expanding the number of cities where Maps offers information about public transport crowding.
More:
The Keyword, 9to5Google, Search Engine Roundtable, and CNBC
| Washington Post: |
Top US Catholic Church official resigns after a Catholic media site obtained his alleged Grindr app and phone location data from an undisclosed data broker — The top administrator of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops resigned after a Catholic media site told the conference it had access …
More:
VICE, Ars Technica, New York Times, The Pillar, New York Post, and CNET
Tweets: @gerritd, @ashk4n, @geoffreyfowler, @eisingerj, @ariezrawaldman, @byrontau, @emeraldrobinson, @marymargolohan, @karaswisher, @antoniogm, @niubi, @jimwaterson, @nandoodles, @profcarroll, @privacymatters, @vickerysec, @shiraovide, @heatherkelly, @stevebellovin, @conorjrogers, @josefoshea, @caseynewton, and @maddowblog
| Ben Schoon / 9to5Google: |
Google is shutting down Google Bookmarks on September 30, 2021, and clarifies Starred locations in Google Maps will not be deleted after Bookmarks shuts down — After 16 years of service, Google is about to shut down a service that isn't very well known. On September 30, 2021 “Google Bookmarks” will be closed off for all users.
More:
Android Police, Android Police, Android Headlines, ZDNet, Gizmodo, MacRumors, Search Engine Land, and SlashGear
Tweets: @killedbygoogle, @ra, and @pinboard
| Jon Fingas / Engadget: |
Spanish police have arrested UK citizen Joseph O'Connor at the US' request over his alleged involvement in last year's hack of high-profile Twitter accounts — Authorities are still cracking down on participants in the July 2020 — Twitter celebrity hacks. Spanish National Police have
More:
U.S. Department of Justice, BBC, The Verge, MacRumors, NBC News, CyberScoop, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters
Tweets: @briankrebs and @shanvav
| Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC: |
Netflix reports Q2 revenue of $7.34B vs. $7.32B est., up 19% YoY, global paid net additions of 1.54M vs. 1.19M expected; US and Canada region lost 433K subs QoQ — - Netflix reported earnings that missed on the bottom line. — The company's revenue and global paid net subscriber additions beat estimates.
More:
Netflix - Investors, PCMag, HotHardware.com News, Hollywood Reporter, Laptop Mag, Android Police, Input, KnowTechie, SlashGear, The Verge, Financial Times, Tom's Guide, Android Central, TechRadar, Coinspeaker, Insider, Polygon, PYMNTS.com, and CNN
Tweets: @zhugeex, @xpangler, @xpangler, @zsharf, @xpangler, @samro, @jboorstin, @lucas_shaw, and @edmundlee
| Brian Heater / TechCrunch: |
Samsung announces its next Galaxy Unpacked event will be held virtually on August 11, where it is expected to unveil new foldables — Samsung just sent out invites for its next Unpacked event. There are those companies that like to sneak hints into their invites — and then there's Samsung.
More:
Samsung Electronics America, Samsung US Newsroom, Android Authority, The Verge, SamMobile, Android Authority, phonearena.com, MUO, SiliconANGLE, USA Today, Laptop Mag, HotHardware.com News, TechRadar, PCMag, ZDNet, Droid Life, SlashGear, Pocketnow, CNET, Gizmodo, Android Central, Mashable, Android Police, Engadget, and Digital Trends
| Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk: |
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler: stock tokens and stablecoins backed by securities “are implicated by the securities laws and must work within our securities regime” — Stock tokens and stablecoins backed by securities might be treated as securities under U.S. law, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said.
More:
U.S. Securities …, CoinDesk, The Block, Paxos, Reuters, Cointelegraph, Bloomberg, and LAW.com. Tweets: @jseyff
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Byju's acquires Epic, a reading service for kids with a presence across 90% of elementary schools in the US, for $500M — Byju's said on Wednesday it has acquired California-headquartered reading platform Epic for $500 million, the latest in a series of moves from India's most valuable startup …
More:
DealStreetAsia, Entrackr, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, The Economic Times, and Tech in Asia
| MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: |
Core Scientific, which says it is the biggest bitcoin mining company in the US, says it will go public via SPAC at a valuation of around $4.3B — - Cryptocurrency mining operator Core Scientific is listing on the Nasdaq through a merger with Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition Corp.
More:
PR Newswire, GeekWire, Forbes, The Block, and Cointelegraph
Tweets: @michael_saylor, @core_scientific, @djohnson_cpa, and @wublockchain
| Geoff Mayfield / Variety: |
TikTok touts two studies that show around 75% of its users discover artists on the service and around 67% seek out songs from TikTok on music streaming services — Unless you've been sleeping as long as Rip Van Winkle, you know TikTok has become the new big man on music's campus and a catalyst for pop culture.| Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch: |
Argo AI says it plans launch up to 1,000 autonomous vehicles on Lyft's network in some US cities over the next five years, starting with Miami later this year — Autonomous vehicle technology startup Argo AI and its backer and customer Ford plan to launch up to 1,000 self-driving vehicles …
More:
The Verge, Los Angeles Times, Ars Technica, Engadget, Associated Press, CNBC, Tech Xplore, SlashGear, and Reuters
| Brian Heater / TechCrunch: |
LiveControl, whose software enables remote livestream camera operation from professional videographers, raises $30M Series A, bringing its total raised to $33M — One thing seems certain: The past year-and-a-half has fundamentally transformed the world of live events.| Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet: |
Zoom says Zoom Apps and its virtual events service Zoom Events are now generally available, with 50 apps available at launch, including Asana and Dropbox Spaces — The video communications giant said the updates are designed to offer users a greater degree of collaboration …
More:
9to5Mac, The Verge, Zoom Blog, TechRepublic, and SiliconANGLE
| Sean Hollister / The Verge: |
Amazon unveils over 50 new features for Alexa devices to drive growth for skills developers, like featured skill cards, which are recommended on the home screen — Widgets, featured skill cards, and more — Amazon's Alexa devices are ambient computers, not the kind you use all day.
More:
TechCrunch, ZDNet, Protocol, and alexa-blog
| Vikas SN / The Economic Times: |
Instagram is testing a new feature called Collab in India and the UK that lets users invite a public account as a collaborator on a post or a Reel — Bengaluru: With collaborations being a major part of how people create content on Instagram, the Facebook-owned platform is now making it easier … | Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: |
Sonatus, which develops specialized vehicle management software, raises $35M Series A; Hyundai Motor Group, SAIC Capital, and LG Electronics among investors — California-grown automotive software company Sonatus raised $35 million in a Series A round that attracted high-profile technology …
More:
FinSMEs
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Twitter begins rolling out a preview of a revamped TweetDeck in the US, Canada, and Australia, featuring an option for wider columns, an Explore column, more — Twitter is beginning to test a completely redesigned version of TweetDeck, the company announced today.
More:
TechCrunch, gHacks Technology News, Pocket-lint, and Appleosophy
| Packy McCormick / Not Boring: |
A look at Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-like blockchain-based game in which people buy digital pets as NFTs; the game generated $12.2M revenue in June, $79M+ in July — Welcome to the 1,267 newly Not Boring people who have joined us since last Monday! Join 61,505 smart, curious folks by subscribing here:| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Ethos, which integrates with third-party insurance underwriters to offer life insurance, raises $100M from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of $2.7B+ — More than half of the U.S. population has stayed away from considering life insurance because they believe it's probably too expensive …
More:
PR Newswire, PYMNTS.com, FinSMEs, and Reuters
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