Techmeme
August 4, 2021, 4:15 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Facebook says it has disabled the accounts, apps, Pages, and access to its APIs for researchers running NYU's Ad Observatory Project, citing TOS violations  —  - Company says researchers of political ads were scraping data  — NYU's Ad Observatory got cease-and-desist letter last October
Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Sony beats estimates with Q1 operating profit of $2.6B and says the PS5 is no longer selling at a loss; PS Plus subscribers declined to 46.3M from 47.6M  —  - Sony expecting more from music streaming and digital cameras  — PlayStation software sales and subscriber additions slowed
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft pauses free trials of its new Windows 365 service, which lets users stream Windows 10 or 11 via web browser, after “significant demand”  —  Windows 365 lets you stream a cloud PC to a web browser  —  Microsoft launched its new cloud PC Windows 365 service earlier this week …
Maggie Fitzgerald / CNBC:
Robinhood shares surged as much as 80% on Wednesday, reaching $85, with trading halted several times, and closed the day at $70.39 up 50.41%  —  Robinhood shares soared again on Wednesday, extending a wild rally in the newly public stock trading app's stock.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Internal document: Google fired dozens of engineers between 2018 and 2020 for abusing their access to data and tools  —  Some allegations potentially center around accessing Google user or employee data.  —  Joseph Cox  —  Google has fired dozens of employees between 2018 and 2020 …
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Email service Superhuman, which charges $30/month and hasn't formally launched, raises $75M Series C led by IVP, source says at a $825M valuation  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  When Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra agreed to meet with former Dropbox CFO Ajay Vashee's …
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Instacart hires longtime Facebook ads chief Carolyn Everson, who left in June, as president, starting Sept. 7, following other high-profile hires from Facebook  —  - Weeks after poaching Facebook's Fidji Simo as CEO, Instacart hires Carolyn Everson as president.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Activision beats expectations in Q2 with revenue of $2.29B, up 19% YoY, and net bookings of $1.92B, down only 7% YoY, notes risks of the sexual harassment suit  —  Activision Blizzard reported earnings today that beat Wall Street's and its own expectations with 19% revenue growth to $2.29 billion for the second quarter ended June 30.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Sam Shead / CNBC:
After a report showed Amazon destroying millions of unsold items in the UK, Amazon introduces two programs to reduce waste, including reselling used items  —  - The so-called Fulfilment by Amazon programs, announced in a blog post on Wednesday, will help to build a circular economy, the company said.
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
WhatsApp is rolling out a View Once feature for photos and videos that disappear from the chat after the recipient opens it  —  There and gone  —  WhatsApp is rolling out its “View Once” feature today, which deletes photos or videos from your chat after they've been opened by the recipient.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
On-demand movie and TV service FandangoNOW has merged with video streaming service Vudu, which will become Roku's official movie and TV store  —  Last year, movie ticketing and discovery business Fandango, a division of NBCUniversal, bought the on-demand video streaming service Vudu from Walmart …
Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Zeni, which offers AI-powered tools to startups to manage finances for a flat monthly fee starting at $299, raises $34M Series B led by Elevation Capital  —  Zeni, a Palo Alto fintech company providing real-time financial services data to venture-backed startups, raised $34 million in Series B funding led by Elevation Capital.
Kate Kaye / Digiday:
California AG's case examples of CCPA enforcement seem to indicate that companies can't rely on trade groups' blanket opt-out tools not tailored to CCPA  —  For more than a year advertisers and publishers had few clues for detecting how California regulators would enforce the state's privacy law.
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Human Interest, a 401(k) provider for SMBs that promises zero transaction fees, raises $200M at a $1B valuation, less than six months after its $55M Series C  —  Less than six months after raising $55 million in a Series C round of funding, SMB 401(k) provider Human Interest today announced …
Bloomberg:
A look at Amazon's dilemma around mandating worker vaccinations, which could alienate the many virus skeptics in its warehouse ranks, amid a tight labor market  —  While much of Corporate America scrambled to adjust Covid-19 policies this summer in response to a surge of cases …
Josh Ye / South China Morning Post:
After criticism from China, Tencent says it will limit playing time on flagship Honor of Kings for under 18s to one hour per day and not between 10PM and 8AM  —  Gamers under the age of 18 will have their playing time limited to one hour on regular days and two hours on public holidays Honour …

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