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October 21, 2021, 6:10 AM
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| Bloomberg: |
Sources: PayPal has approached Pinterest about an acquisition, potentially valuing it at $39B; Pinterest stock had dropped 16% this year but is up 10%+ today — PayPal Holdings Inc. is exploring an acquisition of social media company Pinterest Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg News reports.
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Reuters, New York Times, PYMNTS.com, Bloomberg, Finextra, TechCrunch, Benzinga, The Information, Pocketnow, The Information, Ubergizmo, SiliconANGLE, TechSpot, phonearena.com, Wall Street Journal, Search Engine Journal, San Francisco Business Journal, Engadget, and CNN
Tweets: @kylascan, @laurenshirsch, @eric_seufert, @zamosta, @iiiitsandrea, @seyitaylor, @shenlucinda, @djsnm, @delrey, @shetalksfinance, @ldignan, @ericstromberg, @jonerlichman, @kwong47, @economyapp, @villi, @speechu, @chrismessina, @shiraovide, @jeffjohnroberts, @kylascan, @palmettocapital, @modestproposal1, @maybebullish, and @morningbrew
| Casey Newton / Platformer: |
Sources: Mark Zuckerberg has not settled on a new name for Facebook, which could be announced as early as Monday — See you Monday! — Facebook is changing its name. Perhaps you heard. The news was broken by Alex Heath of The Verge on Tuesday night, and I've since confirmed it with sources of my own.
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CNBC, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, Wired, Input, VICE, The Economic Times, Common Dreams, New York Times, Insider, Yahoo Finance, TNW, FrontPageTech.com, Vox, Fortune, Social Media Today, New World Notes, Quartz, and Gizmodo
Tweets: @caseynewton, @udiwertheimer, @inafried, @matt_levine, @jack, @donie, @bcmerchant, @jjvincent, @carlquintanilla, @stevekovach, @tallneil, @amyklobuchar, @jonstewart, @marshablackburn, @bigblackjacobin, @ryanlawler, @steveschmidtses, @martinsfp, @steveschmidtses, @nycsouthpaw, @aoc, @levie, @jacksondame, @duty2warn, @amrith, @timsweeneyepic, @ron_miller, @duty2warn, @caseynewton, @steveschmidtses, @suhail, @calcsam, @jyarow, @levynews, @jason, @quinnypig, @steveschmidtses, @steveschmidtses, @wongmjane, and @dcwomenkicknass
| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
Microsoft begins letting Windows 11 beta testers try Android apps from the Amazon Appstore, starting with 50 apps including Kindle, Apple Music, and Signal — Beta Channel testers get access first — Microsoft is now allowing Windows 11 testers to try out Android apps.
Source:
Windows Blog. More:
Windows Insider Blog, Amazon Developer Services, Pocketables, Windows Central, BleepingComputer, MobileSyrup, TNW, Tom's Hardware, TechPowerUp, BGR India, Pureinfotech, BleepingComputer, Android Headlines, OnMSFT.com, CNET, TechPP, XDA Developers, Tom's Guide, TechSpot, Liliputing, Wccftech, BetaNews, Gizmodo, and PCWorld
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Twitter acquires London-based Sphere, which develops a group chat app and has raised $30M to date — Twitter has acquired London-based Sphere, which operates an eponymous groups chat app, the latest in a series of recent moves from the social network as it looks to aggressively broaden and improve its product offerings.
More:
Sphere, Social Media Today, and Adweek
Tweets: @nickdaloisio, @sam_l_shead, @sam_l_shead, @investmenttalkk, @elliotturn, @ruskin147, @thekenyeung, @richlightshed, @tsuvik, and @caseynewton
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Internal email: Apple will test unvaccinated corporate staff each time they enter offices starting Nov. 1, and asks US staff to report vaccine status by Oct. 24 — - The company is still stopping short of requiring the shots — Unvaccinated retail staff will be asked to test twice a week
More:
iThinkDifferent, AppleInsider, CNET, iMore, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, and Patently Apple
Tweets: @markgurman and @markgurman
| ABC News: |
Trump announces the Trump Media & Technology Group and TRUTH Social, a social network coming in Nov. to “stand up” to Big Tech, in the App Store for preorder — The former president has been banned from several platforms. — Silenced by many major platforms …
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Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Axios, The Week, Salon, The Hill, Insider, Raw Story, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Mediaite, Newsweek, CNET, Bloomberg, and Washington Post
Tweets: @reallizusa, @mikaelthalen, @bradheath, @danprimack, @santucci, @mikaelthalen, @cd_hooks, @noupside, @reckless, @danprimack, @benjamint0001, @frankluntz, @alexstamos, @killedbygoogle, @donie, @jack, @williamturton, @noupside, @donie, @samstein, @randirhodes, @tomwatson, @pkafka, @iansherr, @pkafka, @kim, @drewharwell, and @danprimack
| Aisha Counts / Protocol: |
Since May, Google says it has blocked 1.6M messages and restored ~4,000 YouTube influencer accounts affected by a phishing campaign offering fake collaborations — A network of Russian-speaking hackers are phishing YouTube influencers with fake collaboration offers in order to hijack their accounts …
Source:
The Keyword. More:
Security Affairs, The Record, Dark Reading, and Threatpost
Tweets: @shanehuntley, @t_gidwani, @ashl3y_shen, @anttitikkanen, @lanceulanoff, and @campuscodi
| Ben Sisario / New York Times: |
PleasrDAO, a group of digital asset collectors, says it created an NFT that will stand as an ownership deed for Wu-Tang Clan's one-of-a-kind physical album — The government sold “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” to satisfy a judgment against its first owner, Martin Shkreli.
More:
Rolling Stone, CoinDesk, Insider, Decrypt, Pitchfork, The Block, Crypto Briefing, Billboard, Gizmodo, and Input
Tweets: @sisario, @moonoverlord, @nlw, @pleasrdao, @sheckygreen, @mmasnick, @mchax, and @theophite
| Emily Birnbaum / Politico: |
Source: Pierre Omidyar's philanthropic organization Luminate handles Frances Haugen's PR in Europe; Omidyar donated $150K to Whistleblower Aid in 2020 — Support from eBay-founder-turned-tech-critic Pierre Omidyar is helping Frances Haugen take on one of the world's most powerful companies.
More:
Omidyar Network and The Verge
Tweets: @birnbaum_e, @alexeheath, @carolecadwalla, @karlbode, @teddyschleifer, @blackamazon, @jason_kint, @anabmap, @dylanbyers, @aaronjmate, @willoremus, @gerritd, @yashalevine, @jason_kint, @moonalice, @yaeleisenstat, @cultexpert, @timkarr, @jamespoulos, @jason_kint, @stevekrak, @birnbaum_e, @ksato_phillips, @rmac18, @kimzetter, and @logandobson
| Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post: |
US Commerce Department announces rules banning the export or resale of hacking tools to China, Russia, and other countries of concern — The Commerce Department on Wednesday announced a long-awaited rule that officials hope will help stem the export or resale of hacking tools to China …
Source:
U.S. Department of Commerce. More:
SiliconANGLE, Gizmodo, The Register, CyberScoop, Nextgov, BleepingComputer, Protocol, and The Record
| Alex Webb / Bloomberg: |
Apple's product design has improved since Jony Ive left, as it seems to be putting the emphasis back on function over form and is less obsessed with thinness — At one time, even broaching the idea would have been sacrilegious. But here goes: might Apple Inc.'s product design have improved since the departure of Jony Ive?
More:
Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Notebookcheck.net, Ubergizmo, MacDailyNews, iPhone in Canada Blog, and MacRumors
Tweets: @nheagy, @appleproleeks, @atbwebb, @reyml10, @thomasclaburn, @primalanomaly, @emanuelsa, @sirwill, @josejacas, @sdw, @xerusdesign, @jonyiveparody, @jonyiveparody, @sdw, and @sdw
| Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information: |
Internal memo: Facebook has quietly killed the “Hey Facebook” wake word for Portal, as customers were confused by the phrase and it was affecting usage — Facebook has quietly abandoned the phrase “Hey Facebook” as a way for customers of its Portal video-chat device to start …
Tweets: @grahamstarr and @amir
| Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider: |
Report: Yahoo Finance's mobile app disappeared from the App Store in China, days after republishing a Bloomberg story critical of China's tech crackdown — Yahoo Finance appears to be the latest victim of China's suppressive internet regulations, as the iOS app used by many to access foreign news coverage … | Ron Miller / TechCrunch: |
Hex, which simplifies storing and sharing large data sets with integrations for Snowflake, BigQuery, and others, raises a $16M Series A led by Redpoint Ventures — Data is everywhere inside organizations, and employees are increasingly trying to find ways to put it to work to improve business outcomes.
Tweets: @itunpredictable, @ttunguz, @redpointvc, @sarahcat21, @dhaliwas, and @wesmckinn
| Wall Street Journal: |
Over 2,000 hourly Amazon workers at its Staten Island facilities sign union cards and plan to file with the NLRB by October 25; Amazon opposes the move — An effort said to involve more than 2,000 workers across four Amazon facilities in Staten Island faces obstacles
More:
New York Times and Bloomberg
| Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: |
Superplastic, which owns an animated collab house of “synthetic superstars” on social media, raises a $20M Series A, bringing its total funding to $38M — A company from the creator of Ello and Kidrobot is announcing a new $20 million funding round to build out an imagined virtual world populated … | Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Honeycomb, which develops a software observability tool used by companies including Stripe and Slack, raises a $50M Series C led by Insight Partners — Honeycomb, a software observability platform used by developers at companies such as Stripe, Slack, Heroku, and LaunchDarkly, has raised $50 million in a series C round of funding.| Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg: |
Paris-based collaborative learning service 360learning raises $200M from Sumeru Equity, Vision Fund 2, and others to fund a US expansion — - 360learning is currently considering strategic acquisitions — French startup will also use new funds to expand into U.S.
More:
TechCrunch, Insider, and Silicon Canals
| Jared Dillian / Bloomberg: |
ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF is akin to a commodities fund and will have the same risks that investors deal with in the commodities markets — It will have the same characteristics as a commodities fund, meaning investors will need to understand “contango” and “backwardation.”Sponsor Posts
Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference — Stop preparing for agents. Start running them. 100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
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Zoho:
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Automate your scheduling workflows with Zoho Calendar — Your calendar can do more than schedule meetings Creating a calendar event takes only a few seconds. But scheduling is rarely just about creating the event.
IDrive:
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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
Big Technology Podcast:
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Invest Like the Best:
Michael Moritz - Lessons From 40 Years of Investing and Writing
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Sources:
Baseten's CEO on why every company will want to own its AI
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.
Training Data:
Box's Aaron Levie: On Reinventing Yourself in the AI Age and Enterprise Diffusion
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Andrew Feldman from Cerebras
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
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