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December 15, 2021, 11:45 PM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Project Zero: |
A deep dive into an NSO zero-click iMessage exploit, captured in the wild by Citizen Lab and one of the most sophisticated Google's Project Zero has seen — We want to thank Citizen Lab for sharing a sample of the FORCEDENTRY exploit with us, and Apple's Security Engineering and Architecture …
More:
OSnews, iDownloadBlog.com, PCMag, AppleInsider, iTnews, and Pixel Envy
Tweets: @i41nbeer, @royalhansen, @evacide, @stevestreza, @jrozner, @thelunarixus, @federicomena, @jsrailton, @itswillis, @matthew_d_green, @nicoleperlroth, @jsrailton, @suka_hiroaki, @igorbrigadir, @joshavant, @clearing_fog, @evacide, @itswillis, @itswillis, @itswillis, @benhammersley, @domchell, @jsrailton, @itswillis, and @jsrailton
| Reuters: |
Eighteen Democratic lawmakers ask the Treasury and State Departments for Magnitsky rights abuse sanctions on four spyware firms, including NSO and DarkMatter — A group of U.S. lawmakers is asking the Treasury Department and State Department to sanction Israeli spyware firm NSO Group and three …
More:
Wired, CyberScoop, The Times of Israel, The Hill, CNN, Al-Monitor, House Foreign Affairs …, The Register, and Access Now
| Dan Primack / Axios: |
Katie Haun is leaving Andreessen Horowitz to start a new firm focusing on crypto and Web3 startups; Haun's deals at a16z included OpenSea and Coinbase — Katie Haun, one of the world's most influential crypto venture capitalists, is leaving Andreessen Horowitz to form her own firm.
More:
The Information, Decrypt, Silicon Valley Business …, TechCrunch, CNBC, Bloomberg, Protocol, CoinDesk, and The Block
Tweets: @katie_haun, @katie_haun, @katie_haun, @katie_haun, @emiliemc, @jess, @katie_haun, @alexrkonrad, @eladgil, @katie_haun, @vijaya, and @dfinzer
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Memo: Apple delays its return to corporate offices to a “date yet to be determined”, after previously setting a February 1 return date — - Company had planned to bring corporate workers back by Feb. 1 — Delay comes in response to rising Covid-19 cases, new variant
More:
MacRumors, SiliconANGLE, 9to5Mac, CNET, Reuters, CNN, Silicon Valley Business …, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, Music Business Worldwide, iDownloadBlog.com, Reuters, New York Times, iMore, AppleInsider, and BBC
Tweets: @zoeschiffer, @markgurman, @markgurman, @marklucovsky, @samifathi_, @migueldeicaza, @migueldeicaza, @yeoldedad, @zoeschiffer, @rsgnl, @gartenberg, @ismh, @deitaone, and @cherthedev
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Apple closes three retail stores in Miami, Annapolis, and Ottawa, Canada after a rise in employee COVID-19 cases and exposures — - Company is closing locations in Miami, Maryland and Ottawa — Cases and exposure among Apple's employees spurred the move
More:
Benzinga, iMore, The Verge, The Information, NBC News, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, Engadget, iDownloadBlog.com, CNBC, AppleInsider, TheStreet, and Reuters
Tweets: @markgurman, @zoeschiffer, @markgurman, and @creative_rants
| Reddit: |
Reddit confidentially files its S-1 with the SEC for an IPO; the number of shares to be offered and the price range have yet to be determined — Reddit, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission … | Tim Hardwick / MacRumors: |
Apple quietly removes all mentions of CSAM scanning on its Child Safety webpage, but says its plans have not changed since September when it delayed the feature — Apple has quietly nixed all mentions of CSAM from its Child Safety webpage, suggesting its controversial plan … | Wall Street Journal: |
Microsoft and cybersecurity company Mandiant say state-backed hacking groups linked to China, Iran, North Korea, and Turkey are exploiting the Log4j flaw — Researchers call it one of the most dire cybersecurity threats to emerge in years and could enable devastating attacks
More:
Microsoft Security Blog, CNN, ZDNet, Threatpost, BBC, SiliconANGLE, Newser, The Register, Dark Reading, CIO Dive, GeekWire, WRAL TechWire, Malwarebytes Labs, PCMag, The Hill, CyberScoop, HackRead, and SecurityWeek
Tweets: @cisagov, @zackwhittaker, @dnvolz, @brianweeden, and @ryanfedasiuk
| Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: |
IBM and Samsung say Vertical Transport Field Effect Transistors, an alternative to FinFET chip designs, can offer 2x performance, amid similar claims from Intel — The next big advance in chips is looking up — IBM and Samsung have announced their latest advance in semiconductor design …
More:
Patently Apple, SiliconANGLE, IBM Research Blog, fossbytes.com, TechCircle, Digital Trends, HPCwire, and PCMag
Tweets: @aideepdive, @ibmnews, and @benbajarin
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Google's in-house incubator Area 120 launches Qaya, which helps US creators set up online storefronts to sell products and services directly to customers — A team at Google is today launching a new service called Qaya, which will allow creators to easily set up new web storefronts …
More:
The Keyword, Neowin, Social Media Today, PYMNTS.com, and 9to5Google
Tweets: @dangrover and @gabor
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Amazon says it will reduce its Alexa skills commission from 30% to 20% for developers who earn less than $1M per year, starting in Q2 2022 — Amazon is joining other tech giants by lowering its cut of developer revenue generated by voice apps, known as Alexa skills, which run on Amazon's smart speakers and other Alexa-powered devices.
More:
alexa-blog, Android Central, and PYMNTS.com
| Catalin Cimpanu / The Record: |
Meta updates its bug bounty program to pay researchers who find anti-scraping loopholes and reward those who find scraped Facebook data with charity donations — The Meta (formerly Facebook) security team has added scraping attacks to the list of incidents covered by the company's bug bounty program.
More:
Engineering at Meta, Meta, SiliconANGLE, SecurityWeek, PCMag, TechRadar, Dark Reading, Engadget, ZDNet, The Hacker News, and SiliconANGLE
Tweets: @campuscodi, @fb_engineering, @joetidy, and @fb_engineering
| Mitchell Clark / The Verge: |
Meta adds Messenger support to Ray-Ban Stories via a software update, letting users send and receive messages, make calls, and have messages read aloud — Letting you send and hear messages makes them significantly more useful — The Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses are getting the ability … | Bloomberg: |
Samsara, which offers tools to manage IoT sensors in vehicle fleets, closes up 7.39% in its NYSE debut for a $12B+ market cap, after raising $805M in its IPO — Samsara Inc., adding to a record year for software listings, rose 7.4% in its trading debut after raising $805 million … | Foo Yun Chee / Reuters: |
The EU Parliament passes the Digital Markets Act, after Vestager's suggestion last month; EU countries and the Commission will consider the law next year — EU lawmakers voted on Wednesday to beef up draft rules to rein in U.S. tech giants, including extending the scope to their retailing activities …
More:
Euractiv, European Parliament, Politico, and EU Reporter
| Electronic Frontier Foundation: |
Google's Manifest V3 rules for Chrome extensions won't stop malware, but will hurt innovation, reduce capabilities, and harm performance — It's been over two years since our initial response to Google's Manifest V3 proposal. Manifest V3 is the latest set of changes to the Chrome browser's rules for browser extensions.
More:
Neowin
| Kenrick Cai / Forbes: |
Sources: Dbt Labs, which develops an open-source data analytics tool, is in talks to raise a Series D at a $6B valuation, up from a $1.5B in June — In June, data startup Fishtown Analytics became a unicorn and rebranded itself Dbt Labs, after its popular data analytics product of the same name.
Tweets: @kenrickcai
| Crystal Kim / Bloomberg: |
Report: Sotheby's Web3-enabled marketplace made $100M in 2021 sales from NFTs; 78% of NFT bidders were new to the auction house, and over half were under 40 — - Auction house reveals CryptoPunk, Bored Ape NFT sales — Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs set new single-lot record online
More:
The Guardian, Artnet News, The Block, Blockworks, ARTnews.com, and CoinDesk. Tweets: @leonidasnft
| Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: |
Swimply, a marketplace for renting private swimming pools, raises $40M led by Mayfield, seven months after raising $10M — The concept of creating a marketplace for underutilized assets that can turn into a meaningful business for hosts is not a new one. And there is no higher profile of how successful that model can be than Airbnb.| Kyle Alspach / VentureBeat: |
Noname Security, which automatically discovers and remediates API vulnerabilities, raises a $135M Series C at a $1B valuation led by Georgian and Lightspeed — API protection startup Noname Security, which today disclosed a $135 million series C funding round at a post-money valuation of $1 billion … | Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: |
TikTok is testing TikTok Live Studio, a Windows app that lets users stream directly to TikTok Live from their computer — What if instead of watching your favorite TikTok star stream on Twitch, you could watch them play video games live on TikTok? For the last few days, according to the platform … | Rest of World: |
A look at Chinese fast fashion online retailer Shein, as 2020 sales reportedly hit $10B thanks to knockoff items, a nimble supply chain, and social media — By connecting China's garment factories with Western Gen-Z customers, Shein ushered in a new era of “ultra-fast” shopping.
More:
New York Times. Tweets: @lmatsakis, @travelinganna, @eiffeltyler, @lemonsand, @shiraovide, @lmatsakis, @lmatsakis, @mikeisaac, @benedictevans, @lmatsakis, @lmatsakis, and @lmatsakis
| Emily Birnbaum / Politico: |
The Internet Association will close at year's end; sources describe tension between large members like Meta, Google, and smaller companies, and financial woes — The Internet Association, once branded as Silicon Valley's most important trade group in Washington, announced Wednesday that it is shutting down.| Sankalp Phartiyal / Reuters: |
India approves a $10B plan to attract semiconductor and display manufacturers; source says Foxconn and others want to set up chip factories in the country — India's federal cabinet has approved a roughly $10 billion incentive plan to woo semiconductor fabricators and display manufacturers …
More:
Press Information Bureau, ZDNet, Reuters, Business Today, News18, Hindustan Times, and TechCircle
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