10:25 PM • | Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: Italy's data watchdog finds a local web publisher's use of Google Analytics violates EU data protection rules due to the privacy risk of data transfer to the US |
9:45 PM • | Reuters: Cisco plans to wind down its business in Russia and Belarus, after suspending its Russia operations in March 2022, and offers to relocate its few hundred staff |
8:10 PM • | Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal: A look at efforts to reduce online advertising's carbon footprint, which, according to a 2018 study, accounts for roughly 10% of the internet's energy usage |
7:10 PM • | Reuters: Yandex opens YaLM 100B to the public, claiming the AI research language model contains 100B parameters, “more than any GPT-like model available in open-source” |
6:40 PM • | Jessica Lucas / Input: A look at r/LossPrevention, a subreddit for busting shoplifters; members monitor Reddit's pro-shoplifting community and share videos of people being apprehended |
5:45 PM • | Xinmei Shen / South China Morning Post: Report: video game revenue in China fell for a third consecutive month in May 2022, down 6.7% YoY to $3.4B, amid a slowing economy and regulatory uncertainties |
5:15 PM • | Tim De Chant / TechCrunch: Vibrant Planet, a public-benefit startup that is developing software for forest management, has raised a $17M seed |
4:50 PM • | Wall Street Journal: Intel delays its scheduled July 22 groundbreaking of a $20B Ohio chip plant due to uncertainty around the Bipartisan Innovation Act, but still plans to build it |
3:40 PM • | Ben Schoon / 9to5Google: OSOM, founded by ex-Essential employees, scraps its OV1 phone and partners with Solana to produce Saga, a $1,000 Web3-focused Android phone launching in Q1 2023 |
3:30 PM • | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Amazon launches CodeWhisperer, a GitHub Copilot-like AI pair programming tool, in preview within the AWS IDE Toolkit, supporting Java, JavaScript, and Python |
3:10 PM • | Tracy Qu / South China Morning Post: China issues new rules for live streamers, including requiring influencers to have relevant qualifications to discuss topics such as law, finance, and medicine |
2:15 PM • | Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Cryptoys, which is building blockchain-based kids toys in partnership with Dapper Labs, raised a $23M Series A led by a16z, after a $7.5M seed in October 2021 |
1:35 PM • | Danielle Abril / Washington Post: Yelp closes its NY, Chicago, and Washington DC offices as CEO Jeremy Stoppelman doubles down on remote work and calls hybrid offices “the worst of both worlds” |
12:50 PM • | Financial Times: Sources: the EU is planning a “phase 2” antitrust investigation into Broadcom's $69B VMware acquisition, which could take well over a year and derail the deal |
12:40 PM • | Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Google details the commercial spyware Hermit, used in Kazakhstan and Italy, targeting Android and iOS; the iOS version has six exploits, including two zero-days |
12:30 PM • | Phillip Tracy / Gizmodo: Microsoft announces gaming features for Edge, including a new homepage, exclusive free-to-play games, Clarity Boost for streamed games, and a performance option |
12:15 PM • | Jon Porter / The Verge: Google plans to bring Chrome's Enhanced Safe Browsing, which helps track URLs to monitor dangerous websites, to Chrome for iOS, expanding on Android and desktop |
11:40 AM • | Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE: Evinced, which helps companies build accessible websites and apps, raised a $38M Series B led by Insight Partners; Microsoft's M12 and others also invested |
10:40 AM • | Tarush Bhalla / The Economic Times: Indian digital payments company Pine Labs acquires Setu, which develops banking APIs, in a cash-and-stock deal worth $70M to $75M; Setu raised $18.5M to date |
10:10 AM • | Mariella Moon / Engadget: Spotify replaces Concert Hub with a Live Events Feed, populated by Ticketmaster, AXS, DICE, Eventbrite, See Tickets, and other partners, for finding tour dates |
9:20 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Boston-based JobGet, a job marketplace for recruiters and hourly workers, raised a $52M Series B, comprising $40M in equity and $12M in debt |
8:50 AM • | Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World: A hacktivist claims DALL-E-like Craiyon, formerly DALL-E mini, generated portraits of brown-skinned women in saris almost every time he ran a blank request |
8:20 AM • | Mike Butcher / TechCrunch: London-based BNPL service Playter raised $55M in equity and debt led by Adit Ventures and Fasanara Capital, following a $1.7M seed in March 2022 |
8:00 AM • | Cristiano Lima / Washington Post: Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell says she does not support the bipartisan privacy bill, a significant blow to long-stalled federal protections for user data |
7:45 AM • | Bloomberg: Seeking to regain relevance, screenshots show Clubhouse is testing private rooms, internally called Houses, to encourage friendlier social interactions |
7:35 AM • | Wall Street Journal: A look at the LUNA and UST crash, as Do Kwon says he's “been devastated by recent events” but has “great confidence in our ability to build back even stronger” |
7:30 AM • | New York Times: Sources: Mark Zuckerberg's top priority is now the metaverse, not securing elections; Meta has ~60 people focused primarily on elections, down from 300+ in 2020 |
7:25 AM • | Mia Tsuchida / Bloomberg: Tokyo-based LegalForce, which uses AI to screen contracts for loopholes and risks, raised a $101M Series D led by Vision Fund 2 and says it has 2,000 clients |
7:10 AM • | Financial Times: Singapore's fintech policy chief says the country will be “brutal and unrelentingly hard” on “any market bad behaviour” in the crypto industry |
6:55 AM • | Maddie Ellis / Wall Street Journal: Instagram begins testing tools to verify ages, starting with 17 and under, using either Yoti's facial video analysis, photo IDs, or adults vouching for users |
6:00 AM • | Bloomberg: A profile of Changpeng Zhao, who built Binance into the largest crypto exchange, as he navigates China's regulatory crackdown in a brutal crypto winter |
5:40 AM • | Washington Post: The Senate's $52B US chip production bill, passed in June 2021, has been bogged down over unrelated disputes, like climate provisions, delaying the funds |
5:20 AM • | Financial Times: London-based payments services startup SumUp raised €295M equity and €295M debt at an €8B valuation; a January 2022 report said its target was as high as €20B |
2:30 AM • | Financial Times: A look at Alibaba's plans to expand into South Asia as its Chinese operations sputter, including through its Daraz unit in Pakistan, acquired for $194M in 2018 |
1:20 AM • | Reuters: Sources: eight buyout offers taking Toshiba private value the deal at up to ~$22B, a 27% premium on its stock; Toshiba had two offers that would keep it public |
12:30 AM • | Francisco Pires / Tom's Hardware: Cerebras says its “wafer-scale” chip set a record for the largest natural language processing AI model trained on a single device, at up to 20B parameters |