Network Support Blog

Zoe Schiffer / The Verge: Leaked memo: Verily is suspending spot bonuses through 2020 and redirecting the money to diversity and inclusion programs  —  The move frustrated employees who said it implied the initiatives aren't worthy of their own investment  —  Verily Life Sciences, the Alphabet-owned healthcare company … https://bit.ly/31wbN0o

Kevin Roose / New York Times: Q&A with Reddit CEO Steve Huffman on banning r/The_Donald and other problematic subreddits, after resisting for years  —  Steve Huffman, Reddit's co-founder and chief executive, says new rule changes will help the company fulfill its mission.  —  On Monday, Reddit … https://bit.ly/2VsYqdF

Cara Lombardo / Wall Street Journal: Sources: Uber in talks to buy Postmates for ~$2.6B in a deal that could be announced next week if not sooner  —  A deal between Uber and the San Francisco-based food-delivery company could be announced next week if not sooner  —  Uber Technologies Inc. is in discussions to buy Postmates Inc … https://bit.ly/3dM9ZTw

Guy Fawkes / vpnMentor: Researchers find Toronto-based OneClass left data of 1M+ students exposed, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and the name of schools attended  —  Table of Contents  —  Led by Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, vpnMentor's research team discovered a data breach belonging to the e-Learning platform OneClass. https://bit.ly/2ZeR3aA

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Artlist, which provides royalty-free libraries of music, sound effects, and video clips to creators on platforms like YouTube, raises $48M led by KKR  —  Like it or loathe it, video has proven to be the most engaging of all mediums across the web, and today a company out of Israel called Artlist … https://bit.ly/31sPE2V

Todd Bishop / GeekWire: Mixer co-founder Matt Salsamendi on Microsoft shutting Mixer down, Twitch's market power, the need for low latency streaming, and his own startup journey  —  Matt Salsamendi was barely old enough to drive when he and James Boehm founded a game-streaming startup called Beam Interactive … https://bit.ly/3ga5zHO

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: Apple says it has declined to implement 16 new Web APIs in Safari because they posed a threat to user privacy by opening new avenues for user fingerprinting  —  Apple said these 16 new Web APIs add new user fingerprinting opportunities for online advertisers. https://bit.ly/3dIk0ko

New York Times: PizzaGate is making a comeback fueled by QAnon in Facebook groups and teens on TikTok and focusing on “global elites” like Justin Bieber, Bill Gates, and Oprah  —  The false theory targeting Democrats, now fueled by QAnon and teenagers on TikTok, is entangling new targets like Justin Bieber. https://bit.ly/2YDHGlY

Russell Flannery / Forbes: Agora, which helps app developers embed real-time voice and video communication, closed up 153% in its Nasdaq debut, after raising $350M in its IPO at $20/share  —  Grocery chain Albertsons might have been the best-known IPO in the U.S. this week among American investors … https://bit.ly/3g6Owq2

Theodore Schleifer / Vox: Current and former employees at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative say Facebook's crises affect not only how the organization's employees feel, but what they do  —  Inside the unrest at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.  —  At an emotional company town hall last week that blew past its hour-long time limit … https://bit.ly/2NCfjhO

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: A look at AMD's 25x20 project, which it started in 2014 to improve overall “Performance Efficiency” 25x by 2020, and what its success means in the long run  —  One of the stories bubbling away in the background of the industry is the AMD self-imposed ‘25x20’ goal. https://bit.ly/3eQSsuw

New York Times: For posts about voting, Facebook says it will attach labels that will direct users to accurate election and voting information on its Voter Information Center  —  Posts about voting will direct viewers to accurate information, and violations from important political figures will be marked “newsworthy.” https://bit.ly/387lcwT

Dan Primack / Axios: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is leaving Initialized, the VC firm he co-founded in 2012; Ohanian has become more interested in pre-seed investing  —  Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is moving on from Initialized, the venture capital firm he co-founded in 2012, Axios has learned. https://bit.ly/2COWBBr

Idan Ben Tovim / GeekTime: Israel-based SQream, which offers GPU-based SQL database analytics, raises $39.4M Series B+ led by Mangrove Capital and Schusterman Family Investments  —  The Israeli database software startup didn't plan on fundraising but claims that the offers were too good to pass up https://bit.ly/2VmjoLb

Amir Efrati / The Information: Sources: Amazon to pay $1B+ to buy self-driving car developer Zoox; source says most investors will get their money back and some will make a positive return  —  Amazon has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to buy Zoox, an early developer of autonomous vehicles, marking the entrance … https://bit.ly/2VigruT

Laurence Dodds / Telegraph: TikTok says it will stop clipboard snooping after iOS 14 reveals when apps attempt to read the clipboard; TikTok claims it was used to identify spammy behavior  —  A security patch from Apple has suddenly exposed just how many smartphone apps are reading users' clipboards every time they are on screen https://bit.ly/2A8k8w4

Kate Clark / The Information: PitchBook: the median valuation for Series C and later stage funding increased to a new high of $120M in the first half of 2020, from $80M for 2019  —  When coronavirus fears sent stocks tumbling this spring, venture capitalists expected startup valuations to follow. https://bit.ly/3i0x08x

OneZero : Inside DayLife Army, a social media cult, spun off from a Facebook group, that seduces young people with empty promises of a better world  —  The DayLife Army always seemed like a troll.  Then it became a nightmare.  —  started with a tweet.  In the fall of 2013, Matthew had recently turned 18 … https://bit.ly/3dzja9Q

Kate Irby / The Fresno Bee: Judge rules that Rep. Devin Nunes cannot sue Twitter for defamation over @DevinCow account, agrees with Twitter that it is protected by Section 230 in this case  —  A judge has ruled that Rep. Devin Nunes has no right to sue Twitter over statements made by a fake Internet cow, someone parodying his mother and a Republican strategist. https://bit.ly/3ewXDQn

Pranshu Verma / New York Times: A lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Open Technology Fund, argues dismissal of heads of OTF and four outlets by Global Media's new CEO Michael Pack was unlawful  —  The suit is the first legal action taken against Michael Pack after he fired the heads of the technology organization and four journalism outlets under his purview last week. https://bit.ly/2Z5bDdE

Sean Hollister / The Verge: After WWDC, the performance of Apple's silicon chips for Mac remains a mystery, with speed and efficiency claims not yet substantiated through benchmarks  —  There were canned demos but no benchmarks or comparisons  —  For years, Apple has steadily revealed how the ARM-based chips … https://bit.ly/3hZkuWH

Janko Roettgers / Protocol: Source: Amazon is “actively pursuing” licensing deals to add live and linear TV to complement its Prime Video offerings  —  The company has plans to add live and linear programming to complement its on-demand catalog.  —  Amazon is looking to add 24/7 live programming … https://bit.ly/3eGlugJ

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times: Leaked draft of EU report says GDPR rules have been difficult to implement, placing a burden on small and medium-sized companies and hampering tech development  —  Official report to mark two years of data protection regulation notes burden on small and medium-sized companies https://bit.ly/3dvPZEq

Don Clark / New York Times: Japanese supercomputer Fugaku is rated as the world's fastest, carrying out 2.8x more calculations/second than the second fastest, an IBM system at Oak Ridge  —  In the race for the most powerful computers, Fugaku, a Japanese supercomputer, recently beat American and Chinese machines. https://bit.ly/2Nkc6TK

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Apple unveils features specific to international markets, like smart downloads in India to get Indian Siri voices and Apple TV+ shows over mobile networks  —  Apple is rolling out a range of new features and improvements that are aimed at users in India, China and other international markets … https://bit.ly/3etqhSn

BuzzFeed News: Trump's new executive order will suspend H-1B, J-1, and H-2B visas, be in effect until the end of the year, and not immediately affect workers already in the US  —  BuzzFeed News has reporters around the world bringing you trustworthy stories about the impact of the coronavirus. https://bit.ly/3eCJb9H

Joseph Cox / VICE: In 2019, just days after NSO Group unveiled a human rights policy for the use of its malware, Amnesty International says an activist was hacked with NSO tools  —  Just three days after controversial surveillance vendor NSO Group announced its new human rights policy, saying that clients … https://bit.ly/2V4wooI

Mark Harris / The Daily Beast: Secretive disaster charity GSD, founded by Sergey Brin, uses drones, superyachts, and more to deliver humanitarian aid during high-profile disasters  —  WHERE THERE'S A WILL  —  Global Support and Development is made up of ex-military men and Brin's former bodyguards.  But their mission isn't warfare. https://bit.ly/2YmGx1P

by Brent Simmons / inessential: Apple's App Store brings in users because it is the only choice, not because it offers some kind of exceptional distribution and marketing to developers  —  One might argue that developers should love the App Store because it brings the users.  AppleInsider writes about the App Store … https://bit.ly/2NkmoDg

Kevin / kwokchain: An in-depth look at how Figma, a browser-based collaborative design tool, has found success, as it seeks to become a platform by building out a plugin ecosystem  —  Companies are a sequencing of loops.  While it's possible to stumble into an initial core loop that works … https://bit.ly/37MaBXQ

Christine Hall / Crunchbase News: Urbint, which uses AI to predict and prevent threats to energy infrastructure and worker safety, raises $20M Series B  —  Urbint, an artificial intelligence company for infrastructure and utility safety, secured $20 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Piva, the company said Thursday. https://bit.ly/2CrGKse

Aaron Mackey / Electronic Frontier Foundation: Proposals by Sen. Hawley and the DOJ to amend Section 230 protections would violate the First Amendment and bury tech platforms in legal cost and liability risk  —  Whether we know it or not, all Internet users rely on multiple online services to connect, engage, and express themselves online. https://bit.ly/2NieAls

Patrick Kulp / Adweek: Pandora will offer more stats to podcast hosts like where listeners live, how long they tune in to each episode, and the number of thumbs up/down they receive  —  Move makes the streaming service more competitive with Apple and Spotify  —  Key insight:  — Podcasting has long suffered … https://bit.ly/2zN42aU

Reuters: Sources: UK told telecom operators to ensure they have adequate stockpiles of Huawei equipment due to fears of new US sanctions disrupting critical supplies  —  LONDON (Reuters) - British security officials have told UK telecom operators to ensure they have adequate stockpiles of Huawei equipment due … https://bit.ly/37I07ZF

Juli Clover / MacRumors: Apple Again Closing Some Stores in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina Due to Coronavirus Spikes  —  As coronavirus outbreaks spike in some areas of the United States, Apple is planning to close retail stores located in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina, according to Bloomberg. https://bit.ly/2ARqIaB

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: Alibaba and JD.com handled a record $136.51B in sales in 24 hours during 618, a major Chinese shopping event, pointing at a possible recovery in China  —  - China's two biggest e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com handled $136.51 billion of sales through their platforms in 24 hours during 618 … https://bit.ly/3hLWFSb

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: Apple rejects HEY appeal, noting email apps must work without paid subscription; Apple suggests offering in-app sub or to reconfigure app as IMAP and POP client  —  In a brief call today about Basecamp's Hay email app from the iOS App Store, Apple's Phil Schiller told me that there would currently … https://bit.ly/3fvzMka

Alfred Ng / CNET: Facebook files lawsuits in the US and Europe against developers it alleges scraped user data, as the company increasingly turns to lawsuits to stop data abuses  —  Facebook is suing a developer it alleges was behind a data scraping campaign that took personal information, including login credentials … https://bit.ly/317Kppx

Katie Jennings / Forbes: Abacus Insights, which seeks to make health care data more interoperable in the US, raises $35M Series B led by Blue Venture Fund, bringing total raised to $53M  —  Health insurance companies have spent decades amassing giant troves of data about their members. https://bit.ly/2YM9i7d

Brian Barrett / Wired: eBay confirms that ex-CEO Devin Wenig is the person who allegedly ordered six eBay employees to initiate a cyberstalking campaign; Wenig is not being charged  —  Surveillance.  Harassment.  A live cockroach delivery.  US attorneys have charged six former eBay workers in association with an outrageous cyberstalking campaign. https://bit.ly/37FiIp3

Twitter: Twitter will let users record and add up to 140 seconds of audio to tweets, rolling out to iOS users in the coming weeks  —  Twitter is where you go to talk about what's happening.  Over the years, photos, videos, gifs, and extra characters have allowed you to add your own flair and personality to your conversations. https://bit.ly/2YaW8lh

Bloomberg: Apple's head of diversity and inclusion Christie Smith, who joined Apple in 2017, is leaving  —  - Apple VP of Diversity and Inclusion Smith had joined in 2017  — Company planning $100 million initiative to promote equality  —  Apple Inc.'s head of diversity and inclusion Christie Smith is leaving the iPhone company. https://bit.ly/2zEyS5w

Christine Fisher / Engadget: The EU has agreed on a set of technical specifications for interoperability of contract tracing apps across European nations  —  More European countries are launching contact tracing apps in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.  But at the moment, those apps do not work across borders. https://bit.ly/3d6cAXV

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch: LA-based security startup Open Raven raises $15M, four months after emerging from stealth, to expand its tool that maps and monitors data flows within companies  —  Open Raven, the Los Angeles-based security startup founded by a team of cybersecurity veterans from CrowdStrike and SourceClear … https://bit.ly/2YGoFxR

Karissa Bell / Engadget: Instagram says that, amid concerns it may “shadowban” Black voices, it will review harassment and verification rules, and check for bias in recommendations  —  Instagram's top executive says the company will review its harassment and verification policies, as well as how the app recommends content … https://bit.ly/2Y67VBl

Bloomberg: Sources: Epic Games, which owns Fortnite, Unreal Engine, and Houseparty, is close to raising $750M at a ~$17B valuation, with investors including T. Rowe, KKR  —  - Epic owns Fortnite video game, Unreal Engine and Houseparty  — T. Rowe, KKR, Baillie Gifford to participate in round https://bit.ly/2YEtiZl

David McCabe / New York Times: A lawyer for Amazon says Jeff Bezos is willing to testify before a House antitrust investigation, after resisting earlier requests  —  Lawmakers had requested that he testify as part of their antitrust investigation into the big tech companies.  —  WASHINGTON — Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive … https://bit.ly/2UMrGfc

FinSMEs: Boston-based Appfire, which has over 60 apps used by enterprises to enhance collaboration tools like Atlassian's Jira and Confluence, raises $49M  —  Appfire, a Boston, MA-based provider of apps for software development teams, raised $49M in strategic funding.  —  Silversmith Capital Partners made the investment. https://bit.ly/37wtpu0

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal: Sources: at its current pace, Quibi will sign up fewer than 2M paying subscribers by the end of its first year, well under its original target of 7.4M  —  Two veteran executives with contrasting styles are launching Quibi, an on-the-go streaming service, during a pandemic https://bit.ly/2Bbk7r7

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: GitHub CEO says company is working to replace the name “master” for the default version of source code repositories with a more neutral term  —  GitHub getting on board legitimizes movement aimed at removing racially-charged language from software. https://bit.ly/3d3rluP

Grzegorz Piechota / INMA: Research comparing curation by humans and algorithms on Apple News shows that human editors chose more diverse sources, more evenly, and less “soft news”  —  Two Northwestern University researchers audited two Apple News sections: one curated by editors and one by an algorithm. https://bit.ly/2Yw3XAV

Robert P. Baird / New Yorker: How a philanthropic COVID-19 testing initiative by Utah companies like Nomi Health and Domo became a commercial enterprise, despite questions about performance  —  At a White House briefing, on April 23rd, Mike Pence offered what he described as “encouraging news” about covid-19 testing. https://bit.ly/2MW7piO

Biz Carson / Protocol: Q&A with Chris Best, CEO of Substack: the company has seen revenue increase 60% and readership and writership double in the first three months of the pandemic  —  If it seems like everyone is launching a newsletter these days, well, you're not wrong.  Chris Best, CEO and founder … https://bit.ly/3cYmU4p

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Katie Paul / Reuters: Facebook fired an employee for challenging his colleague's silence on Twitter over company's inaction regarding Trump posts  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) fired an employee who had criticized Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's decision not to take action against inflammatory posts … https://bit.ly/2zs8MTa