Network Support Blog

Sophia Kunthara / Crunchbase News: Golden, which aims to map all human knowledge using AI alongside humans to collect public information, raises $14.5M Series A led by a16z  —  Golden, a startup aiming to map all human knowledge, raised $14.5 million for its Series A round, the company announced Wednesday.  —  Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily https://bit.ly/3inxynL

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Coralogix, which analyzes software logs with AI, raises $25M, bringing its total raised to $41.2M, and launches a real-time analytics feature  —  Coralogix, which analyzes software logs with AI, today raised $25 million in funding.  Coinciding with the fundraising, Coralogix launched a real … https://bit.ly/2ELOIxM

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: LG says its Wing smartphone will be available in the US beginning October 15 from Verizon and later this fall from AT&T and T-Mobile, starting at $1,000  —  LG's wild sliding phone won't be cheap  —  LG's wild-looking Wing smartphone has gotten a US price and release date … https://bit.ly/34b2B15

Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch: UK-based Huboo, which offers an end-to-end fulfillment service for online retailers, raises £14M Series A led by Stride.VC  —  Huboo, the U.K.-headquartered startup that offers an end-to-end fulfilment service for online retailers of all sizes, has raised £14 million in Series A funding. https://bit.ly/2GeqZHl

Leigh Cuen / CoinDesk: Vienna-based crypto brokerage Bitpanda raises $52M Series A led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, bringing its total raised to ~$100M  —  European crypto brokerage Bitpanda, based in Vienna and founded in 2014, is announcing the completion of a $52 million Series A led by PayPal legend Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures. https://bit.ly/3cFdqfX

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: French startup Exotec, which builds autonomous industrial robots for warehouses, raises $90M Series C led by 83North  —  French robotics startup Exotec has raised $90 million in a round of funding led by London-based VC firm 83North.  —  Founded out of Lille in 2015, Exotec develops … https://bit.ly/3jdeRET

Malcolm Owen / AppleInsider: Judge proposes a jury trial for the Apple vs Epic case, likely to start in July 2021, while seemingly pushing back on some of Epic's key points in the hearing  —  During Monday's hearing for Epic and Apple's legal battle over the App Store and “Fortnite,” the judge suggested that the public's opinion … https://bit.ly/2EFoRHI

Peter Elstrom / Bloomberg: China's Sina Corp., which operates Weibo, agrees to go private in a $2.59B deal, after an entity led by its chairman boosted its offer to $43.30 per share  —  Sina Corp. agreed to go private after an entity led by its chairman, Charles Chao, boosted its offer for the Chinese social media company to $43.30 a share in cash. https://bit.ly/3kYEtFZ

Annie Palmer / CNBC: Amazon says its Prime Day annual sale will take place on October 13 and 14 after the original summer date was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic  —  - Amazon Prime Day will take place on Oct. 13 and 14 this year, the company announced Monday.  — The company postponed its biggest shopping … https://bit.ly/2GjbTjf

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Parts of Amazon's law enforcement request portal that are visible on the web provide a rare glimpse into how the company handles law enforcement requests  —  Anyone can access portions of a web portal, used by law enforcement to request customer data from Amazon, even though the portal … https://bit.ly/3iayU5e

Matt Leonard / Supply Chain Dive: FedEx CEO says the company is working with Reliable Robotics to pilot the use of an unmanned single-engine aircraft for cargo delivery  —  Dive Brief:  — FedEx is working with Reliable Robotics to pilot the use of an unmanned single-engine aircraft for cargo delivery … https://bit.ly/2S7d8Vm

Isobel Asher Hamilton / BusinessInsider: Elon Musk voiced his discontent on Twitter that OpenAI is exclusively licensing GPT-3 to Microsoft saying “OpenAI is essentially captured by Microsoft”  —  - Elon Musk voiced his discontent on Twitter that OpenAI — the AI research firm he helped found — is exclusively licensing … https://bit.ly/30b8M4d

David Streitfeld / New York Times: Inside eBay's alleged plot that targeted a blogging duo and a Twitter gadfly using cockroaches, porn, death threats, physical surveillance, and pizza deliveries  —  “People are basically good” was eBay's founding principle.  But in the deranged summer of 2019, prosecutors say … https://bit.ly/36caRkk

Mehr Nadeem / Rest of World: A look at how Iranians are using satellite file-casting app Toosheh to bypass state internet blackouts as the country pushes its national intranet  —  With the threat of another big internet blackout looming, companies are creating workarounds for Iranians using satellite dishes.  —  • LAHORE, PAKISTAN https://bit.ly/3i7sh3C

Alexander George / Popular Mechanics: Apple's Craig Federighi details how ML behind handwriting recognition on iPad works, which was trained using data sourced directly from people as they wrote  —  The more intuitive a task is for humans, generally, the harder it is for  —  can't hear your commands, or when your spam filter traps an important email. https://bit.ly/3i2smFP

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Twitter has emailed developers warning that it may have exposed their private app keys and account tokens due to a bug that stored them in browser caches  —  Twitter has emailed developers warning of a bug that may have exposed their private app keys and account tokens. https://bit.ly/3kPSWUm

Olivia Solon / NBC News: A group of about 25 experts say they have formed the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a group to analyze and critique Facebook's content moderation decisions  —  Some of Facebook's most vocal critics are tired of waiting for its independent oversight board — so they're starting their own. https://bit.ly/331DsXf

Janko Roettgers / Protocol: Interview with Dantley Davis, Twitter's chief design officer, on building diverse and inclusive design teams in tech  —  When Dantley Davis worked as a designer at Netflix a few years back, he had an epiphany: For ages, “Star Wars” had been marketed as a sci-fi saga.  But what if it could also be a princess story? https://bit.ly/3iaBAA9

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: Hootsuite says it will terminate its ICE contract after disagreements within the company spilled over into public view when an employee tweeted about the deal  —  After disagreements within the company spilled over into public controversy, Hootsuite says it won't go forward with a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. https://bit.ly/3i0LpAk

Danny Crichton / TechCrunch: Petal, which offers credit cards by analyzing the cash flow of potential borrowers rather than credit scores, raises $55M Series C led by Thiel's Valar Ventures  —  Sometimes raising venture capital can be as simple as talking to your existing investor and having them wire over another check. https://bit.ly/3i4OoHT

Sophia Kunthara / Crunchbase News: Next Insurance, which offers digital insurance products to small businesses, raises $250M Series D at $2B+ valuation led by CapitalG and Munich Re  —  Next Insurance, which aims to be the go-to insurance provider for any small business, has raised $250 million in a Series D round. https://bit.ly/33VN45d

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch: Tesla sues the Trump administration to end tariffs on imports of Chinese parts that are used in Tesla's Autopilot 3.0 hardware, enabling “Full Self-Driving”  —  Tesla is suing the Trump Administration over tariffs on a computer chip and other parts it imports from China … https://bit.ly/33RAfZS

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Spotify introduces Polls, an interactive tool for podcast hosts that lets listeners answer questions  —  Spotify today is introducing a new feature designed to make podcasts more interactive.  The company says it's beginning to test “Polls,” a tool that will allow listeners to engage … https://bit.ly/33VA4fN

Ryan Smith / AnandTech: Oracle announces updates to its Cloud Compute instances, including support for Nvidia's A100 accelerator, Arm-powered processors, and updated pricing schemes  —  When the name “Oracle” is thrown around, hardware isn't typically the first thing that comes to mind for most people. https://bit.ly/32WQGF0

Joseph Keller / iMore: The Swift Project announces its language tools are now available for Windows 10  —  Swift is taking flight on Windows.  —  What you need to know  — Swift is seeing its initial release on Windows.  — Developers can now download Swift toolchain images for Windows 10. https://bit.ly/32WkC45

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Aurora Labs, a startup with tech to detect and remediate bugs in car codebases, raises $23M Series B from Porsche SE, Toyota Tsusho, and others  —  Connected car analytics startup Aurora Labs today raised $23 million, bringing its total raised to $34 million. https://bit.ly/301jryf

Gilad Edelman / Wired: Proposition 24, which was designed to make the California Consumer Privacy Act stronger, has divided privacy advocates who previously fought on the same side  —  Prop. 24 is designed to make the California Consumer Privacy Act stronger.  Why do so many privacy advocates oppose it? https://bit.ly/3cjR6rU

iFixit: Teardown of the Apple Watch Series 6 shows the 40mm model has an 8.5% bigger battery than the Series 5 and the 44mm model has a 3.5% larger battery  —  Introduction The Apple Watch Series 6 is here to take your breath away—or at least tell you a whole lot about your breathing. https://bit.ly/32NAOV8

Jay Peters / The Verge: Facebook estimates it has helped 2.5M people register to vote so far, up from 2M people in 2016 and 2018, as it pushes to register 4M people  —  The company's goal is to help 4 million people register to vote  —  Facebook estimates it has helped 2.5 million people register to vote … https://bit.ly/3kzyJ5d

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Indian mobile gaming and esports app Mobile Premier League raises $90M Series C, source says at a $375M-$400M valuation, bringing its total raise to $130.5M  —  Mobile Premier League (MPL) has raised $90 million in a new financing round as the two-year-old Bangalore-based esports … https://bit.ly/3ck2lAH

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal: How “Huang's Law”, gains in AI chip performance even faster than Moore's Law, moves data processing from the cloud to the edge and may explain Nvidia's Arm deal  —  The rule that the same dollar buys twice the computing power every 18 months is no longer true, but a new law … https://bit.ly/2HaLc0G

Asha Saluja / Slate: Behind the rise of viral earworms on TikTok, whose musical DNA and culture of repetition often leads to the same songs being reused again and again in videos  —  Gen Z's favorite video app is a blessing in a pandemic.  But why does so much of it sound the same?  —  I downloaded TikTok in April, a month into COVID isolation. https://bit.ly/2FKMb7z

Reuters: ByteDance says that it is not aware of the news that TikTok is setting up a $5B education fund in the US as part of a deal to continue operating in the US  —  NINGBO, China (Reuters) - TikTok owner Bytedance said in a social media post on Sunday that it was the first time it had heard … https://bit.ly/2RKOGZQ

Juli Clover / MacRumors: iOS 14 Picture in Picture functionality stops working for YouTube's mobile website in Safari for users who do not subscribe to YouTube Premium  —  Apple in iOS 14 added Picture in Picture to the iPhone, a feature designed to let you watch a video in a small screen on your device while you continue to do other things on the phone. https://bit.ly/3kyPiy4

Zac Bowden / Windows Central: An inside look at how Microsoft tried and failed in creating a version of Windows for dual-screen devices like Surface Duo, and eventually picked Android  —  Curious what Surface Duo was like when it was a Windows device?  Wonder no more.  —  Here at Windows Central … https://bit.ly/3hHZVwV

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: A look at iOS 14's privacy-centric features including mic and camera access notifications, local network access control, compromised password warnings, and more  —  Behold: The useful and not-so-useful privacy features you've been waiting for.  —  Eleven months ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook declared privacy a “fundamental human right.” https://bit.ly/3iMooSO

Tim Baysinger / The Wrap: WarnerMedia's streaming service DC Universe to rebrand as DC Universe Infinite and become a comics hub, with its scripted original series moving to HBO Max  —  “Harley Quinn” renewed for Season 3 as DC Universe transitions into a comic-book subscription service https://bit.ly/2EivU9e

Fred Wilson / AVC: It makes no sense for two large and powerful companies like Apple and Google to completely control software distribution on mobile phones and it must stop  —  I have written extensively on this blog over the last decade and a half about the significant negative consequences … https://bit.ly/3hFZH9n

Mark Gardiner / New York Times: US auto insurers are using AI to generate nearly instantaneous repair claims, using only photos of the damage, with COVID-19 spurring on adoption  —  Using algorithms, tech companies are helping insurers speed up the process after an accident, make it more accurate and keep estimators out of the field — a plus during a pandemic. https://bit.ly/3mFVx5l

Jack Brewster / Forbes: Twitter to restrict QAnon content posted by politicians; in July, it started removing QAnon tweets from Trends and recommendations, with 50% drop in impressions  —  Twitter said Thursday it will extend its restrictions on QAnon-linked accounts and content to political candidates and elected officials … https://bit.ly/2RBTnVT

Dieter Bohn / The Verge: Apple Watch Series 6 hands-on: an iterative update, always-on screen is very bright and is the best feature, but blood oxygen monitor gave a few failed readings  —  Also a very red smartwatch  —  I've had just under 24 hours with the new Apple Watch Series 6, which is just enough time to gather a handful of impressions. https://bit.ly/3hC5LQp

Casey Newton / The Verge: Q&A with Mark Zuckerberg on the impact of the pandemic on making VR mainstream, AR glasses, and why he doesn't want to “put an Apple Watch on your face”  —  How Facebook's CEO is thinking about the future of augmented reality, virtual reality, and more  —  Social networks contain multitudes. https://bit.ly/35HGXUI

YouTube: Livestream of Sony's PS5 showcase event  —  Before PlayStation 5 launches this holiday, we wanted to give you one more look at some of the great games coming to PS5 at launch (and beyond!).  Our next digital showcase will weigh in at around 40 minutes, and feature updates on the latest titles … https://bit.ly/2FORXVa

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal: Amazon Music adds podcasts for free across its subscription and ad-supported tiers, with 70K+ titles to start, much smaller than Apple's 1M+ or Spotify's 1.5M  —  Company looks to draw new listeners with 70,000 titles, including originals from DJ Khaled  —  Now playing on Amazon Music: podcasts. https://bit.ly/32D8tAW

Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News: nTopology, which makes software used in design and manufacturing of 3D-printed parts and products, raises $40M Series C led by Insight Partners  —  New York-based nTopology, a developer of software used in design and manufacturing of 3D-printed parts and products, just raised $40 million in Series C funding. https://bit.ly/3iBHMlD

Eugene Kim / Business Insider: Internal documents: Amazon is testing a new ML service codenamed “AWS Thor” for industrial facilities, using vibration, sound, more to predict maintenance needs  —  - Amazon is working on a new cloud service codenamed “AWS Thor.”  — The new service “uses temperature, sound … https://bit.ly/33AaZqz

Seth Schiesel / Protocol: Q&A with Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick on his skepticism about cloud gaming and Microsoft's new subscription and installment pricing plans for Xbox  —  Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, has an ambitious goal for his company. https://bit.ly/3hsMdha

Jared Newman / Fast Company: School districts across US start dropping Acellus, an online learning service that claims to serve 6,000 schools, after reports of inappropriate content on it  —  Schools embraced an online learning program called Acellus because it promised convenience.  Now, parents are cleaning up the mess. https://bit.ly/3c245OF

Alex Sherman / CNBC: Sources: Oracle and Walmart are still pursuing a stake in TikTok US, as ByteDance banks on Trump backing off requiring a full sale of TikTok US to avoid a ban  —  - TikTok is banking on President Trump backing off comments that a full sale of U.S. operations is needed to avoid an American ban. https://bit.ly/33AaRHY

BBC: Google says its carbon footprint is now zero, after becoming carbon neutral in 2007, and aims to run all data centers and offices on carbon-free energy by 2030  —  Google says it has wiped out its entire carbon footprint by investing in “high-quality carbon offsets”. https://bit.ly/3huRbtJ