Network Support Blog

Monica Chin / The Verge: Intel launches new Iris Xe Max discrete GPU, with first laptops now available from Acer, Dell, and Asus  —  Try out Intel's new discrete GPU  —  Earlier this month, the public got its first glimpse of Iris Xe Max, Intel's new discrete GPU for thin-and-light laptops, at an Acer press event. https://bit.ly/2TIbn24

New York Times: Misinformation on social media, alongside Trump's lies, is overwhelming local election officials across the US as they shoot down rumors via phone and email  —  From Philadelphia to Sonoma County, Calif., election officials said they were working marathon hours to fight a flood of falsehoods. https://bit.ly/3eeWSfm

Joseph Marks / Washington Post: A look at CISA's wide-ranging operation to secure the 2020 election against hacking, which includes the launch of a 24/7 virtual war room on Election Day  —  A 24/7 war room will operate from Election Day until local officials are confident in the results.  It shows just how far DHS's cybersecurity agency has come since 2016. https://bit.ly/37UYkT6

David Yaffe-Bellany / Bloomberg: US judge issues temporary injunction blocking Trump's TikTok ban in TikTok creators lawsuit, saying ban exceeds gov't authority, causes users “irreparable harm”  —  - Pennsylvania jurist says U.S. probably exceeded its authority  — Administration calls Chinese apps a national security threat https://bit.ly/2HNtCAg

Bloomberg: Online auto insurance provider Root raises $724M in IPO, with shares closing the day at $27, giving it a market valuation of $6.8B  —  Auto insurance platform Root Inc. opened below it's initial public offering price, then rose as much as 9.2% during the day before closing flat in its trading debut. https://bit.ly/320CSIG

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: Researchers extract Intel's secret key for encrypting and decrypting security updates that patch vulnerabilities on its Goldmont architecture-based CPUs  —  Hackers can now reverse-engineer updates or write their own custom firmware.  —  Researchers have extracted the secret key … https://bit.ly/2HOAkWy

Brian Heater / TechCrunch: Corsair announces it has acquired the EpocCam app, which turns iOS devices into high definition Mac and PC webcams; EpocCam creator Sam Grohn to join Elgato  —  Corsair Gaming today announced that it has acquired EpocCam, the software developer behind the iOS software of the same name. https://bit.ly/37SFAUc

Chris O'Brien / VentureBeat: CodeSandbox, which builds web-based tools for collaborative application development, raises $12.7M led by EQT Ventures, bringing its total raised to $15M  —  Amsterdam-based CodeSandbox has raised $12.7 million to help teams collaborate on the development of web-based applications. https://bit.ly/3mybitZ

Alexander Behrens / Decrypt: The Graph, which provides services for some popular DeFi apps, raises $12M in a token sale and expects to launch its data provider network within two months  —  The Graph, a blockchain data company providing services for some of DeFi's most popular apps, has raised $12 million in a token sale that sold out in just over 24 hours. https://bit.ly/37Qg0iB

Ashley Cullins / Hollywood Reporter: Amazon files motion to dismiss suit alleging false advertising of Prime Video purchases, says its terms indicate users pay for “limited license”, not ownership  —  The streamer says its terms of use are clear: What viewers are paying for is a limited license. https://bit.ly/34Dhhry

Zac Bowden / Windows Central: Sources: Microsoft is planning an extensive Windows 10 update for 2021 with design refreshes for many top-level UIs, including Start and File Explorer  —  Microsoft wants to ‘reinvigorate’ the Windows 10 user interface next year.  —  What you need to know  — A big UI refresh is on the cards for Windows 10 in 2021. https://bit.ly/3oAswsv

Ashley Carman / The Verge: Audible adds 100K free podcasts to its catalog, available through the app for all listeners with or without a subscription  —  It's adding 100,000 podcasts to its catalog  —  Audible is turning into more of a podcast app.  The company announced today that its catalog now contains 100,000 free podcasts … https://bit.ly/3jClZtN

Tom Warren / The Verge: Cloud growth drives Microsoft Q1 with server products and cloud services revenue up 22% YoY, Azure up 48% YoY, and Office 365 Commercial revenue up 21% YoY  —  Microsoft continues to boost its revenue and profits during an economic downturn  —  Microsoft posted the first quarter … https://bit.ly/2TyiDgN

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Ankhi Das, Facebook's public policy director for India, South, and Central Asia, leaves after allegations of content moderation interference for India's BJP  —  Ankhi Das, a top Facebook executive in India, is leaving the company on Tuesday months after she was alleged to interfere … https://bit.ly/37T0T7Y

Frederic Filloux / Monday Note: A look at VC firm a16z's media and podcast offerings, led by ex-Wired editor Sonal Chokshi, which feature an array of voices across 500+ episodes  —  Andreessen-Horowitz firm has developed a sophisticated podcast system.  Its mission: becoming the go-to place to understand the future. https://bit.ly/31LgwL3

Jessica Guynn / USA Today: Facebook says it has helped register 4.4M voters for the 2020 election so far, topping its previous efforts  —  Facebook has helped register a record 4.4 million voters, surpassing its goal for the November election, the company exclusively told USA TODAY on Monday. https://bit.ly/31OGBZM

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: As part of its plans to deprecate Internet Explorer, Microsoft will force certain URLs to open in Edge instead of IE, starting next month for most users  —  Here's the list of 1,156 sites you won't be able to open in Internet Explorer anymore.  —  Big changes are coming to Internet Explorer. https://bit.ly/34wk0CV

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: A look at signature verification software deployed to expedite mail-in ballot verification in US, as signature discrepancies are the main reason for rejections  —  As of early October, more than 84.2 million absentee ballots had been requested or sent to U.S. voters in 47 states and the District … https://bit.ly/34rkydh

The Markup: An overview of tech issues on the ballot in November: the status of gig workers, warrantless phone searches, privacy rights, publicly-funded broadband, and more  —  Voters in states and cities across the country will decide some of technology's biggestquestions https://bit.ly/3mmTuSG

Susan D'Agostino / Quanta Magazine: Q&A with Vint Cerf, who has been working on building an internet for space, using disruption/delay-tolerant networking (DTN) protocol, an alternative to TCP/IP  —  Vinton Cerf helped create the internet 40 years ago, and he's still working to connect people around the world — and off it. https://bit.ly/3ojIQOa

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Zest AI raises $15M for its AI-powered tech that it claims can help financial institutions reduce bias in loan portfolios, bringing its total VC funding to $87M  —  Zest AI, a company developing AI-powered loan decisioning products, today closed a $15 million funding round led by Insight Partners. https://bit.ly/3jtShH6

Daniel Zuidijk / Bloomberg: Patreon says it will remove accounts that actively spread QAnon's beliefs and will warn those that spread some QAnon ideas but are not dedicated to such content  —  - Accounts tied to QAnon-dedicated creators to be removed  — Followers of conspiracy theory complain of being censored https://bit.ly/3kvQpiv

Takashi Nakano / Nikkei Asia: Singapore now has 1,000+ B2B fintech startups, up 70%+ YoY, after the city-state started luring foreign entrepreneurs with special visas and monetary support  —  City-state lures foreign entrepreneurs with special visas and financial support  —  SINGAPORE — Singapore is striving to enhance … https://bit.ly/37Dxpes

Yujing Liu / South China Morning Post: Alibaba is investing $3.6B in Sun Art Retail Group, which operates 484 hypermarkets across China, to double its effective stake in the company to 72%  —  Alibaba will double its effective stake in Hong Kong-listed Sun Art Retail Group with a deal with Mulliez family's Auchan Holding Deal … https://bit.ly/3jq2Pr0

Nicole Perlroth / New York Times: Officials say Russian hacking group Energetic Bear breached the system that SFO staff and travelers use to access the airport's Wi-Fi, in an attack in March  —  The hacking group, Energetic Bear, is among Russia's stealthiest.  It appears to be casting a wide net to find useful targets ahead of the election, experts said. https://bit.ly/3krhdjR

Hartley Charlton / MacRumors: Apple iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPad Air 4 are now available in stores and arriving to customers around the world  —  The iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and fourth-generation iPad Air are now available in stores and arriving to customers around the world.  —  Apple has shared a Newsroom post … https://bit.ly/2TmNVqR

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: Huawei's growth slowed sharply due to US sanctions with Q3 revenue of $32.5B, up 3.7% YoY; revenue growth for 2020 so far is 9.9% compared to 24.4% in 2019  —  - For the first nine months of the year, revenue totaled 671.3 billion yuan ($98.57 billion), up 9.9% from the 610.8 billion yuan reported in the same period last year. https://bit.ly/3ojePhA

Larry Dignan / ZDNet: Enterprise software provider Tibco acquires data and analytics firm Information Builders to expand its analytics portfolio and customer base  —  Information Builders has data quality, prep and integration products that will support what Tibco calls its hyperconverged analytics strategy. https://bit.ly/34mon3l

Dan Seifert / The Verge: Amazon Echo (2020) review: has loud, room-filling sound with bass you can hear and feel and good voice response, but music can sometimes sound overly processed  —  Amazon's latest Echo brings room tuning and impressive sound quality to the $100 price point  —  The smart speaker competition this year is the hottest it's ever been. https://bit.ly/3opnoYn

Kashmir Hill / New York Times: Activists around the world are building facial recognition tools to identify police officers using off-the-shelf image recognition software  —  “We're now approaching the technological threshold where the little guys can do it to the big guys,” one researcher said. https://bit.ly/3maQb0D

Medium: Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg confirm Quibi is shutting down: “Our failure was not for lack of trying; we've considered and exhausted every option”  —  We started with the idea to create the next generation of storytelling and because of you, we were able to create and deliver … https://bit.ly/3ofacVF

Gregor Stuart Hunter / Bloomberg: Study: companies are increasingly tailoring their financial statements to cater to algorithms parsing text and speech and avoiding phrases perceived as negative  —  - Study finds companies alter words to cater to listening algos  — Emphasis on positivity as negative phrases get ditched https://bit.ly/35jslZP

Karl Bode / Techdirt: DOJ's antitrust suit against Google is being driven by cronyism and election season politics, and not by a serious concern about monopoly power  —  Last month we noted how Bill Barr was rushing DOJ staffers (much to their chagrin) to launch his “antitrust inquiry” into Google.  Why?  Three reasons. https://bit.ly/2ISGkyf

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: NSA publishes a report of the top 25 vulnerabilities with patches available that are currently being found and exploited by “Chinese state-sponsored hackers”  —  NSA urges US public and private sector to apply patches or mitigations to prevent attacks. https://bit.ly/31rhMmm

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Handshake, a diversity-focused LinkedIn for college students, raises $80M Series D led by GGV, source says at a $550M-$600M valuation  —  College graduates this year (and perhaps in the near-term) have been looking for work in what is one of the most challenging job markets in a decade due … https://bit.ly/2H9WQtn

Reuters: Sources: Didi Chuxing is considering Hong Kong, rethinking its previous aims of NYSE, for an IPO in the first half of 2021, targets a valuation of $60B+  —  HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's top ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing is considering Hong Kong for a multibillion-dollar initial public offering … https://bit.ly/2Hjw41B

Larry Dignan / ZDNet: IBM reports Q3 revenue of $17.6B, down 2.6% YoY, vs $17.54B est, total cloud revenue of $6.0B, up 19% YoY, with Red Hat revenue rising 17% YoY  —  The company reported non-GAAP third quarter earnings of $2.58 a share on revenue of $17.6 billion, down 2.6% from a year ago. https://bit.ly/3o7BEVn

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: Facebook expands its Messenger API to Instagram, letting developers and businesses integrate messaging from Instagram into other apps  —  Facebook is expanding its Messenger API to support Instagram messaging, enabling developers and businesses to integrate messaging from Instagram into other business applications. https://bit.ly/3j8poA5

Daniel Oberhaus / Wired: An overview on the current state of AI-driven battery research, which until recently was hampered by a lack of data but is now poised to pick up the pace  —  Improving batteries has always been hampered by slow experimentation and discovery processes.  Machine learning is speeding it up by orders of magnitude. https://bit.ly/3m1MHgV

Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Process mining company Celonis has acquired Czech startup Integromat to help bolster its automation services; Celonis CEO says the deal is worth more than $100M  —  Celonis began as a company to help customers understand how work flowed through your company by building a process map. https://bit.ly/3jbk6nt

Colum Murphy / Bloomberg: China passes a new export control law, in effect from Dec. 1, that will let it take reciprocal measures if any country or regions abuse their export controls  —  China passed a new law to restrict sensitive exports to protect national security, helping Beijing gain reciprocity against U.S. as tech tensions mount. https://bit.ly/2H37SAB

Dave Sebastian / Wall Street Journal: Skillsoft, which makes training software for businesses, is going public through a SPAC merger at a $1.3B valuation after emerging from bankruptcy in August  —  Educational-technology company emerged from chapter 11 in August  —  Educational-technology company Skillsoft is going public through … https://bit.ly/2T2g727

John Gruber / Daring Fireball: Thoughts on Apple's “Hi, Speed” event: the iPhone 12 lineup, camera differences, missing chargers and earbuds, focus on 5G and Verizon CEO's cameo, more  —  Last month's “Time Flies” event for the Apple Watch Series 6 and new iPad Air was about an hour long; this week's “Hi, Speed” event ran just a bit longer at 70 minutes. https://bit.ly/2IHpMcs

Morgan Clendaniel / Fast Company: A look at the pandemic's impact on Nextdoor and how CEO Sarah Friar has attempted to promote the concept of “kindness” amid a tumultuous year for the company  —  The social network for local communities bet on kindness to power it to an IPO.  If only the locals don't ruin it. https://bit.ly/3nZNWPn

Jessica Jerreat / Voice of America: DC court has ruled that the replacement of OTF's board of directors by USAGM CEO Michael Pack was unauthorized and any action taken by the new board is invalid  —  The Superior Court in Washington, D.C., has ruled that actions taken by the U.S. Agency for Global Media's chief executive … https://bit.ly/3lS4TJV

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Future, a $150 per month subscription app that virtually pairs users with human fitness coaches, raises $24M Series B led by Trustbridge Partners  —  With thousands of gyms across the country forced to close down during the pandemic, there's been an unprecedented opportunity for fitness companies pitching an at-home solution. https://bit.ly/3590E5J

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Extend, which helps e-commerce businesses and retailers offer extended warranties on products using APIs, raises $40M Series B led by Meritech Capital  —  Extend, which works with companies like Peloton, iRobot, ​Harman / JBL, Advance Auto Parts, Traeger Grills, BlendJet, SoClean … https://bit.ly/3o0HOq7

Silvia Amaro / CNBC: France and Netherlands call for EU regulation to control market power of Big Tech gatekeepers; EU says it's working on criteria, not a “hit list of companies”  —  - In a joint document, the two countries suggested that an EU authority should be able to control the market position of these large tech platforms. https://bit.ly/3iYk964

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Seattle-based Temporal, which is building an open source, stateful microservices orchestration service, raises $18.75M Series A led by Sequoia  —  Temporal, a Seattle-based startup that is building an open-source, stateful microservices orchestration platform, today announced that it has raised … https://bit.ly/2H2zvJS

Todd Spangler / Variety: Snapchat now lets iOS users add song clips from a curated catalog of music to their Snaps and Stories  —  Snapchat today is launching a new feature called Sounds — which, taking a page from TikTok, lets app users add song clips to their Snaps and Stories.  Currently, though, it's available only in the app for Apple's iOS. https://bit.ly/3j2G4sE

FinSMEs: Matroid, which helps search live or recorded video for people, objects, and events using computer vision models, raises $20M Series B led by Energize Ventures  —  Matroid, a Palo Alto, CA-based U.S. machine learning, computer vision (CV) provider, raised $20m in Series B funding. https://bit.ly/2H9RkWV

BuzzFeed News: Facebook limits the distribution of a New York Post story that makes disputed claims about Hunter Biden, pending fact-check, while Twitter blocks sharing  —  Facebook and Twitter said they will be limiting the distribution of or blocking a New York Post story making unverified claims about former vice president Joe Biden. https://bit.ly/2SS8zyV