Network Support Blog

Megan Graham / CNBC: Integral Ad Science, which helps keep digital ads non-fraudulent and “brand safe”, closes up 14% in its debut after its IPO, valuing the company at ~$3.3B  —  - Ad tech company Integral Ad Science began trading on Wednesday under the ticker “IAS.”  — IAS pegs itself as a “verification company” for digital ads. https://bit.ly/3jwteHd

Riley de León / CNBC: SentinelOne closed up 21% at $42.50 per share in its debut, valuing the company at $10B+; SentinelOne had the highest valued cybersecurity IPO in history  —  - Cybersecurity company SentinelOne made its market debut Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange and is now trading under the ticker symbol “S.” https://bit.ly/3dy6aUD

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record: DOJ adds seven new charges against alleged Capital One hacker Paige Thompson, a former Amazon engineer; her trial has been rescheduled to March 2022  —  - DOJ files seven new charges against the Capital One hacker, reveals four new victims.  — Paige A. Thompson now faces up to 20 years in prison. https://bit.ly/3qOGwRb

Catie Keck / The Verge: Senator Warren asks the FTC for a “broad and meticulous review” of Amazon's MGM acquisition, citing Amazon's anticompetitive history and growing monopoly power  —  Warren argues the deal could hurt consumers  —  Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling on the Federal Trade Commission … https://bit.ly/3xafINi

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Twitter says users losing access to its “Latest” chronological feed option from its web application is a bug and a fix is in the works  —  Update: Twitter's Kayvon Beykpour says this is a bug that it's working on fixing.  The Twitter Support account says the fix is rolled out. https://bit.ly/362q6uM

Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post: NHTSA says it will require that companies like Tesla and Waymo report incidents involving driver-assistance and automated systems within one day  —  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said companies must report incidents within one day of learning of a crash. https://bit.ly/3qBSRIk

TechCrunch: Duolingo files for US IPO, reveals revenue growth of 129% YoY in 2020, and reports $55.4M in revenue during Q1 2021  —  The edtech unicorn reveals 129% 2020 revenue growth  —  Duolingo, a Pittsburgh-based language learning business last valued at $2.4 billion, has officially filed to go public. https://bit.ly/2TggIRq

Tim Copeland / The Block: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says the exchange's goal is “to list every asset where it is legal to do so”, and it will provide a ratings system for assets  —  Quick Take  — Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the exchange's goal is to list “every” crypto asset as long as it is legal. https://bit.ly/3qztre1

Sam Nussey / Reuters: Sources: SoftBank is scaling back its robotics business globally, including eliminating 165 jobs in France, and has stopped producing its Pepper humanoid  —  SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) is slashing jobs at its global robotics business and has stopped producing its Pepper robot … https://bit.ly/3jlFCtB

Noah Bailey: Windows 11 has needlessly stringent hardware requirements, especially its arbitrary list of compatible CPUs, which will render a lot of decent hardware obsolete  —  The latest announcements for Windows 11 have revealed that the next version of the Windows operating system will have very stringent hardware requirements. https://bit.ly/3gY2eyv

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica: Google unveils “Play Media Experience Program”, which will let certain media apps get a larger cut of Play Store sales for supporting more Android form factors  —  Google entices multimillion-dollar media apps with a 15 percent Play Store fee.  —  There are 3 billion active Android devices … https://bit.ly/3w1dYEW

Andrew Deck / Rest of World: A look at Chinese content farms behind “Factory TikTok”, a subgenre where workers making products like aloe jelly and gloves also are influencers selling them  —  How workers manufacturing products like aloe jelly and gardening gloves also became the influencers selling them. https://bit.ly/2TbcACc

Tom Simonite / Wired: Study: an algorithm developed by EHR provider Epic to predict sepsis infections in patients missed two-thirds of sepsis cases and frequently issued false alarms  —  A study found that a system used to identify cases of sepsis missed most instances and frequently issued false alarms. https://bit.ly/2TbffM3

Bloomberg: Tesla to issue a software fix to 285K+ cars in China, after regulator finds its autopilot can get activated automatically, which may lead to sudden acceleration  —  - Acceleration risk forces an upgrade for 285,000 vehicles  — The software fix in many instances will be made online https://bit.ly/3gYabE7

Josh Scott / BetaKit: AlayaCare, which develops software for scheduling, clinical documentation, and billing for home and community healthcare providers, raises $225M CAD Series D  —  Montréal-based healthtech startup AlayaCare has secured $225 million CAD in Series D funding to build on its recent growth … https://bit.ly/3je2ECA

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: Intel licenses SiFive's IP for Intel Foundry Services' 7nm offerings and says it will create its own RISC-V development platform called Horse Creek  —  As part of SiFive's announcements today, along with enabling SiFive IP on Intel's Foundry Service offerings, Intel will be creating … https://bit.ly/3de2OGa

Ian Hamilton / UploadVR: VRChat, a free app for Oculus Rift and Steam that lets users create and explore virtual worlds with others, raises $80M Series D, bringing total raised to ~$95M  —  VRChat raised $80 million in a Series D investment round to accelerate development and prepare for social VR growth. https://bit.ly/35SHqSR

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget: Mozilla launches Rally, a Firefox plugin that lets users share browsing data with researchers studying the web, starting with researchers from Princeton  —  By this point in the internet's history, most of us have come to terms with the fact that accessing the web involves giving up information … https://bit.ly/3dbigTu

Corrie Driebusch / Wall Street Journal: Filing: Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Global is looking to raise ~$3.9B in its NYSE debut, sets a targeted range of $13-$14 per ADS at a $62B-$67B valuation  —  Chinese ride-hailing company looks to raise $3.9 billion at midpoint of its price range  —  Didi Global Inc. … https://bit.ly/2U4VCW3

Alex Konrad / Forbes: Data infrastructure software maker Confluent closes up 25% on its first day of trading, after raising $828M in its US IPO  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  In 2011, three LinkedIn employees — Jay Kreps, Neha Narkhede and Jun Rao — developed a technical tool to help … https://bit.ly/3wU6F3a

New York Times: As lawmakers advance the new antitrust bills, Democrats and Republicans are split over how far the bills should go, signaling final passage will be difficult  —  When the Judiciary Committee began approving a suite of bills on Wednesday, it exposed the fault lines that could make final passage difficult. https://bit.ly/3qpoIvv

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge: Bird to add e-bikes to its fleet and will open up its app to local shared operators in select cities this year; Spin launches its first e-scooter built in-house  —  Bird, the original scooter company, is finally branching out into electric bike-share  —  Two of the top shared electric scooter companies … https://bit.ly/3gT2e1u

Reuters: John McAfee has died by suspected suicide in a Spanish jail cell, hours after news that he would be extradited to face federal charges in the US  —  Antivirus creator John McAfee, 75, was found dead in his prison cell in Barcelona after the Spanish high court had authorised his extradition to the U.S. … https://bit.ly/3d8uA70

Bloomberg: Two South African brothers who founded crypto investment firm Africrypt vanished with ~69,000 bitcoins, worth $3.6B+, after informing clients of an alleged hack  —  - Lawyers hired by investors piece together funds' disappearance  — Africrypt loss would rank among biggest-ever crypto heists https://bit.ly/3vSWieD

Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE: Splunk raises $1B from Silver Lake in exchange for convertible notes, and says it will use the investment to fund buybacks; Splunk stock up 11%  —  Splunk Inc. today said that it has secured a $1 billion investment from Silver Lake to support growth initiatives and buy back shares. https://bit.ly/3gTzUfD

Karissa Bell / Engadget: Facebook says it is working on visual search for Instagram shopping to help users find info on products in images, and Shops is coming to WhatsApp, Marketplace  —  Facebook is working on visual search technology for Instagram as it doubles down on shopping features throughout its platform. https://bit.ly/3vJWblj

Vicky McKeever / CNBC: Dating app Bumble says it's giving all ~700 employees a “paid, fully offline one-week vacation” in June, recognizing the challenges endured during the pandemic  —  Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd has given the dating app's 700 employees this week off as paid vacation in an effort to help with burnout. https://bit.ly/2SnKQtM

Katharine Schwab / Fast Company: Survey of 37 tech giants: $3.8B committed to diversity efforts in 2020 and 2021, ~2/3 had made some kind of DEI policy change after the summer 2020 protests  —  One year after protests against police brutality shook much of the corporate world awake to the problems of racial equity in the workplace … https://bit.ly/3qfznZH

Nicole Lee / Engadget: TikTok launches TikTok Jump to let creators enhance their videos by adding mini-app integrations from select partners including Whisk, Wikipedia, Quizlet, more  —  TikTok creators may no longer need to add a “link in bio,” at least to certain kinds of content.  Today, https://bit.ly/3wOBxSm

Patrick Shanley / Washington Post: A look at the future of E3, once the dominant gaming event, as the pandemic, withdrawal of Sony, and rise of competing events has weakened its impact and appeal  —  For the video game industry, summer was once a season dominated by a monolithic convention in Los Angeles … https://bit.ly/3iZox8p

Matt Dougherty / KHOU-TV: Some power companies in Texas are remotely adjusting the smart thermostats of users enrolled in their energy saving programs to reduce strain on power grids  —  Some said they didn't know their thermostats were being accessed from afar until it was almost 80 degrees inside their homes. https://bit.ly/3iYlopE

Ezra Fieser / Bloomberg: A look at El Zonte, a surfing village in El Salvador dubbed Bitcoin Beach after an anonymous 2019 donation turned it into a controlled alt-currency experiment  —  An anonymous donor turned a tiny Pacific coast town without a bank into the world's biggest Bitcoin experiment.  Up next: the entire country. https://bit.ly/3iS34OR

Juliet Chung / Wall Street Journal: Addepar, a provider of wealth management software, raises $150M from D1 Capital Partners at a $2.17B valuation; source: Addepar was valued at ~$1B in November  —  The company, which makes software to track investment performance, has raised $150 million from D1 Capital Partners https://bit.ly/2SHzIIq

Olivia Solon / NBC News: Drought-stricken communities in the US push back against data centers' water usage; a typical data center uses same water per day as a city of 30K-50K people  —  On May 17, the City Council of Mesa, Arizona, approved the $800 million development of an enormous data center … https://bit.ly/3zOjaPJ

Juan José Relmucao / Rest of World: How an Argentinian govt. program that issued netbooks to 4M low-income students from 2011 to 2015 helped indirectly create a new generation of teen musicians  —  Working-class teens turned junked machines into musical instruments.  —  • BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA https://bit.ly/3qd7LV5

Jeff Clabaugh / WTOP: Booz Allen Hamilton acquires Liberty IT Solutions for $725M; Liberty IT's work includes IT modernization projects for govt. agencies and the healthcare industry  —  McLean, Virginia-based Booz Allen Hamilton, already the largest government IT contractor in the D.C. region … https://bit.ly/3qeDkho

Laurel Brubaker Calkins / Bloomberg: US appeals court rules Huawei can't subsidize the sale of its 5G tech with federal funds earmarked for US broadband development, upholding a 2019 FCC order  —  - New Orleans appeals court sides with FCC against Huawei  — FCC claims Chinese company tied to military intelligence https://bit.ly/3iOySnL

Brandon Kochkodin / Bloomberg: PitchBook: $17B have been invested in crypto startups this year, including $10B of digital assets from Block.one to capitalize crypto exchange Bullish Global  —  - VC funds already eclipsed annual amount for crypto investments  — $10 billion Bullish Global raise largest in industry history https://bit.ly/3cReX3R

Bert Hubert's writings: European companies' reluctance to offer free software and services has resulted in the region being over-dependent on US and others for communication platforms  —  Europe's communication needs are currently almost exclusively delivered by Chinese hardware that connects us to US-based platforms. https://bit.ly/3wKV0Uk

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: Spotify has acquired Podz, a podcast discovery startup whose tech helps podcasters promote their show using ML to select 60-second clips of key moments  —  Podcasts are all the rage, but podcast discovery is a challenge.  Today, Spotify announced its acquisition of Podz … https://bit.ly/2ScLDO8

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: Palmer Luckey's Anduril raises $450M Series D led by Elad Gil, with a16z and others participating; Anduril is now valued at $4.6B, up from $1.9B in July 2020  —  The AI-powered defense company founded by tech iconoclast Palmer Luckey has landed a $450 million round of investment that values … https://bit.ly/2UfQz5t

Ashley Carman / The Verge: Snap launches Creative Kit for Spotlight, which will let developers put their apps inside Snapchat's TikTok rival Spotlight  —  Ride the wave of virality for downloads  —  Snapchat is making it easier for developers to use viral content to directly promote their apps. https://bit.ly/3q2zxU0

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Tractable, which uses computer vision and AI to help make damage appraisals for car insurance claims, raises $60M Series D, giving the company a $1B valuation  —  As the insurance industry adjusts to life in the 21st century (heh), an AI startup that has built computer vision tools … https://bit.ly/3iO4aeg

Ben Sisario / New York Times: Twitch, where even niche artists can make thousands of dollars per month by cultivating fan tribes, is becoming increasingly attractive to musicians  —  The gaming platform is becoming increasingly attractive to artists, who can earn money by cultivating fan tribes that express their loyalty through patronage. https://bit.ly/2SFZOez

James Vincent / The Verge: Facebook partners with Michigan State University to create a method for reverse-engineering deepfakes by using AI to reveal the ML model that created it  —  The work could help future deepfake investigations  —  Deepfakes aren't a big problem on Facebook right now, but the company continues … https://bit.ly/35qwDPF

Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Mark Zuckerberg says the original Oculus Quest will receive Air Link support in a post about the upcoming v30 update for Quest  —  He also showed off multitasking in VR  —  Owners of the original Oculus Quest will get the ability to stream from their PCs to their headsets wirelessly … https://bit.ly/3gt96DR

Jordan Novet / CNBC: Oracle reports Q4 revenue of $11.23B, up 8% YoY, vs $11.04B est., with revenue from its Fusion ERP up 46% and NetSuite ERP up 26%  —  - Oracle called for less earnings guidance than analysts had expected as the company plans investments in cloud computing.  — For the quarter, though, Oracle beat on the top and bottom lines. https://bit.ly/3vuHuT0

The Verge: The Senate votes 69-28 to confirm Lina Khan, an antitrust expert who wrote the “Amazon Antitrust Paradox”, to the FTC, giving Democrats a majority  —  Congress is preparing to take drastic action against tech monopolies  —  The Senate confirmed Lina Khan as commissioner … https://bit.ly/35l0sB8

Monica Chin / The Verge: Razer unveils Blade 14 laptop, with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, RTX 3080 GPU, and a QHD 165Hz display, starting at $1,799, says it's the smallest 14" gaming laptop  —  AMD in RGB  —  After months of rumors and speculation, many gamers' dreams have finally come true. https://bit.ly/3pUeVx9

Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal: Sources: Shopify, Sequoia, and others recently bought ~$1B of Stripe stock from existing shareholders before Stripe's expected IPO; bids exceeded $4B  —  Shopify, Sequoia Capital and others recently bought about $1 billion of shares in fintech Stripe, which could go public late this year or next https://bit.ly/3gmKNHz

Paul Vigna / Wall Street Journal: Companies with bitcoin on their balance sheets face an accounting risk as they often have to record impairment charges when its value falls  —  Tesla and other companies that hold the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency often must record impairment charges when its value falls https://bit.ly/35jrxEH

Sage Lazzaro / VentureBeat: UNESCO: AI and robotics have “dominated scientific output” in recent years; ~150K research articles were published on those subjects in 2019, up 44% from 2015  —  Elevate your enterprise data technology and strategy at Transform 2021.  —  The United Nations Educational … https://bit.ly/35jBkdO

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: many Apple US stores will drop mask requirement for vaccinated customers as soon as Tuesday; mask requirement to be dropped at some Cupertino offices  —  Apple Inc. plans to drop its mask requirement for vaccinated customers at many U.S. stores beginning next week … https://bit.ly/3giCH2I