Network Support Blog

Ash Parrish / The Verge: Streamers organize #ADayOffTwitch walkout to bring awareness to the recent increase of “hate raids”, and say Twitch isn't taking the issue seriously enough  —  On Wednesday, September 1st, a number of channels on Twitch will go dark as streamers participate in #ADayOffTwitch … https://bit.ly/3gQppKS

Garett Sloane / Ad Age: LinkedIn is abandoning its Stories format at the end of September and has told advertisers to adjust their ad campaigns accordingly  —  Brands will have to adjust ad campaigns when video format leaves the platform after September  —  LinkedIn is telling advertisers to prepare for the end … https://bit.ly/2WGIMz8

MIT Technology Review: Sources and experts say US-funded Afghan government databases containing sensitive personal data could be used by the Taliban to identify millions of Afghans  —  By capturing 40 pieces of data per person—from iris scans and family links to their favorite fruit—a system meant to cut fraud … https://bit.ly/3yHsDqh

Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: The Central Bank of Nigeria says it will work with blockchain and payments startup Bitt Inc. to launch Nigeria's eNaira digital currency later this year  —  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Monday it will work with Bitt Inc., a blockchain and payments startup, to launch … https://bit.ly/3sYV2GO

Kate Rooney / CNBC: Paypal has hired the co-founder of online brokerage TradeKing to lead the “Invest at Paypal” unit, which, sources say, plans to let US customers trade stocks  —  - PayPal is exploring ways to let users trade individual stocks, according to two sources familiar with the plan. https://bit.ly/2WvhtI5

Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal: A look at social media stock pickers, many of whom generate more income from ad revenue than investment success, and how bullish advice brings more page views  —  Young investors are turning to a new generation of stock pickers—many without formal training—for advice. https://bit.ly/3Bgo0VI

Bloomberg: S. Korea is expected to be the first country to pass a law to prevent app stores from mandating first-party IAP payment systems; assembly vote on 8/30 is likely  —  - New law will mandate free choice of app payment providers  — Silicon Valley giants argue privacy, security under threat https://bit.ly/3yx3IVX

Hartley Charlton / MacRumors: Kuo: iPhone 13 hardware could support LEO satellite communications; Apple may work with Globalstar to enable connectivity when not in 4G/5G range  —  The iPhone 13 will feature low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages … https://bit.ly/3sZhsaR

E&T Magazine: New research suggests the internet is not making people who engage in political discussions online more aggressive, but makes their behavior more visible  —  New research suggests that the internet is not responsible for making people become more aggressive when engaging in political discussions online … https://bit.ly/3sT0QSk

Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review: Tel Aviv-based startup Hour One is paying people to use their likenesses to create AI-voiced characters for marketing and educational videos for its clients  —  AI-powered characters based on real people can star in thousands of videos and say anything, in any language. https://bit.ly/3mPcvjQ

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record: EU's data protection supervisor recommends that personal data such as search queries and browsing history should not be used for the assessment of credit scores  —  The European Union's lead data protection supervisor has recommended on Thursday that personal data such as search queries … https://bit.ly/38jxm6r

Samantha John / @samj0hn: [Thread] Hopscotch CEO details the rejection of a minor app update in the App Store and says this was “not even her worst run-in” with Apple's App Review team  —  A story about Hopscotch going through App Store review. 🧵 https://bit.ly/3mHq5WM

Bloomberg: Customer-relations management software provider Freshworks files for an IPO, looking to raise $100M; Freshworks was last valued at $3.5B in 2019  —  Freshworks Inc. filed for an initial public offering, contending its customer-relations management software is providing a step toward unified cloud services. https://bit.ly/38lsga0

Connie Loizos / TechCrunch: Interview with a16z General Partner Martin Casado as the company rolls out a new $400M fund focused on seed investments  —  Andreessen Horowitz has begun to announce new funds almost as routinely as some startups have begun announcing follow-on rounds.  After announcing a third biotech fund … https://bit.ly/38gP0rL

Thomas Claburn / The Register: As Linux turns 30, a Q&A with Greg Kroah-Hartman, who oversees Linux kernel releases, on lessons learned, upcoming challenges, why Linux succeeded, and more  —  Greg Kroah-Hartman talks to El Reg about world domination, what was, and what may be for the kernel https://bit.ly/3BeKkPx

Ryan Browne / CNBC: Hopin, which develops software for hosting virtual events, has hired Amazon's former VP of Grocery Tech and Bezos “shadow” advisor Wei Gao to be COO  —  - Wei Gao, a former Amazon executive, is joining London-based online events start-up Hopin as its chief operating officer. https://bit.ly/3ymyi4T

Alex Heath / The Verge: Snap updates Snapchat's Scan feature, turning it into a visual search engine that identifies many things in the real world, like clothes or dog breeds  —  Snapchat's camera has to date mostly been associated with sending disappearing messages and goofy AR effects, like a virtual dancing hot dog. https://bit.ly/3BlURbP

The Intercept: Documents show DHS uses ATLAS to scan for derogatory information on immigrants; critics say ATLAS is used to create a pretext to strip citizenship  —  Software used by the Department of Homeland Security to scan the records of millions of immigrants can automatically flag naturalized Americans … https://bit.ly/3kv7lGW

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: Mexico City-based neobank Flink raises $57M Series B led by Lightspeed  —  Flink, a Mexico City-based neobroker, has raised $57 million in a Series B round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.  —  The financing comes just over six months after Flink raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Accel. https://bit.ly/3zxms9v

Tech Transparency Project: Investigation finds underage users can easily evade age limits on ~80 apps on Apple's App Store, such as dating, sex, and gambling apps restricted to ages 17+  —  Apple just announced new steps to flag child sex abuse images on iPhones.  But a TTP investigation shows that Apple's App Store is rife with child safety problems. https://bit.ly/3gy3QOO

Wall Street Journal: As studios lean into simultaneous theater and streaming releases, high-quality pirated versions of movies are hitting piracy sites within hours of their release  —  Bootlegging and sharing high-quality digital copies of movies is easier than ever, as studios leaned harder into streaming during pandemic https://bit.ly/3zlkU2e

Joshua Brustein / Bloomberg: Shield AI, which develops AI and self-driving tech for military and commercial aircraft, raises $210M as part of its Series D at a valuation of about $1.25B  —  Brandon Tseng, a former Navy SEAL who served in Afghanistan and other overseas deployments, developed the idea for his startup Shield AI … https://bit.ly/3jfaCLb

Matt Phillips / New York Times: Profile of Cathie Wood, the CEO of Ark Invest, which manages $85B, whose aggressive bets on Tesla and others have earned her admiration from Reddit traders  —  Ms. Wood says the Holy Spirit moved her to strike out on her own after an up-and-down career in money management. https://bit.ly/3gtWLPB

Ben Brody / Protocol: As Congress fails to regulate Big Tech, state and local governments move ahead to pass their own laws on privacy, gig work, anticompetitive conduct, and more  —  Andrew Rigie said it isn't worth waiting around for tech regulation in Washington.  —  “New York City is a restaurant capital of the world,” Rigie told Protocol. https://bit.ly/2UJlrvD

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget: Poly Network says it has now recovered all of $610M in cryptocurrencies it lost to a hacker, and is in the process of returning them to their rightful owners  —  One of the most unusual cryptocurrency heists in recent memory has come to a close.  On Monday, Poly Network … https://bit.ly/2XIkuVs

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch: Shelf.io, which helps companies organize info to quickly find answers and respond to customers, raises $52.5M Series B led by Tiger Global and Insight Partners  —  Covering public companies can be a bit of a drag.  They grow some modest amount each year, and their constituent analysts pester … https://bit.ly/3kfNI5W

Tilly Kenyon / FinTech Magazine: London-based online payments company Paysafe will acquire LATAM-focused e-commerce payment service SafetyPay for $441M in cash  —  Paysafe's latest acquisition of SafetyPay enables it to further scale in the high-growth Latin American region Paysafe, a specialised payments platform … https://bit.ly/3mmUSrC

Ryan Browne / CNBC: PayPal will launch its cryptocurrency service in the UK this week, the product's first international expansion since it debuted in the US in 2020  —  - PayPal will let British customers buy, hold and sell digital currencies, starting this week.  — It marks the first international expansion … https://bit.ly/2Wj9ldx

Sami Fathi / MacRumors: Mark Gurman: high-end M1X Mac mini with an updated design and more ports than the current M1 Mac mini should replace the Intel model in the next several months  —  Apple can be expected to launch an updated high-end Mac mini with a new design and a faster “M1X” Apple silicon processor in the … https://bit.ly/3gktLcQ

James Vincent / The Verge: Elon Musk's “Tesla Bot” is a distraction and an empty promise, considering the progress of Boston Dynamics' Atlas, which has been in development for 10+ years  —  A distraction and an empty promise  —  After a dense presentation about the undeniably impressive work Tesla is doing with AI … https://bit.ly/3mmNE6V

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post: Facebook releases a previously shelved Q1 content transparency report, acknowledging the widespread reach of content casting doubt on COVID vaccines  —  The social-media platform's Saturday evening acknowledgment comes after a lengthy internal debate over whether to share data. https://bit.ly/3kbUb1v

Biz Carson / Protocol: Q&A with Nick Shenkin, an SF-based FBI special agent, on warning big tech companies about economic espionage and IP theft by Russian and Chinese spies and more  —  When FBI special agent Nick Shenkin starts talking about spies in Silicon Valley, he's not describing a James Bond movie … https://bit.ly/3mo1nKS

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC: Chainalysis: global cryptocurrency adoption grew 881% YoY, led by Vietnam, India, and Pakistan, according to metrics such as P2P exchange trading volume  —  - Global crypto adoption has taken off in the last year, up 881%, with Vietnam, India and Pakistan firmly in the lead, according to new data from Chainalysis. https://bit.ly/3B4I6lN

New York Times: Facebook shelved its content transparency report in Q1 fearing public criticism, as the most-viewed link suggested a doctor died due to a COVID-19 vaccine  —  The company praised itself this week for being “the most transparent platform on the internet.”  —  When Facebook this week released … https://bit.ly/3j4sBns

Kate Beioley / Financial Times: UK's CMA recommends an in-depth investigation into Nvidia's planned $40B acquisition of Arm, saying there are “serious competition concerns” about the deal  —  CMA recommends in-depth investigation into planned $40bn takeover of British chip designer https://bit.ly/3sBI4Pd

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Internal memo: Apple is delaying its return to corporate offices from October until January at the earliest because of surging COVID-19 cases and new variants  —  - Company pushes back return from October, encourages vaccines  — Apple doesn't plan to close stores, offices on rising cases https://bit.ly/3glzuPM

April Glaser / NBC News: Facebook rolls out new security features for people in Afghanistan, including a one-click tool to quickly lock accounts and limit account discoverability  —  Facebook said Thursday it is rolling out new user controls for people in Afghanistan who are rushing to delete their digital footprints … https://bit.ly/3CZLAHT

The Verge: FTC's new suit says Facebook has a monopoly in “US personal social networking services”, distinguishing it from TikTok, and Lina Khan will not recuse herself  —  FTC chair Lina Khan will not recuse herself from the case  —  The Federal Trade Commission has filed … https://bit.ly/380knXb

Dan Taylor / Tech.eu: Hamburg-based Sport Alliance, which offers tools for the fitness industry, including for payments and bookings, raises €60M from PSG  —  Hamburg-based Sport Alliance has secured a €60 million investment from growth equity firm PSG.  The company is comprised of a number of sub-brands … https://bit.ly/3gfPxyt

Matt Robinson / Bloomberg: SEC sues three ex-Netflix software engineers and two others for allegedly using confidential subscriber growth numbers to trade ahead of earnings announcements  —  - Group allegedly made $3 million in profits from illicit tips  — Scheme involved illegal trades on subscriber data, SEC says https://bit.ly/2W8NcxT

Ashley Carman / The Verge: Podcasters say Apple Podcasts Connect, a requirement for using its new subscriptions product, is buggy and has a confusing UI  —  In April, Apple Podcasts was poised to revolutionize the industry.  It announced in-app subscriptions, as well as an entirely new backend, representing … https://bit.ly/2XupQDG

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Apple says FaceTime's SharePlay feature, heavily promoted during WWDC, will not be released in iOS 15, arriving instead in a later update  —  Apple has made the decision to delay the launch of its new SharePlay feature in iOS 15.  The new feature will be available in a later update to iOS 15 … https://bit.ly/3y0oNrL

PYMNTS.com: ClosedLoop.ai, which offers healthcare providers AI-powered tools to forecast patient-specific results, modify care, and reduce costs, raises $34M Series B  —  ClosedLoop.ai., a healthcare platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI), on Tuesday (Aug. 17) announced it has raised $34 million in Series B funding. https://bit.ly/3iWq0fr

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Apple tells staff it will increase COVID-19 testing for corporate and retail employees and pauses relaunching classes at Apple Stores this month in some regions  —  - Company to start testing employees for Covid-19 twice per week  — Apple reverses course on relaunching store classes this month https://bit.ly/37OitsR

Cherlynn Low / Engadget: Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders review: 144Hz screen, rapid charging, and comes with wireless earbuds, but design is polarizing and software is unrefined  —  This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.  —  Update your settings here, then reload the page to see it. https://bit.ly/37OLGDI

Kim Lyons / The Verge: Tinder says it will bring its optional ID Verification feature, which has been available in Japan since 2019, to all members globally “in the coming quarters”  —  The feature has been active in Japan since 2019  —  Tinder said on Monday that it will make its ID Verification feature available … https://bit.ly/37OglkF

Mishaal Rahman / XDA Developers: A look at Camera Switches in the Android 12 beta, an accessibility feature that lets users control their devices using only facial movements  —  Android has long had an Accessibility API that's intended for developers to build apps and experiences aimed at helping persons with disabilities, though it isn't always used for that purpose. https://bit.ly/3yV6vJE

Che Pan / South China Morning Post: Chinese government says integrated circuit output rose 47.3% YoY to 203.6B units in the year to July, as new capacity is added to meet semiconductor demand  —  In the first seven months of the year, China's total IC output reached a hefty 203.6 billion units, up 47.3 per cent compared … https://bit.ly/3sjrlzY

Kyle Chayka / New Yorker: Profile of @images_ai, a Twitter account launched by a music student in June, that uses neural networks, including OpenAI's CLIP, to generate surreal art  —  The Twitter account @images_ai has gained a following for its feed of surreal, glitchy, sometimes beautiful images created through machine learning. https://bit.ly/3m71SIQ

Joseph Cox / VICE: T-Mobile investigates claims that hackers stole data from its servers, including phone numbers, names, SSNs, and driver's license info, related to 100M+ people  —  Hackers selling the data are claiming it affects 100 million users.  —  Joseph Cox  —  T-Mobile says it is investigating … https://bit.ly/2VOZhsB

Tony Zerucha / Crowdfund Insider: Cloud-based bill payment tech provider Paymentus to buy Payveris, which provides software for money transfers and bill payments, for $152.2M in cash and stock  —  Cloud-based bill payment technology firm Paymentus has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Payveris, itself a cloud-based bill payment software provider. https://bit.ly/3slvzHb

Bill Hathaway / YaleNews: Study of 12.7M tweets shows social media amplifies expressions of moral outrage, as users learn that such language gets rewarded with more “likes” and “shares”  —  Social media platforms like Twitter amplify expressions of moral outrage over time because users learn … https://bit.ly/2W0s79c