Network Support Blog

Eudora Wang / DealStreetAsia: Beijing-based Huice, a SaaS provider that helps e-commerce businesses manage orders and more, raises a $312M Series D led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2  —  Huice, which develops software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to enable smart retail, has raised $312 million in a Series D round led by SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund 2. https://bit.ly/3pTEWyJ

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: BackBox, which offers companies network automation, security, and management software, raises a $32M Series A led by Elsewhere Partners  —  BackBox, a network automation, security, and management service provider, today announced that it raised $32 million in a series A round led by venture firm Elsewhere Partners. https://bit.ly/3GDe38f

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: In 2018, Oculus' Jason Rubin sent a paper to Facebook executives laying the foundation for Meta's ambitions and detailing the need to own the VR market  —  - In 2018, an Oculus executive named Jason Rubin wrote a 50-page document headlined “The Metaverse” that he sent to a Facebook board member and some top execs. https://bit.ly/3nNAS0e

Amy Feldman / Forbes: Profile of barbershop booking app Squire, which is on track to triple its revenue to $12M in 2021 after raising $60M at a $750M valuation in July  —  Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant left their desks behind to create booking software for the nation's 109,000 barbershops. https://bit.ly/3EAXjfQ

Bloomberg: A look at student activity monitoring software GoGuardian, whose usage in US schools exploded during lockdowns as some say it adds to kids' psychological strain  —  The pandemic caused schools to embrace laptops, tablets, Zoom, and an app called GoGuardian that tracks everything students (and, sometimes, parents) do online. https://bit.ly/2Y0ElQg

Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News: Analysis: Florida startups have raised about $1.3B in Series A and Series B funding so far in 2021, which is more than quadruple the $277M raised in all of 2020  —  The hype around South Florida as an up-and-coming startup hub isn't just hype.  Seed- and early-stage investment … https://bit.ly/3muTHGa

Damon Beres / Wired: Advocates for the blind say DMCA exemptions to break ebook DRM for accessibility should be permanent, rather than having to be renewed every three years  —  Advocates will once again be granted a DMCA exception to make accessible versions of texts.  They argue that it's far past time to make it permanent. https://bit.ly/31lqy8t

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: Indian online beauty products retailer Purplle raises a $75M Series E led by Kedaara Capital at a $630M valuation  —  - Purplle reaches valuation of $630 million in new funding round  — Local e-commerce rival Nykaa is raising funds in an IPO  —  Purplle, the Indian online beauty … https://bit.ly/3mBfkox

Liya Su / DealStreetAsia: Chinese smart home devices maker Aqara raises a $155M Series C from investors including state-backed Shenzhen Capital and China Telecom  —  Chinese smart home devices maker Aqara, which is owned by Xiaomi-backed Lumi United Technology, has raked in an aggregate of 1 billion yuan ($155 million) in its Series C round of financing. https://bit.ly/3kbymjJ

Nikkei Asia: Chinese ride-sharing startup T3 raises a $1.2B Series A led by state-backed conglomerate CITIC Group, as rival Didi faces a regulatory crackdown  —  2-year-old startup joins race to snag market share from embattled company  —  TOKYO/HONG KONG — Chinese ride-hailing company T3 Chuxing … https://bit.ly/3bmPnCC

Dan Primack / Axios: Sources: Bolt, which offers a one-click checkout service, is seeking to raise a $777M Series E at a pre-money valuation of between $10B and $11B  —  One-click checkout company Bolt Financial made headlines earlier this month by announcing new funding at around a $6 billion valuation. https://bit.ly/3Exw7Pp

The Verge: Apple MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch review: incredible performance with very long battery life and beautiful displays but expensive with absurd RAM pricing  —  Apple's new pro laptops right the wrongs of the past half decade  —  Let's start simply: the new MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips … https://bit.ly/3vXHmgS

Tom Warren / The Verge: Microsoft acquires Two Hat, a content moderation provider that has helped improve Xbox communities for the past few years  —  The deal will help Microsoft's consumer services push  —  Microsoft has acquired Two Hat, a content moderation provider that's helped keep harmful content off Xbox. https://bit.ly/3EsIJHw

IDC: Global smartphone shipments in Q3 hit 331M, down 6.7% YoY; Samsung was first with 69M units, a 20.8% share, and Apple was second with 50.4M units, a 15.2% share  —  The double-digit growth in the smartphone market in the early quarters of 2021 came to an end in the third quarter of 2021 … https://bit.ly/3pLU3ud

Debby Wu / Bloomberg: US says it is working with Taiwan to secure chip supply chains; Biden has asked manufacturers to hand over company data, which has faced resistance from firms  —  - Envoy to Taipei says officials have met with local executives  — President Biden has asked manufacturers to hand over data https://bit.ly/3jKeIej

Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Anomalo, which uses AI to find issues in data sets, raises a $33M Series A led by NVP, formally launches, and says it already has $1M+ in revenue  —  As companies gather ever-growing sets of data, finding issues with that data that could impact the viability of a machine learning model becomes increasingly important. https://bit.ly/3nwCfjW

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Facebook to allow 2D PWAs into the Oculus Store, the first time 2D apps have been permitted, starting with Dropbox, Slack, Smartsheet, Pluto TV, Instagram, more  —  Facebook wants to make its Quest 2 headset a productivity device for a new generation of remote workers, but in order to pull that off, it needs apps. https://bit.ly/2ZDMzia

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Facebook unveils Horizon Home social VR spaces, Messenger VR calls, fitness VR, Quest for Business, including Work Accounts support on Quest 2, and more  —  Join gaming leaders online at GamesBeat Summit Next this upcoming November 9-10.  Learn more about what comes next. https://bit.ly/3Er3SSs

Jon Porter / The Verge: Google says it will roll out e2e encrypted phone calls on Google Fi over the coming weeks  —  But only for calls between two Android phones on Fi  —  In the coming weeks, Google is rolling out end-to-end encrypted phone calls on its Google Fi MVNO, the search giant announced today. https://bit.ly/3pN60zU

YouTube: Video of Facebook Connect 2021, where VR updates, Project Cambria, and a new Meta brand name were announced  —  Tune in at 10:00am PT / 1:00pm ET on Thurs.  Oct. 28 when Facebook holds its annual Facebook Connect.  The company is expected to announce Oculus updates and o... https://bit.ly/3Eq8CaR

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: Intel launches its 12th-gen Alder Lake chips, led by the flagship Core i9-12900K CPU with 16 cores for $589, shipping November 4  —  A new era for Intel begins  —  Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake chips have finally arrived, ushering in a new era of the company's chips, lead by the flagship Core i9-12900K CPU … https://bit.ly/3ClmMtj

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters: EU opens an investigation into Nvidia's planned Arm acquisition on competition grounds, the latest setback for the deal  —  Nvidia (NVDA.O) suffered a setback on Wednesday as EU antitrust regulators opened a full-scale investigation into its $54 billion bid for British chip designer ARM … https://bit.ly/30YaBVi

Nancy Scola / New York Magazine: Interview with FTC Chair Lina Khan on leading the agency, its regulatory failures and avoiding future missteps, Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, and more  —  Lina Khan was an associate professor at Columbia Law, working remotely from Texas, when she found out that President Joe Biden wanted her on the Federal Trade Commission. https://bit.ly/3pGtdDJ

Reuters: Source: Paytm plans to price shares at ~$27.70-$28.70, raising $2.44B and valuing the company at around $20B  —  Indian digital payments leader Paytm has boosted the size of its initial public offering to 183 billion rupees ($2.44 billion) from 166 billion rupees, as existing shareholders look … https://bit.ly/3nDpaW7

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: New York-based Extend, which helps financial institutions offer virtual cards, raises a $40M Series B led by March Capital  —  We've written a lot about fintechs that aim to help other fintechs and traditional banks launch products and services.  —  But it feels like we have written far less … https://bit.ly/2ZuE34I

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE: Seven former employees detail Twitch's 2014 hack that forced it to rebuild much of its code infrastructure, and that hack's knock-on effects  —  Former Twitch employees shared details of the hack the company suffered in 2014, and how the company's approach to security evolved after it. https://bit.ly/3FQRGf0

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Spot AI, which makes software that can search through video footage, raises $22M, including a $20M Series A led by Redpoint Ventures  —  Security cameras, for better or for worse, are part and parcel of how many businesses monitor spaces in the workplace for security or operational reasons. https://bit.ly/3BMlSWn

Zoe Schiffer / The Verge: Netflix fires a leader of the trans employee resource group who was organizing a walkout, for allegedly leaking metrics related to the Dave Chappelle special  —  The company suspects they leaked metrics about the Dave Chappelle special to the press  —  Netflix has fired a leader … https://bit.ly/30rastf

Kellen Browning / New York Times: Janneke Parrish, a leader of the #AppleToo movement, says she was fired for deleting files off her work devices before handing them over for an investigation  —  A leader of an activist movement within Apple said she was fired by the company on Thursday.  —  Janneke Parrish … https://bit.ly/3lNrlH2

Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Valve quietly updates Steam's rules to ban games “built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs”  —  Your move, Epic Games Store  —  Games that use blockchain technology or let users exchange NFTs or cryptocurrencies won't be allowed on Steam … https://bit.ly/3lNpUs6

Miles Kruppa / Financial Times: PitchBook: tech investors and employees have netted $582.5B from US IPOs and sales in the year to September, with 93 listings between July and September  —  IPO and Spac booms have delivered a record windfall for venture capitalists in 2021  —  A wave of US public listings and sales … https://bit.ly/3vdXvya

Wall Street Journal: Sources: Jana Partners took a stake in Macy's and is urging the retailer to spin off its e-commerce business, which has about $8B in annual revenue  —  Activist investor says stand-alone e-commerce business would be worth a multiple of Macy's current market value https://bit.ly/3vftEp2

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: WhatsApp starts rolling out e2e encryption for chat history backups in iCloud and Google Drive  —  WhatsApp is beginning to roll out a new feature that will provide its two billion users the option to encrypt their chat history backup in iCloud or Google Drive, patching a major loophole … https://bit.ly/3vbU7UK

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: Roblox outlines plans to add more realism to player avatars, introduce new in-game monetization streams, add NFT-like limited edition items, and more  —  At its annual developer conference Thursday, Roblox painted a picture of what's next for the fast-growing online multiplayer portal that's like catnip for kids and teens. https://bit.ly/3ADgLXf

Wall Street Journal: Coinbase asks Congress to regulate digital assets outside of the existing financial system and to create a special regulator for digital asset markets  —  Crypto trading platform asks Congress to create an oversight regime separate from existing market regulators https://bit.ly/2XcS85R

Tom Warren / The Verge: Activision announces the Ricochet anti-cheating system for Call of Duty: Warzone, which uses a PC kernel-level driver and ML to examine player behavior  —  Activision is cracking down on Call of Duty cheaters  —  Activision and Raven Software are finally cracking down on cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone. https://bit.ly/3aH5DxH

Dina Bass / Bloomberg: Microsoft agrees to commission an independent human rights review of its law enforcement and government contracts, in response to a shareholder proposal  —  After shareholder proposal, Microsoft to commission independent report on company's contracts.  —  Microsoft Corp. … https://bit.ly/3AD2r0L

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: Matik, which offers businesses data-driven and automated tools for making personalized PowerPoint presentations for customers, raises $20M Series A led by a16z  —  Matik, which has created automated data-driven software for customizing Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations … https://bit.ly/3j0fWS5

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch: In open letters, NHTSA calls Tesla requiring FSD users to sign NDAs “unacceptable” and asks why Tesla didn't issue a recall alongside an OTA safety update  —  The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a pair of letters to Tesla targeting the company's use … https://bit.ly/30eb6Kv

Todd Spangler / Variety: Facebook says it now counts activists and journalists as “involuntary” public figures to help protect them and will remove sexual content targeting celebrities  —  Facebook said it will remove “severe sexualizing content” targeting public figures — including celebrities … https://bit.ly/3aCTJF8

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: Mexico City-based buy now, pay later startup Nelo raises a $20M Series A led by Two Sigma Ventures and says it's used by over 100 merchants  —  Buy now, pay later (BNPL) has been making headlines all over the place this year — from Square's planned acquisition of Afterpay to Affirm going public. https://bit.ly/3aDCvY9

Bloomberg: Sources: Apple will likely cut its projected iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by 10M units, due to shortage of Broadcom and Texas Instruments parts  —  Apple Inc. is likely to slash its projected iPhone 13 production targets for 2021 by as many as 10 million units because of prolonged chip shortages … https://bit.ly/3iYRWie

Danny Nelson / CoinDesk: Stripe begins hiring a crypto team to “build the future of Web3 payments”, three years after ending bitcoin support  —  Payments company Stripe has begun assembling a crypto engineering team to chart its future in digital assets.  —  The team - described in LinkedIn posts and job listings … https://bit.ly/3avZSmq

Ellen Cushing / The Atlantic: Slack has changed corporate culture, acting as a Trojan horse that flattens the communication hierarchy, largely to the benefit of employees  —  In 2014, the executives at a brand-new start-up called Andela made a decision whose consequences they would only understand much later. https://bit.ly/3mMFQtU

Sam Biddle / The Intercept: The Intercept publishes Facebook's secret blacklist of ~4,000 “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” that users are barred from speaking favorably about  —  To ward off accusations that it helps terrorists spread propaganda, Facebook has for many years barred users … https://bit.ly/3mL4sDj

Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal: Analysis: Apple's operating profits from games in FY 2019 totaled $8.5B, $2B more than the combined profits of Sony, Activision, Nintendo, and Microsoft  —  CEO Tim Cook quietly turned the iPhone company into a superpower in the videogame business.  Now he's fighting rivals in a multiplayer universe. https://bit.ly/3otDsul

Richard Waters / Financial Times: Ethereum is becoming the platform of choice for DeFi projects, but remains behind schedule with complex technical upgrades, as nimbler rivals emerge  —  Developers are flocking to the platform's blockchain but nimbler rivals are emerging  —  Is ethereum the future of the internet? https://bit.ly/3optryt

Brandon Katz / Observer: A look at Apple's TV+ progress and strategy as it navigates a crowded streaming video market  —  Why Apple TV+ isn't necessarily competing with Netflix.  —  Nearly two years after launching Apple TV+ in November of 2019, Apple has remained notoriously secretive about its fledgling streaming service. https://bit.ly/3orabQW

Sami Fathi / MacRumors: Kuo: Apple has canceled plans to release an iPad Air with an OLED display in 2022 due to quality and cost concerns, will still release mini-LED 11" iPad Pro  —  Apple has canceled its plans to release an updated iPad Air with an OLED display next year due to concerns around quality and costs … https://bit.ly/3B4VdDD

Charlie Campbell / TIME: TSMC chairman Mark Liu on US-China tensions, the push for semiconductor localization in the US, which he says will not improve supply chain resilience, and more  —  On the northwest coast of Taiwan, nestled between mudflats teeming with fiddler crabs and sweet-scented persimmon orchards … https://bit.ly/3A4GIyo

John Gruber / Daring Fireball: The new tab design in Safari 15 for macOS makes usability worse and shows a complete disregard for the familiarity users had with Safari's previous tab design  —  Our long national iOS 15 Safari nightmare ended last month, praise be, but the lesser of the two bad Safari designs unveiled … https://bit.ly/2ZSjpM0