Network Support Blog

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: David Marcus, the co-creator of Diem who spent the last few years building the Novi wallet, is leaving Meta at the end of 2021 to pursue other projects  —  Marcus, who joined the tech giant in 2014, has struggled to get the Diem currency off the ground  —  David Marcus, one of the top executives … https://bit.ly/31jhh0g

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: Amazon unveils AWS Private 5G, a service providing hardware, software, and SIMs to help deploy private mobile networks quickly without per-device charges  —  At Amazon's AWS re:Invent conference this morning, the company announced the preview of “AWS Private 5G,” which is a new service … https://bit.ly/3EbXiiL

Michael del Castillo / Forbes: Privacy-focused cryptocurrency startup Iron Fish, which launched its IRON coin in April 2021, raises a $27.6M Series A led by a16z  —  Elena Nadolinski grew up in Volgograd, Russia playing on the shells of abandoned tanks and decommissioned battleships, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. https://bit.ly/3G1kQaJ

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: AWS launches its ARM-based Graviton 3 processor, claiming it will be 25% faster than Graviton 2 and three times faster for ML workloads  —  At its annual re:Invent conference, AWS today announced the newest generation of its Arm-based Graviton processors: the Graviton 3. https://bit.ly/3D76weT

Kris Holt / Engadget: Twitter bans sharing private images and videos without consent, with exceptions for newsworthiness and public figures, and will remove content that users report  —  Twitter has expanded its private information policy to include media, banning users from sharing photos or videos of a private individual without their permission. https://bit.ly/3FVNcmC

Kyle Alspach / VentureBeat: Armis, which provides enterprises with IoT device security software, raises $300M at a $3.4B post-money valuation, up from $2B in February 2021  —  Armis, which provides a visibility and security platform for all assets within an enterprise including IT and IoT, announced it has raised $300 million … https://bit.ly/3ljOT5k

Gleb Stolyarov / Reuters: Russia's Roskomnadzor regulator says it will continue slowing down Twitter on mobile, in force since March, until all content deemed illegal is deleted  —  Russia will continue slowing down the speed of Twitter (TWTR.N) on mobile devices until all content deemed illegal is deleted … https://bit.ly/3EhGWoI

James Rundle / Wall Street Journal: Intel is stockpiling ~3,000 pieces of its hardware and software going back a decade in Costa Rica for security research, with plans to expand to ~6,000 in 2022  —  Chip maker is stockpiling legacy technology for security research, plans to expand facility to house 6,000 pieces of equipment https://bit.ly/31dxyEz

Tom Lowrey / ABC: Australia PM Scott Morrison proposes defamation legislation that would mandate social media companies reveal the identities of anonymous trolls or face fines  —  Social media companies could be forced to reveal the identities of anonymous users in an effort to crack down on online trolling … https://bit.ly/3E1orVA

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Q&A with Forte founder and CEO Josh Williams on Forte's $725M Series B, adding “real purpose” to speculative crypto tokens via games, potential regulation, more  —  Forte raised $725 million on the expectation that it will provide the building blocks for triple-A game companies to make NFT games. https://bit.ly/31eIlOf

Adam Rogers / Wired: A look at efforts to develop brain-computer interfaces, including Musk's Neuralink and a DARPA program to build a 64,000-electrode array for brain implants  —  The idea of a synthetic experience uploaded to the mind has been a sci-fi fantasy forever.  New brain-computer interfaces are making it nonfiction—very slowly. https://bit.ly/3FWidH0

Lauren Thomas / CNBC: Adobe: US consumers spent $8.9B online on Black Friday, down from the record $9B in 2020, the first ever YoY decline  —  - Traffic at retail stores on Black Friday dropped 28.3% compared with 2019 levels, according to preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions. https://bit.ly/311VFWh

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet: Nextcloud and ~30 other EU companies file an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft for bundling OneDrive and Teams with Windows  —  Nextcloud and almost 30 other European companies have filed a complaint about Microsoft's anti-competitive behavior with its OneDrive cloud storage offering. https://bit.ly/3cX6s6T

Arol Wright / Android Police: Spotify confirms it is retiring the Car View mode in its mobile apps, offering no replacement, but says it is working to improve how users listen while driving  —  Everyone likes listening to music in their car, so it's little surprise that Spotify had a Car View mode, allowing users to jam … https://bit.ly/3p9MxaA

Vlad Savov / Bloomberg: Now that most video game platforms have a digital-only purchasing option, paying separately for the same video game on each is indefensible  —  Hey, this is Vlad in Tokyo, your substitute for Jason from a land where we worked on Thursday.  Today we're going to be discussing the lucrative fragmentation … https://bit.ly/318QMer

Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal: Gartner: global chip makers are projected to spend $146B this year, about 50% higher than before the pandemic and double the amount five years ago  —  Samsung's $17 billion bet on Texas mirrors large spending increases in Asia and elsewhere  —  SEOUL—Investment in U.S. chip production is on the rise. https://bit.ly/3xBhwA3

Martha Muir / Financial Times: Kazakhstan plans to ration power over winter to 50 registered crypto miners as illegal miners and mass relocations from China cause blackouts across the country  —  Illegal miners and mass relocations after a ban on crypto mining in China have overloaded energy grid https://bit.ly/3E47wli

Aditya Kalra / Reuters: Source: WhatsApp has almost 20M users in India using its payment services and received regulatory approval to double the number to 40M  —  WhatsApp (FB.O) has won regulatory approval to double the number of users on its payments service in India to 40 million, a source with direct knowledge told Reuters on Friday. https://bit.ly/3xwFYCQ

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch: Italy fines Apple and Google €10M each for “aggressive” data practices and not providing users with clear enough information on commercial uses of their data  —  Apple and Google have been fined €10 million apiece by Italy's competition and market authority (AGCM) … https://bit.ly/3EeH6xv

Reuters: Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo reports $3.3B in Q3 revenue, up 51% YoY, vs. $4.1B estimated, and 741.5M MAUs, up 15% YoY; stock is down 15%+  —  Shares in Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo Inc (PDD.O) plunged as much as 19% in pre-market U.S. trade on Friday after the company missed … https://bit.ly/3CSEJyM

PYMNTS.com: Abound, an online wholesale marketplace connecting retailers and brands, raises a $36.7M Series B led by D. E. Shaw, bringing its total funding to $59.6M  —  Wholesale marketplace Abound raised $36.7 million in a Series B funding round led by D. E. Shaw group, with additional support from PointState Capital … https://bit.ly/3mQ5GhJ

Sam Biddle / The Intercept: FOIA records show US Treasury bought location and other app data from controversial company Babel Street in recent months to hunt for tax and sanctions dodgers  —  The Treasury Department has in recent months expanded its digital surveillance powers, contracts provided to The Intercept reveal … https://bit.ly/3bOmYFC

FinSMEs: Gather, which builds metaverse-like environments for offices, events, and conferences, raises a $50M Series B led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures  —  Gather, a US provider of a metaverse platform, raised $50M in Series B funding.  —  The round was led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures … https://bit.ly/3CZc4sQ

PYMNTS.com: Plate IQ, which develops invoice and payments software for the restaurant and hospitality industry, raises a $160M Series B from FTV Capital  —  Plate IQ, which works in restaurant and hospitality accounts payable (AP) automation and payments, has raised $160 million in a Series B funding round … https://bit.ly/3mO8VpZ

Bloomberg: Medical records and billing software provider Kareo merges with health care IT company PatientPop to form Tebra; source: Tebra is valued at $1B including debt  —  - Combined company said to have $1 billion value including debt  — Merged entity to be renamed Tebra and led by Kareo's CEO https://bit.ly/3qe4MgY

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: Lime raises $523M in convertible debt and term loan financing and says it plans to go public next year  —  Shared electric micromobility giant Lime has closed a $523 million raise in convertible debt and term loan financing, money that Lime CEO Wayne Ting says is the next step on the company's path to going public next year. https://bit.ly/3GVAS75

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: Report: Apple and TSMC plan to produce 3nm chips for Macs as soon as 2023, with as many as four dies and up to 40 CPU cores per chip  —  Apple is taking the PC world by storm with its first debut of Apple Silicon chips inside of Macs, taking what it learned from developing the iPhone and iPad … https://bit.ly/3CUicCr

Tim Casey / Forbes: Kitman Labs, which uses AI to analyze data collected by sports teams, raises a $52M Series C led by Guggenheim Investments, bringing its total funding to $82M  —  Kitman Labs, a sports analytics and technology company that works with more than 700 college and professional teams across the world … https://bit.ly/2ZZxK9e

Mike Isaac / New York Times: Sources: Meta has discussed opening retail stores globally to showcase devices made by its Reality Labs division, like VR headsets and, eventually, AR glasses  —  The social networking company has discussed opening physical stores to showcase its virtual reality and augmented reality devices. https://bit.ly/2ZZxBmc

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: Reltio, an enterprise data management tool that unifies data from many sources to offer insights, raises $120M led by Brighton Park Capital at a $1.7B valuation  —  Reltio, a master data management (MDM) platform that helps enterprises unify data from myriad sources to unearth new insights … https://bit.ly/3o56ONI

Kolawole Samuel Adebayo / VentureBeat: Treasure Data, which offers an enterprise customer data platform, raises $234M led by SoftBank  —  Mountain View-based enterprise customer data platform (CDP) Treasure Data has just received a $234 million funding in what the company calls the largest-ever single round for a CDP. https://bit.ly/3GRIAiM

Brandy Betz / CoinDesk: Online trading and brokerage company TradeStation Group to go public via a SPAC merger in H1 2022, valuing the company at about $1.43B  —  Online trading and brokerage company TradeStation Group said Thursday it will become a publicly traded company through a combination … https://bit.ly/3BLeoCb

Wall Street Journal: AT&T and Verizon postpone the December 5 launch of C-band 5G spectrum to address the FAA's concerns of potential interference with cockpit safety systems  —  Wireless carriers postpone planned Dec. 5 launch of new spectrum to address concerns about potential interference with cockpit safety systems https://bit.ly/3BLsYcI

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: A look at Match Group's plans for Tinder and Explore, including an expansion of virtual goods that incentivize engagement and a metaverse-like dating platform  —  Tinder has already undergone a big revamp with its recent launch of “Explore,” a new section inside the app that will enable … https://bit.ly/3nREtuo

Christine Hall / TechCrunch: Fountain, which provides an applicant tracking system for hourly workers, raises a $85M Series C led by Vision Fund 2, bringing its total funding to $119M  —  You may have visited some quick-service restaurants or other retailers in the past few months and noticed signs posted with shortened hours or not being open on a certain day. https://bit.ly/2ZT52qy

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record: US sanctions four companies, including NSO Group, that sell spyware or hacking tools, adding them to a list of entities engaging in “malicious cyber activities”  —  The US government has sanctioned today four companies that develop and sell spyware and other hacking tools, the US Department of Commerce announced today. https://bit.ly/3BJdHcC

Frank Chaparro / The Block: Coinbase confirms it is testing Coinbase One, a subscription service that internal docs show could feature zero trading fees and prioritized phone support  —  Quick Take  — Coinbase is testing out a new subscription service, dubbed Coinbase One  — The service would give users access to more features such as zero-fee trading https://bit.ly/3GHMoDf

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Chicago-based FingerprintJS, which is developing a “fingerprinting” service for browsers to prevent fraud, raises a $32M Series B led by Craft Ventures  —  Sign up here.  —  FingerprintJS, a Chicago, Illinois-based company developing a fingerprinting service for the web … https://bit.ly/3nWGQw4

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: DoorDash rolls out SafeDash, an in-app security toolkit for its delivery drivers, in NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco, and Los Angeles  —  DoorDash is introducing SafeDash, a new in-app security toolkit aimed at helping its delivery providers feel safe while they work. https://bit.ly/3q5a7qP

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: HoneyBook, which offers business management tools to SMBs and freelancers, raises a $250M Series E led by Tiger Global at a $2.4B valuation, up from $1B+ in May  —  HoneyBook, a client management and financial platform for independent contractors, today announced that it raised $250 million … https://bit.ly/3bEcLLZ

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet: Microsoft Edge for Linux is now available for all users, supporting multiple distributions including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and openSUSE  —  It's ‘Chredge’ time for Linux: Microsoft's Edge browser is now generally available for a number of Linux distributions. https://bit.ly/3CFAbfQ

James Vincent / The Verge: Microsoft will invite select businesses to use GPT-3 as an Azure tool; Open AI will continue selling its own GPT-3 API with the latest upgrades  —  A promising and problematic AI tool  —  It's the AI system once deemed too dangerous to release to the public by its creators. https://bit.ly/3GM3mjS

Jon Fingas / Engadget: Microsoft will integrate the recently acquired video editing web app Clipchamp into its Office apps and add an audio “recording studio” to PowerPoint  —  Microsoft is boosting Office with some (arguably overdue) media creation tools.  As part of a sweeping set of updates … https://bit.ly/3CAGktE

Tom Warren / The Verge: Microsoft will bring its mixed reality platform Mesh with 3D avatars and VR support to Teams in the first half of 2022  —  Microsoft and Meta are on a collision course for metaverse competition  —  Microsoft is entering the race to build a metaverse inside Teams, just days after Facebook rebranded … https://bit.ly/3o94R3d

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Microsoft launches Dynamics 365 offerings such as cloud-powered marketing, supply chain insights, observing how people move in retail spaces, and more  —  Beyond updates across Azure, this week at its Ignite 2021 conference, Microsoft has announced additions to its Dynamics 365 business app … https://bit.ly/2ZNBTxe

Chris Welch / The Verge: Review of Beats Fit Pro, announced today for $200: comfortable with very good ANC and transparency mode but no wireless charging and little Android support  —  The latest Beats earbuds are the company's best product since the Powerbeats Pro  —  Beats has been busy. https://bit.ly/3bzikLH

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: Apollo.io, which develops B2B sales intelligence software, raises a $32M Series B led by Tribe Capital, bringing its total funding to $41.3M  —  Business engagement platform provider Apollo.io, officially known as ZenLeads Inc., spelled out its ambitions today after raising $32 million in a new round of funding led by Tribe Capital. https://bit.ly/3mzFlob

Emma Roth / The Verge: Pinterest to launch a Pinterest TV shoppable live series on November 8, with weekday episodes airing in its app, featuring some of its top creators  —  The series will feature creators and celebrities, like Olympic athlete Tom Daley and popular makeup artist Manny MUA https://bit.ly/3CE7WOx

Austin Craig / TechBuzz: Utah-based Awardco, which makes HR software, raises a $65M Series A led by General Catalyst and Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith at a valuation of $900M+  —  Our mission is to shine a spotlight on all great things happening in the Utah technology/startup community and be a fair, independent voice for the Utah Tech Scene. https://bit.ly/3mztpCD

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg: ByteDance limits staff working hours from 10am to 7pm on weekdays, becoming one of the first tech companies in China to officially end its “996” culture  —  - Employees will need to seek permission to work overtime  — China's 996 culture has drawn criticism, government scrutiny https://bit.ly/3CDcSTJ