Network Support Blog

Patrick McGee / Financial Times: Experts say the Apple Watch has yet to change patient management as Apple's efforts in getting FDA approvals and broader acceptance among doctors are lacking  —  Device touted as ‘future of health’ has yet to change the way patients are treated, say experts https://bit.ly/3pGlpS0

Scott Belsky / Positive Slope: Forecasts for tech's near future: AI-driven recommendations kill favorites, users opt into personalized ads, top talent will have Polygamous Careers, and more  —  How will work and life change in a material way over the next ~5 years?  This is the question I challenge myself to think about every year … https://bit.ly/3EQiv1u

Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge: CES will end a day earlier, on January 7, as an “additional” COVID-19 safety measure, after Google, Microsoft, and other big companies canceled in-person plans  —  The show now ends on January 7th  —  CES has dropped the last day of its 2022 tech conference in Las Vegas … https://bit.ly/3FLa9cE

New York Times: Investigation: how China identifies, tracks, and pressures its critics on Facebook and Twitter, including Chinese living abroad and citizens of other nations  —  Authorities in China have turned to sophisticated investigative software to track and silence obscure critics on overseas social media. https://bit.ly/3HqaORb

Rebecca Elliott / Wall Street Journal: Tesla's software engineering expertise let it navigate the global chip shortage by rewriting software to use alternative chips in its cars  —  Electric-vehicle maker is expected to manufacture roughly 80% more vehicles this year than it did in 2020  —  Tesla Inc. has emerged … https://bit.ly/32xiItl

Brad Linder / Liliputing: Devices running BlackBerry 10 or OS 7.1 and earlier will lose key services like calling, texting, data usage, and 911 access starting January 4  —  BlackBerry stopped shipping phones and tablets with its own software years ago, switching to Android in 2015 before shifting from a hardware company … https://bit.ly/3mKlTVa

Aislinn Keely / The Block: Umee, which is building a “cross chain DeFi hub” with interoperable tools that work across blockchains, raises $32M by selling its UMEE tokens  —  Umee, a protocol building interoperable tools for decentralized finance (DeFi) users, has raised an additional $32 million through a Coinlist sale of its native UMEE tokens. https://bit.ly/3mGK86z

Adi Robertson / The Verge: OpenSea bans PHAYC and Phunky Ape Yacht Club, two NFT projects that are dueling over which is the authentic Bored Ape Yacht Club ripoff  —  And dodging NFT marketplace bans while doing it  —  A pair of non-fungible token projects are testing the boundary between plagiarism and parody. https://bit.ly/3eBnzMa

Eileen Yu / ZDNet: China plans to become a global innovation hub for robotics by 2025; its manufacturing robot density in 2020 was 246 per 10,000 people, double the global average  —  Chinese robotics market is projected to expand at 20% through to 2025, when the government is aiming to double manufacturing robot density … https://bit.ly/3FKEeJf

Brian Newar / Cointelegraph: South Korea tells Apple and Google to remove play-to-earn games, which require in-app purchases before playing, from their app stores  —  The Games Committee has strengthened its stance against P2E games by saying those games should not receive an age rating needed to get listed on app marketplaces. https://bit.ly/32RXbLK

Reuters: Shares of SenseTime, China's most valuable AI startup, rose 23% in early trading, after the company raised $740M in its Hong Kong IPO at a $16.4B valuation  —  SenseTime Group (0020.HK) shares jumped as much as 23% from their IPO price as they debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday … https://bit.ly/3JqlWiF

Austen Goslin / Polygon: Fortnite is offline, but Epic says it's working on it  —  No one knows when Fortnite servers will be back up  —  Fortnite's servers are currently offline, but Epic says that it's investigating the problem and working toward a solution.  Fortnite servers went down on Wednesday afternoon … https://bit.ly/3JsosVL

Washington Post: As the US faces record COVID-19 infections, effective use of exposure notification apps is unlikely given slow adoption and lack of data on their efficacy  —  The United States is grappling with record-high infections, but adoption of the system is still far behind what its creators and proponents envisioned https://bit.ly/3pCQBRZ

Laura Forman / Wall Street Journal: Early pandemic winners, including Cathie Wood's ARK fund, Peloton, Zoom, Poshmark, DocuSign, Chegg, and Zillow, have seen their market value decline in 2021  —  Those former tech sweethearts that experienced a reversal in fortune this year could remain in the dumps in 2022 https://bit.ly/3mFgBdu

Tanzeel Akhtar / CoinDesk: DeBank, which lets users track and analyze their DeFi investments, raises $25M led by Sequoia China at a $200M valuation  —  Decentralized finance (DeFi) portfolio firm DeBank has raised $25 million in a funding round that was led by venture capital firm Sequoia China. https://bit.ly/3FHXo2r

PYMNTS.com: MetaMap, formerly Mati, which builds digital trust and reputation tools and APIs to help online services vet consumers, raises a $70M Series B  —  The FinTech MetaMap has raised $70 million in Series B funding as it plans to expand its operations in India.  —  The company, a digital trust … https://bit.ly/32EecZA

Kris Holt / Engadget: Adam Mosseri says in 2022 Instagram will “double down” on video, consolidate its video products around Reels, and focus on creators, transparency, and messaging  —  In a brief year-end video message, Instagram head Adam Mosseri offered some insight into what's ahead for the platform. https://bit.ly/3EvpA7r

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sources: Apple issued rare bonuses of restricted stock worth $50K-$180K to select engineers, after Meta poached ~100 Apple engineers over the past few months  —  Apple Inc. has issued unusual and significant stock bonuses to some engineers in an effort to retain talent … https://bit.ly/3sGYV5m

Scott Chipolina / Decrypt: Overview of El Salvador's official yet controversial adoption of bitcoin in 2021, as many citizens have reportedly seen bitcoin vanish from their Chivo wallets  —  At this year's Bitcoin Conference in Miami in June, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced his country would soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender. https://bit.ly/3euLltc

Gené Teare / Crunchbase News: Analysis: Tiger Global, SoftBank, and Insight Partners led or co-led rounds totaling $73B in 2021, representing 12% of all venture and PE invested in startups  —  Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Vision Fund and Insight Partners aren't traditional venture capital investors … https://bit.ly/3etXFtN

Andy Blye / Phoenix Business Journal: Paradox, which makes Olivia, a conversational AI assistant for recruiting tasks like candidate screening, raises a $200M Series C at a $1.5B valuation  —  Paradox, a Scottsdale company that makes conversational recruiting software, announced Monday that it had raised $200 million … https://bit.ly/3z5HpbO

Balaji Srinivasan: Exploring the concept of mirrortables, where a company's cap table is mirrored on-chain with Ethereum and ENS or other Web3 tools, to streamline angel investing  —  Mirrortables are to cap tables what stablecoins are to fiat currencies.  They streamline and internationalize the logistical mess of angel investing. https://bit.ly/3Jp227S

Joe Williams / Bloomberg: A look at the growing competition in the call center tools market between Genesys, AWS, Salesforce, Microsoft, and others, often focused on AI-driven automation  —  Customer support has become a crowded battlefield in enterprise technology as software vendors from Microsoft Corp … https://bit.ly/3EycmGP

Daniel Michaels / Wall Street Journal: Inside China's Logink, an expansive digital network for tracking global sea cargo that experts fear could give Beijing a commercial or strategic advantage  —  Beijing can track cargo with little-known Logink system, potentially gaining intelligence and commercial advantage https://bit.ly/3EqYGxq

Emma Rindlisbacher / The Verge: As Indian IT firm Infosys ramps up hiring of US workers, some are paid to do nothing for an extended period of time while they wait for a project assignment  —  When Infosys announced construction on its planned headquarters in Indianapolis in 2018, it was a coup for the Trump administration. https://bit.ly/3IxLzgW

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch: Twitter is testing a new process for reporting harmful tweets that lets US users describe what happened, and will use this data to improve its responses  —  Twitter is trying out some changes to the way that users report tweets that they believe might break Twitter's rules. https://bit.ly/3EzPYO5

Ryan Gallagher / Bloomberg: Switzerland's federal data protection and information commissioner opens a probe into text message provider Mitto after a report alleged it surveilled users  —  Switzerland's federal data protection and information commissioner opened an investigation focusing on a company … https://bit.ly/33esKQ5

THE ELEC, Korea Electronics Industry Media: Sources: Samsung partnered with Microsoft this summer on a HoloLens project slated to launch in 2024; Samsung will likely be the hardware manufacturer  —  - Gijong Lee - 승인 2021.12.07 13:25 - 댓글 0 … Samsung Display and other affiliates also taking part https://bit.ly/304Vk4Z

Matthew Heimer / Fortune: AgentSync, which helps insurance agencies manage broker onboarding, licensing, and compliance requirements, raises a $75M Series B at a $1.2B valuation  —  Subscribe to Fortune Daily to get essential business stories straight to your inbox each morning.  —  Learning from mistakes … https://bit.ly/3rLTEZE

Joseph Williams / Bloomberg: Call center software provider Genesys raises $580M at a $21B valuation led by Salesforce Ventures  —  - Salesforce Ventures led $580 million round joined by Zoom  — Effort signals booming demand for call center software  —  Call center software provider Genesys Cloud Services Inc. raised $580 million … https://bit.ly/31wC9lm

Mia Sato / The Verge: YouTube publishes its first Copyright Transparency Report, showing H1 2021 had 2.2M+ videos hit with incorrect copyright claims and 729M total copyright claims  —  Creators have complained about the claims and appeal process  —  Over 2.2 million YouTube videos were hit with copyright claims … https://bit.ly/3Iqsayz

Chainalysis Insights: Analysis: users have spent $26.9B+ on NFTs in 2021, most transactions are under $10K, and CryptoPunks is the most popular collection with $3B sales since March  —  This blog is a preview of our 2021 NFT Market Report.  Click here to download the whole thing! https://bit.ly/3lFynNc

Ben Thompson / Stratechery: Amazon's extensive supply chain investments, mostly focused on domestic US logistics, make it increasingly attractive to third-party merchants and customers  —  It seems like a Christmas miracle.  From CNBC: … The intended takeaway of this article — which originated as a digital special report … https://bit.ly/3lHf6uZ

Financial Times: Researchers detail Meta's roadblocks, including pre-publication review and restrictive contracts, and how it stifles what might cast it in a negative light  —  Last March, Orestis Papakyriakopoulos, a researcher at Princeton University, applied to use a special data access tool that allows academics to do research on Facebook. https://bit.ly/32YJytX

Katie Schoolov / CNBC: Amazon's shipping investments, like chartering cargo ships, making its own containers, and chartering long-haul planes, are helping it avoid supply chain chaos  —  How Amazon is beating supply chain chaos with its own containers, chartered...  For years, Amazon has been quietly chartering … https://bit.ly/3pnjOyU

Tim Copeland / The Block: Crypto exchange BitMart says it was hacked, resulting in the loss of ~$150M in crypto after its Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain hot wallets were breached  —  Crypto exchange BitMart said late Saturday that it has suffered a hack, resulting in the loss of $150 million worth of crypto. https://bit.ly/3rzofJX

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: Life House, which offers hotel management software, raises a $60M Series C co-led by Kayak and Inovia Capital, bringing its total funding to over $100M  —  Inovia Capital, Tiger Global also backed the startup, which has developed software aimed at hotel operators https://bit.ly/3rBMKpK

Bloomberg: Profile of Group-IB CEO Ilya Sachkov, who is charged with treason in Russia, sources say for allegedly giving the US info about Fancy Bear's 2016 operation  —  Ilya Sachkov, who's been charged with treason in Russia, is alleged to have given the U.S. information about the “Fancy Bear” … https://bit.ly/3IqCGWO

Max Read / Read Max: As Web3 takes proliferate, it's worth noting there are two distinct “is Web3 bullshit?” questions: an open-ended technical question, and whether it will “win”  —  And is that even the right question? … Is web3 bullshit?  The hazy vision of new decentralized internet … https://bit.ly/3Gd6sw4

Swathi Moorthy / Moneycontrol: Users and experts reveal Clubhouse's content moderation struggles in India, amid a deluge of 18+ rooms, adult content, and harassment and bullying  —  Moneycontrol pieced this story from conversations with nearly a dozen people who are users, creators, psychologists, industry experts, and civil society organisations. https://bit.ly/3lAhOlM

Kelly Pau / Vox: Spotify Wrapped's cultural significance reveals how algorithms influence our self-conception and how we in turn perform for Spotify's construction of ourselves  —  Spotify spies on us, and we kinda love it.  —  When Spotify Wrapped came out in 2017, it hit my group chats like breaking news. https://bit.ly/3EpkfiP

Bloomberg: Profile of Roblox CEO David Baszucki, aka “builderman” on Roblox, who sees his company playing a significant role in the metaverse  —  In March his online gaming company went public with a $40 billion market valuation.  —  A parent's first glance at kids playing Roblox can be bewildering. https://bit.ly/3DoRaCJ

Sophia Cai / Axios: The Biden administration accelerates efforts to fill nearly 600K cybersecurity roles in the US public and private sectors  —  The Biden administration is accelerating efforts to fill nearly 600,000 vacant cybersecurity positions in the public and private sectors bogging down efforts to protect digital infrastructure. https://bit.ly/3dklWCg

Drew Harwell / Washington Post: Twitter says it mistakenly suspended 12 accounts after “coordinated and malicious reports” targeted researchers and journalists, and will review its new policy  —  Far-right activists had urged their followers to use a new company rule to target anti-extremism researchers and journalists https://bit.ly/3dhbco9

Isaac McIntyre / dexerto.com: YouTube suspends streamer Ludwig Ahgren days after his publicized move from Twitch; Ahgren blames DMCA notices for listening to Baby Shark while streaming  —  The 26-year-old has been the talk of the streaming world these past few days, after he signed an exclusive streaming deal with Twitch arch-rivals YouTube. https://bit.ly/3Ep3i7R

Jennifer Elias / CNBC: Google says it will not require US employees to return to the office on January 10 as expected but encourages them to come in to build “muscle memory”  —  - Google's security VP, Chris Rackow, sent a companywide email Thursday that said Google will not require employees to return to offices on Jan. 10 as expected. https://bit.ly/2ZX3gp2

The Moscow Times: Russian state company Gazprom gains control of the country's largest social media network VKontakte by buying a 45% stake and gaining 25%+ of voting rights  —  VK's CEO has also resigned as part of sweeping changes that boost Kremlin's control of VKontakte. https://bit.ly/3Ib7w5o

Ari Levy / CNBC: DocuSign reports Q3 revenue of $545.5M, up 42% YoY, with subscription revenue of $528.6M, up 44%, and 1.11M customers; stock is down 35%+ after weak Q4 guidance  —  - DocuSign said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $557 million to $563 million, trailing the average analyst estimate of $573.8 million. https://bit.ly/3dkp6WC

Drew Harwell / Washington Post: An anti-fascist researcher says Twitter suspended her account after someone reported a 2019 tweet of hers following Twitter's updated Private Information Policy  —  Researchers fear the new ban on posts sharing people's private information will be ‘emboldening to the fascists’ eager to keep their identities concealed. https://bit.ly/31wgzwM

David Z. Morris / CoinDesk: Square's Block rebranding comes after years of making crypto integrations mainstream, although Block has downplayed the crypto elements so far  —  As we wrap up a year jam-packed with high-profile adoptions of crypto by big players, yesterday may have given us the concluding exclamation mark. https://bit.ly/3xMeJnE