Network Support Blog

Rich Woods / XDA Developers: Lenovo unveils the ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 with Intel 12th Gen processors, a 16.3" foldable OLED display with 600 nits, available in November 2022 from $2,499  —  Today, Lenovo is announcing the ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2, a product that's been a long time in the making. https://bit.ly/3KChjDp

Alex Heath / The Verge: Internal memo: Meta is setting up a New Monetization Experiences division to identify and build “possible paid features” for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp  —  A new team will be tasked with building paid experiences across Meta's apps  —  Meta is setting up a product organization … https://bit.ly/3eetBpn

Chris Scullion / Video Games Chronicle: Sony and Tencent's Sixjoy acquire a combined 30.34% of Elden Ring game company FromSoftware; FromSoftware's parent Kadokawa retains the remaining 69.66%  —  FROMSOFTWARE SAYS THE INVESTMENT MAY HELP IT PUBLISH GAMES GLOBALLY  —  Elden Ring studio FromSoftware has announced that it's selling shares … https://bit.ly/3R7o9mK

Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk: a16z releases free “Can't Be Evil” licenses for NFTs, inspired by Creative Commons, on GitHub; NFT licensing has been attempted before, including by Dapper Labs  —  Andreessen Horowitz's crypto arm is releasing a free licensing system, aiming to help the NFT sector fulfil its “economic potential.” https://bit.ly/3R6yJds

Reuters: Roper Technologies agrees to buy Frontline Education, which makes administration software for K-12 education, from PE firm Thoma Bravo in a ~$3.7B all-cash deal  —  Roper Technologies (ROP.N) said on Tuesday it would buy educational software maker Frontline Education in a $3.7 billion deal … https://bit.ly/3Rn0ePL

Sam Kim / Bloomberg: Semiconductor shipments from South Korean chipmakers fell 22.7% YoY in July 2022, the first drop in almost three years per the national statistics office  —  South Korean chipmakers recorded their first fall in factory shipments in almost three years in July, highlighting weakening demand … https://bit.ly/3AAnG5x

Jeffrey T. Lewis / MarketWatch: CrowdStrike reports Q2 revenue up 58% YoY to $535.2M, subscription revenue up 60% YoY to $506.2M, and subscription customers up 51% YoY to 19,686  —  CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.'s loss narrowed in its second quarter from a year earlier after subscription revenue jumped higher. https://bit.ly/3cxUJ1X

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica: Android 13 review: a small update, but 2022's second after March's tablet-focused 12L update, finally brings a task manager, notification permissions, and more  —  Android 13 is a very small update, but it's also the second one this year.  —  The Android update treadmill continues with the release of Android 13. https://bit.ly/3e8s3Nz

Sara Fischer / Axios: Google says it has not yet approved Truth Social's Play Store app due to insufficient content moderation; CEO Devin Nunes said the decision “is up to Google”  —  Google hasn't yet approved Truth Social's Android app for distribution via its Play Store because of insufficient content moderation … https://bit.ly/3wHFiey

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg: A book excerpt details YouTube's efforts to remove Islamic extremist content and how the platform mostly failed to address other forms of political extremism  —  Unlike many of her colleagues at YouTube, Tala Bardan doesn't remember the company retreat in June 2017 as a nice long weekend. https://bit.ly/3TmJr1j

Financial Times: Rakuten founder Hiroshi Mikitani, whose mobile business is bleeding cash, defends his reputation with investors ahead of a planned IPO of Rakuten's online bank  —  Hiroshi Mikitani's group is bleeding cash as he tries to enlist shareholders to back online bank IPO https://bit.ly/3pVnE38

Kim Willsher / The Guardian: Using aerial photos and AI software developed by Google and Capgemini, French tax authorities identify 20,356 unregistered pools, leading to ~€10M more in taxes  —  Scheme to be extended across the country after trial in nine departments led to extra €10m in tax receipts https://bit.ly/3AvMEmo

Matt Levine / Bloomberg: Musk will likely focus more on “Mudge” Zatko's claims about Twitter's security practices instead of bots, potentially a better way to fight the acquisition deal  —  Musk v. Twitter  —  A month ago, Elon Musk's fight with Twitter Inc. was a merger dispute. https://bit.ly/3AAT9od

Alex Konrad / Forbes: Y Combinator names Garry Tan as its next president, replacing Geoff Ralston in January 2023; Tan will step away from his role at his firm Initialized Capital  —  Y Combinator has tapped an outsider as its next president — sort of.  —  The storied Bay Area-based accelerator … https://bit.ly/3KrsjmV

TechCrunch: Meta partners with JioMart, an e-commerce venture between Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms, to launch a grocery shopping service on WhatsApp in India  —  Meta and an e-commerce venture between Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms are bringing JioMart grocery shopping to WhatsApp … https://bit.ly/3cnLq4R

Biz Carson / Protocol: A look at the “Palantir Pack”, a group of Palantir alumni who have founded companies and VC firms like Affirm, Anduril, OpenSea, Handshake, Ironclad, and 8VC  —  When Luba Lesiva created the Palantir Alumni syndicate on AngelList, she thought it would be a small project to help … https://bit.ly/3RdFpa5

Alberto Romero / The Algorithmic Bridge: Unlike DALL-E 2, Stable Diffusion is open source and can run on high-end consumer GPUs, while its CreativeML Open RAIL-M license “strives for” “responsible” use  —  A state-of-the-art AI model available for everyone through a safety-centric open-source license is unheard of. https://bit.ly/3R7Mk42

Dong-Won Kim / IEEE Spectrum: Profile of Kim Choong-Ki, a professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, who is revered as the godfather of South Korea's chip industry  —  They were called “Kim's Mafia.”  Kim Choong-Ki himself wouldn't have put it that way.  But it was true what semiconductor engineers … https://bit.ly/3Kp2T9v

Max Chafkin / Bloomberg: The bubble that Masayoshi Son blamed for SoftBank's $23B loss last quarter is one that he helped create through Vision Fund, which distorted the VC market  —  In retrospect there were reasons to be skeptical of the Vision Fund, the attempt by the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp … https://bit.ly/3PWK0vu

Kurt Gessler: Tribune Publishing says disabling Google's AMP led to very little impact on mobile search referrals, as year-long drops mostly aligned to broader search trends  —  Ahead of its June 2021 algorithm update, Google made a significant announcement as part of its shift to emphasize overall page experience … https://bit.ly/3CKLRR8

Reuters: Dell says it ceased all Russian operations after closing its offices in mid-August; it had suspended sales in Russia, Belarus, and parts of Ukraine in February  —  Dell Technologies Inc. said on Saturday it had ceased all Russian operations after closing its offices in mid-August … https://bit.ly/3pOw1NI

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Ahead of launch of passkeys, which requires users to have two-factor authentication, Apple says 95%+ of active iCloud users have 2FA enabled on their accounts  —  With its next round of software updates coming this fall, including iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, Apple will launch integrated support for the passkeys standard. https://bit.ly/3Ask2KN

Wall Street Journal: Tether, which has promised an audit since at least 2017, says one is “likely months” away; former SEC exec: it needs an audit “akin to a corporate colonoscopy”  —  Many crypto companies lack basic financial guardrails; 'Tether needs an audit that's akin to a corporate colonoscopy' https://bit.ly/3TfQYil

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Netflix is testing “game handles” in some mobile games, and code suggests it's developing other social gaming features like the ability to invite others to play  —  Netflix is developing features that would allow members to play its mobile games with one another and competitively rank themselves on gaming leaderboards. https://bit.ly/3Au9pHg

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer: Researchers detail Dark Utilities, a new service that provides an inexpensive way for cybercriminals to set up a command and control center for their operations  —  Security researchers found a new service called Dark Utilities that provides an easy and inexpensive way for cybercriminals … https://bit.ly/3OZdicJ

Leigh Mc Gowran / Silicon Republic: Akamai: web application attacks on the gaming industry increased 167% YoY from May 2021-April 2022, and 37% of all DDoS attacks were against the gaming sector  —  Akamai said the growing value in gaming has attracted more criminals seeking to disrupt online games and steal valuable player accounts. https://bit.ly/3bxK1rJ

Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac: Kuo: Foxconn will begin production of at least one iPhone 14 model “almost simultaneously” in India and China, the first time this will happen for a new iPhone  —  Apple's key partner Foxconn has iPhone production lines in a few other places in the world outside of China, such as Brazil and India. https://bit.ly/3BIJI8j

New York Times: A look at Japan's efforts to counter chip supply chain disruptions, including investing in domestic production and seeking a coalition with the US and the EU  —  As it reckons with supply chain vulnerabilities, the country is spending billions to revitalize domestic production and seeking to form a coalition with “like-minded” nations. https://bit.ly/3buL7EU

Elena Schneider / Politico: A look at FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's range of US political contributions, including $10M+ to back Biden in 2020, and uncertainty about his goals and leanings  —  NASSAU, Bahamas — One of the biggest donors in Democratic politics this year isn't sure if he really wants to be a Democratic megadonor — at least not on the party's terms. https://bit.ly/3oVYDEr

Brian Heater / TechCrunch: Amazon plans to acquire Roomba maker iRobot in a $1.7B all-cash deal; Colin Angle will remain as iRobot's CEO  —  Amazon this morning announced plans to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion.  —  “Since we started iRobot, our team has been on a mission … https://bit.ly/3oXDrxP

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land: Google updates search results for queries with quotes to show where the phrase appears in the results snippet instead of an overall description of the page  —  Now Google will now show the quoted text in the snippet where that exact phrase appears on the page. https://bit.ly/3oWmmV5

Soma Biswas / Wall Street Journal: A New York judge allows Voyager Digital to return $270M in customer cash deposits, settling one of the company's larger issues after filing for bankruptcy  —  Crypto broker got bankruptcy court approval to return cash deposits  —  Cryptocurrency brokerage firm Voyager Digital Holdings Inc. secured approval … https://bit.ly/3zWC6hc

Wallace Witkowski / MarketWatch: Twilio reports Q2 revenue up 41% YoY to $943.4M, a $311.9M loss from operations, and 275K+ active customer accounts; the stock is down 8%+ on a weak Q3 forecast  —  Top end of Twilio's forecast revenue range is $975 million, while the Street consensus is $978.8 million https://bit.ly/3vHUaJc

Katie Roof / Bloomberg: Sources: TripActions, which offers corporate travel and expense reporting tools, is close to confidentially filing for an IPO  —  TripActions, a travel startup, is close to filing confidentially for an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter … https://bit.ly/3SriUiM

Bloomberg: BlackRock partners with Coinbase to help institutional investors manage and trade crypto, starting with BTC, using BlackRock's Aladdin system; COIN jumps 10%+  —  BlackRock Inc. is partnering with Coinbase Global Inc. to make it easier for institutional investors to manage and trade Bitcoin … https://bit.ly/3vF5C8z

Bloomberg: A look at the implosion of Zilingo, valued at $1.2B five months ago, as interviews suggest the fashion marketplace struggled under CEO Ankiti Bose for years  —  At first glance, the implosion of vaunted fashion startup Zilingo Pte looked jarringly sudden.  —  When the Singapore tech darling suspended … https://bit.ly/3JrvIlf

Rita Liao / TechCrunch: Salesforce says it is closing its office in Hong Kong and “accelerating” its strategic partnership with Alibaba “to better serve the Greater China Region”  —  Salesforce is repositioning itself in China as it looks to expand the reach of its customer relationship management software in the country. https://bit.ly/3BG97Q6

Bloomberg: Latin American e-commerce site MercadoLibre beats with Q2 revenue up 53% YoY to $2.6B, vs. $2.5B est., and operating margins of 9.6%, vs. 7% est.; stock up 12%+  —  Latin American e-commerce retailer and fintech provider MercadoLibre Inc. is reaping the rewards of its investment across … https://bit.ly/3Sof7Tc

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post: Interviews with two dozen Triller creators and others show that the TikTok rival missed payments after promising Black creators $4K monthly, with half in equity  —  Triller made its name recruiting talent with lavish perks.  Now, dozens of influencers are struggling to get paid. https://bit.ly/3zR2KI9

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: Aisera, whose AI customer service system can handle multiple types of requests, raised a $90M Series D led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Thoma Bravo  —  Aisera Inc., an artificial intelligence-powered “service experience” startup that aims to enhance employee and customer experiences … https://bit.ly/3oPKXe7

Nikkei Asia: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with TSMC chairman Mark Liu and others to discuss implementation of the Chips and Science Act during her Taiwan visit  —  TAIPEI — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Taiwan's most important chip industry leaders in Taipei on Wednesday as part … https://bit.ly/3QdW3VZ

Jason Nelson / Decrypt: An unknown attacker has been emptying Solana and USDC wallets; blockchain audit firm OtterSec says 5K+ Solana wallets “have been drained in the past few hours”  —  An unknown attacker drained thousands of wallets containing at least $4 million worth of Solana and USDC late Tuesday night. https://bit.ly/3bp0770

Washington Post: Sources: Nancy Pelosi is set to meet with TSMC's chairman Mark Liu to discuss implementation of the Chips and Science Act during her visit to Taiwan  —  TSMC is building a chip factory in Arizona — and considering constructing several on the site — in a project seen as key to U.S. national security https://bit.ly/3QginhH

Sofia Pitt / CNBC: Airbnb reports Q2 revenue up 58% YoY to $2.1B, vs $2.11B est., $379M net income, up from a loss of $68M YoY, and a $2B stock buyback program  —  - Revenue jumped 58% year-over-year to $2.1 billion helping to drive the company's most profitable second quarter to date. https://bit.ly/3OT8l5c

Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Samsung launches its iFixit repair program, covering Galaxy S20, S21, and Tab S7+ devices; S22 flagships are not supported and the number of repairs are limited  —  But not its latest phones and tablets  —  Samsung and Fixit have launched their repair program that lets Galaxy S20, S21 … https://bit.ly/3bqEjb2

Simon Sharwood / The Register: Microsoft extends the useful life of its cloud server assets from four to six years, citing improved efficiencies and tech, and expects to save $3.7B in FY 2023  —  Banks billions by making servers last even longer than AWS or Google  —  Microsoft has extended the life of the machines powering … https://bit.ly/3vzvJxw

Ryan Smith / AnandTech: The CXL consortium plans to absorb the OpenCAPI consortium's assets and standards, setting CXL to become the dominant server CPU-to-device interconnect standard  —  With the 2022 Flash Memory Summit taking place this week, not only is there a slew of solid-state storage announcements in the pipe … https://bit.ly/3bv8TjM

Niket Nishant / Reuters: Global Payments plans to acquire fintech peer EVO Payments for nearly $4B, a 24% premium on EVO's last closing price, and expects the deal to close by Q1 2023  —  Global Payments Inc (GPN.N) said on Monday it would buy smaller peer EVO Payments Inc (EVOP.O) for nearly $4 billion including debt … https://bit.ly/3SefyQd

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: Pinterest reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to $666M, vs $667M est., global MAUs down 5% YoY to 433M, vs 431M est., and a net loss of $43M; the stock jumps 21%+  —  - Pinterest posted disappointing financial results and gave guidance that missed Wall Street expectations, but user numbers were better than expected. https://bit.ly/3Jk8YDD

Bloomberg: India generates ~$19B from auctioning airwaves, including for 5G; Reliance Jio spent $11B+ on 24,740 megahertz, followed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone  —  Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. spent more than $11 billion, emerging the top buyer in India's airwaves auction … https://bit.ly/3OSlBGW

Financial Times: A look at Samsung's mounting semiconductor problems: reportedly losing Qualcomm and Nvidia's business to TSMC, Galaxy S22 lagging iPhone 13's chips, and more  —  Move follows warnings from investors, analysts and employees that chipmaker is losing its technological edge https://bit.ly/3vxh5Hb