​​Microsoft’s new acquisition, Samsung’s event leaks, and Amazon’s radar sensors to track your sleep
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 350

👉 Sources: #Microsoft has agreed to acquire SaaS security intelligence company #RiskIQ; a source says Microsoft will pay over $500M 🔗


👉 Leaker #EvanBlass tweets that #Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event will be on August 11 and shares renders of new phones, smartwatches, and wireless earbuds 🔗


💤 #FCC approves #Amazon's request to use “Radar Sensors” to sense motion and “enable contactless sleep tracing functionalities” 🔗


🇨🇳 Sources: #ByteDance put its #US or #HongKong IPO plans on hold in March after meeting with regulators in #China, which asked the company to address security issues 🔗


🍿 #Disney says #Marvel's Black Widow has earned $60M+ on opening weekend via its Premier Access program, which lets #DisneyPlus subscribers rent the movie for $30 🔗


👋 Exclusive #TED chats are coming to #Clubhouse 🔗


👉 The #FTC has reportedly opened an investigation into #Amazon’s #MGM acquisition 🔗


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Google fined in France, bitcoins seized in the UK, and internet blocked in Cuba
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 351

🐦 After a user highlighted them, #Twitter confirms it inadvertently verified six accounts and says the “inauthentic” accounts are now suspended and badges removed 🔗


🇫🇷 #France fines #Google $593M for failing to comply with a 2020 order to negotiate in good faith with publishers for displaying article snippets in #GoogleNews 🔗


🇬🇧 #UK London Met #Police says it seized ~£180M in #bitcoin while investigating international money laundering, after seizing £114M of #cryptocurrencies last month 🔗


🇨🇺 In response to protests, #NetBlocks says #Cuba's state-run ISP has restricted social media and messaging apps, including #Facebook, #Instagram, and #WhatsApp 🔗


🤖 #Google unveils a feature for #Android12 that lets users play a game from the #PlayStore before it's fully downloaded, available with “minimal developer effort” 🔗


👉 #GoogleMeet starts enforcing a 60-minute time limit on group calls for free #Gmail users 🔗


👉 Authenticated brand logos in #Gmail will roll out over the coming weeks 🔗


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Spyware on the loose, attraction value in Italian museum, and Tesla’s self driving subscription
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 352

☠️ #PegasusSpyware used to target phones of journalists and activists, investigation finds 🔗


👉 #Facebook says their data shows a 50% decline in #vaccine hesitancy among US users, refuting #Biden's claim that it's “killing people” by allowing #COVID19 #misinfo 🔗


👉 #Zoom says it will acquire #Five9, which makes cloud-based call center software for sales, marketing, and support, in an all-stock deal valued at ~$14.7B 🔗


🇮🇹 A museum in #Italy is using cameras to monitor people looking at artwork, to define a work of art's “attraction value” and accordingly change museum layouts 🔗 #AttentionEconomy


👉 #Tencent to buy British video game developer #SumoGames for $1.27B, a 43% premium on Sumo's Friday closing price 🔗


📱 #Huawei’s P50 flagship will launch on July 29th 🔗


📱 Latest leaks indicate new #iPhone may have always-on displays like #AppleWatch 🔗


🚗 #Tesla Full Self Driving subscriptions are now available for $199 a month 🔗


🔐 #WhatsApp tests encrypted cloud backups on #Android 🔗


👉 #Google redesigns its #emoji to be more universal and authentic 🔗


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Astronaut Bezos in space, spyware on phones, and new ads format on TikTok
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 353

🚀 #BlueOrigin’s New Shepard carries #JeffBezos and three crew members to space and back 🔗


☠️ #AmnestyInternational researchers published a toolkit to help anyone scan their #iPhone and #Android devices for evidence of compromise by #NSO's #PegasusSpyware 🔗


🍎 Sources: #Apple is delaying return to office deadline by at least a month to October amid rising #COVID19 cases, will give employees a month's notice before return 🔗


👉 #YouTube acquires #India-n social commerce startup #Simsim 🔗


👉 Sources: a group of #Facebook data scientists asked for resources to measure #COVID19 #misinfo on Facebook at the start of the pandemic, but execs denied the request 🔗


📱 CIRP: #Android and #iOS each accounted for 50% of smartphone activations in the #US in Q2, the same as Q2 2020, after iOS' share climbed steadily from 31% in 2017 🔗


📧 #DuckDuckGo launches a new Email Protection service that forwards emails from a free “@duck.com” address to users' regular inbox after scanning them for trackers 🔗


👉 #TikTok launches Spark Ads, an ad format that allows brands to sponsor already published posts with the post creators' approval, potentially cutting out agencies 🔗


👉 #Adobe releases #AppleSilicon M1 support for #PremierePro 🔗


👻 #Snapchat will let you pose your #Bitmoji on your profile in 3D 🔗


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​​Netflix’s expansion into gaming, next Samsung event, and TweetDeck’s overhaul
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 354

🎮 #Netflix says its expansion into gaming will start with mobile games, which will be included with a subscription at no additional cost 🔗


☎️ Phone numbers belonging to ten prime ministers, three presidents, and a king were among the list of 50K potential #NSO targets, leaked to #AmnestyInternational 🔗


👉 #Samsung announces its next #GalaxyUnpacked event will be held virtually on August 11, where it is expected to unveil new foldables 🔗


🐦 #Twitter begins rolling out a preview of a revamped #TweetDeck in the #US, #Canada, and #Australia, featuring an option for wider columns, an Explore column, more 🔗


👉 #Instagram is rolling out a new feature that lets users control “sensitive content” in the Explore tab, with settings to “Allow”, “Limit”, and “Limit Even More” 🔗


👉 #Instagram is testing a new feature called Collab in #India and the #UK that lets users invite a public account as a collaborator on a post or a #Reel 🔗


📺 #YouTube debuts Super Thanks, which lets users tip creators for individual uploaded videos rather than livestreams and have their message highlighted in comments 🔗


👻 #HBOMax partners with #Snapchat to let users in the #US co-watch pilots of select series with up to 63 other users for free via a #SnapMini 🔗


👉 #GoogleChrome 92 for #iOS enables Face ID and Touch ID protection of Incognito tabs, “Full Page” screenshot support, and more 🔗


🗺 #GoogleMaps expands its crowdedness predictions to 10K+ transit agencies in 100 countries, and will show how crowded individual carriages are in NYC and Sydney 🔗


#️⃣ #EarningsCalls

💲 #Netflix Q2: revenue of $7.34B vs. $7.32B est., up 19% YoY, global paid net additions of 1.54M vs. 1.19M expected; US and Canada region lost 433K subs QoQ 🔗


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​​Clubhouse is now open, Twitter’s testing upvote & downvotes, and Facebook’s slow fight with misinfo
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 355

🐦 #Twitter is testing upvote and downvote buttons on replies 🔗


👋 #Clubhouse is no longer invite-only as it exits beta and says the 10M people on its waitlist will be added to the app over time 🔗


👉 #Google rolls out Backup by Google One, a unified #Android cloud backup that syncs app data, messages, photos, and more; Backup replaces the Play Services tool 🔗


🚓 Police in #Spain have arrested #UK citizen Joseph O'Connor at the #US' request over his alleged involvement in last year's #hack of high-profile #Twitter accounts 🔗


👉 #Facebook hides the tag #VaccinesKill from searches, displaying a message that says it is “keeping our community safe”, two years after #Instagram hid the tag 🔗


📺 #YouTube says it will test a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos, starting with a few creators and brands 🔗


😷 #LG adds mic and speakers to its air-purifying mask, launching next month 🔗


👉 #Instagram can now automatically translate text in stories 🔗


👉 #Tumblr debuts Post+, a subscription service for Gen Z creators 🔗


👉 #Zoom will now let you add third-party apps to your calls 🔗


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Section 230, more transparency from Google, and what happens when a porn company buys an old domain
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 356

👉 Two Democratic senators introduce a bill to strip away social media platforms' #Section230 liability shield if they amplify harmful public health misinformation 🔗


👉 #Google updates its “About This Result” panel with more context about the specific search result, including matching keywords, related terms, and local relevance 🔗


🤦‍♂️ Old stories on news sites including #WashingtonPost & #NYMag are displaying embedded porn videos after the domain for the defunct video service #Vidme was bought by a porn company 🔗


👉 #Arm details #PlasticARM, a 32-bit processor built on a flexible substrate, that it says can lead to embedding of low-cost, ultrathin chips into everyday objects 🔗


👉 #Google is rolling out a fix for a bug in #ChromeOS 91, apparently caused by a single typo, which locked #Chromebook owners out of devices upon restarting 🔗


🎧 #Spotify partners with #GIPHY to connect users with artists’ music via GIFs 🔗


🎧 #OnePlus announces $150 Pro noise cancelling earbuds, coming September 1st 🔗


🔋 #MercedesBenz to build eight battery factories in push to become electric-only automaker by 2030 🔗


🐦 #Twitter may be adding voice effects to #TwitterSpaces 🔗


👉 #EpicGames files new complaint in its #antitrust suit against #Google 🔗


👻 #Snapchat added 55 million daily users last quarter 🔗


👉 #GoogleDrive will let you block other users to stop potential harassment 🔗


#️⃣ #EarningsCalls

💲 #Twitter Q2: revenue of $1.19B, up 74% YoY, vs $1.07B est., ad revenue of $1.05B, up 87% YoY, and mDAUs of 206M, up 11% YoY 🔗

💲 #Snap Q2: revenue of $982M, up 116% YoY, DAUs up 23% YoY to 293M, and net loss shrunk 53% YoY to $152M 🔗

💲 #Intel Q2: revenue of $18.5B, up 2% YoY, vs. $17.8B est., Data Center Group revenue of $6.5B, down 9% YoY, while PC unit sales were up 33% YoY 🔗


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Apple Silicon in Apple Displays, Facebook in mixed reality, and Apple Music on Android
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 357

🖥 Sources: #Apple is testing a new external display with a dedicated #AppleSilicon that includes a Neural Engine 🔗


👉 #Facebook announces the #PassthroughAPI, which allows #Oculus Quest 2 developers to use real-world images collected via sensors to create mixed reality apps 🔗 #AR #VR


🎧 #AppleMusic brings its spatial audio and lossless streaming to #Android 🔗


🎮 #Facebook brings cloud gaming to #Apple devices with a web app 🔗


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​​China goes after big tech, Facebook goes after God, and Spotify’s new feed
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 358

🇨🇳 #China issues regulations for food delivery platforms, mandating minimum wage, respect for worker rights, and more, leading to #Meituan shares dropping by 14%+ 🔗


⛪️ As part of its expanded outreach to #US churches, #Facebook is offering subscription tools for exclusive content and donation tools during live streams 🔗


🎧 #Spotify adds an attention-grabbing ‘What’s New’ feed 🔗


👉 Leaked #Microsoft #SurfaceDuo 2 photos reveal new triple camera system 🔗


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​​Instagram’s latest features, Facebook’s steps to protect the youth, Clubhouse’s growth
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 359

👉 #Instagram announces changes for teen accounts, including making them private by default and restricting messages from “suspicious” adults 🔗


👉 #Instagram now supports 60-second videos on #Reels, its #TikTok clone 🔗


👉 #Facebook will restrict how advertisers can target users under 18 across Facebook, #Instagram, and #FacebookMessenger, only allowing age, gender, and location targeting 🔗


👋 #SensorTower: #Clubhouse had 484K global installs from July 21 to 25, up 17% from the previous five days, after moving from invite-only to general availability 🔗


👉 #WhatsApp reportedly developing #iOS to #Android transfer option for chat history 🔗


🧑‍⚖️ #eBay cyberstalking conspirator sentenced to 18 months in prison 🔗


🎧 #Spotify adds What’s New feed for all the artists and podcasts you follow 🔗


🐦 #Twitter is testing notices that tell you if your account is suspended or locked 🔗


#️⃣ #EarningsCalls

💲 #Apple Q3: revenue of $81.4B, up 36% YoY, net income of $21.7B, up from $11.2B YoY, Services sales of $17.4B, up from $13.2B YoY, iPhone sales of $39.6B 🔗


💲 #Microsoft Q4: revenue up 21% YoY to $46.2B, net income up 47% YoY to $16.5B, commercial cloud revenue up 36% YoY to $19.5B, LinkedIn revenue up 46% YoY 🔗


💲 #Alphabet Q2: revenue of $61.88B, up 62% YoY, operating income of $19.36B, up 31% YoY, #Google Cloud operating loss down to $591M 🔗


💲 #Spotify Q2: revenue of €2.3B, up 23% YoY, as ad revenue jumped 110% YoY to €275M; paying subscribers reached 165M, up 20% YoY, total MAUs reached 365M 🔗


💲 #Shopify Q2: revenue of $1.12B, up 57% YoY, surpassing $1B for the first time; gross merchandise volume was up 40% YoY to $42.2B 🔗


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Vaccine mandates, Robinhood’s IPO, and Google against “sugar dating”
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 360

💉 #Google says anyone coming to work at its campuses must be vaccinated, starting in the #US, and will delay the return to offices from September until mid-October 🔗
💉 #Facebook says it will require its #US staff be vaccinated before returning to offices this fall, and will work around medical or other #vaccine exemptions 🔗
💉 #Netflix will mandate #COVID19 vaccinations on productions in the #US 🔗


🐦 #Twitter closes its NY and SF offices, two weeks after reopening, and pauses further office reopenings, after “consideration of the CDC's updated guidelines” 🔗


🍎 In a memo, #Apple says it plans to restore a mask requirement for staff and customers at most of its #US retail stores on Thursday, due to rising COVID cases 🔗


🏹 #Robinhood raises $2.1B in its #IPO after selling 55M shares at the low end of its $38 to $42 range, giving it a valuation of $31.8B 🔗


🐦 #Twitter says it is testing Shop Module, a new shopping section that brands can add to the top of their profiles, launching in the #US on #iOS 🔗


📱 #Huawei’s P50 announced with #Snapdragon 888 and #HarmonyOS 🔗


🍬 #Google is kicking ‘sugar dating’ apps out of the #PlayStore 🔗


✳️ #Spotify’s #Clubhouse rival, #SpotifyGreenroom, tops 140K installs on #iOS, 100K on #Android 🔗


👻 #Snapchat adds My Places feature to #SnapMap, recommending spots to visit 🔗


#️⃣ #EarningsCalls

💲 #Facebook Q2: revenue of $29.08B, up 56% YoY, MAUs of 2.9B, up 7% YoY, headcount of 63,404, up 21% YoY 🔗


💲 #Samsung Q2: profit of $10.8B, up 54% YoY, on $55.2B revenue; its chips business accounted for nearly half the profit; mobile division revenue declined QoQ 🔗


💲 #Qualcomm Q3: revenue of $8B, up 63% YoY, net income of $2.2B, up 124% YoY, chip segment revenue of $6.47B, up 70% YoY, and a strong Q4 revenue forecast 🔗


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Binance is trying, Snapchat is crashing, and Amazon
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 361

💹 #Binance says it will wind down futures and derivatives trading in #Europe, amid regulatory pressure; users will have 90 days to close from a date specified later 🔗


👻 #Snap says it resolved an issue that prevented some #Snapchat users from logging in and advises users to manually update the app if the issue persists 🔗


🧠 #Neuralink, #ElonMusk's brain-computer interface company, raises $205M Series C led by Vy Capital, with GV and others participating 🔗


🇮🇷 #Hackers used never-before-seen wiper in recent attack on #Iran-ian train system 🔗


👉 #PayPal’s new ‘super app’ is ready to launch, will also include messaging 🔗


🕶 #Facebook’s next product will be its long-awaited #RayBan smart glasses 🔗


🇪🇺 #EU fines #Amazon a record $887 million over #privacy violations - #GDPR 🔗


#️⃣ #EarningsCalls

💲 #Amazon Q2: revenue of $113.08B vs. $115.2B est., net sales grew 27% YoY, net income of $7.8B, and AWS net sales of $14.8B, up 37% YoY 🔗


💲 #Pinterest Q2: misses on user growth with 454M MAUs vs. 482M est.; revenue beats the estimates with $613M, up 125%+ YoY, vs. $562.1M est. 🔗


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​​Square’s biggest acquisition, Zoom’s and Tesla’s settlements, and leaked Galaxy Watch photos
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 362

💰 #Square says it's buying #Australia-based buy now, pay later service #Afterpay for $29B in an all-stock deal, paying a 30% premium on Afterpay's last closing 🔗


👉 #Zoom agrees to pay $85M and bolster its security practices to settle a class action lawsuit over alleged user privacy violations and #Zoombombing 🔗


🇳🇬 #Nigeria is now second only to the #US in #bitcoin trading volume, hitting $2.4B in May from $684M in Dec. 2020, as the government tries and fails to curb its use 🔗


🇬🇧 Filings: #Starlink has secured a license to build a satellite ground station on the Isle of Man, aiming to provide “blanket coverage” across #GreatBritain 🔗


🐵 Profile of #BoredApeYachtClub, an #NFT collection that sold for $2M+ in April, spawned a collector community, and has since seen ~$100M in trading activity 🔗


💧 #Leaked #GalaxyWatch photos show #Samsung and #Google’s new smartwatch OS on an actual device 🔗


👉 #Telegram’s group video calls can now have up to 1,000 viewers 🔗


🚀 Watchdog dismisses #BlueOrigin’s challenge to #NASA’s lunar lander program in giving #SpaceX a contract 🔗


🔋 #Tesla agrees to pay $1.5 million to settle battery throttling lawsuit. Each affected owner will get $625 🔗


#️⃣ #EarningsCalls

💲 #Square Q2: revenue of $4.88B, up 143% YoY, while its #CashApp service's #bitcoin yearly revenue was $2.72B, up 200% 🔗


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Google’s new Pixels and SoC, cheaper Spotify, and Twitter’s evolution
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 363

👉 #Google unveils #Pixel 6, with 6.4" 90Hz display, and Pixel 6 Pro, with 6.7" 120Hz display and 4x optical zoom, with a Google-designed #Tensor SoC, coming in fall 🔗


🎧 #Spotify says it is testing a $0.99/month tier, called Spotify Plus, which includes ads but no limits on skipping tracks or picking songs 🔗


📺 #YouTube ‘Premium Lite’ subscription offers ad-free viewing for less - around €6.99, compared to €11.99 🔗


🐦 #Twitter partners with #Reuters and the #AP, who will provide context and highlight links from trusted sources for Trends, Moments, Search, and more 🔗


🐦 #Twitter adds third-party signup with #Apple or #Google 🔗


😷 #Facebook to require all #US on-campus staff to wear masks starting on Aug. 4, regardless of vaccination status, citing rising #COVID19 cases and local regulations 🔗


📱 #Xiaomi overtakes #Samsung to take top spot in European phone shipments in Q2 2021 🔗


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​​WhatsApp’s latest feature, Facebook’s API, and Apple’s redesign
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 364

👉 #WhatsApp is rolling out a View Once feature for photos and videos that disappear from the chat after the recipient opens it 🔗


👉 #Facebook says it has disabled the accounts, apps, Pages, and access to its APIs for researchers running #NYU's #AdObservatoryProject, citing TOS violations 🔗


🇨🇦 #Apple and #Affirm's PayBright will launch a “buy now, pay later” program for iPhone, Mac, and iPad purchases in #Canada on Aug. 11, according to a staff message 🔗


👉 #Microsoft pauses free #Windows365 cloud PC trials after ‘significant demand’ 🔗


🍎 #Apple launches big redesign of its online store 🔗


👻 #Snapchat knows when you were born if you used it to check your horoscope 🔗


👉 #GoogleMaps on #iOS adds live location sharing in iMessage, home screen widget, and dark mode 🔗


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Apple’s privacy intrusion, Twitter’s co-host in Spaces, and Netflix in the UK
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 365

🍎 Security experts voice #privacy concerns over #Apple's new plan to scan users' devices for child abuse images, saying governments will likely increase its scope 🔗
🕵️ In addition to scanning for known child abuse photos, #Apple will also begin using on-device #ML to warn parents and kids of sexually explicit photos in Messages 🔗


👉 In a letter to #MarkZuckerberg, the #FTC called #Facebook's initial claim it cut off #NYU researchers' access to comply with an FTC privacy agreement “inaccurate” 🔗


🐦 #TwitterSpaces launches a co-hosting feature, which will now allow rooms to have one host, up to two co-hosts, and ten additional speakers active at once 🔗


🍎🇮🇳 #Apple's first physical store in #India, announced for this year in Mumbai, is delayed because of the #COVID19 pandemic 🔗


✋ #Amazon delays its return to offices from September 3 to January 3, 2022 🔗


📺🇬🇧 #Ofcom study: #Netflix's #UK customer base is now bigger than the total of all UK pay-TV subs; UK has 31M subscribers to streaming services, up from 20M in 2019 🔗


🧑‍⚖️🇮🇳 #Twitter tells #India's High Court it has appointed permanent executives to comply with the new IT rules, after the court criticised its “total noncompliance” 🔗


💰 #Cent, the platform that #JackDorsey used to sell his first tweet as an #NFT, raises $3M 🔗


✍️ #SteveJobs’ biographer #WalterIsaacson is writing a book about #ElonMusk, says Elon Musk 🔗


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Apple explaining itself, Twitter complying more, and Instagram going after more ads
Tech, Media, and Business News Headlines — issue no. 366

🍎 #Apple publishes a #CSAM FAQ to address misconceptions and concerns about photo scanning 🔗


🐦 #Twitter's photo cropping algorithm favours people with slimmer, younger-looking faces, and lighter skin; a researcher was awarded $3,500 for the discovery 🔗


🐦🇮🇳 #Twitter now in compliance with #India’s new IT rules, government says 🔗


🗝 #Google adds #NFC to its #TitanSecurityKey lineup, with a USB-C model available for $35 and a USB-A model for $30, and discontinues the Bluetooth-based model 🔗


📱 #Apple’s 2021 #iPhone will reportedly have a video portrait mode 🔗


🛍 #Instagram is now testing ads in the Shop tab 🔗


📅 #Facebook’s updated data transfer tool can port events to #GoogleCalendar 🔗


👉 #Samsung billionaire heir #JayYLee gets parole, will be released from prison Friday 🔗


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