Bookmarks (9736)

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: Kuo: 14" and 16" MacBook Pros coming in 2021 with Apple Silicon, MagSafe charging, no Touch Bar, new design with squared-off sides and more built-in IO ports  —  Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today released some interesting details about the upcoming MacBook Pro.

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Nayya, which uses AI to help guide employees in selecting a health plan offered by their employers, raises $11M Series A led by Felicis Ventures  —  Nayya, an insurance benefits management platform, today announced it has closed $11 million in a series A round led by Felicis Ventures.

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: X1 Card, which offers a credit card with limits based on current and future income instead of credit score, raises $12M funding round led by Spark Capital  —  X1 Card is raising a $12 million funding round.  The company is building a credit card that sets limits based on your current and future income, not your credit score.

FinSMEs: Computational diagnostics startup Paige raises $100M Series C led by Casdin Capital and Johnson & Johnson Innovation  —  Paige, a NYC-based AI-powered digital diagnostics company, raised $100m in Series C funding.  —  The round was led by Casdin Capital and Johnson & Johnson Innovation …

Rebecca Klar / The Hill: Hagens Berman files suit against Amazon alleging it colluded with five big publishers to fix eBook prices; Hagens Berman previously sued Apple for the same  —  Amazon is accused of fixing the price of e-books sold on the e-commerce site through anticompetitive agreements …

Adam Satariano / New York Times: After Facebook and Twitter suspended Trump's account, activists and human rights groups have urged the companies to apply their policies evenly around the world  —  Human rights groups and activists have spent years urging the companies to do more to remove content that encouraged violence.

Mitchell Clark / The Verge: Intel updates its NUC desktop line with 11th-gen processors, adds a gaming-focused model called NUC 11 Enthusiast, and a NUC Pro line that can drive 8K displays  —  Intel's NUC 11 line is here, and it packs up to an RTX 2060  —  Intel is updating its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) …

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends: Samsung debuts the Galaxy Book Flex2 5G, its first 5G laptop, featuring a 2-in-1 design, 11th-gen Intel CPUs, S Pen stylus, for preorder in the UK from £1,649  —  Samsung has announced the finalized launch details for the Galaxy Book Flex2 5G 2-in-1 Windows laptop.

Kate Clark / The Information: Source: Sequoia Capital recently bought shares of online automation firm Zapier from its founders on the secondary market, with the sale valuing Zapier at $4B+  —  Zapier isn't a household name in Silicon Valley, but the world's top venture capitalists have long been trying to own a piece of the booming enterprise software firm.

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: Facebook says it has filed a suit against the makers of four malicious Chrome extensions used for scraping user data and other info from Facebook's website  —  Facebook has taken legal action against the makers of malicious Chrome extensions used for scraping user-profiles and other information …

Jared Council / Wall Street Journal: IBM says it will acquire Taos, an IT firm that helps companies migrate from in-house servers to cloud infrastructure; terms of the deal were not disclosed  —  Deal marks latest step in IBM's mission to bring customers into cloud era, in which software and data are accessed online

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: Apple has removed a controversial feature in macOS 11.2 beta 2 that allowed its own apps to bypass third-party firewalls, security tools, and VPNs  —  The ContentFilterExclusionList has been removed in macOS 11.2 beta 2.  —  Apple has removed a controversial feature from the macOS operating system …

Mike Stone / Reuters: The Trump admin adds Xiaomi, along with 8 other Chinese firms, to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, forcing US investors to divest by Nov. 11  —  The Trump administration on Thursday added nine Chinese firms to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies …

Hugh Son / CNBC: Accolade, a health care service for employees to manage benefits, is buying telemedicine startup 2nd.MD for up to $460M, in a split cash and stock deal  —  - Accolade is close to announcing the acquisition of Houston-based Innovation Specialists, parent company of 2nd.MD, for about $460 million …

Bloomberg: Netflix diversity report: women make up 47.1% of its global workforce; 8% of US staff are Black, more than 2x the share in 2017; 8.1% of employees are Hispanic  —  Netflix Inc. has made gains in adding women and minorities to its workforce over the past three years, vaulting it past Silicon Valley peers …

John Callaham / Android Authority: Asus announces Chromebook Flip CX9 for enterprises, with Titan C security, and CX5 for students, both equipped with Intel 11th-gen Core i7 and Iris Xe graphics  —  - Asus announced new Chromebook Flip models today as part of CES 2021.  — The Chromebook Flip CX5 Chromebook is targeting students …

Jay Peters / The Verge: What to expect from Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event: Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra, with S Pen support, Galaxy Buds Pro, SmartTag, and more  —  Three new phones, new earbuds, an item tracker, and more  —  Samsung's next Unpacked event is less than a day away, kicking off on January 14th at 10AM ET …

Isabelle Kirkwood / BetaKit: Ontario-based Prodigy Education, which offers an e-learning platform and math-focused games for elementary and middle school students, raises $159M CAD Series B  —  Oakville, Ont.-based EdTech startup Prodigy Education, which offers an e-learning platform and math-focused games for elementary …

Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg: Report: VC funding in the US reached a record high of $130B in 2020, up 14% YoY, but the total number of deals fell to 6,022, down for the second year in a row  —  What began as a desperate year for startups, characterized by mass layoffs as the pandemic took hold, has turned into a record venture capital funding...

Mercedes Ruehl / Financial Times: Grab raises $300M led by Hanwha Asset Management for its financial services business, which spun out of Grab in 2018 and is now valued at $3B  —  New firepower comes as group faces an increasingly competitive landscape in south-east Asia  —  Grab, the south-east Asian ride-hailing and food delivery app …

The Guardian: Audio and chat logs of walkie-talkie app Zello reveal some Capitol rioters communicated via the app; Zello says it has now deleted 2K+ militia-related channels  —  Audio and chat logs show insurrectionists communicated via the app, which has avoided proactive content moderation

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Telehealth startup NeuroFlow, which uses applied AI to treat patients with behavioral health conditions, raises $20M Series B led by Magellan Health  —  NeuroFlow, a digital health company combining workflow automation, patient engagement solutions and services, and applied AI to promote behavioral health …

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post: Jack Dorsey says Trump ban was the right decision for Twitter, but reflects a “failure” to promote healthy conversation and sets a dangerous precedent  —  Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained in a tweetstorm that the company faced an ‘extraordinary and untenable circumstance’

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch: Japan-based SODA, which operates sneaker reselling marketplace SNKRDUNK, raises $22M Series B led by SoftBank Ventures Asia  —  Tokyo-based SODA, which runs sneaker reselling platform SNKRDUNK, has raised a $22 million Series B led by SoftBank Ventures Asia.

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: Facebook says it's removing posts of fliers promoting events leading up to Biden's inauguration, echoing warnings from law enforcement about another attack  —  - Company says it's working with officials to flag gatherings  — Terrorism, cyber experts helping find images calling for harm

Sara Fischer / Axios: Snapchat says it will permanently ban Trump's account on January 20 in the interest of public safety and based on repeated violations of Snapchat's guidelines  —  Snapchat will permanently ban President Trump's account on Jan. 20, Axios has learned, after locking it indefinitely last week following the Capitol siege.

Megan Graham / CNBC: Google says it will pause political ads, and those referencing “impeachment, inauguration or protests at the US Capitol” on all its platforms starting Jan. 14  —  - Google is suspending political ads along with any reference to “impeachment, inauguration or protests at the U.S. Capitol” beginning Thursday.

Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters: In an interview, Parler CEO John Matze says he is not sure whether the social network will ever return after being cut off by service providers  —  (Reuters) - Social media platform Parler, which has gone dark after being cut off by major service providers that accused the app of failing …

Bloomberg: Sources: Poshmark is pricing its IPO at $42 per share, raising $277M, up from its $35-$39 price initially noted in an earlier filing  —  - Online marketplace is raising $277 million in share sale  — Poshmark IPO follows trading debut by consumer lender Affirm

Mike Butcher / TechCrunch: UK-based Weezy, whose grocery delivery app claims delivery in 15 minutes, raises $20M Series A led by Left Lane Capital  —  Weezy — an on-demand supermarket that delivers groceries in fast times such as 15 minutes — has raised $20 million in a Series A funding led by New York-based venture capital fund Left Lane Capital.

Axios: YouTube says it has taken down newly posted video content from Trump for violating its policies against inciting violence, bans new uploads for a week  —  YouTube said Tuesday that it has taken down newly posted video content from President Trump for violating its policies against inciting violence.

Arjun Kharpal / CNBC: Source: Chinese video platform Bilibili files for a secondary Hong Kong listing, which could raise over $2B  —  - Chinese video platform Bilibili has confidentially filed for a secondary listing in Hong Kong, a source close to the matter told CNBC.  — CNBC reported last week that the listing could raise over $2 billion.

Will Oremus / OneZero: Facebook has long embraced a “view from nowhere”, favoring political neutrality, but comments from Instagram's head suggest that agnostic stance is changing  —  Trump's extremism is forcing tech companies to abandon the pretense of political objectivity — for now

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: Interview with Dr. Lisa Su, AMD's CEO, on the new Ryzen 5000 Series Mobile lineup, Apple's M1 chip, supply shortages, AMD's acquisition of Xilinx, and more  —  Following the keynote press conference, AMD invited a number of key press partners for some Q&A time with Dr. Lisa Su.

Billy Steele / Engadget: Outdoor grill company Weber has acquired smart oven startup June for undisclosed sum; June worked previously to help develop Weber's smart grilling system  —  Weber enlisted June, the company behind the June smart ovens, to help it build Weber Connect.  That platform powers …

Maggie Miller / The Hill: European Medicines Agency says that hackers leaked third-party documents on COVID-19 vaccines and medicines as part of a breach discovered late last year  —  The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced Tuesday that hackers had leaked information on COVID-19 vaccines stolen as part of a breach discovered late last year.

Bloomberg: Sources: Affirm priced its IPO at $49 per share, above the marketed range of $33 to $38 set earlier this week, raising roughly $1.2B  —  - Affirm attains diluted valuation of about $15 billion  — Consumers use Affirm to finance Peloton bikes, other items

Gavin Bonshor / AnandTech: AMD says it will now directly sell Threadripper Pro CPUs to consumers, which support up to 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes and eight-channel memory, starting in March  —  Stepping out of its supposed ‘exclusivity deal’ with Lenovo, who had the first rights to Threadripper Pro in the ThinkStation P620 …

Dave Nyczepir / FedScoop: White House launches the National AI Initiative Office, which will implement national AI strategy and coordinate research across gov., industry, and academia  —  The White House on Tuesday fulfilled its requirement to establish an office responsible for coordinating artificial intelligence research …

Zoe Schiffer / The Verge: Report: GitHub fired an employee who used the term “Nazis” in an internal Slack during the US Capitol riot; ~200 staff signed a letter questioning the firing  —  Roughly 200 employees have signed an open letter asking for answers  —  GitHub reportedly fired a Jewish employee …

Anna Schecter / NBC News: How right-wing extremists are using Telegram channels, including some affiliated with Proud Boys, to call for violence against government officials on Jan. 20  —  Right-wing extremists are using channels on the encrypted communication app Telegram to call for violence against government officials on Jan. 20 …

Sean O'Kane / The Verge: Sources: Apple held talks with EV startup Canoo in 2020; Apple was largely interested in Canoo's unique scalable electric vehicle platform  —  As part of the Silicon Valley giant's secretive push into the automotive space  —  Apple held meetings with California EV startup Canoo in the first half …

Pew Research Center: Survey of 9,220 US adults: 53% get news from social media at least sometimes; 36% regularly get news from Facebook, 23% from YouTube, 15% from Twitter  —  Facebook stands out as a regular source of news for about a third of Americans … As social media companies struggle to deal …

Wall Street Journal: Visa is abandoning its $5.3B planned acquisition of fintech firm Plaid after the DOJ sued over antitrust concerns in November  —  Justice Department sued in November to challenge $5.3 billion deal  —  Visa Inc. is abandoning its $5.3 billion planned acquisition of Plaid Inc. …

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: E-commerce infrastructure startup Nacelle closes $18M Series A led by Inovia, after closing a $4.8M seed round in mid-2020  —  Consumer online shopping habits have led to a windfall of revenues for these web storefronts, but COVID-era trends have also breathed new life into the market …

Katie Roof / Bloomberg: CEO of London-based payments company Checkout.com says it raised $450M in funding led by Tiger Global at a $15B post-money valuation, up from $5.5B last year  —  - London-based fintech's funding round led by Tiger Global  — Valuation after investment nearly triple last year's

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: Intel previews 14nm Rocket Lake Core i9-11900K, its next consumer flagship processor, coming in Q1, promises up to 50% better integrated graphics performance  —  Spending five generations on the same base microarchitecture is a long time.  The excitement can be sustained through optimizing a process node …

Monica Chin / The Verge: Lenovo announces ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga: less than half an inch thick, 2K touch display with 450 nits of brightness, 11th-gen Intel i7 vPro, starts at $1,899  —  Plus a new X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga  —  Lenovo announced a bunch of additions to its ThinkPad line today, headlined by the new X1 Titanium Yoga.

Twitter: Twitter says it has suspended over 70,000 accounts involved in spreading harmful QAnon-associated content since Friday  —  Following the horrific events in Washington, DC, last week, here are some of the steps we've taken to protect the conversation on our service from attempts to incite violence …

Emily Czachor / Newsweek: North Idaho ISP Your T1 WIFI will block Facebook and Twitter for customers that request it after it received complaints over censorship  —  Your T1 WiFi, an internet service provider based in northwestern Idaho, will implement firewalls that restrict access to Facebook and Twitter at its customers' requests.