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The Verge
Creandum closes $300M fund for early-stage investments out of Europe 21 hours ago – As one European VC raises a fund to double down on bigger growth rounds in Europe, another has closed a fund to continue focusing on early-stage investments. Stocklhom-founded Creandum, an early backer of companies like Spotify and iZettle, has closed a fifth fund €265 million ($300 million). The...
Carrefour sale shifts the balance of power in China’s new retail battle 21 hours ago – Hot on the heels of Amazon’s decision to shutter its local marketplace, Carrefour — another global commerce giant — is switching up its approach to China, and shifting the balance of power between the country’s tech giants. Carrefour, which is Europe’s largest retailer, sold a majority 80% stake ...
Facebook makes another push to shape and define its own oversight 21 hours ago – Facebook’s head of global spin and policy, former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, will give a speech later today providing more detail of the company’s plan to set up an ‘independent’ external oversight board to which people can appeal content decisions so that Facebook itself is not the sol...
Climate change, AI and ethical leadership in ‘big tech’, with Amazon principal UX design lead Maren Costa 17 hours ago – “I just want to be proud of the company that I work for,” Maren Costa told me recently. Costa is a Principal UX Design Lead at Amazon, for which she has worked since 2002. I was referred to her because of her leadership in the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group I covered earlier this […]
Google’s new media literacy program teaches kids how to spot disinformation and fake news 17 hours ago – Google announced this morning it’s expanding its two-year-old digital safety and citizenship curriculum for children, “Be Internet Awesome,” to now include media literacy — specifically, the ability to identify so-called “fake news” and other false content. The company is launching six new media ...
EU-US Privacy Shield legal showdown now set for July 9 18 hours ago – A legal challenge to a data transfer mechanism that’s used by thousands of companies to authorize taking European citizens’ personal data to the US for processing has been delayed. As we reported last month, the General Court of the EU had set a date of July 1 and 2 to hear the complaint brought ...
Apple says Spotify exaggerated how much ‘App Store tax’ it pays 11 hours ago – In March, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission over the so-called “Apple tax” and claims of restrictive rules regarding the App Store. In the time since, Apple has responded with the launch of a website that takes aim at the anti-trust, anti-competitive claims agai...
This robot crawls along wind turbine blades looking for invisible flaws 11 hours ago – Wind turbines are a great source of clean power*, but their apparent simplicity — just a big thing that spins — belie complex systems that wear down like any other, and can fail with disastrous consequences. Sandia National Labs researchers have created a robot that can inspect the enormous blades...
This robot crawls along wind turbine blades looking for invisible flaws 11 hours ago –
* complete with infrasound, gearbox failures, and actual production a small fraction of 'rated capacity' - which is erratic and fails for extended periods
WordPress management site WP Engine acquires Flywheel as it moves to a $1B valuation and IPO 12 hours ago – WordPress now accounts for 34 percent of all websites globally, and today one of the key companies that helps handle the creation and management of some of those WP-hosted sites is getting a little bigger through some consolidation in the wider ecosystem. WP Engine, which works with businesses to...
The Verge
Microsoft bans Slack and discourages AWS and Google Docs use internally 3 days ago – Microsoft has banned the use of the free version of Slack for its 100,000+ employees. GeekWire reports that Microsoft has a list of prohibited apps and services, and even Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Docs are “discouraged for use” inside the company. The Slack ban isn’t primarily driven b...
iRobot acquired education-focused company Root Robotics 2 days ago – iRobot is best known for its robots used in the home, and now it’s looking to enter the classroom with a new acquisition. The company has announced that it has acquired Root Robotics, which sells a robot and platform that helps children learn how to code. Root Robotics originated as a research p...
Photobucket still has your photos, and it wants you to come back 17 hours ago – When the 10-year challenge went viral earlier this year, everyone who wanted to brag about how hot they used to be had the same idea for where to find those nostalgic photos: legacy photo hosting site Photobucket, which saw a massive uptick in traffic that week. “We found that people were like, ‘...
Amazon’s Echo Show 5 is the smart alarm clock to get 18 hours ago – The right size, features, and price make the Echo Show 5 tough to beat Continue reading…
Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs unveils its high-tech ‘city-within-a-city’ plan for Toronto 13 hours ago – Sidewalk Labs, Alphabet’s smart city subsidiary, released its massive plan Monday to transform a slice of Toronto’s waterfront into a high-tech utopia. Eighteen months in the making and clocking in at 1,524 pages, the plan represents Alphabet’s first, high-stakes effort to realize Alphabet CEO La...
14 hours ago – Last week, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Niantic’s magical-themed follow-up to Pokémon Go, launched a day early, but the rollout was limited to users in the US and UK. Over the last few days, the launch has become much more global. Right now, the game is available in more than 140 countries, spann...
Amazon Prime Day 2019 sales start on July 15th 2 hours ago – Amazon Prime Day is back on July 15th for the biggest sale event in Amazon’s annual tradition of deals and discounts. And this year, Amazon is stretching the definition of Prime “Day” even further: the deals will last a full 48 hours, beginning on Monday July 15th at 12AM PT / 3AM ET, and running...