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Facebook bans ‘violent network’ of far-right boogaloo accounts Facebook took action to remove a network of accounts Tuesday related to the “boogaloo” movement, a firearm-obsessed anti-government ideology that focuses on preparing for and potentially inciting a U.S. civil war. “As part of today’s action, we are designating a violent US-based anti-government network under our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy and disrupting it on […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook bans ‘violent network’ of far-right boogaloo accounts July 1, 2020 at 07:00AM

What 👁👄👁.fm means for Silicon Valley VCs should take note. These are the people who will build the next Facebook. Social – TechCrunch - What 👁👄👁.fm means for Silicon Valley July 1, 2020 at 07:00AM

Apple device management company Jamf files S-1 as it prepares to go public Jamf, the Apple device management company, filed to go public today. Jamf might not be a household name, but the Minnesota company has been around since 2002 helping companies manage their Apple equipment. In the early days, that was Apple computers. Later it expanded to also manage iPhones and iPads. The company launched at a […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Apple device management company Jamf files S-1 as it prepares to go public July 1, 2020 at 07:00AM

With advertiser boycott growing, lawmakers press Facebook on white supremacy In a new letter to Mark Zuckerberg, three Democratic lawmakers pressed the Facebook chief executive for accountability on his company’s role in amplifying white supremacy and allowing violent extremists, like those in “boogaloo” groups, to organize on its platform. Citing the “long-overdue” national reckoning around racial injustice, Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Mark Warner (D-VA), and […] Social – TechCrunch - With advertiser boycott growing, lawmakers press Facebook on white supremacy July 1, 2020 at 04:00AM

Facebook says it will prioritize original reporting and ‘transparent authorship’ in the News Feed Facebook announced this morning that stories with original reporting will get a boost in the News Feed, while publications that don’t clearly credit their editorial staff will be demoted. The change comes as a number of high-profile companies have said that they will pull their advertising from Facebook as part of the #StopHateforProfit campaign, organized […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook says it will prioritize original reporting and ‘transparent authorship’ in the News Feed July 1, 2020 at 12:04AM

Fivetran snares $100M Series C on $1.2B valuation for data connectivity solution A big problem for companies these days is finding ways to connect to various data sources to their data repositories, and Fivetran is a startup with a solution to solve that very problem. No surprise then that even during a pandemic, the company announced today that it has raised $100 million Series C on a […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Fivetran snares $100M Series C on $1.2B valuation for data connectivity solution July 1, 2020 at 12:04AM

Hunters raises $15M Series A for its threat-hunting platform Hunters, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup that helps enterprises defend themselves from intruders and analyze attacks, today announced that it has raised a $15 million Series A funding round from Microsoft’s M12 and U.S. Venture Partners. Seed investors YL Ventures and Blumberg Captial also participated in this round, as well as new investor Okta Ventures, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Hunters raises $15M Series A for its threat-hunting platform June 30, 2020 at 11:00PM

Kong donates its Kuma control plane to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation API management platform Kong today announced that it is donating its open-source Kuma control plane technology to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). Since Kong built Kuma on top of the Envoy service mesh — and Envoy is part of the CNCF’s stable of open-source projects — donating it to this specific foundation was likely […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Kong donates its Kuma control plane to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation June 30, 2020 at 11:00PM

TikTok goes down in India, its biggest overseas market A growing number of internet service providers in India have started to block their subscribers from accessing TikTok a day after New Delhi banned the popular short-video app and 58 other services in the world’s second largest internet market over security and privacy concerns. Many users on Airtel, Vodafone and other service providers reported Tuesday […] Social – TechCrunch - TikTok goes down in India, its biggest overseas market June 30, 2020 at 10:00PM

Upsolver announces $13M Series A to ease management of cloud data lakes There’s a lot of complexity around managing data lakes in the cloud that often requires expensive engineering expertise. Upsolver, an early stage startup, wants to simplify all of that, so that a database administrator could handle it. Today the startup announced a $13 million Series A. Vertex Ventures US was lead investor with participation from […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Upsolver announces $13M Series A to ease management of cloud data lakes June 30, 2020 at 10:00PM

Facebook launches Avatars, its Bitmoji competitor, in India Facebook Avatars, which lets users customize a virtual lookalike of themselves for use as stickers in chat and comments, is now available in India, the social juggernaut’s biggest market by users account. The American firm said Tuesday it had launched Avatars to India as more social interaction moves online amid a nationwide lockdown in the […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook launches Avatars, its Bitmoji competitor, in India June 30, 2020 at 06:00PM

CodeGuru, AWS’s AI code reviewer and performance profiler, is now generally available AWS today announced that CodeGuru, a set of tools that use machine learning to automatically review code for bugs and suggest potential optimizations, is now generally available. The tool launched into preview at AWS re:Invent last December. CodeGuru consists of two tools, Reviewer and Profiler, and those names pretty much describe exactly what they do. […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - CodeGuru, AWS’s AI code reviewer and performance profiler, is now generally available June 30, 2020 at 08:00AM

YouTube bans David Duke, Richard Spencer and other white nationalist accounts YouTube just took action against a collection of controversial figures synonymous with race-based hate, kicking six major channels off its platform for violating its rules. The company deleted six channels on Monday: Richard Spencer‘s own channel and the affiliated channel for the National Policy Institute/Radix Journal, far right racist pseudo-science purveyor Stefan Molyneux, white supremacist outlet […] Social – TechCrunch - YouTube bans David Duke, Richard Spencer and other white nationalist accounts June 30, 2020 at 07:00AM

Trump suspended from Twitch, as Reddit bans the ‘The_Donald’ and additional subreddits Two big new pieces of news today from the ongoing battle between social media and politics. Both Twitch and Reddit have made moves against political content, citing violations of terms of service. Twitch confirmed today that it has temporarily suspended the president’s account. “Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch,” a spokesperson for the streaming […] Social – TechCrunch - Trump suspended from Twitch, as Reddit bans the ‘The_Donald’ and additional subreddits June 30, 2020 at 04:00AM

Daily Crunch: Facebook faces an advertiser revolt Facebook takes (small) steps to improve its content policies as advertisers join a broad boycott, founder Alexis Ohanian is leaving Initialized Capital and Waze gets a new look. Here’s your Daily Crunch for June 29, 2020. 1. As advertisers revolt, Facebook commits to flagging ‘newsworthy’ political speech that violates policy In a live-streamed segment of […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook faces an advertiser revolt June 30, 2020 at 02:00AM

Mobile developer Tru Luv enlists investors to help build a more inclusive alternative to gaming Developer and programmer Brie Code has worked at the peak of the video game industry – she was responsible for many of the AI systems that powered non-player character (NPC) behavior in the extremely popular Assassin’s Creed series created by Ubisoft. It’s obvious that gaming isn’t for everyone, but Code became more and more interested […] Social – TechCrunch - Mobile developer Tru Luv enlists investors to help build a more inclusive alternative to gaming June 29, 2020 at 11:00PM

Facebook expands its fan subscription program Facebook is expanding the availability of the tools it offers to help game streamers and other online creators make money. The social network first launched fan subscriptions in early 2018, giving a small group of creators in the United States and the United Kingdom the ability to charge their fans a $4.99 monthly fee for […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook expands its fan subscription program June 29, 2020 at 11:00PM

WWDC20: Wrap up and recommended talks Packed Sessions, hands-on labs, and a look forward to next year Hacking with Swift - WWDC20: Wrap up and recommended talks June 29, 2020 at 12:02AM

Newzoo forecasts 2020 global games industry will reach $159 billion Games and esports analytics firm Newzoo released its highly cited annual report on the size and state of the video gaming industry yesterday. The firm is predicting 2020 global game industry revenue from consumers of $159.3 billion, a 9.3% increase year-over-year. Newzoo predicts the market will surpass $200 billion by the end of 2023. Importantly, […] Social – TechCrunch - Newzoo forecasts 2020 global games industry will reach $159 billion June 27, 2020 at 08:00AM

As advertisers revolt, Facebook commits to flagging ‘newsworthy’ political speech that violates policy As advertisers pull away from Facebook to protest the social networking giant’s hands-off approach to misinformation and hate speech, the company is instituting a number of stronger policies to woo them back. In a livestreamed segment of the company’s weekly all-hands meeting, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recapped some of the steps Facebook is already taking, and announced […] Social – TechCrunch - As advertisers revolt, Facebook commits to flagging ‘newsworthy’ political speech that violates policy June 27, 2020 at 05:00AM

Fleetsmith customers unhappy with loss of third-party app support after Apple acquisition When Apple confirmed it had acquired Fleetsmith, a mobile device management vendor, on Wednesday, it seemed like a straightforward purchase, but Fleetsmith customers quickly learned a key piece of functionality had stopped working  — and many weren’t happy about it. Apple systems administrators began complaining on social media on the morning of the acquisition announcement […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Fleetsmith customers unhappy with loss of third-party app support after Apple acquisition June 27, 2020 at 05:00AM

Running a queer dating startup amid a pandemic and racial justice uprising The events of the past few months have shaken the lives of everyone, but especially Black people in the U.S. COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted members of the Black community while police violence has recently claimed the lives of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and others.  Two weeks ago, two Black transgender women, […] Social – TechCrunch - Running a queer dating startup amid a pandemic and racial justice uprising June 27, 2020 at 04:00AM

CIO Cynthia Stoddard explains Adobe’s journey from boxes to the cloud Up until 2013, Adobe sold its software in cardboard boxes that were distributed mostly by third party vendors. Enterprise – TechCrunch - CIO Cynthia Stoddard explains Adobe’s journey from boxes to the cloud June 27, 2020 at 03:00AM

Facebook will show users a pop-up warning before they share an outdated story Facebook announced Thursday that it would introduce a notification screen warning users if they try to share content that’s more than 90 days old. They’ll be given the choice to “go back” or to click through if they’d still like to share the story knowing that it isn’t fresh. Facebook acknowledged that old stories shared […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook will show users a pop-up warning before they share an outdated story June 26, 2020 at 02:00AM

Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan will speak at Disrupt 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has bruised and battered many technology startups, but it has also boosted a small few. One such company is Zoom, which has shouldered the task of keeping us connected to one another in the midst of remote work and social distancing. So, of course, we’re absolutely thrilled to have the chance to […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan will speak at Disrupt 2020 June 26, 2020 at 12:03AM

Salesforce announces a new mobile collaboration tool for sales called Anywhere Even before the pandemic pushed most employees to work from home, sales people often worked outside of the office. Salesforce introduced a new tool today at the Trailheadx Conference called Salesforce Anywhere that’s designed to let teams collaborate and share data wherever they happen to be. Salesforce VP of product, Michael Machado says that the […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Salesforce announces a new mobile collaboration tool for sales called Anywhere June 26, 2020 at 12:03AM

Privacy not a blocker for “meaningful” research access to platform data, says report European lawmakers are eyeing binding transparency requirements for Internet platforms in a Digital Services Act (DSA) due to be drafted by the end of the year. But the question of how to create governance structures that provide regulators and researchers with meaningful access to data so platforms can be held accountable for the content they’re […] Social – TechCrunch - Privacy not a blocker for “meaningful” research access to platform data, says report June 25, 2020 at 10:00PM

Why AWS built a no-code tool AWS today launched Amazon Honeycode, a no-code environment built around a spreadsheet-like interface that is a bit of a detour for Amazon’s cloud service. Typically, after all, AWS is all about giving developers all of the tools to build their applications — but they then have to put all of the pieces together. Honeycode, on […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Why AWS built a no-code tool June 25, 2020 at 09:00AM

AWS launches Amazon Honeycode, a no-code mobile and web app builder AWS today announced the beta launch of Amazon Honeycode, a new, fully managed low-code/no-code development tool that aims to make it easy for anybody in a company to build their own applications. All of this, of course, is backed by a database in AWS and a web-based, drag-and-drop interface builder. Developers can build applications for […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - AWS launches Amazon Honeycode, a no-code mobile and web app builder June 25, 2020 at 06:00AM

Dell’s debt hangover from $67B EMC deal could put VMware stock in play When Dell bought EMC in 2016 for $67 billion it was one of the biggest acquisitions in tech history, and it brought with it a boatload of debt. Since then Dell has been working on ways to mitigate that debt by selling off various pieces of the corporate empire and going public again, but one […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Dell’s debt hangover from $67B EMC deal could put VMware stock in play June 25, 2020 at 05:00AM

Apple has acquired Fleetsmith, a startup that helps IT manage Apple devices remotely At a time where IT has to help employees set up and manage devices remotely, a service that simplifies those processes could certainly come in handy. Apple recognized that, and acquired Fleetsmith today, a startup that helps companies do precisely that with Apple devices. While Apple didn’t publicize the acquisition, it has confirmed the deal […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Apple has acquired Fleetsmith, a startup that helps IT manage Apple devices remotely June 25, 2020 at 02:00AM

Slack announces Connect, an improved way for companies to talk to one another Virtual events are the new norm for product rollouts in 2020, with Slack taking to the internet earlier today to talk about a new part of its service called Slack Connect. On the heels of Apple’s lengthy and pretty good virtual WWDC that took place earlier this week, Slack’s event, part experiment and part press conference, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Slack announces Connect, an improved way for companies to talk to one another June 25, 2020 at 02:00AM

Databricks acquires Redash, a visualizations service for data scientists Data and analytics service Databricks today announced that it has acquired Redash, a company that helps data scientists and analysts visualize their data and build dashboards around it. Redash’s customers include the likes of Atlassian, Cloudflare, Mozilla and Soundcloud and the company offers both an open source self-hosted version of its tools, as well as […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Databricks acquires Redash, a visualizations service for data scientists June 25, 2020 at 01:00AM

Airtable’s Howie Liu to join us at Disrupt 2020 Collaborative enterprise software is absolutely booming, and Airtable is riding that wave in a very real way. The company, which offers a flexible, collaborative database product, has raised more than $170 million in funding from investors like CRV, Benchmark, Coatue Management, and Thrive Capital. So it should come as no surprise that we’re simply thrilled […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Airtable’s Howie Liu to join us at Disrupt 2020 June 24, 2020 at 11:00PM

Lightrun raises $4M for its continuous debugging and observability platform Lightrun, a Tel Aviv-based startup that makes it easier for developers to debug their production code, today announced that it has raised a $4 million seed round led by Glilot Capital Partners, with participation from a number fo engineering executives from several Fortune 500 firms. The company, which was co-founded by Ilan Peleg (who, in […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Lightrun raises $4M for its continuous debugging and observability platform June 24, 2020 at 11:00PM

Suse launches version 2.0 of its Cloud Foundry-based Cloud Application Platform Suse, the well-known German open-source company that went through more corporate owners than anybody can remember until it finally became independent again in 2019, has long been a champion of Cloud Foundry, the open-source platform-as-a-service project. And while you may think of Suse as a Linux distribution, today’s company also offers a number of other […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Suse launches version 2.0 of its Cloud Foundry-based Cloud Application Platform June 24, 2020 at 11:00PM

Cloud Foundry gets an updated CLI to make life easier for enterprise developers The Cloud Foundry Foundation, the nonprofit behind the popular open-source enterprise platform-as-a-service project, is holding its developer conference today. What’s usually a bi-annual community gathering (traditionally one in Europe and one in North America) is now a virtual event, but there’s still plenty of news from the Summit, both from the organization itself and from […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cloud Foundry gets an updated CLI to make life easier for enterprise developers June 24, 2020 at 11:00PM

Cape Privacy launches data science collaboration platform with $5.06M seed investment Cape Privacy emerged from stealth today after spending two years building a platform for data scientists to privately share encrypted data. The startup also announced $2.95 million in new funding and $2.11 million in funding it got when the business launched in 2018 for a total of $5.06 million raised. Boldstart Ventures and Version One […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cape Privacy launches data science collaboration platform with $5.06M seed investment June 24, 2020 at 11:00PM

India approves Facebook’s $5.7 billion deal with Reliance Jio Platforms India’s antitrust watchdog has given its blessing to Facebook and Reliance Jio Platforms for their $5.7 billion deal. In a statement on Wednesday, the Competition Commission of India said it had approved Facebook’s proposed multi-billion-dollar investment in Jio Platforms for a 9.99% stake in the top Indian telecom network. Jaadhu Holdings LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary […] Social – TechCrunch - India approves Facebook’s $5.7 billion deal with Reliance Jio Platforms June 24, 2020 at 09:00PM

Twitter hides Trump tweet threatening protesters with ‘serious force’ Twitter took its latest action on content from President Trump Tuesday, again hiding a threat of state violence behind a warning label and appending it with a notice. Trump’s latest offending tweet declared “There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter hides Trump tweet threatening protesters with ‘serious force’ June 24, 2020 at 05:00AM

Snapchat adds free phone number verification to its list of SDK perks Snap’s latest developer offering is a tool called Verify that’s aiming to save its mobile-first developers cash on verifying user phone numbers en masse. The new tool is being integrated into its Login Kit framework, allowing devs with a “Log In with Snapchat” button to move away from tapping services like Twilio for SMS verification, […] Social – TechCrunch - Snapchat adds free phone number verification to its list of SDK perks June 24, 2020 at 04:00AM

Antitrust case against Facebook’s ‘super profiling’ back on track after German federal court ruling A landmark regulatory intervention that seeks to apply structural antitrust remedies to cut big (ad)tech’s rights-hostile surveillance business models down to size has been revived after Germany’s federal court overturned an earlier ruling that had suspended enforcement of a ban on Facebook combining user data. The upshot is the tech giant could be forced to […] Social – TechCrunch - Antitrust case against Facebook’s ‘super profiling’ back on track after German federal court ruling June 24, 2020 at 02:00AM

Facebook tests Forecast, an app for making predictions about world events, like COVID-19 Forecast, a new project from Facebook’s internal R&D group, NPE Team, is launching today to build a community around predictions. The iOS app will allow users to ask questions and then use in-app points to make predictions about what might happen in the future. Users can also create, discuss and view these crowdsourced predictions. At […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook tests Forecast, an app for making predictions about world events, like COVID-19 June 24, 2020 at 12:03AM

Ampere announces latest chip with a 128 core processor In the chip game, more is usually better and to that end, Ampere announced the next chip on its product roadmap today, the Altra Max, a 128 core processor, the company says is designed specifically to handle cloud native, containerized workloads. What’s more, the company has designed the chip, so that it will fit in […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Ampere announces latest chip with a 128 core processor June 23, 2020 at 11:00PM

Salesforce introduces several new developer tools including serverless functions Salesforce has a bunch of announcements coming out of the virtual Trailheadx conference taking place later this week, starting today with some new developer tools. The goal of these tools is to give developers a more modern way of creating applications on top of the Salesforce platform. Perhaps the most interesting of the three being […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Salesforce introduces several new developer tools including serverless functions June 23, 2020 at 11:00PM

On illegal hate speech, EU lawmakers eye binding transparency for platforms It’s more than four years since major tech platforms signed up to a voluntary pan-EU Code of Conduct on illegal hate speech removals. Yesterday the European Commission’s latest assessment of the non-legally binding agreement lauds “overall positive” results — with 90% of flagged content assessed within 24 hours and 71% of the content deemed to […] Social – TechCrunch - On illegal hate speech, EU lawmakers eye binding transparency for platforms June 23, 2020 at 07:00PM

What’s new in SwiftUI for iOS 14 Text views, grids, color pickers, and more! Hacking with Swift - What’s new in SwiftUI for iOS 14 June 23, 2020 at 08:00AM

Hasura launches managed cloud service for its open-source GraphQL API platform Hasura is an open-source engine that can connect to PostgreSQL databases and microservices across hybrid- and multi-cloud environments and then automatically build a GraphQL API backend for them, making it easier for developers to then build their own data-driven applications on top of this unified API . For a while now, the San Francisco-based startup […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Hasura launches managed cloud service for its open-source GraphQL API platform June 23, 2020 at 02:00AM

4 enterprise developer trends that will shape 2021 It’s time to shift focus from delivering software to delighting customers. Welcome to a new era of modern software delivery. Enterprise – TechCrunch - 4 enterprise developer trends that will shape 2021 June 23, 2020 at 02:00AM

Canva raises $60 million on a $6 billion valuation Sydney-based Canva, the design platform for non-designers, has today announced the close of a $60 million funding round, bringing its valuation to $6 billion, according to the company. The startup has raised a total of more than $300 million, including this latest round of financing, from investors like Bond, General Catalyst, Sequoia, Felicis Ventures, and […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Canva raises $60 million on a $6 billion valuation June 23, 2020 at 12:03AM

ServiceNow to acquire Belgian configuration management startup Sweagle With more companies moving workers home, making sure your systems are up and running has become more important than ever. ServiceNow, which includes an IT Help Desk component in its product catalogue recognizes that help desks have been bombarded during the pandemic. To help stop configuration problems before they start, the company acquired Sweagle today, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - ServiceNow to acquire Belgian configuration management startup Sweagle June 22, 2020 at 11:00PM

TikTok joins the EU’s Code of Practice on disinformation TikTok is the latest platform to sign up the European Union’s Code of Practice on disinformation, agreeing to a set of voluntary steps aimed at combating the spread of damaging fakes and falsehoods online. The short video sharing platform, which is developed by Beijing based ByteDance and topped 2BN downloads earlier this year, is hugely […] Social – TechCrunch - TikTok joins the EU’s Code of Practice on disinformation June 22, 2020 at 09:00PM

HashiCorp to offer managed versions of its developer tools starting with Consul HashiCorp is well known in the developer community for offering a slew of open source tools to help build and manage modern applications. Today the company announced a new cloud platform and plans to eventually offer managed versions of those tools, starting with Consul a tool for connecting and securing services across platforms. HashiCorp CEO […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - HashiCorp to offer managed versions of its developer tools starting with Consul June 22, 2020 at 09:00PM

Germany tightens online hate speech rules to make platforms send reports straight to the feds While a French online hate speech law has just been derailed by the country’s top constitutional authority on freedom of expression grounds, Germany is beefing up hate speech rules — passing a provision that will require platforms to send suspected criminal content directly to the Federal police at the point it’s reported by a user. […] Social – TechCrunch - Germany tightens online hate speech rules to make platforms send reports straight to the feds June 20, 2020 at 12:03AM

Trump shared a deceptive video blaming ‘fake news.’ Twitter just labeled it as fake The same day that Facebook removed a set of Trump campaign ads for violating the company’s rules against hate symbols, the president continued to push the envelope with his social media presence. On Thursday night, Trump shared a crudely edited video of two children with a fake CNN chyron reading “Terrified todler [sic] runs from […] Social – TechCrunch - Trump shared a deceptive video blaming ‘fake news.’ Twitter just labeled it as fake June 19, 2020 at 02:00PM

Somehow, Twitter does not have a team dedicated to accessibility Twitter does not have a team dedicated to accessibility, the company confirmed after a developer alluded to the fact. It’s a baffling omission for a company that employs some 4,000 people and a CEO who is often heard talking about doing the right thing. This is not to say that Twitter is a wasteland for […] Social – TechCrunch - Somehow, Twitter does not have a team dedicated to accessibility June 19, 2020 at 01:00PM

Daily Crunch: Twitter rolls out audio tweets Twitter tries to make audio tweets a thing, the U.K. backtracks on its contact-tracing app and Apple’s App Store revenue share is at the center of a new controversy. Here’s your Daily Crunch for June 18, 2020. 1. Twitter begins rolling out audio tweets on iOS Twitter is rolling out audio tweets, which do exactly […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Twitter rolls out audio tweets June 19, 2020 at 02:00AM

Intercom announces the promotion of Karen Peacock to CEO Three years ago almost to the day, Intercom announced that it was bringing former Intuit exec Karen Peacock on board as COO. Today, she got promoted to CEO, effective July 1st. Current CEO and company co-founder Eoghan McCabe will become Chairman. As it turns out, these moves aren’t a coincidence. McCabe had been actively thinking […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Intercom announces the promotion of Karen Peacock to CEO June 19, 2020 at 02:00AM

Flipboard rolls out Storyboards as a new way to highlight content Flipboard is giving news publishers and other curators on the platform a new way to highlight content through a format called Storyboards. Until now, Flipboard has largely focused on its Smart Magazines, which are ongoing collections that mix human and algorithmic curation, allowing readers to dive deeply into and keep up-to-date on a given topic. Storyboards, […] Social – TechCrunch - Flipboard rolls out Storyboards as a new way to highlight content June 19, 2020 at 12:03AM

Payfone raises $100M for its mobile phone-based digital verification and ID platform As an increasing number of daily and essential services move to digital platforms — a trend that’s had a massive fillip in the last few months — having efficient but effective ways to verify that people are who they say they are online is becoming ever more important. Now, a startup called Payfone, which has […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Payfone raises $100M for its mobile phone-based digital verification and ID platform June 19, 2020 at 12:03AM

Superhuman’s Rahul Vohra says recession is the ‘perfect time’ to be aggressive for well-capitalized startups Email is one of those things that no one likes but that we’re all forced to use. Superhuman, founded by Rahul Vohra, aims to help everyone get to inbox zero. Launched in 2017, Superhuman charges $30 per month and is still in invite-only mode with more than 275,000 people on the waitlist. That’s by design, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Superhuman’s Rahul Vohra says recession is the ‘perfect time’ to be aggressive for well-capitalized startups June 18, 2020 at 11:00PM

13 Boston-focused VCs share the advice they’re giving portfolio companies TechCrunch is focusing a bit more on the Boston-area startup and venture capital ecosystem lately, which has gone pretty well so far. In fact, we had originally intended on releasing this regional investor survey as a single piece, but since so many VCs took part, we’re breaking it into two. The first part deals with […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - 13 Boston-focused VCs share the advice they’re giving portfolio companies June 18, 2020 at 10:00PM

FCC Commissioner disparages Trump’s social media order: ‘The decision is ours alone’ FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks has examined the President's Executive Order that attempts to spur FCC action against social media and found it wanting. "There are good reasons for the FCC to stay out of this debate," he said. "The decision is ours alone." Social – TechCrunch - FCC Commissioner disparages Trump’s social media order: ‘The decision is ours alone’ June 18, 2020 at 07:00AM

Twitter begins rolling out audio tweets on iOS Twitter is rolling out to its platform a new type of tweet — audio tweets — allowing users to share thoughts in audio form inside their feeds. The feature will only be available to some iOS users for now, though the company says all iOS users should have access “in the coming weeks.” No word […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter begins rolling out audio tweets on iOS June 18, 2020 at 07:00AM

Software will reshape our world in the next decade This storm shall pass. However the choices we make now will change our lives forever. Social – TechCrunch - Software will reshape our world in the next decade June 18, 2020 at 04:00AM

Facebook adds option for US users to turn off political ads, launches voting info hub Beginning today, Facebook users in the U.S. will have the option to “turn off” all political advertising on the platform. The company made the controversial decision not to fact-check or otherwise moderate political ads last year, but the new feature will give users more control over what they see — at least for users who […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook adds option for US users to turn off political ads, launches voting info hub June 18, 2020 at 03:00AM

Daily Crunch: Facebook will let you turn off political ads Facebook adds a personal off switch for political ads, T-Mobile lays off hundreds of Sprint employees and a content management platform raises $80 million. Here’s your Daily Crunch for June 17, 2020. 1. Facebook adds option for US users to turn off political ads, launches voting info hub Facebook made the controversial decision not to […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Facebook will let you turn off political ads June 18, 2020 at 02:00AM

Facebook tests the ability to share collections of curated content more publicly Facebook’s Collections, which allow users to organize content found on Facebook — like posts, photos, videos, and more —  are now becoming more broadly shareable. The company says it’s currently testing a feature in the U.S. market that will allow Facebook users to share curated collections with friends, contributors, or even the public. Prior to […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook tests the ability to share collections of curated content more publicly June 18, 2020 at 01:00AM

Cloudtenna raises $2.5M, launches mobile search app to find content across cloud services As we find ourselves spreading our content across a variety of cloud services, finding that one document you want that could be attached to an email, somewhere in a Slack conversation, or stored in Box, Dropbox, Google Docs or Office 365, makes that a huge challenge. It’s one that Cloudtenna has been trying to solve, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Cloudtenna raises $2.5M, launches mobile search app to find content across cloud services June 18, 2020 at 12:03AM

Onna, the ‘knowledge integration platform’ for workplace apps, raises $27M Series B Onna, the “knowledge integration platform” (KIP) that counts Dropbox and Slack as backers, has raised $27 million in Series B funding. Leading the round is Atomico, with participation from Glynn Capital. Previous investors Dawn Capital, Nauta Capital and Slack Fund also followed on. Founded in 2015, Barcelona and New York-based Onna integrates with a plethora […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Onna, the ‘knowledge integration platform’ for workplace apps, raises $27M Series B June 18, 2020 at 12:03AM

Uptycs lands $30M Series B to keep building security analytics platform Every company today is struggling to deal with security and understanding what is happening on their systems. This is even more pronounced as companies have had to move their employees to work from home. Uptycs, a Boston-area security analytics startup, announced a $30 million Series B today to help companies to detect and understand breaches […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Uptycs lands $30M Series B to keep building security analytics platform June 17, 2020 at 11:00PM

‘One day we were in the office and the next we were working from home’ "I never imagined that we would have had to put our pandemic plan into action. But because we had a tested strategy already in place, we didn’t miss a beat when COVID-19 struck.” Enterprise – TechCrunch - ‘One day we were in the office and the next we were working from home’ June 17, 2020 at 11:00PM

Loodse becomes Kubermatic and open sources Kubernetes automation platform Loodse, a German Kubernetes automation platform, announced today that it was rebranding as Kubermatic. While it was at it, the company also announced that it was open sourcing its Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform as open source under the Apache 2.0 License. Co-founder Sebastian Scheele says that his company’s Kubernetes solution can provision clusters and applications on […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Loodse becomes Kubermatic and open sources Kubernetes automation platform June 17, 2020 at 11:00PM

Contentful raises $80M Series E round for its headless CMS Headless CMS company Contentful today announced that it has raised an $80 million Series E funding round led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst, Salesforce Ventures and a number of other new and existing investors. With this, the company has now raised a total of $158.3 million and a Contentful spokesperson tells me […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Contentful raises $80M Series E round for its headless CMS June 17, 2020 at 10:00PM

Outreach nabs $50M at a $1.33B valuation for software that helps with sales engagement CRM software has become a critical piece of IT when it comes to getting business done, and today a startup focusing on one specific aspect of that stack — sales automation — is announcing a growth round of funding underscoring its own momentum. Outreach, which has built a popular suite of tools used by salespeople […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Outreach nabs $50M at a $1.33B valuation for software that helps with sales engagement June 17, 2020 at 09:00PM

Google Cloud launches Filestore High Scale, a new storage tier for high-performance computing workloads Google Cloud today announced the launch of Filestore High Scale, a new storage option — and tier of Google’s existing Filestore service — for workloads that can benefit from access to a distributed high-performance storage option. With Filestore High Scale, which is based on technology Google acquired when it bought Elastifile in 2019, users can […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Google Cloud launches Filestore High Scale, a new storage tier for high-performance computing workloads June 17, 2020 at 02:00AM

Canva design platform partners with FedEx Office as it pushes further into the U.S. Canva, the design platform for non-designers, has recently inked a partnership with FedEx Office to help businesses reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic with a design-to-print integration. Canva declined to disclose the financial terms of the partnership. With the new partnership, Canva and FedEx customers alike will be able to use Canva’s extensive libraries of templates, […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Canva design platform partners with FedEx Office as it pushes further into the U.S. June 17, 2020 at 01:00AM

New Box tools should help ease creation of digitally driven workflows As COVID-19 has forced companies to move employees from office to home, cloud services have seen a burst in business. Box has been speeding up its product roadmap to help companies who are in the midst of this transition. Today, the company announced the Box Relay template library, which includes a series of workflow templates […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - New Box tools should help ease creation of digitally driven workflows June 17, 2020 at 01:00AM

Social networking app for women, Peanut, is rolling out video chat Mobile social networking app for women, Peanut, is expanding into video chat to help better support its users amid the coronavirus outbreak. The company, which began its life with a focus on motherhood, has evolved over the years to reach women looking to discuss a range of topics — including pregnancy, marriage, parenthood, and even […] Social – TechCrunch - Social networking app for women, Peanut, is rolling out video chat June 17, 2020 at 01:00AM

How COVID-19 transformed the way Americans spend online Here’s an overview of the most important trends we're seeing that will allow you to adjust your growth marketing effectively. Social – TechCrunch - How COVID-19 transformed the way Americans spend online June 17, 2020 at 12:03AM

Extra Crunch Live: Join Superhuman’s Rahul Vohra for a live discussion of email, SaaS and buzzy businesses An email app with a waitlist? No, this isn’t 2004 and I’m not talking about Gmail. Superhuman has managed to attract and maintain constant interest for its subscription email product, with a wait list at over 275,000 people long at last count – all while asking users to pay $30 per month to gain access […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Extra Crunch Live: Join Superhuman’s Rahul Vohra for a live discussion of email, SaaS and buzzy businesses June 16, 2020 at 11:00PM

Daily Crunch: WhatsApp launches payments WhatsApp is adding support for in-app payments, Apple is upgrading the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro desktop and we argue about the future of startup hubs. Here’s your Daily Crunch for June 15, 2020. 1. WhatsApp finally launches payments, starting in Brazil After months of talks and trials, WhatsApp has finally pulled the trigger on […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: WhatsApp launches payments June 16, 2020 at 03:00AM

How Liberty Mutual shifted 44,000 workers from office to home In a typical month, an IT department might deal with a small percentage of employees working remotely, but tracking a few thousand employees is one thing — moving an entire company offsite requires next-level planning. To learn more about how large organizations are adapting to the rapid shift to working from home, we spoke to Liberty […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - How Liberty Mutual shifted 44,000 workers from office to home June 16, 2020 at 12:03AM

VESoft raises $8M to meet China’s growing need for graph databases Sherman Ye founded VESoft in 2018 when he saw a growing demand for graph databases in China. Its predecessors like Neo4j and TigerGraph had already been growing aggressively in the West for a few years, while China was just getting to know the technology that leverages graph structures to store data sets and depict their […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - VESoft raises $8M to meet China’s growing need for graph databases June 15, 2020 at 10:00PM

WhatsApp finally launches payments, starting in Brazil After months of talks and trials, WhatsApp has finally pulled the trigger on payments in its app. Today the Facebook-owned messaging service announced that users in Brazil would be the first to be able to send and receive money by way of its messaging app, using Facebook Pay, the payments service WhatsApp owner Facebook launched […] Social – TechCrunch - WhatsApp finally launches payments, starting in Brazil June 15, 2020 at 10:00PM

ByteDance to shut down Vigo apps in India Chinese internet giant ByteDance has announced plans to discontinue two of its apps in India, its biggest overseas market, and urged its users to move to TikTok. Vigo Video and Vigo Lite, two apps that allow users to create and share short-form sketches and lip-syncing to Bollywood songs, posted a message early Monday (local time) […] Social – TechCrunch - ByteDance to shut down Vigo apps in India June 15, 2020 at 09:00AM

The complicated calculus of taking Facebook’s venture money Facebook is reportedly getting into the venture capital game, but for young entrepreneurs working in social media, ignoring or deleting that particular friend request could be the right call. According to a report in Axios, the company is building up a corporate fund under the auspices of its “New Product Experimentation” team, which launched last […] Social – TechCrunch - The complicated calculus of taking Facebook’s venture money June 13, 2020 at 04:00AM

Daily Crunch: Snapchat is getting mini apps Snap announces a bunch of new features, Moderna prepares for the final-stage trial of its coronavirus vaccine and Sony shows off the PlayStation 5. Here’s your Daily Crunch for June 12, 2020. 1. Snapchat debuts Minis, bite-sized third-party apps that live inside chat Snap Minis are lightweight third-party programs that users can quickly pull up […] Social – TechCrunch - Daily Crunch: Snapchat is getting mini apps June 13, 2020 at 03:00AM

Snapchat looks to maintain its own friendships — with devs Setting expectations has been one area where Snap has -- to date --- seemed to fare better than its competitors. Social – TechCrunch - Snapchat looks to maintain its own friendships — with devs June 13, 2020 at 02:00AM

Facebook’s ‘Deepfake Detection Challenge’ yields promising early results The digitally face-swapped videos known as deepfakes aren’t going anywhere, but if platforms want to be able to keep an eye on them, they need to find them first. Doing so was the object of Facebook’s “Deepfake Detection Challenge,” launched last year. After months of competition the winners have emerged, and they’re… better than guessing. […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook’s ‘Deepfake Detection Challenge’ yields promising early results June 13, 2020 at 01:00AM

UK competition watchdog launches investigation into Facebook’s $400M acquisition of Giphy Facebook wants to be the go-to platform for all of your social needs, but a big move it made last month to take ownership in the world of GIFs — the short, looping videos that people use to convey sentiments in online conversations — may not go as it hopes. The UK Competition and Markets […] Social – TechCrunch - UK competition watchdog launches investigation into Facebook’s $400M acquisition of Giphy June 12, 2020 at 10:00PM

Gauging growth in the most challenging environment in decades Before COVID-19 hit, we were already looking at our operations creatively and seeking to become more efficient, so we’re going to come out of a two-year stretch as an even more efficient company. Enterprise – TechCrunch - Gauging growth in the most challenging environment in decades June 12, 2020 at 08:00AM

When it comes to social media moderation, reach matters Social media is two very different things thrown together in an internet blender: personal media and mass media. Let’s start treating it that way. Social – TechCrunch - When it comes to social media moderation, reach matters June 12, 2020 at 07:00AM

Snapchat boosts its AR platform with voice search, Local Lenses and SnapML Snapchat’s augmented reality dreams might be starting to look a bit more realistic. The company has been subtly improving its AR-powered Lenses every year, improving the technical odds-and-ends and strengthening its dev platform. The result is that today, more than 170 million people — over three-quarters of Snap’s daily active users — access the app’s […] Social – TechCrunch - Snapchat boosts its AR platform with voice search, Local Lenses and SnapML June 12, 2020 at 07:00AM

Facebook tests Wikipedia-powered information panels, similar to Google, in its search results Facebook is testing a new feature that aims to keep users inside its platform when they’re looking for factual information they would otherwise turn to Google or Wikipedia to find. The company confirmed to TechCrunch it’s now piloting an updated version of Facebook Search that displays factual information when users search for topics like public […] Social – TechCrunch - Facebook tests Wikipedia-powered information panels, similar to Google, in its search results June 12, 2020 at 06:00AM

Chris Cox returns to the fold as Facebook’s chief product officer After a very high-profile departure and a year away from the company, Facebook’s former chief product officer Chris Cox will return to his long-held position with the company. Cox shared the news Thursday in a Facebook post with a photo of his company badge. Elaborating on his return to Facebook, Cox explained that the unique […] Social – TechCrunch - Chris Cox returns to the fold as Facebook’s chief product officer June 12, 2020 at 05:00AM

Snap lets you play as your Bitmoji in third-party games Snap is announcing at its Snap Partner Summit that the first games that will take advantage of Bitmoji will roll out soon. The feature has already been announced last year, and it looks like developers can finally take advantage of that SDK. You’ll be able to play a game with you as the hero — […] Social – TechCrunch - Snap lets you play as your Bitmoji in third-party games June 12, 2020 at 04:00AM

Snapchat redesigns its app with new action bar Snap is unveiling some important changes for Snapchat at its Snap Partner Summit. The navigation has been rethought with a new action bar at the bottom that lets you access Snap Map and Snap Originals in just a tap. Snap Map is also getting some brand new features to compete head-to-head with Google Maps. A […] Social – TechCrunch - Snapchat redesigns its app with new action bar June 12, 2020 at 03:00AM

OpenStack adds the StarlinkX edge computing stack to its top-level projects The OpenStack Foundation today announced that StarlingX, a container-based system for running edge deployments, is now a top-level project. With this, it joins the main OpenStack private and public cloud infrastructure project, the Airship lifecycle management system, Kata Containers and the Zuul CI/CD platform. What makes StarlingX a bit different from some of these other […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - OpenStack adds the StarlinkX edge computing stack to its top-level projects June 12, 2020 at 03:00AM

Snap announces new slate of Snap Originals Snap is going full speed ahead with its original content strategy. The company announced that it has expanded previous partnerships with ESPN, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, the NBA and the NFL for new Shows and Snap Originals. The new slate of Snap Originals include unscripted series, docuseries as well as scripted dramas and comedies. Here are some […] Social – TechCrunch - Snap announces new slate of Snap Originals June 12, 2020 at 03:00AM

Quolum announces $2.75M seed investment to track SaaS spending As companies struggle to find ways to control costs in today’s economy, understanding what you are spending on SaaS tools is paramount. That’s precisely what early stage startup Quolum is attempting to do, and today it announced a $2.75 million seed round. Surge Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners led the round with help from a […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - Quolum announces $2.75M seed investment to track SaaS spending June 12, 2020 at 02:00AM

InVision adds new features to Freehand, a virtual whiteboard tool, as user demand surges No business is immune to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve seen Airbnb — a company particularly susceptible to this Black Swan event — go through an insane design sprint. Even enterprise collaboration tools have felt it, with Box readjusting its product road map to focus on how the tool worked for remote employees. […] Enterprise – TechCrunch - InVision adds new features to Freehand, a virtual whiteboard tool, as user demand surges June 12, 2020 at 01:00AM

Twitter appears to be testing a wider range of reactions to Tweets When it comes to Twitter tweaks, the focus in the last several months seems to have been more on working on ways to make its platform less prone to being abused by people who use it to spread false and misleading information and harassment, and generally weaponise it for aims that are ultimately harmful. But […] Social – TechCrunch - Twitter appears to be testing a wider range of reactions to Tweets June 12, 2020 at 12:03AM