Tech Nuggets with the Technology

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Redmi K20 starts receiving MIUI 11 update: Everything you need to know

If you are rocking a Redmi K20 then there is good news for you. The smartphone has started receiving the MIUI 11 update. You can check for the update on your Redmi K20 by going into the settings, then head into the 'about phone' option and click on system update. If you don't see the update immediately, then worry not. You should see it in a day or so. The MIUI 11 update is 766MB in size and brings with it the September 2019 Android security patch. Along with the Redmi K20, the Poco F1, Redmi Y3, Redmi 7, Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7s and the Redmi Note 7 Pro are the devices that will receive the MIUI 11 update first. These phones are a part of phase 1 and will receive the update between October 22 and October 31. Those rocking the Redmi K20 Pro will have to wait till phase 2 which is between November 4 and November 12.

Coming to the features of the update, it will rehaul the UI and the descriptor says that the visual clutter is removed and the touch controls have been improved. Users also get the option of an always-on display with dynamic themes. The descriptor reads, “Keep your screen alive with our amazing special effects” and we are looking forward to seeing these effects in action on the lock screen.

Users also get the sounds of nature, where they can “wake up to the gentle sounds of nature with our new alarm ringtones”. The notification sounds can also change dynamically. Mi Share will also make its way to the device and Xiaomi claims that this will let users “Transfer files from phone to phone at breakneck speeds”.

An interesting feature that makes its way to the device is the ability to preview a document before opening it. Users will also be able to print photos and documents directly from the phone without installing additional apps. So if you have a Wi-Fi enabled printer, you should be able to print without installing a third-party app.

If you want to know whether your Xiaomi device is receiving the MIUI 11 update, you can check out the list of all the devices receiving the MIUI update along with their release window here.

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Researchers: China's state sponsored hackers have switched tactics over the last few years, focusing increasingly sophisticated attacks on its ethnic minorities (New York Times)

New York Times:
Researchers: China's state sponsored hackers have switched tactics over the last few years, focusing increasingly sophisticated attacks on its ethnic minorities — SAN FRANCISCO — China's state-sponsored hackers have drastically changed how they operate over the last three years …

WeWork confirms an up to $8 billion lifeline from SoftBank Group; names new executive chairman

Confirming earlier reports, The We Company and SoftBank Group agreed to a new capital infusion which will see SoftBank committing $5 billion in new financing and issuing a tender offer for another $3 billion in buybacks for shareholders.

The company also said it would accelerate an existing commitment to put $1.5 billion into the short-term real estate rental company.

Report: SoftBank is taking control of WeWork at an ~$8B valuation

Under the specific terms of the deal, WeWork will receive $1.5 billion committed from SoftBank’s April 2020 cash infusion into the company at $11.60 per share. With that money expected to come in seven days after the deal is signed (subject to shareholder approval).

There’s also the tender offer for up to $3 billion worth of non-SoftBank owned shares at a price of $19.19 per share, which will begin in the fourth quarter of this year, with closing subject to regulatory approvals.

Finally there’s a joint venture share swap where all of SoftBank Vision Fund’s interests in regional joint ventures outside of Japan will be exchanged for WeWork shares at a price of $11.60 per share’ and a debt facility consisting of $1.1 billion in senior secured notes, $2.2 billion in unsecured notes, and a $1.75 billion letter of credit facility, which will occur after the tender offer is completed.

After the closing and the tender offer, SoftBank will own approximately 80 percent of the We Company, according to a statement.

But SoftBank will not actually will not hold a majority of voting rights at any stockholder or board of directors meeting, thanks to WeWork’s convoluted ownership structure. Therefore, even with its 80 percent stake in the business, WeWork isn’t a subsidiary, but an “associate” of SoftBank.

As part of the agreement, the company confirmed that Adam Neumann will become a board observer and Marcelo Claure, the chief operating officer of SoftBank Group will assume the position of executive chairman of the board of directors of WeWork — as soon as the company receives its $1.5 billion payment from SoftBank.

SoftBank reportedly ends WeWork ownership debacle with a potential $1.7 billion windfall for Adam Neumann

“SoftBank is a firm believer that the world is undergoing a massive transformation in the way people work. WeWork is at the forefront of this revolution. It is not unusual for the world’s leading technology disruptors to experience growth challenges as the one WeWork just faced,” said Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive of SoftBank Group Corp, in a statement. “Since the vision remains unchanged, SoftBank has decided to double down on the company by providing a significant capital infusion and operational support. We remain committed to WeWork, its employees, its member customers and landlords.”

The vision may remain unchanged, but the story that SoftBank will have to tell about its new “associate”. Under Neumann’s stewardship, We Company was a cash-burning, globe-spanning, all-encompassing community developer that would usher in a new kind of capitalism, operating under the banner of “We”.

Now, the company is more like a struggling purveyor of temporary office space, which has a mountain of leases it owns and is looking down the barrel of a potential cash crunch — even with the SoftBank lifeline.

Still, SoftBank’s executives and WeWork’s new leadership are standing by their rhetoric for what the company is… and can be.

“WeWork is redefining the nature of work by creating meaningful experiences through integrating design, technology and community. The new capital SoftBank is providing will restore momentum to the company and I am committed to delivering profitability and positive free cash flow,” said Claure in a statement. “As important as the financial implications, this investment demonstrates our confidence in WeWork and its ability to continue to lead in disrupting the commercial real estate market by delivering flexible, collaborative and productive work environments to our customers.”

Amazon debuts free, ad-supported news aggregation app for Fire TV in the US, letting users watch clips and live feeds from nearly 20 outlets like Reuters, CBS (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Amazon debuts free, ad-supported news aggregation app for Fire TV in the US, letting users watch clips and live feeds from nearly 20 outlets like Reuters, CBS — Beginning today, Amazon will be rolling out a news aggregation app for Fire TV users in the U.S. The app serves …

Trend Micro acquires Cloud Conformity for $70M, says the acquisition will help it address security issues caused by cloud infrastructure misconfigurations (Aimee Chanthadavong/ZDNet)

Aimee Chanthadavong / ZDNet:
Trend Micro acquires Cloud Conformity for $70M, says the acquisition will help it address security issues caused by cloud infrastructure misconfigurations — The deal will see all Cloud Conformity staff and customers join Trend Micro. — Trend Micro has announced the acquisition …

ETtech Top 5: Google India's FY19 revenue halved, SoftBank's WeWork takeover & more

A closer look at today's biggest tech and startup news and why they matter. https://ift.tt/2N6NLjI https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Snap adds 7 million users in Q3, revenue up 50%

Snap had 210 million daily active users in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 203 million in the prior quarter https://ift.tt/2W2W3gI https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

SC to hear WhatsApp message traceability petitions in January

A two-judge bench led by Justice Deepak Gupta on Tuesday transferred a host of petitions relating to social media message traceability to itself for a hearing in January next year https://ift.tt/31EpTt4 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Samsung India outsources production of some phones

Almost three years ahead of schedule, Samsung has already begun exporting India-made phones to a few countries owing to its fully exhausted existing capacity. https://ift.tt/2MD74C5 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Calgary-based Benevity, a platform helping employees of companies like Apple and Google give donations, raises $40M Series C from JMI Equity, General Atlantic (Meagan Simpson/BetaKit)

Meagan Simpson / BetaKit:
Calgary-based Benevity, a platform helping employees of companies like Apple and Google give donations, raises $40M Series C from JMI Equity, General Atlantic — Benevity, a global leader in corporate social responsibility and one of the largest startups in the Prairies, has raised $40 million in a Series C round of funding.

SkyWater, a Minnesota-based chip maker spun off from Cypress Semiconductor, receives up to $170M from DOD to make radiation-hardened chips that work in space (Stephen Nellis/Reuters)

Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
SkyWater, a Minnesota-based chip maker spun off from Cypress Semiconductor, receives up to $170M from DOD to make radiation-hardened chips that work in space — (Reuters) - Semiconductor maker SkyWater Technology said on Monday it will receive up to $170 million from the U.S. Department …

Salesforce Ventures’s John Somorjai warns N.C.’s politics could dampen its tech hub potential

North Carolina has been rising as an entrepreneurial hub. It’s now home to massive deals, like IBM buying Red Hat for $34 billion and Fortnite maker Epic Games raising a landmark $1.25 billion, both which helped to put the state — and the Triangle region, in particular — on the map. And now it’s just minted another unicorn with Pendo’s last fundraise. But its tech hub potential can still be threatened by the state’s political swings, said Salesforce Ventures head John Somorjai, who spoke today at a tech event in Durham.

On a panel at Bull City Venture Partners’ Entrepreneurs’ Series 2019, Somorjai reminded the audience that investment in the state follows the talent. And a state can’t attract talent when it’s not “welcoming to all people,” he said.

North Carolina has had a difficult history on this front, if you recall.

In 2016, PayPal canceled plans to open a global operations center in Charlotte after N.C. passed the controversial (“bathroom bill”) law that prevented cities from creating non-discrimination policies based on gender identity. The state lost 400 potential jobs, as a result. Over 100 other companies, including Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook, eBay, Uber, and others also asked the state to repeal the law after its passing.

N.C. eventually revised the law, then reached a settlement this summer that allows transgender people to use certain bathrooms matching their gender identity. But in some cases, it was too late to woo the tech companies back.

These sorts of issues have a broader effect on the state’s ability to attract tech and business investment at a time when investors are often now looking outside the Valley (and its obscene valuations) to find companies that are more focused on profitability.

Image from iOS 6

Salesforce Ventures, a strategic investor who keeps its stake below 15%, isn’t hesitant to fund companies beyond Silicon Valley — it has five investments in N.C. and 15 overall in the larger region, for example. And 75% of its investments were made outside of California, Somorjai noted.

But when asked what North Carolina’s biggest challenge was, in terms of becoming home to a startup community, he alluded to the state’s politics and its history of divisive laws.

“Before the last election, there was an environment here that wasn’t really welcoming to all people,” Somorjai said. “One of [Salesforce’s] core tenants — our core values — is equality. And there’s really sound business sense behind that,” he explained. “If you have discriminatory policies, people don’t feel welcome. If they don’t feel welcome, they’re not going to want to work there. And you will never be able to attract the best talent.”

“Money flows to where the talent is,” he added.

He also suggested to the event’s audience — a group of some 450 entrepreneurs and hundreds more working in the area’s startup ecosystem — that local community leaders should remain vigilant about these sorts of problems.

“If you’re complacent, it can happen again,” he said.

Despite the concerns, Somorjai was generally positive about the ability for strong startups to arise in N.C.

Salesforce Ventures itself invested in two N.C. area unicorns — Pendo and nCino — and it just acquired Charlotte-based MapAnything, which gives it some 200 new employees in the Tar Heel state. Elsewhere in N.C., startups AvidXchange, Red Ventures, and Tresata all have unicorn valuations.

“One thing we’ve been so excited about is — you have these tremendous universities that are putting out great engineers every year. And you have a growing group of investors that are investing in this area. There’s also now so much talent here that you’re attracting investors from all over the country,” he told the audience. “I think that’s great.”

Image credit, top: SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images

Verizon is giving its customers 12 free months of Disney+

On November 12 Verizon will begin offering 12 months of Disney+ to all of its new and existing 4gLTE and 5G unlimited wireless customers, the companies said today in a joint statement.

It’s a great way for Disney to juice its early subscriber numbers and for Verizon to add a tantalizing perk as competition heats up for both streaming media companies and telecoms whose media strategy still seems a little… muddled.

While Comcast and AT&T each have their own successful media properties, Verizon (which owns Verizon Media Group, which owns TechCrunch) has seen its fortunes in the media landscape wane as much of the investment thesis behind buying Aol… then Yahoo… then merging them into Oath… then rebranding them as Verizon Media Group… fizzled.

Tying itself to Disney+ — even just promotionally — makes good business sense.

Through the agreement Verizon customers get access to everything Disney+ has to offer, including the highly anticipated Star Wars television series, “The Mandalorian” and another 25 original films and documentaries. Watch the over three hour-long teaser trailer below for an exhaustive look at every. single. Disney. piece. of. content. coming. to. the. service.

“Giving Verizon customers an unprecedented offer and access to Disney+ on the platform of their choice is yet another example of our commitment to provide the best premium content available through key partnerships on behalf of our customers,” said Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg, in a statement. “Our work with Disney extends beyond Disney+ as we bring the power of 5G Ultra Wideband technology to the entertainment industry through exciting initiatives with Disney Innovation Studios and in the parks,” he added.

Here’s the deal: At launch, Verizon becomes the exclusive wireless carrier to offer 12 months of Disney+ for itsnew and existing customers. The offer also extends to its new Fios Home Internet and 5G Home Internet customers.

Folks can activate their Disney+ subscription and start streaming on devices including game consoles, streaming media players and smart televisions.