Microsoft President Brad Smith calls Washington state's facial recognition law that regulates how public agencies use the tech a “significant breakthrough” — Microsoft President Brad Smith took a break from responding to the COVID-19 outbreak Tuesday to praise Washington state's landmark facial recognition regulations.
General Catalyst says it's raised $2.3B for a $600M early-stage fund, a $1B growth fund for companies with $10M+ in annual revenue, and a $700M “endurance fund” — Despite rollercoaster markets, historic unemployment claims, and an expanding national shutdown …
Sources: Microsoft plans to make most public and some internal events digital-only through first half of 2021, including Ignite, Build, and Inspire conferences — Microsoft is moving to make most of its external (and some internal) events digital-only for its FY'21 in light of impacts of the coronavirus.
Facebook expands its Community Help hub globally to allow people to request or offer help during the pandemic, first in US, Canada, UK, France, and Australia — Facebook first launched its Community Help feature in 2017, to give users a way to offer assistance, search for and receive help in the wake of a crisis.
Vericool, a Livermore, Calif.-based startup that’s replacing plastic coolers and packaging with plant-based products, has raised $19.1 million in a new round of financing.
The company’s stated goal is to replace traditional packaging materials like polystyrene with plant-based insulating packaging materials.
Its technology uses 100% recycled paper fibers and other plant-based materials, according to the company, and are curbside recyclable and compostable.
Investors in the round include Radicle Impact Partners, The Ecosystem Integrity Fund, ID8 Investments and AiiM Partners, according to a statement.
“We’re pleased to support Vericool because of the company’s track record of innovation, high-performance products, well-established patent portfolio and focus on environmental resilience. We are inspired by the company’s social justice commitment to address recidivism and provide workplace opportunity to formerly incarcerated individuals,” said Dan Skaff, managing partner of Radicle Impact Partners and Vericool’s new lead director.
A teardown reveals that Huawei's P40 phone contains several critical US parts, primarily RF chips; the US parts were made by Qualcomm, Skyworks and Qorvo — FT teardown of new smartphone identified US parts makers including Qualcomm and Skyworks — Huawei is still using components …
Sources: Palantir is providing a tool for the CDC to check the readiness of hospitals and healthcare agencies amid the pandemic; the tool uses anonymized data — In the last week, staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started logging into a new web app.
Gleb Bryanski / Reuters : Russia's finance minister says Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in i...
