Tech Nuggets with the Technology

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Brazil’s BizCapital raises $12 million for its online lending service

BizCapital, an online lender based in Brazil, has raised $12 million from a clutch of investors including the German development finance institution, the corporate venture capital fund of MercadoLibre and existing investors Quona Capital, Monashees, Chromo INvest and 42K Investments.

“This latest round reinforces investors’ confidence in BizCapital’s ability to innovate in the Latin American credit market amid challenging circumstances caused by Covid-19,” said Francisco Ferreira, the company’s chief executive, in a statement. “We have seen four times as many business credit inquiries on our site year over year, and we are ready to serve them.”

Founded in 2016, the company pitches itself as a fast and reliable way to access financing for working capital. It already has more than 5,000 customers across 1,200 cities in Brazil, according to a statement.

The company said it would use the money to develop new products for Brazilian small and medium-sized businesses and will expand into new distribution channels.

“With this new round of capital, we will continue to widen our product lineup, helping entrepreneurs during the entire lifecycle of their companies,” said Ferreira, in a statement. “There’s never been a more important time for innovation.”

In a reflection of their American counterparts, Brazil’s venture capital firms had slowed down the pace of their investments, but now it seems like a slew of new deals are coming to market.

The investment reflects the longterm confidence that investors have in the increasingly central position e-commerce and technology-enabled services will have in the future of the Latin American economy.

Geek+, the Amazon Kiva of China, lands $200 million Series C

Geek+, a Beijing-based startup that makes warehouse fulfillment robots similar to those of Amazon’s Kiva, said Thursday that it has closed over $200 million in a Series C funding round.

That bumps total capital raised by the 5-year-old company to date to nearly $390 million. The new round, completed in two parts, was separately led by GGV Capital and D1 Capital Partners in the summer of 2019, and V Fund earlier this year. Other participants included Warburg Pincus, Redview Capital and Vertex Ventures.

The company said it will continue to develop robotics solutions tailored to logistics, ramp up its robot-as-a-service monetization model, and expand partnerships.

Geek+ represents a rank of Chinese robotics solution providers that are increasingly appealing to clients around the world. The startup itself boasts over 10,000 robots deployed worldwide, serving 300 customers and projects in over 20 countries.

Just last month, Geek+ announced a partnership with Conveyco, an order fulfillment and distribution center system integrator operating in North America, to distribute its autonomous mobile robots (ARMs) across the continent. Leading this part of its business is Mark Messina, the startup’s chief operating officer for the Americas who previously worked at Amazon, where he oversaw mechanical engineering for the Kiva robotics system.

Geek+’s ambitious move overseas came amid continuous pressure from the Trump administration to boycott Chinese tech players. Back home, Geek+ has worked closely with retail giants such as Alibaba and Suning to replace human pickers in warehouses.

China’s Geek+ brings warehouse robots to US via Conveyco partnership

Facebook closes political ads loophole ahead of US Presidential Election

Facebook is facing demands to do more to combat false viral information before the Nov 3 presidential election https://ift.tt/30U4kIq https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 8 to Go on Sale Today at 12 Noon in India

OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro phones are all set to go on another flash sale in India. The phones will be available on Amazon India and via the OnePlus India official site. https://ift.tt/2YcqfJ6

DOJ Inspector General report: DEA failed to police its agents' handling of cryptocurrencies, even after an agent stole $700,000 in bitcoin in 2015 (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

Danny Nelson / CoinDesk:
DOJ Inspector General report: DEA failed to police its agents' handling of cryptocurrencies, even after an agent stole $700,000 in bitcoin in 2015 — The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) failed to adequately police its undercover agents' handling of cryptocurrency …

India to bar BSNL from sourcing gear from Huawei, ZTE

The telecom department will soon also cancel a 4G telecom equipment tender floated by state-run BSNL and MTNL and rework it to keep out Chinese vendors https://ift.tt/2Y9FG4w https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Why one email app went to war with Apple—and why neither one is right

The login screen for Hey on an iPhone XS.

Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson launched a firestorm of public criticism of Apple after Apple rejected an update to Basecamp's new email app. Hansson's tweet thread and the ensuing controversy surfaced days before Apple's annual developer conference, and amidst news that the European Commission has opened an antitrust probe of Apple and the App Store.

The app in question is Hey, an email tool that eschews tradition to offer a better experience for a certain type of user. It requires users to pay a $99 annual subscription fee to access its features and services but offers a free trial period.

Hey's 1.0 version was approved for launch on the App Store just this week, but it came under scrutiny at Apple when Basecamp attempted to deliver a 1.0.1 update with bug fixes. As events unfolded, a call and email came from Apple that indicated Hey would have to take steps toward making its subscription available through Apple's own billing system and in-app-payments platform. Otherwise, the app would be delisted from the store.

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https://arstechnica.com

Twitch launches its own free broadcasting software for Mac users

Back in November of last year, Twitch rolled out a beta build of Twitch Studio — a free, straightforward broadcasting app meant to be the first step for anyone curious about streaming on the service.

At launch, it was PC only. Today, however, they’re opening up the beta to Mac users.

Twitch is pretty open about its intended audience here; in an FAQ on the Mac beta release, they note that while it should be enough to get the ball rolling for new folks, they’re not looking to convert anyone who’s already happy with their current broadcasting setup. If you’re brand new to streaming, though, they want to walk you through it.

The app is something of a one-stop shop for the basic functionality a new streamer might be looking for on day one, wrapping into one cohesive view things like chat monitoring, an activity feed of new subscribers/followers and control of your stream’s layout.

The company also notes that the Mac version isn’t quite as full-featured as its PC counterpart, as “certain features are not possible on Mac.” The app can’t, for example, capture a game directly as it renders; instead, you’ll need to grant Twitch Studio the ability to capture your entire display. It might feel a bit hacky, but the end result should look mostly the same to viewers.

And for anyone looking to stream themselves playing some Brawl Stars or other mobile games: the Mac version of Twitch Studio can also capture feeds from an iOS device, assuming you’ve got it connected over USB.

T-Mobile says its massive outage on Monday was caused by failures of a leased third-party fiber circuit and its backup that resulted in an "IP traffic storm" (Sean Hollister/The Verge)

Sean Hollister / The Verge:
T-Mobile says its massive outage on Monday was caused by failures of a leased third-party fiber circuit and its backup that resulted in an “IP traffic storm” — “We did not meet our own bar for excellence,” writes T-Mobile's CTO — If you've been wondering what could knock …

Chinese brands, endorsers may go slow on promotions

Chinese brands and celebrities endorsing them run the risk of the anti-China sentiment if they go all out to promote brands in the prevailing environment, executives at celebrity management companies said https://ift.tt/3eoYOS1 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

US House panel to hold election-security hearing with Facebook, Google, Twitter

The remote hearing will discuss the technology industry's actions since the 2016 U.S. elections, state-sponsored disinformation efforts, and other related issues as the country moves toward the Nov. 3 presidential contest, the panel said. https://ift.tt/30S72Om

Snapdragon 690 announced: Qualcomm brings 5G to mid-range phones

Even if 5G is still something reserved for the flagships in India, Qualcomm is working to scale down 5G technology to more affordable segments. The San-Diego based company announced the Snapdragon 690, the first 5G chipset in the 6-series, although it only supports the slower sub-6GHz of 5G with the new Snapdragon X51 5G modem.

The Snapdragon 690 succeeds the gaming-centric Snapdragon 675 with the latest Arm Cortex A77 cores inside, along with support for 120Hz displays and 4K HDR video recording.

Based on an 8nm manufacturing process, Qualcomm promises a 20 per cent boost in CPU performance along with 60 percent faster graphics rendering, as compared to the Snapdragon 675. But the biggest addition is still the 5G modem inside, which makes it the first budget chipset from the company to support the next-generation connectivity. The 6-series chips are used in budget devices by Xiaomi, Moto, and Nokia and they are usually priced far more affordably than an 8-series or 7-series chipset.

Alongside 5G, there are a few more improvements as well. The Snapdragon 690 can support up to 192-megapixel cameras and support 4K HDR video capture. Both of these are a first for the 6-series. The chipset supports the AI-enabled smooth zoom as well. Furthermore, the chipset will have the capability to support a 120Hz display.

Yet, the Snapdragon 690 will still be relatively expensive. In India at least, the 6-series chipsets are used in the sub-$150 (roughly Rs 12,000) range, but Dipu John-Senior Director, Product Management at Qualcomm told us the chipset will be powering devices priced around $300-$500 (roughly Rs 22,000) range in the US. But then again, with no 5G available in India, OEMs will have less incentive to launch these devices in India, because the premium Qualcomm charges for the 5G bit will not be feasible in the face of competition from the Snapdragon 720 SoC or even the Snapdragon 730G, both of which power devices priced less than Rs 20,000.

Qualcomm said HMD Global, LG, Motorola and TCL are among the companies who are planning to launch devices powered by the new Snapdragon 690 and will be rolling out in the second half of 2020.

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