Friday, July 31, 2020

Apple acquires Mobeewave, whose app lets shoppers tap their credit card or phone on a smartphone to make a payment; one source says the deal is worth ~$100M (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple acquires Mobeewave, whose app lets shoppers tap their credit card or phone on a smartphone to make a payment; one source says the deal is worth ~$100M  —  - Apple acquires Canada's Mobeewave for about $100 million  —  Apple Inc. has acquired Mobeewave Inc., a startup with technology …



KDE Plasma Desktop review: I'm still not switching from GNOME

Jack Wallen shares what he likes and dislikes about KDE Plasma and reveals who might be best suited to use the open source desktop.

KDE Plasma Desktop review: I'm still not switching from GNOME

Jack Wallen shares what he likes and dislikes about KDE Plasma and reveals who might be best suited to use the open source desktop. https://ift.tt/30ilf6t https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Disrupt 2020 early-bird savings extended until next week

Even the hard-charging world of early-stage startups has its share of procrastinators, lollygaggers, slow-pokes, wafflers and last-minute decision makers. If that’s your demographic, today is your lucky day.

You now have an extra week (courtesy of Saint Expeditus, the patron saint of procrastinators), to score early-bird savings to Disrupt 2020, which takes place September 14-18. Buy your pass before the new and final deadline — August 7 at 11:59 p.m. (PT) — and save up to $300. Who says prayers (or secular entreaties) go unanswered?

Your pass opens the door to five days of Disrupt — the biggest, longest TechCrunch conference ever. Drawing thousands of attendees and hundreds of innovative early-stage startups from around the world, you won’t find a better time, place or opportunity to accelerate the speed of your business.

Here are four world-class reasons to attend Disrupt 2020.

World-class speakers. Hear and engage with leading voices in tech, business and investment across the Disrupt stages. Folks like Sequoia Capital’s Roelof Botha, Ureeka’s Melissa Bradley and Slack’s Tamar Yehoshua — to name just a few. Here’s what you can see onstage so far.

World-class startups. Explore hundreds of innovative startups exhibiting in Digital Startup Alley — including the TC Top Picks. This elite cadre made it through our stringent screening process to earn the coveted designation, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more varied and interesting set of startups.

World-class networking. CrunchMatch, our AI-powered networking platform, simplifies connecting with founders, potential customers, R&D teams, engineers or investors. Schedule 1:1 video meetings and hold recruitment or extended pitch sessions. CrunchMatch launches weeks before Disrupt to give you more time to scout, vet and schedule.

World-class pitching. Don’t miss Startup Battlefield, the always-epic pitch competition that’s launched more than 900 startups, including big-time names like TripIt, Mint, Dropbox and many others. This year’s crop of startups promises to throw down hard for bragging rights and the $100,000 cash prize.

Need another reason to go? Take a page out of SIMBA Chain founder Joel Neidig’s playbook:

Our primary goal was to make people aware of the SIMBA Chain platform capabilities. Attending Disrupt is great way to get your name out there and build your customer base.

It’s time for all you last-minute lollygaggers to get moving and take advantage of this second, final chance to save up to $300. Buy your pass before August 7 at 11:59 p.m. (PT).

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt 2020? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

COVID-19 has pushed museums to improve their online offerings, including virtual tours, as they explore potential business models based on digital content (Daniel Grant/Wall Street Journal)

Daniel Grant / Wall Street Journal:
COVID-19 has pushed museums to improve their online offerings, including virtual tours, as they explore potential business models based on digital content  —  When Covid-19 forced museums to shut their buildings spring, many created new virtual offerings for visitors.  That digital content is likely here to stay.



Mulesoft CTO: API-based infrastructures helped company and customers adapt to the new normal

Agile, API-based systems are helping both Mulesoft customers and Salesforce react to the new business reality of increased remote work and rapid digital transformation.

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Xiaomi Brings Early Access to Movies Releasing on Disney+ Hotstar

Xiaomi on Friday announced partnership with Disney+ Hotstar to provide its Mi TV customers early access to Bollywood movie titles releasing under the 'Multiplex' banner. The company will begin the... https://ift.tt/30fNt20

KPSC Recruitment 2020 – Apply Online for 990 Group B & C (Technical) Posts

Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruits 990 Group B & C (Technical) Posts. Candidates with Diploma, Degree (Civil Engg.) can apply online from 17-08-2020 to 16-09-2020.

Biocon Biologics valued at $3.5 billion after Tata Capital's $30 million financing

Through investments in R&D and high-quality manufacturing infrastructure, we are confident of achieving our aspiration of serving 5 million patients through our biosimilars portfolio, CEO Hamachar said https://ift.tt/33dByn4 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Apple quarterly profit jumps on gains in services, wearables

Sales began to pick back up in May and June, helped by a "strong" launch for the $399 iPhone SE introduced in April, CEO Tim Cook said https://ift.tt/3gb7n3w https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Google ad rebound offsets Alphabet's first-ever sales drop

Alphabet, whose ad sales account for about 78% of its revenue, has struggled during past economic slowdowns, as marketing is often the first budget item to get slashed. https://ift.tt/39TGlvr https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Facebook smashes revenue estimates amid pandemic, forecasts ad growth

Ad sales, which contribute nearly all of Facebook's revenue, rose 10% to $18.3 billion in the second quarter as people under lockdown spent more time online and businesses rapidly pivoted to e-commerce https://ift.tt/3jTVvFj https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Amazon posts biggest profit ever at height of pandemic in US

Online grocery sales tripled year over year, and worldwide streaming video hours doubled, Olsavsky said on a call with analysts https://ift.tt/3ggnlcN https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Samsung Galaxy M31s vs Galaxy M31 - What's the Difference?

Samsung Galaxy M31s, an upgrade to the Galaxy M31 that was unveiled in February, was launched in India today. In this article, we will see the differences between the two devices. https://ift.tt/2Dqb32I

Twitter hackers used “phone spear phishing” in mass account takeover

Twitter hackers used “phone spear phishing” in mass account takeover

Enlarge (credit: Tom Raftery)

The hackers behind this month’s epic Twitter breach targeted a small number of employees through a “phone spear phishing attack,” the social media site said on Thursday night. When the pilfered employee credentials failed to give access to account support tools, the hackers targeted additional workers who had the permissions needed to access the tools.

“This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems,” Twitter officials wrote in a post. “This was a striking reminder of how important each person on our team is in protecting our service. We take that responsibility seriously and everyone at Twitter is committed to keeping your information safe.

Thursday's update also disclosed that the hackers downloaded personal data from seven of the accounts, but didn't say which ones.

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Russia's finance minister says Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in international payments to counter Western sanctions (Gleb Bryanski/Reuters)

Gleb Bryanski / Reuters : Russia's finance minister says Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in i...