Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Two bills Congress has approved would limit the powers of USAGM's Michael Pack, including giving the Open Technology Fund more time to defend its budget (Jessica Jerreat/Voice of America)

Jessica Jerreat / Voice of America:
Two bills Congress has approved would limit the powers of USAGM's Michael Pack, including giving the Open Technology Fund more time to defend its budget  —  Two bills approved by Congress awaiting President Donald Trump's signature would limit the powers of Michael Pack …



Flipkart quiz December 23, 2020: Get answers to these five questions to win coupons, prizes and more

The quiz starts daily at 12am midnight and continues till 12pm. https://ift.tt/3nKIZth

Realme Watch S Series, Buds Air Pro Master Edition India Launch Today

Realme Watch S Series, including Watch S and Watch S Pro, as well as Realme Buds Air Pro Master Edition true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones will be launched in India today. The event will start at... https://ift.tt/3nIWZUv

A look at India's booming dark data economy: stalkerware and spyware apps, databases about parents, cable customers, pregnant women, mutual fund investors, more (Rest of World)

Rest of World:
A look at India's booming dark data economy: stalkerware and spyware apps, databases about parents, cable customers, pregnant women, mutual fund investors, more  —  Thanks to lax privacy laws and high consumer demand, details on everything from how you shop to who you date are all for sale.



DHS has issued an advisory to US businesses, warning of data security risks with using communication equipment and services from China-linked companies (John Harney/Bloomberg)

John Harney / Bloomberg:
DHS has issued an advisory to US businesses, warning of data security risks with using communication equipment and services from China-linked companies  —  - Homeland Security warns of trade secret, competition risks  — Advisory comes after hack that Trump advisers blame on Russia



US intelligence officials have struggled to respond to China's hacking efforts over the past decade, finding themselves one step behind China (Zach Dorfman/Foreign Policy)

Zach Dorfman / Foreign Policy:
US intelligence officials have struggled to respond to China's hacking efforts over the past decade, finding themselves one step behind China  —  It was a radically mistaken assessment.  But even inside the U.S. government, knowledge of China—and its intensions—was at a low point.



An explainer on digital advertising's header bids, third-party brand safety vendors, and "evercookies", illustrated by a ubiquitous pajama onesie ad (Shoshana Wodinsky/Gizmodo)

Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo:
An explainer on digital advertising's header bids, third-party brand safety vendors, and “evercookies”, illustrated by a ubiquitous pajama onesie ad  —  If you're reading this, you might have read the juicy piece that Elle dropped this weekend chronicling how a former Bloomberg reporter torched …



Monday, December 21, 2020

Google invests in Glance, second unicorn for Naveen Tewari

InMobi’s Naveen Tewari has created a second unicorn. His lock screen content platform Glance, a subsidiary of InMobi, has raised $145 million from Google and existing investor Mithril Capital, an investment fund of Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and Palantir Technologies. https://ift.tt/37Gz02C

The Mandalorian Season 3 Release Date Might Not Be Before 2022

The Book of Boba Fett will be the next Star Wars series in December 2021. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had previously said "the next chapter" will drop in December 2021, which many took to... https://ift.tt/3mFgP1u

Small Advertisers on Facebook Complain of AI Blocking, Bad Customer Support

Small advertisers who heavily rely on Facebook to spread marketing messages have been complaining that inflexible account blocking tools and a lack of customer assistance are hurting business. https://ift.tt/2KQ6ani

Vivo Y31 Google Play Listing Suggests Snapdragon 662 SoC, 4GB RAM

The Vivo Y31 has reportedly been listed on Google Play Console with model number V2036. The phone is listed to run on Android 11 out of the box. The Vivo Y31 is tipped to feature a full-HD+ display... https://ift.tt/3nB6WDn

Mi 11 Launch Set for December 28, Xiaomi Reveals

Xiaomi Mi 11 is set to launch on Monday, December 28, Xiaomi revealed on Tuesday through a post on Weibo. The new Mi-series flagship will be among the first few phones to come with the Snapdragon 888... https://ift.tt/2KrFrOf

Indian startup InMobi raises $145M led by Google for its divisions Glance, a lock-screen content tool and Roposo, a TikTok-style short video social service (Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat)

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Indian startup InMobi raises $145M led by Google for its divisions Glance, a lock-screen content tool and Roposo, a TikTok-style short video social service  —  Google led an investment of $145 million in InMobi's social media startups Glance and Roposo, which are division's InMobi's mobile app marketing business.



Draft lawsuit filed by ten US states last week says Facebook and Google agreed to "cooperate and assist one another" against possible antitrust action (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Draft lawsuit filed by ten US states last week says Facebook and Google agreed to “cooperate and assist one another” against possible antitrust action  —  Draft lawsuit quotes Facebook's Sandberg saying Google pact was a ‘big deal strategically’



The US government's proposal for crypto exchanges to collect identity data from users with self-hosted crypto wallets will expand the US' financial surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Electronic Frontier Foundation:
The US government's proposal for crypto exchanges to collect identity data from users with self-hosted crypto wallets will expand the US' financial surveillance  —  One of the most important aspects of cryptocurrencies from a civil liberties perspective is that they can provide privacy protections for their users.



Sources: the US State Department ordered embassies to push back against foreign influence campaigns, as officials worry anti-US views are taking root worldwide (New York Times)

New York Times : Sources: the US State Department ordered embassies to push back against foreign influence campaigns, as officials worry ...