Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Connecticut probes Amazon's digital books business for anti-competitive behaviour

Connecticut is investigating Amazon.com Inc for potential anti-competitive behaviour in its business selling digital books, the state's attorney general said. https://ift.tt/38IFb6O

EU companies in China should 'prepare for the worst' in digital decoupling: Report

Digital decoupling between China and the United States could severely impact EU businesses in China and they should "prepare for the worst" and may be forced into a costly separation of their international operations, European business groups said. https://ift.tt/2LIEsJP

Parler asks US court to order Amazon to restore service to social media app

Parler, a social media outlet favored by some supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, urged a court to order Amazon.com Inc to put it back online. https://ift.tt/3nHagw6

Google Assistant gets Guest Mode: Here's what it does

The Guest Mode can be turned on by a command “Hey Google, turn on Guest Mode,” and all the commands after this will not be saved to their account. Till the time the Guest Mode is on, it will not show any personal results like calendar entries or contacts. https://ift.tt/3bC8c5X

Google working to fix Android contact tracing app issues

Alphabet Inc's Google said it was investigating issues with Android apps developed using the company's Exposure Notifications System that helps in contact tracing. The issue appears to be delaying the ability of these apps to load or to conduct regular exposure checks, a Google spokesperson said. https://ift.tt/3ib6dXC

Flipkart quiz January 14, 2021: Get answers to these five questions to win gifts, discount coupons and Flipkart Super coins

Only the first 50,000 participants will be eligible for the quiz prize. https://ift.tt/3idx99m

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Says Banning Donald Trump Right Decision

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has said that banning outgoing US President Donald Trump from its social media platform after last week's violence at the US Capitol was the "right decision". But he also said... https://ift.tt/3nFvFp9

Snapchat Places Permanent Ban on Donald Trump's Account

Snapchat has said that it has permanently banned outgoing US President Donald Trump from the platform. Operators fear that Trump could use his Snapchat account to create more unrest in the run-up to... https://ift.tt/3qpl83v

Report: VC funding in the US reached a record high of $130B in 2020, up 14% YoY, but the total number of deals fell to 6,022, down for the second year in a row (Lizette Chapman/Bloomberg)

Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Report: VC funding in the US reached a record high of $130B in 2020, up 14% YoY, but the total number of deals fell to 6,022, down for the second year in a row  —  What began as a desperate year for startups, characterized by mass layoffs as the pandemic took hold, has turned into a record venture capital funding haul.



Grab raises $300M led by Hanwha Asset Management for its financial services business, which spun out of Grab in 2018 and is now valued at $3B (Mercedes Ruehl/Financial Times)

Mercedes Ruehl / Financial Times:
Grab raises $300M led by Hanwha Asset Management for its financial services business, which spun out of Grab in 2018 and is now valued at $3B  —  New firepower comes as group faces an increasingly competitive landscape in south-east Asia  —  Grab, the south-east Asian ride-hailing and food delivery app …



Rollable phone, shower speaker, and 8 other cool devices that may come in 2021

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Amazon app quiz January 14, 2021: Get answers to these five questions to win Echo dot speaker for free

There is one winner of the quiz whose name is chosen via lucky draw. https://ift.tt/2XAL0wM

Audio and chat logs of walkie-talkie app Zello reveal some Capitol rioters communicated via the app; Zello says it has now deleted 2K+ militia-related channels (The Guardian)

The Guardian:
Audio and chat logs of walkie-talkie app Zello reveal some Capitol rioters communicated via the app; Zello says it has now deleted 2K+ militia-related channels  —  Audio and chat logs show insurrectionists communicated via the app, which has avoided proactive content moderation



Samsung Galaxy S21 series to launch today: How to watch live stream

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event will start at 8:30pm IST. At today’s event, the company is expected to launch Galaxy S21 series smartphones. The series is said to include three phones- Samsung Galaxy S21 along with Samsung Galaxy S21+ and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. https://ift.tt/39zEFYd

Microsoft’s dig at Facebook: We don’t sell your data

While both Telegram and Signal have been making fun of WhatsApp with memes on their social media platforms, the latest to take a dig at Facebook is software giant Microsoft. In a tweet, via its official handle, Microsoft-owned video conferencing platform Skype says that the company does not sell user data to third parties. https://ift.tt/2N4STIT

Disney, Fox, and WBD say they have agreed to discontinue their Venu Sports streaming joint venture and will focus on existing products and distribution channels (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter : Disney, Fox, and WBD say they have agreed to discontinue their Venu Sports streaming joint venture...