Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Sony beats estimates with Q1 operating profit of $2.6B and says the PS5 is no longer selling at a loss; PS Plus subscribers declined to 46.3M from 47.6M (Takashi Mochizuki/Bloomberg)

Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Sony beats estimates with Q1 operating profit of $2.6B and says the PS5 is no longer selling at a loss; PS Plus subscribers declined to 46.3M from 47.6M  —  - Sony expecting more from music streaming and digital cameras  — PlayStation software sales and subscriber additions slowed



Elroy Air, which is building autonomous drones to transport cargo over long distances, raises $40M Series A from Lockheed Martin and others (Aria Alamalhodaei/TechCrunch)

Aria Alamalhodaei / TechCrunch:
Elroy Air, which is building autonomous drones to transport cargo over long distances, raises $40M Series A from Lockheed Martin and others  —  Elroy Air has raised a $40 million Series A, including financing from Lockheed Martin's venture capital arm, to ramp up the build …



Realme Narzo 30 Gets a 6GB + 64GB Variant, Sale Begins August 5

Realme Narzo 30 will soon be available in a new configuration - 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. The phone will be available for purchase via Flipkart starting August 5. It comes with a triple rear camera... https://ift.tt/2WTByYl

Bitcoin in the Last Few Weeks and Why It Could Be Losing Value Again

Bitcoin price in India is seeing a downturn coming from a three-month high of $42,000 (roughly Rs. 31 lakhs) last week. We analyse the performance of the cryptocurrency since its all-time April high... https://ift.tt/3imUPtv

PE firm Apax Partners says it is merging three companies that make software for non-profits, EveryAction, Social Solutions, and CyberGrants, in a deal worth $2B (Liana Baker/Bloomberg)

Liana Baker / Bloomberg:
PE firm Apax Partners says it is merging three companies that make software for non-profits, EveryAction, Social Solutions, and CyberGrants, in a deal worth $2B  —  - EveryAction, Social Solutions and CyberGrants to combine  — Apax partner Jason Wright says investment fits ESG trend



Dubai-based buy now, pay later service Tabby raises $50M Series B at a $300M valuation led by Global Founders Capital and STV (Tage Kene-Okafor/TechCrunch)

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
Dubai-based buy now, pay later service Tabby raises $50M Series B at a $300M valuation led by Global Founders Capital and STV  —  These past few years have seen the emergence of buy now, pay later services worldwide, with leading players raising buttloads of cash to serve …



WhatsApp rolls out View once feature: How to use, things to note and more

WhatsApp View once feature is similar to disappearing messages, except it disappears from the chat as soon as the receiver has seen it. What it means is that the photo or video sent with the View once option enabled can only be viewed once. It works a lot like Instagram’s Vanish Mode. https://ift.tt/2WVxRRV

Ether falls 1% ahead of major upgrade to ethereum network

Ether fell about 1% ahead of a technical adjustment to its underlying ethereum blockchain that would alter the way transactions are processed. https://ift.tt/3lvcP6M

Apple works with Chinese suppliers for latest iPhones: Report

Luxshare Precision Industry Co Ltd is set to build up to 3% of the upcoming iPhone 13 series, and two firms it acquired last year will supply key components and parts for the latest iPhones, the paper said, citing sources familiar with the matter. https://ift.tt/3fuHH3L

OnePlus Nord 2 5G Get Camera, System Fixes With New Update in India: Report

OnePlus Nord 2 5G is reportedly getting a new OxygenOS 11.3.A.08 update. The phone gets system-wide stability along with camera improvements such as optimised HDR effects and improved shooting... https://ift.tt/2TTNWq9

Viral Friendship Break-Up Meme Sells for Rs. 38 Lakhs in NFT Auction

A viral 2015 Facebook post from Pakistan that turned into a meme has been auctioned as an NFT for $51,530 (roughly Rs. 38 lakhs). https://ift.tt/3lvccKo

Microsoft pauses free trials of its new Windows 365 service, which lets users stream Windows 10 or 11 via web browser, after "significant demand" (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft pauses free trials of its new Windows 365 service, which lets users stream Windows 10 or 11 via web browser, after “significant demand”  —  Windows 365 lets you stream a cloud PC to a web browser  —  Microsoft launched its new cloud PC Windows 365 service earlier this week …



After criticism from China, Tencent says it will limit playing time on flagship Honor of Kings for under 18s to one hour per day and not between 10PM and 8AM (Josh Ye/South China Morning Post)

Josh Ye / South China Morning Post:
After criticism from China, Tencent says it will limit playing time on flagship Honor of Kings for under 18s to one hour per day and not between 10PM and 8AM  —  Gamers under the age of 18 will have their playing time limited to one hour on regular days and two hours on public holidays Honour …



Kuaishou says it will shut down its Zynn video sharing app on August 20, ending its ill-fated attempt to compete with TikTok in North America (Zheping Huang/Bloomberg)

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Kuaishou says it will shut down its Zynn video sharing app on August 20, ending its ill-fated attempt to compete with TikTok in North America  —  - The Chinese firm still operates Kwai and SnackVideo overseas  — Zynn had fewer than half a million downloads in the first half



On-demand movie and TV service FandangoNOW has merged with video streaming service Vudu, which will become Roku's official movie and TV store (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
On-demand movie and TV service FandangoNOW has merged with video streaming service Vudu, which will become Roku's official movie and TV store  —  Last year, movie ticketing and discovery business Fandango, a division of NBCUniversal, bought the on-demand video streaming service Vudu from Walmart …



PitchBook: US startups raised $209B in 2024, up ~33% from 2023; AI startups raised $97B, the largest portion on record; VCs raised $76.1B, the lowest since 2019 (Sarah McBride/Bloomberg)

Sarah McBride / Bloomberg : PitchBook: US startups raised $209B in 2024, up ~33% from 2023; AI startups raised $97B, the largest portion ...