Wednesday, September 1, 2021

A look at the implications of South Korea's alternative app store payment law: confusion for non-technical users, difficulty managing subscriptions, and more (John Gruber/Daring Fireball)

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
A look at the implications of South Korea's alternative app store payment law: confusion for non-technical users, difficulty managing subscriptions, and more  —  Apple defines in-app purchases as “App Store purchases”, which I disagree with.  I see a clear difference between purchasing …



Refinitiv: Tencent has invested in 34 international companies in H1 2021, including 16 in Europe, compared to four overseas deals in 2020 and three in 2019 (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Refinitiv: Tencent has invested in 34 international companies in H1 2021, including 16 in Europe, compared to four overseas deals in 2020 and three in 2019  —  Chinese internet group's Europe dealmaking surge coincides with tightening regulatory noose at home



German startup CoachHub, which uses AI to match individuals to business coaches, raises $80M Series B2, following $30M Series B in December 2020 (Paul Sawers/VentureBeat)

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
German startup CoachHub, which uses AI to match individuals to business coaches, raises $80M Series B2, following $30M Series B in December 2020  —  The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility.  Register now!



Battlegrounds Mobile India to Shut Down Facebook Data Transfers

Battlegrounds Mobile India will shut down data transfers with Facebook accounts starting September 28. Developer Krafton states this is due to policy update with the Facebook SDK. From October 5, the... https://ift.tt/3t7Ozts

Samsung Galaxy F42 5G Tipped to Pack Full-HD+ Display, Dimensity 700 SoC

Samsung Galaxy F42 5G has been spotted on Google Play Console. The listing tips that the phone will feature a full-HD+ display and be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC. It may run on Android 11... https://ift.tt/3yyOj7G

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Autonomous trucking startup Gatik AI raises $85M Series B led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, bringing total raised to $114.5M (Kirsten Korosec/TechCrunch)

Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Autonomous trucking startup Gatik AI raises $85M Series B led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, bringing total raised to $114.5M  —  In the two years since Gatik AI came out of stealth, the autonomous vehicle startup has launched pilots with Walmart and Canadian retail giant Loblaw in its bid …



China's new 'online gaming ban': What it means, new timings, verification process and all details

China on Monday introduced new rules that limit the amount of time under-18s can spend on video games to three hours a week, a move it said was necessary to combat gaming addiction. https://ift.tt/3ju2Op2

Indonesia probes suspected data breach on Covid-19 app

Anas Ma'ruf, a health ministry official overseeing data, said the government was looking into the potential breach, but said the potential flaw was in an earlier version of the app, which has not been used since July. https://ift.tt/3BtvZPm

Airtel ends silence on Google rumours: This is what it said in response to stock exchanges

Telecom major Bharti Airtel described that the reports on likely investment by Google into the company as speculations. https://ift.tt/3jBS0pb

Indian payments platform BillDesk gets $4.7 billion investment from Prosus

Prosus NV doubled down on its investment in India on Tuesday with a $4.7 billion deal for payments platform BillDesk, making it one of the biggest players in the country's fast-growing fintech sector. https://ift.tt/3kI63bO

Thai crypto exchange Zipmex raises $41 million from Bank of Ayudhya, others

BAY joins Thai media companies, Plan B Media Pcl and Master Ad Pcl, and foreign venture capital funds in the investment round. https://ift.tt/3gO2UWW

Semiconductor shortage hurting production, may impact Aug-Sep automobile wholesales: Report

Semiconductors are silicon chips that cater to control and memory functions in products ranging from automobiles, computers and cell phones to various other electronic items. https://ift.tt/3jswKC6

VPNs in India Should Be Blocked, Parliamentary Panel Again Urges Government

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has urged the government to block virtual private networks (VPNs) in India, citing VPN services as a "technological challenge" that could lead... https://ift.tt/3t5rPKn

South Korea Passes Bill to Curb Google, Apple Commission Dominance

A landmark bill passed in South Korea's parliament bans major app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing software developers to use their payment systems, effectively stopping them from... https://ift.tt/3zAZluv

As ad revenue surges, Alphabet shares are up 65% over 2021, and up more than 7% in August to reach a record high of $2,891.81, the longest rally since 2009 (Ryan Vlastelica/Bloomberg)

Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:
As ad revenue surges, Alphabet shares are up 65% over 2021, and up more than 7% in August to reach a record high of $2,891.81, the longest rally since 2009  —  - Shares are poised for their eighth straight month of gains  — Yearly rise nearly twice as much as Facebook, Microsoft



A profile of Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, the chess-obsessed intelligence chief who oversees UAE's $1.5T sovereign wealth and wants to make UAE an AI superpower (Bradley Hope/Wired)

Bradley Hope / Wired : A profile of Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, the chess-obsessed intelligence chief who oversees UAE's $1.5T sover...