Thursday, September 23, 2021

Spotnana, which offers SaaS tools for the travel industry, emerges from stealth with $34M Series A and $7M seed funding (Christine Hall/TechCrunch)

Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Spotnana, which offers SaaS tools for the travel industry, emerges from stealth with $34M Series A and $7M seed funding  —  Spotnana emerged from stealth Thursday with $41 million in its pocket and an open global platform targeting the $1.4 trillion business travel industry.



Researchers: despite Apple's ATT changes, at least three popular iOS apps are sending identifying info to third-parties even when users opt-out of tracking (Washington Post)

Washington Post:
Researchers: despite Apple's ATT changes, at least three popular iOS apps are sending identifying info to third-parties even when users opt-out of tracking  —  On your iPhone, you can now tap a button that says, “Ask app not to track.”  But behind the scenes, some apps keep snooping anyway.



European Commission proposes legislation mandating USB-C charging for mobile devices, citing electronic waste; Apple is the main holdout from using USB-C (Associated Press)

Associated Press:
European Commission proposes legislation mandating USB-C charging for mobile devices, citing electronic waste; Apple is the main holdout from using USB-C  —  LONDON (AP) — The European Union unveiled plans Thursday that would require smartphone makers to adopt a single charging method for mobile devices.



Amazon Says It's Relaxing Marijuana Policy To 'Become Earth's Best Employer'

Amazon has said it will further relax its marijuana policy for employees and is gearing up to support national legislation to legalise the drug. Citing its decision from June 2021, the American... https://ift.tt/3EH5SH0

Poco Teases Launch of New C-Series Phone in India on September 30

Poco C series is India is teased to get a new model on September 30. The Xiaomi spin-off brand released a teaser image on Thursday that revealed the launch plans. The phone is speculated to be the... https://ift.tt/3hVPR6g

London-based grocery delivery startup Jiffy raises $28M Series A led by Heartland, bringing total funding to $35M (Natasha Lomas/TechCrunch)

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
London-based grocery delivery startup Jiffy raises $28M Series A led by Heartland, bringing total funding to $35M  —  Well that was fast.  London grocery delivery upstart, Jiffy — which was only founded in April this year — has nabbed $28 million in Series A funding around half a year after initial £2.6M seed raise.



Facebook details the types of posts that get demoted in News Feed, such as clickbait and spam, but stops short of saying exactly how a demotion works (Alex Heath/The Verge)

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Facebook details the types of posts that get demoted in News Feed, such as clickbait and spam, but stops short of saying exactly how a demotion works  —  A high-level look at what gets suppressed by Facebook's algorithm  —  The way that Facebook controls its News Feed is often controversial and largely opaque to the outside world.



Research: automakers globally will produce 7.7M fewer cars this year due to the chip shortage, costing them $210B in sales, as chip lead times slip to 21 weeks (Keith Naughton/Bloomberg)

Keith Naughton / Bloomberg:
Research: automakers globally will produce 7.7M fewer cars this year due to the chip shortage, costing them $210B in sales, as chip lead times slip to 21 weeks  —  - Asian factory shutdowns make duration of crisis more uncertain  — Parts maker Faurecia cuts guidance; Traton to miss sales goals



Esri India introduces new drone mapping software Site Scan for ArcGIS

The recent announcement by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on the New Drone Rules 2021, simplified the procedures and reduced the compliances required for operating a drone in India. https://ift.tt/3kxkz7l

YouTube Testing Offline Video Downloads on Desktop for Premium Users

YouTube is testing the ability to download videos for the desktop browser version of YouTube. The test will run until October 19. The new feature is limited to Premium subscribers only. https://ift.tt/3EKb7pf

Price Drop Makes Third-Largest Bitcoin Whale Add Over 700 Coins

Bitcoin's latest price slump has enabled the third-largest whale wallet of the cryptocurrency to add 729 coins worth around $31 million (roughly Rs. 228 crores) at current value. With its latest... https://ift.tt/2XHiEUK

Facebook Explains Content It Demotes in News Feed in Bid for Transparency

Facebook said it reduces the distribution of certain content including clickbait, posts with "sensationalist" or exaggerated health claims or low-quality videos on its news feed. https://ift.tt/3hZ3ZvD

iQoo Z5 With Snapdragon 778G SoC Launched: All You Need to Know

iQoo Z5 was launched on Thursday, September 23. The 5G smartphone features a Snapdragon 778G SoC paired with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of onboard storage. It features a 6.67-inch full-HD+ LCD... https://ift.tt/3lTTpqK

Apple's 'Pro-Competition' Claim Mocked by Australia's Commonwealth Bank

Commonwealth Bank of Australia accused Apple of uncompetitive behaviour over control of payments on its phones, which have grown to about a third of all in-person payments the country's largest lender... https://ift.tt/3ACTMvY

Robinhood to Begin Testing Crypto Wallets from October

Robinhood announced that starting October, it will be testing crypto wallets. There are already around 25 million crypto wallet traders around the world, reports claim. Amid rising popularity,... https://ift.tt/39vkCKJ

Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid western sanctions after its Ukraine invasion (Financial Times)

Financial Times : Russian cryptocurrency payment network A7 expands to Africa, as Moscow builds an alternative payments system amid weste...