Telegram surpasses 700M MAUs and unveils Telegram Premium, which will let users follow up to 1,000 channels, send files up to 4GB, and more for ~$5/month (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Telegram surpasses 700M MAUs and unveils Telegram Premium, which will let users follow up to 1,000 channels, send files up to 4GB, and more for ~$5/month  —  Telegram has amassed 700 million monthly active users and is rolling out a premium tier with additional features as the instant messaging platform makes …

Interviews with the members of Peter Thiel's inner circle describe how he came to the decision to leave Facebook's board (Elizabeth Dwoskin/Washington Post)

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Interviews with the members of Peter Thiel's inner circle describe how he came to the decision to leave Facebook's board  —  Inside the billionaire investor's journey from Facebook board member to an architect of the new American right  —  On a summer morning in 2019 …

Since bitcoin hit an all-time high in November 2021, ~$2T of cryptocurrency value has been erased, which is more than two-thirds of all the crypto that existed (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
Since bitcoin hit an all-time high in November 2021, ~$2T of cryptocurrency value has been erased, which is more than two-thirds of all the crypto that existed  —  The cryptocurrency industry was built on swagger, enthusiasm and optimism.  All three are in short supply these days, as losses and layoffs mount.

India lifts ban on Mastercard from issuing new debit, credit, or prepaid cards after it demonstrated "satisfactory compliance" with the local data storage rules (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India lifts ban on Mastercard from issuing new debit, credit, or prepaid cards after it demonstrated “satisfactory compliance” with the local data storage rules  —  India has lifted business restrictions on Mastercard, nearly a year after imposing the ban, once again allowing …

Beijing-based MegaRobo, which applies robotics and AI to life sciences research, has raised a ~$300M Series C led by GGV Capital and Asia Investment Capital (Coco Liu/Bloomberg)

Coco Liu / Bloomberg:
Beijing-based MegaRobo, which applies robotics and AI to life sciences research, has raised a ~$300M Series C led by GGV Capital and Asia Investment Capital  —  Six-year-old biotech startup MegaRobo Technologies has raised about $300 million from investors including an arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. …

We're not an entertainment platform, not a social network: TikTok

TikTok has clarified that it is not interested in copying Facebook as it is not a social network but an entertainment platform, as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeks to make Facebook and Instagram to be more like TikTok. https://ift.tt/6nmCysu

Forget Pegasus, new spyware 'Hermit' now being used by governments

The team at cyber-security company Lookout Threat Lab uncovered the 'surveillanceware' that was used by the government of Kazakhstan in April, four months after nationwide protests against government policies were violently suppressed. https://ift.tt/aK69Hyf

A jury finds ex-Amazon engineer Paige Thompson guilty of wire fraud and hacking charges for downloading the personal info of 100M+ Capital One customers in 2019 (Kate Conger/New York Times)

Kate Conger / New York Times:
A jury finds ex-Amazon engineer Paige Thompson guilty of wire fraud and hacking charges for downloading the personal info of 100M+ Capital One customers in 2019  —  Paige Thompson's lawyers said she had been looking for cracks so they could be fixed.  A jury found her guilty of wire fraud and hacking charges.

Adobe users in India, here's a 'security warning' for you

The bugs were reported in Adobe products like InDesign (along with earlier versions for Windows and macOS), InCopy, Illustrator, Bridge and Animate (and earlier versions for Windows and macOS). https://ift.tt/7dnpZkA

Internet Explorer gravestone goes viral in South Korea

To commemorate its demise, Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software engineer, spent a month and 430,000 won ($330) designing and ordering a headstone with Explorer's "e" logo and the English epitaph: "He was a good tool to download other browsers." https://ift.tt/JZr3UAc

Blockchain.com data: bitcoin's hash rate fell 4% since the start of the week, as the value of revenues paid to miners fell to its lowest level in nearly a year (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Blockchain.com data: bitcoin's hash rate fell 4% since the start of the week, as the value of revenues paid to miners fell to its lowest level in nearly a year  —  Share prices of companies that validate crypto transactions have tumbled over the past month  —  Bitcoin miners are scaling …

Hyundai working on small, affordable electric car for India

Various departments are working on issues such as charging ecosystem, sales network, manufacturing and the kind of assembly process the carmaker should have, Tarun Garg, director of sales, marketing and service for Hyundai India, said in an interview. https://ift.tt/krmF7KA

Elon Musk wants Twitter to be more like WeChat, to allow 'outrageous' comments

Musk told Twitter employees that the platform needs to become more like WeChat and TikTok if it wants to achieve his goal of reaching one billion users. https://ift.tt/UVS0Zyr

China launches its third high-tech aircraft carrier in naval milestone

Dozens of Chinese Navy personnel lined up in front of the ship and sang the national anthem at the ceremony, which was also attended by senior officials including Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. https://ift.tt/niOgwa1

Prague-based online grocery delivery service Rohlik has raised a €220M Series D led by Sofina and says it had revenues of €500M in 2021 (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Prague-based online grocery delivery service Rohlik has raised a €220M Series D led by Sofina and says it had revenues of €500M in 2021  —  The salad days are over for many startups in the online food delivery sector.  Following a long period of cash injections …