Instacart's IPO filing suggests its Snowflake cloud spending will fall 71% in 2023, sparking an online spat between staffers of Snowflake and rival Databricks (Ari Levy/CNBC)

Ari Levy / CNBC:
Instacart's IPO filing suggests its Snowflake cloud spending will fall 71% in 2023, sparking an online spat between staffers of Snowflake and rival Databricks  —  - Instacart's long-awaited IPO prospectus last week turned controversial in a way the grocery-delivery company wasn't anticipating.

Filing: Walmart spent $3.5B in H1 2023 to buy Flipkart shares from Tiger Global and others, growing its Flipkart stake to ~80%, and resolve PhonePe liabilities (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Filing: Walmart spent $3.5B in H1 2023 to buy Flipkart shares from Tiger Global and others, growing its Flipkart stake to ~80%, and resolve PhonePe liabilities  —  Walmart has spent $3.5 billion this year to acquire shares from certain Flipkart stakeholders and resolve liabilities …

A Media Matters for America report on PragerU Kids: Meta isn't consistently enforcing transparency rules for ads around "social issues, elections, or politics" (Vittoria Elliott/Wired)

Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
A Media Matters for America report on PragerU Kids: Meta isn't consistently enforcing transparency rules for ads around “social issues, elections, or politics”  —  A nonprofit watchdog group has found that the right-wing group PragerU has pushed out more than 100 political ads …

How India may help WhatsApp monetise chats

Meta, the company that owns WhatsApp, is looking to make the messaging app profitable by monetizing business conversations with customers. They plan to leverage WhatsApp's large consumer base in countries like India and Brazil, where businesses often use the platform to engage with customers. However, WhatsApp's revenue is expected to be less than 1% of Meta's total sales. https://ift.tt/AVmFEH2

Facebook parent Meta ‘rejects’ new regulations of Canada's news law

The Canadian government has revealed new regulations under the Online News Act that require Meta and Google to pay Canadian news publishers. The regulations state that Meta and Google must pay a minimum of 4% of their annual revenue to news outlets for linking to news articles. Both companies argue that the law is unworkable for their businesses. https://ift.tt/SYdxFNn

Honor says Magic V2, its foldable phone launched in China in July 2023, will come to Europe, UK and other markets, except the US, in Q1 2024 for around €1,500 (Hadlee Simons/Android Authority)

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority:
Honor says Magic V2, its foldable phone launched in China in July 2023, will come to Europe, UK and other markets, except the US, in Q1 2024 for around €1,500  —  The Magic V2 will come to global markets roughly six months after the Chinese launch.  Ouch.  —  •  —  TL;DR

Hands on with Windows-powered $699 Lenovo Legion Go, with an 8.8" QHD+ screen, AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, and detachable controllers, available in October (Monica Chin/The Verge)

Monica Chin / The Verge:
Hands on with Windows-powered $699 Lenovo Legion Go, with an 8.8" QHD+ screen, AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, and detachable controllers, available in October  —  Every company and its mother seems to be putting out handheld gaming PCs these days, and Lenovo is next to the plate.

Herodotus and StarkWare unveil a developer tool to verify data at any point in Ethereum's history, overcoming a current verification limit of 256 blockhashes (Vishal Chawla/The Block)

Vishal Chawla / The Block:
Herodotus and StarkWare unveil a developer tool to verify data at any point in Ethereum's history, overcoming a current verification limit of 256 blockhashes  —  - London-based startup Herodotus, in collaboration with StarkWare, announced a tool that gives users the ability to verify data from any point in Ethereum's history.

Optiemus Infracom and Corning partner to establish a mobile cover glass parts manufacturing facility in India

Optiemus Infracom and Corning have formed a joint venture to establish India's first manufacturing facility for high-quality finished cover glass parts for mobile consumer electronics. The partnership aims to create a world-class manufacturing facility in India and produce "Made in India" cover glass components for mobile devices. The collaboration combines Optiemus's domestic industry expertise with Corning's advanced glass technology. The venture also aims to contribute to job creation and skill development in India's technology sector. Optiemus Infracom's chairman, Ashok Kumar Gupta, expressed pride in contributing to India's manufacturing ecosystem and providing high-quality products for global and local brands. https://ift.tt/GjkoMz2

AI hasn't stemmed the yearslong startup downturn; PitchBook: US venture funding fell by almost half in Q2 2023, as generative AI investments rose 65% to $3.3B (Berber Jin/Wall Street Journal)

Berber Jin / Wall Street Journal:
AI hasn't stemmed the yearslong startup downturn; PitchBook: US venture funding fell by almost half in Q2 2023, as generative AI investments rose 65% to $3.3B  —  Venture investors are realizing that generative artificial intelligence might not be enough to stem yearslong startup downturn

Microsoft testing new features in Notepad, Snipping Tool on Windows 11: What are they, how will they help users

Microsoft is testing new features in its Snipping Tool and Notepad apps for Windows 11. In Notepad, the update will automatically save the session state, allowing users to close the app without interruption. It will also restore previously open tabs and unsaved content. In the Snipping Tool, a combined capture bar makes it easier to switch between capturing screenshots and screen recordings. https://ift.tt/Rvf2lnc

Investor letter: Reid Hoffman won't be a GP for Greylock's next $1B fund, down from its $1.5B funds in 2020 and 2021; Hoffman made one deal in its 16th fund (Berber Jin/Wall Street Journal)

Berber Jin / Wall Street Journal:
Investor letter: Reid Hoffman won't be a GP for Greylock's next $1B fund, down from its $1.5B funds in 2020 and 2021; Hoffman made one deal in its 16th fund  —  Co-founder of LinkedIn is one of Silicon Valley's most influential AI enthusiasts  —  Reid Hoffman, one of Silicon Valley's …

Lessons from the rapid grocery delivery boom: $10B+ of VC money, used for ads and promos, created the market from nothing, app downloads have cratered, and more (Bryce Elder/Financial Times)

Bryce Elder / Financial Times:
Lessons from the rapid grocery delivery boom: $10B+ of VC money, used for ads and promos, created the market from nothing, app downloads have cratered, and more  —  The failure and folly behind a $10bn bribe to not go to the shops  —  The inflation adjusted price for delivering you a packet …

Elon Musk says X users will be able to make video and audio calls without a phone number, but offers no timeframe, as X "is the effective global address book" (Charlotte Hughes-Morgan/Bloomberg)

Charlotte Hughes-Morgan / Bloomberg:
Elon Musk says X users will be able to make video and audio calls without a phone number, but offers no timeframe, as X “is the effective global address book”  —  Users of X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, will be able to make video and audio calls through …

Free Fire game by Garena to Launch in India on September 5

Singapore-based online games developer and publisher, Garena, is launching Free Fire India, a game with unique content and features to promote safe and fun gameplay. Yotta, a Hiranandani Group company, will provide local cloud hosting and storage for the game. Free Fire India will have features specifically developed for Indian users, including a verification system for parental supervision. Garena is committed to supporting India's esports and startup ecosystems, with plans to host the Free Fire India Esports Championships in the coming months. https://ift.tt/7bXsAfJ