Source: Microsoft plans to close its $68.7B Activision acquisition on October 13, with a final decision from UK's CMA allowing the deal expected next week (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Source: Microsoft plans to close its $68.7B Activision acquisition on October 13, with a final decision from UK's CMA allowing the deal expected next week  —  Microsoft is planning to finalize its $68.7 billion proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard next week.

White House urges the FCC to adopt strong rules next month to address "digital discrimination" in some communities as some ISPs warn against tough regulation (Todd Shields/Bloomberg)

Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
White House urges the FCC to adopt strong rules next month to address “digital discrimination” in some communities as some ISPs warn against tough regulation  —  - FCC to deliver rules by next month on ‘digital discrimination’  —  The Biden administration urged …

Instagram tests multiple audience lists for Stories

Instagram is testing a new feature that will allow users to share stories with specific groups of followers. Currently, users can only share stories with all their followers or a select group of close friends. The new feature will give users more control over who can see their stories by allowing them to create multiple audience lists. This feature is currently only available in select locations and users can create custom lists for specific people, such as "siblings" or "food walk buddies". Instagram head, Adam Mosseri, is running a poll to gauge user interest in the feature. https://ift.tt/zuC3qRP

How to edit channel updates on WhatsApp

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Amazon's Project Kuiper plans to launch its first two demo internet satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, on October 6 (George Dvorsky/Gizmodo)

George Dvorsky / Gizmodo:
Amazon's Project Kuiper plans to launch its first two demo internet satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, on October 6  —  Jeff Bezos's space venture, Project Kuiper, is set for a Friday launch, aiming to challenge Elon Musk's Starlink in the satellite internet arena.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE vs Galaxy S23: What customers will get paying 15,000 extra

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The CMA announces an investigation into public cloud providers in the UK, following a referral from Ofcom, and says the probe will conclude by April 2025 (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge:
The CMA announces an investigation into public cloud providers in the UK, following a referral from Ofcom, and says the probe will conclude by April 2025  —  The clouds are gathering over Microsoft's Azure operations in the EU and now the UK, with the launch of a new investigation …

OnePlus will not launch flip phone, confirms company

OnePlus is set to release its first foldable smartphone, the OnePlus Open, which has over 600 patents and a lighter and smaller hinge compared to the Oppo Find N2. OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau stated that the device is aimed at professionals such as doctors, financial workers, and executives, and that the company has no plans to release a flip phone. OnePlus and Oppo have received directives to collaborate on a foldable device that will be launched under both brands in different regions. https://ift.tt/p9MZQyD

Uber expands Uber Connect with a "return a package" feature, allowing customers to send up to five packages for a $5 fee to UPS, FedEx, or USPS locations (Melina Khan/CNBC)

Melina Khan / CNBC:
Uber expands Uber Connect with a “return a package” feature, allowing customers to send up to five packages for a $5 fee to UPS, FedEx, or USPS locations  —  - Uber is now offering return package shipping through UPS, FedEx or USPS on its Uber and Uber Eats apps.

Vivo V29 Pro vs OnePlus 11R: How the two mid-range premium smartphones compare

Vivo has launched its V29 series of smartphones in India, including the Vivo V29 and Vivo V29 Pro. The V29 Pro is the more expensive option, starting at Rs 39,999. It boasts a sleek design and features Vivo's Smart Aura Light technology. The smartphone has a 6.78-inch AMOLED display, an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 8200 chipset, and runs on Android 13. It also has a triple rear camera setup and a 12MP selfie shooter. The V29 Pro will compete with the OnePlus 11R, which has similar specs and a comparable price. https://ift.tt/531kWTB

Q&A with Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on Bing's rivalry with Google, the race to acquire and develop high-end GPUs, open-source AI models, AI and art, and more (Nilay Patel/The Verge)

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on Bing's rivalry with Google, the race to acquire and develop high-end GPUs, open-source AI models, AI and art, and more  —  Microsoft's Kevin Scott sat down with us at Code to talk about Bing's competition with Google, the race to acquire and develop high-end GPUs …

Why X will pay $1.1 million to former CEO Parag Agrawal, ex-head of legal Vijaya Gadde

Former executives of Twitter, who were fired by Elon Musk when he took over the company, have been awarded $1.1 million in legal fees by a US court. Twitter had withheld payment for lawyers' work representing the executives in a congressional inquiry into social media's impact on US elections. The executives argued that Twitter violated its own bylaws by refusing to cover the expenses. https://ift.tt/hNgCxHT

Stockholm-based digital bank Brite Payments raised a $60M Series A led by Dawn Capital with Headline and Incore participating (Mike Butcher/TechCrunch)

Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Stockholm-based digital bank Brite Payments raised a $60M Series A led by Dawn Capital with Headline and Incore participating  —  The move towards Open Banking payments, especially in the EU, effectively kicked-off the FinTech boom.  Open Baking standards meant that FinTech startups …

Filings: Niklas Zennström's VC firm Atomico raised $1.1B across two funds, among the largest such raises this year in Europe, as it nears its goal of $1.35B (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Filings: Niklas Zennström's VC firm Atomico raised $1.1B across two funds, among the largest such raises this year in Europe, as it nears its goal of $1.35B  —  London-based group founded by Niklas Zennström nears fundraising goal despite tough economic conditions  —  NEW

Stampli, which uses AI to automate the processing of invoices and help businesses pay vendors, raised $61M, bringing its total funding to $148M+ (Priya Anand/Bloomberg)

Priya Anand / Bloomberg:
Stampli, which uses AI to automate the processing of invoices and help businesses pay vendors, raised $61M, bringing its total funding to $148M+  —  Artificial intelligence is showing up in unexpected sectors. … Funds managed by Blackstone Inc. led the round.  The company declined to give its valuation.