Maria Deutscher
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Subscription central: Apple debuts new services plus iPhone-linked credit card
Apple Inc.’s big product launch events tend to focus on hardware, but the Show Time presser it held today at its California headquarters took a very different direction. Chief Executive Tim Cook (pictured) stepped onto the stage of a tightly packed auditorium to introduce a series of new subscription services spanning news, TV and gaming, plus ...
With new LiDAR factory up and running, Ouster raises $60M more in funding
Ouster Inc., a maker of LiDAR sensors for self-driving cars and other autonomous machines, today announced that it has raised $60 million in new funding to support its growth efforts. The financing comes at a pivotal time for the San Francisco-based startup. Ouster, one of dozens of players vying for the fast-growing LiDAR market, just ...
Unicorn stampede: All eyes on Lyft, Uber and Pinterest as they charge toward IPOs
The big wave of initial public offerings that the tech industry has been anticipating this year is finally about to start. Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and Pinterest Inc. are on track to debut on the stock market over the next few weeks, with their closely watched listings poised to set the tone for the ...
Apple has quietly acquired UK workflow automation startup Stamplay
Continuing a string of recent startup acquisitions, Apple Inc. appears to have quietly picked up a Rome-based developer of business automation software called Stamplay Ltd. The deal, which came to light on Thursday, was worth about 5 million euros, according to Italian media reports. That’s approximately $5.6 million. Apple hasn’t yet issued the customary statement ...
Oops: Facebook kept up to 600M users’ passwords in plain text for years
A series of technical mishaps led Facebook Inc. to store the passwords to hundreds of millions of user accounts in unencrypted plain text, it was revealed today. The social networking giant acknowledged the snafu this morning following an exposé by cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs. According to an unnamed “senior Facebook employee” who spoke with Krebs, ...
Microsoft brings its Defender ATP anti-malware service for Windows to the Mac
Microsoft Corp. is bringing the security capabilities that it offers to enterprises on Windows to the Mac. The company today released a new iteration of Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection that runs natively on the three most recent versions of macOS. Microsoft has also rebranded the service on the occasion to reflect its broadened focus, with the offering set ...
Skymind reels in $11.5M for its deep learning platform
Skymind Inc., a deep learning startup with big-name users such as NASA and Ford Motor Co., today announced it has raised $11.5 million in funding to expand internationally. The financing came from a group of investors that included ServiceNow Inc. and Sumitomo Corp., one of the largest industrial companies in Japan. San Francisco-based venture capital ...
EU slaps Google with $1.7B antitrust fine for restricting rival search ads
The European Union today fined Google LLC 1.49 billion euros, or about $1.7 billion, after finding that the company created competitive obstacles for rivals in the online advertising market. Most of Google’s ad revenue comes from its own search engine, but it also serves up promotions on other properties. Online publishers and other website operators ...
Google debuts Stadia, a cloud gaming service powered by custom AMD chips
Google LLC today pulled back the curtains on Stadia, a new cloud service that will use specially designed chips to let consumers play desktop video games on any device. Historically, the complex three-dimensional games that rule the market have required fairly powerful hardware to run. Many popular titles only work on computers with desktop-grade central ...
Salesforce adds new AI and collaboration features to automate customer service
Salesforce.com Inc.’s Service Cloud grew 50 percent faster than its flagship customer relationship management platform in 2018, ending the year with revenue of more than $2.8 billion. Today, the company introduced a set of new artificial intelligence features in a bid to further boost this demand. The update expands upon Service Cloud’s customer care and ...