Twitter Inc. changed its terms of service Wednesday to ban non-consensual intimate photos or videos, a.k.a. revenge porn. If you’re not familiar with the concept, revenge porn is sexually explicit media that is publicly shared online without the consent of the pictured individual, usually, as the name may suggest, in an act of revenge, say ...

Ridesharing startup and Uber Inc. competitor Lyft Inc. is said to have raised a $530 million Series E in a round led by Rakuten Inc. that included Fortress Investment Group. The Wall Street Journal reported the round was based on a $2.5 billion valuation. Founded in 2012, Lyft offers a ridesharing service that aims to differentiate itself ...

The money never seems to stop for chat application Snapchat Inc. with news today that they’re taking a new round from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Bloomberg Business has the scoop and claims the round is $200 million Series E on a $15 billion valuation. Reports surfaced in February that Snapchat was looking to ...

Software as a Service (SaaS) business intelligence startup Looker Data Sciences Inc. (Looker) has raised $30 million Series B in a round led by Meritech Capital Partners that included Sapphire Ventures, and previous investors Redpoint Ventures, First Round Capital and PivotNorth. Based in Santa Cruz, CA, Looker offers a browser-based development environment for business intelligence. The service ...

Consumer Affairs Victoria, Australia, and possibly Victoria Police are said to be investigating Belle Gibson, the creator of popular iOS, and Apple Watch default app The Whole Pantry. Authorities are looking into allegations of charity fraud, and that she deceived the public by faking stories about having cancer for financial gain. Gibson, 28, built the ...

Security and networking solutions provider Blue Coat Systems Inc., has been acquired by Bain Capital in a deal reported to be $2.4 billion including debt. Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Blue Coat offers a range of products across security, WAN optimization, personal security and service provider caching. The company claims that its integrated portfolio of products ...

Hyperconnectivity startup SimpliVity Inc. has raised $175 million Series D in a round led by Waypoint Capital that included previous investors Accel Partners, Charles River Ventures, DFJ Growth, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Growth and Meritech Capital Partners. Founded in 2009, SimpiVity’s main product Omnicube offers a unified data center stack that eliminates the need ...

Google Inc. rolled out the latest edition of its mobile operating system Monday with a number of new features. Android 5.1, which unlike Android 4 releases hasn’t been given a unique name (it’s still Lollipop), has as its new features support for multiple SIM cards, Device Protection and high-definition (HD) voice on compatible phones. The ...

Facebook Inc. has announced that it will close social network Friendfeed April 9th. Acquired by Facebook in 2009 for a rumored $50 million, the site offered a news feed style layout that allowed users to share links and content in real time. It never acquired a huge user base, but it was highly influential in ...

Pioneering tech blog Gigaom today announced that it was ceasing trading due to an inability to pay its bills. Founded by former Forbes writer Om Malik in 2006, Gigaom was among the first wave of big, influential tech blogs that emerged in the second half of the 2000’s, all-around the time where blogging first became a ...