New York-based Meow, which offers corporate investors a compliant-first approach to cryptocurrency investing, raised a $22M Series A led by Tiger Global (PYMNTS.com)

PYMNTS.com: New York-based Meow, which offers corporate investors a compliant-first approach to cryptocurrency investing, raised a $22M Series A led by Tiger Global  —  Crypto corporate treasury firm Meow raised $22 million in a Series A funding round led by Tiger Global, with participation from QED Investors …

A private antitrust lawsuit, filed in California, accuses Apple of using its smartphone dominance to fend off competition to Apple Pay from rival payment apps (Malathi Nayak/Bloomberg)

Malathi Nayak / Bloomberg: A private antitrust lawsuit, filed in California, accuses Apple of using its smartphone dominance to fend off competition to Apple Pay from rival payment apps  —  Apple Inc. was hit with an antitrust lawsuit over Apple Pay, accused of using its market power in the mobile device industry …

Slack to update its subscriptions on Sept. 1, with free plans getting access to the last 90 days of messages and Pro plans to cost a max $8.74/user per month (Greg Kumparak/TechCrunch)

Greg Kumparak / TechCrunch: Slack to update its subscriptions on Sept. 1, with free plans getting access to the last 90 days of messages and Pro plans to cost a max $8.74/user per month  —  Slack, the chat platform that serves as an online watercooler for oh-so-many teams, is bumping up its monthly price and […]

Four researchers with MIT ties earn Schmidt Science Fellowships

Four researchers with MIT ties — Juncal Arbelaiz, Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, Sandya Subramanian, and Heather Zlotnick ’17 — have been honored with competitive Schmidt Science Fellowships. Created in 2017, the fellows program aims to bring together the world’s brightest minds “to solve society’s toughest challenges.” The four MIT-affiliated researchers are among 29 Schmidt Science Fellows […]

Researchers say Alibaba’s cloud platform that hosted Shanghai’s now-leaked police database used outdated systems that didn’t offer the ability to set a password (Karen Hao/Wall Street Journal)

Karen Hao / Wall Street Journal: Researchers say Alibaba’s cloud platform that hosted Shanghai’s now-leaked police database used outdated systems that didn’t offer the ability to set a password  —  Cybersecurity companies say Alibaba’s cloud platform that hosted Shanghai’s police database used outdated systems that didn’t offer ability to set a password

Tracxn: ~$8.5B in VC funding was raised by Indian education startups from 2014 to 2021, with about half of that in 2021 alone, as they vie for US marketshare (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia: Tracxn: ~$8.5B in VC funding was raised by Indian education startups from 2014 to 2021, with about half of that in 2021 alone, as they vie for US marketshare  —  Grab for market share takes on extra urgency as valuation woes and job cuts bite  —  AKITO TANAKA, Nikkei Asia chief business news […]

The linchpin in Microsoft’s Netflix deal was Xandr, the ad tech firm it recently acquired from AT&T that’s helping fuel Microsoft’s online advertising ambitions (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal: The linchpin in Microsoft’s Netflix deal was Xandr, the ad tech firm it recently acquired from AT&T that’s helping fuel Microsoft’s online advertising ambitions  —  Tech company, embracing underdog role, reignites its ambitions in online advertising  —  Microsoft Corp. MSFT 1.04%▲ …

Seattle-based Phaidra, whose AI software automates building controls for industrial facilities like power plants, raised a $25M Series A led by Starshot Capital (Mark Bergen/Bloomberg)

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg: Seattle-based Phaidra, whose AI software automates building controls for industrial facilities like power plants, raised a $25M Series A led by Starshot Capital  —  Industrial production is one of the dirtiest corners of the corporate world.  A startup from former Google engineers thinks …

Sydney-based Hivery, whose software helps retailers select the right mix of products to stock on store shelves, has raised a $30M Series B led by Tiger Global (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch: Sydney-based Hivery, whose software helps retailers select the right mix of products to stock on store shelves, has raised a $30M Series B led by Tiger Global  —  Hivery, a startup that bills itself as an “optimization platform” for retailers, today announced that it raised $30 million …

Adam Neumann’s Flowcarbon and some other startups offering cryptocurrencies backed by carbon-offset credits have slowed product rollouts amid the crypto crash (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal: Adam Neumann’s Flowcarbon and some other startups offering cryptocurrencies backed by carbon-offset credits have slowed product rollouts amid the crypto crash  —  Investors rushed to startups offering cryptocurrencies backed by carbon-offset credits, then the markets tanked

A look at YouTube’s strategy that began in 2019 of signing Twitch streamers who have a network of collaborators to try and build its own game streaming culture (Nathan Grayson/Washington Post)

Nathan Grayson / Washington Post: A look at YouTube’s strategy that began in 2019 of signing Twitch streamers who have a network of collaborators to try and build its own game streaming culture  —  Listen  —  Gift Article  —  Where once the departure of Twitch stars for YouTube Gaming elicited shock and awe …

MakeMyMove: at least 71 US cities and town are now offering cash grants and other perks to attract remote tech workers, up from 24 in October 2021 (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal: MakeMyMove: at least 71 US cities and town are now offering cash grants and other perks to attract remote tech workers, up from 24 in October 2021  —  Incentives are drawing high-paid tech workers, and challenging how we think about local economic development

An app for India’s largest public employment program is jeopardizing the livelihood of millions in the country due to technical glitches and poor connectivity (Sabah Gurmat/Rest of World)

Sabah Gurmat / Rest of World: An app for India’s largest public employment program is jeopardizing the livelihood of millions in the country due to technical glitches and poor connectivity  —  Poor connectivity and an English-only interface make the app unusable for many who rely on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

Online scam centers in Southeast Asia have perfected “pig butchering”, a romance-meets-investment fraud, to lure victims into bogus investment schemes (Alastair McCready/VICE)

Alastair McCready / VICE: Online scam centers in Southeast Asia have perfected “pig butchering”, a romance-meets-investment fraud, to lure victims into bogus investment schemes  —  Thousands of imprisoned and abused workers are propping up Southeast Asia’s ‘pig butchering’ industry, an online fraud emptying bank accounts across the world.

India escalates its crackdown on Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, which control ~60% of its smartphone market, with claims of tax evasion and unlawful remittances (Financial Times)

Financial Times: India escalates its crackdown on Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, which control ~60% of its smartphone market, with claims of tax evasion and unlawful remittances  —  Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi hit by claims of tax evasion and unlawful remittances in legal actions that have stoked tensions with China

The 2022 “crypto winter” differs from previous crashes, in part due to the macro environment, the TerraUSD collapse, excess leverage, and contagion via 3AC (CNBC)

CNBC: The 2022 “crypto winter” differs from previous crashes, in part due to the macro environment, the TerraUSD collapse, excess leverage, and contagion via 3AC  —  – Cryptocurrencies have suffered a brutal comedown this year, losing $2 trillion in value since the height of a massive rally in 2021.

Experts say archiving content from TikTok is challenging and urge the platform to preserve and provide access to content for war crime investigations in Ukraine (Madhumita Murgia/Financial Times)

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times: Experts say archiving content from TikTok is challenging and urge the platform to preserve and provide access to content for war crime investigations in Ukraine  —  The Chinese-owned video app is a trove of digital intelligence that lawyers are attempting to mine and archive

As China builds up its vast surveillance and security apparatus, it is running up against growing public unease about data security and privacy in the country (New York Times)

New York Times: As China builds up its vast surveillance and security apparatus, it is running up against growing public unease about data security and privacy in the country  —  Beijing’s swift move to censor news about one of the largest known data breaches shows keen awareness of how major security lapses can harm its […]

Study: as the war persists, Meta has responded fairly effectively to Russian propaganda flagged by Ukrainian officials, while YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn lag (Will Oremus/Washington Post)

Will Oremus / Washington Post: Study: as the war persists, Meta has responded fairly effectively to Russian propaganda flagged by Ukrainian officials, while YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn lag  —  As the war rages on, a new report finds that YouTube and Twitter are ignoring requests to take down hate and disinformation targeting Ukrainians

SEC filing: Twitter’s board invites shareholders to a special meeting to vote on Elon Musk’s acquisition and unanimously recommends they approve the deal (Jonathan Vanian/CNBC)

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: SEC filing: Twitter’s board invites shareholders to a special meeting to vote on Elon Musk’s acquisition and unanimously recommends they approve the deal  —  – In an SEC filing on Friday, Twitter told investors that approving the company’s sale to Elon Musk is the only remaining step in satisfying the merger […]

TikTok says its global CSO Roland Cloutier will step down in September to take an advisory role, and that the move is not related to security concerns in the US (Ryan Tracy/Wall Street Journal)

Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal: TikTok says its global CSO Roland Cloutier will step down in September to take an advisory role, and that the move is not related to security concerns in the US  —  Roland Cloutier to take advisory role; Kim Albarella, head of security risk, tapped as interim CSO

Filing: Elon Musk’s lawyers say Twitter is unfairly pushing for a “warp speed” four-day trial in September and ask for a court date in February 2023 or later (Jef Feeley/Bloomberg)

Jef Feeley / Bloomberg: Filing: Elon Musk’s lawyers say Twitter is unfairly pushing for a “warp speed” four-day trial in September and ask for a court date in February 2023 or later  —  Elon Musk’s lawyers say Twitter Inc. officials are unfairly pushing for a “warp speed” trial over claims …

Explained: Why perovskites could take solar cells to new heights

Perovskites hold promise for creating solar panels that could be easily deposited onto most surfaces, including flexible and textured ones. These materials would also be lightweight, cheap to produce, and as efficient as today’s leading photovoltaic materials, which are mainly silicon. They’re the subject of increasing research and investment, but companies looking to harness their […]