How does the trendy new audio-chatroom app Clubhouse handle user privacy? Recode reports:
What if you didn’t give Clubhouse access to your contacts, specifically because you didn’t want all or any of them to know you were there? I regret to inform you that Clubhouse has made it possible for them to know anyway, encourages them to follow you, and there isn’t…
Tag: Venture Capital
Miami City Council Agrees to At Least Study Mayor’s Bitcoin Proposal
Miami’s mayor Francis Suarez is trying to attract tech talent to his city. (The New York Times recently noted he’s joined by “a few venture capital influencers trying to tweet the city’s startup world into existence.”) So he’s still pushing a proposal to use bitcoin in a few city operations as “part of a larger play if you will to position…
Swiss Company Claims Weakness Found in Post-Quantum Encryption, Touts Its New Encryption Protocol
“A Swiss technology company says it has made a breakthrough by using quantum computers to uncover vulnerabilities in commonly used encryption,” reports Bloomberg: Terra Quantum AG said its discovery “upends the current understanding of what constitutes unbreakable” encryption… Terra Quantum AG has a team of about 80 quantum physicists, cryptographers and mathematicians, who are based in Switzerland, Russia, Finland and the…
Is There a Tech Worker ‘Exodus’ From the San Francisco Bay Area?
The New York Times reports on an “exodus” of tech workers from the San Francisco Bay Area, where “Rent was astronomical. Taxes were high. Your neighbors didn’t like you” — and your commute could be over an hour. The biggest tech companies aren’t going anywhere, and tech stocks are still soaring… But the migration from the Bay Area appears real. Residential…
$200 Billion Wiped Off Cryptocurrency Market In 24 Hours As Bitcoin Pulls Back
Bitcoin and other digital coins tanked on Monday, wiping some $200 billion off the cryptocurrency market. CNBC reports: The market capitalization or value of the cryptocurrency market was $880 billion at 9:20 a.m. ET, down from $1.08 trillion a day earlier, according to Coinmarketcap. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, fell over 12% from a day earlier to $32,576, according to Coin Metrics…
The Atlantic Urges Humankind to Fix the Social Web
Heading into the new year, the Atlantic’s executive editor penned a scathing warning that vast social networks like Facebook “can harm society just by existing…” Even as Facebook has insisted that it is a value-neutral vessel for the material its users choose to publish, moderation is a lever the company has tried to pull again and again. But there aren’t enough…
Struggling Electric Jet Startup Zunum Sues Boeing For Fraud and Misuse of Trade Secrets
Kirkland, Washington-based aviation startup Zunum Aero filed a lawsuit this week accusing Boeing of fraud, technology theft, breach of contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets. The company, which had received millions of dollars from the venture arms of Boeing and JetBlue, said it would be ready to fly its 12-seat hybrid electric jets by 2022. Instead, it ran out of cash…
SpaceX Now Valued at $46 Billion, Making It America’s Top ‘Unicorn’
“SpaceX, the Elon Musk-led company that recently became the first business in history to send astronauts into Earth’s orbit, is parlaying its successes into big money,” reports CNN Business: The company recently finished a $1.9 billion funding round, one of the largest single fundraising pushes by any privately held company, according to public filings and data aggregated by venture capital data…
Facebook Seeks Insights Into Startups by Investing in VC Funds
Facebook in recent weeks has approached a handful of small venture capital firms to discuss becoming an investor in their funds, The Information reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The VC strategy, which also includes direct investments in startups, aims to give the social network early, valuable insight into a wider swath of companies. From a report: To run…
Tim O’Reilly Asks If Venture Capital Is Doing More Harm Than Good
Tim O’Reilly is the founder of O’Reilly Media (formerly O’Reilly & Associates), and is credited by Wikipedia as helping to popularize the term open source. But Techcrunch reveals what he’s learned about venture capital from his work with Bryce Roberts (O’Reilly’s investing partner at early-stage venture firm O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures). “At a minimum, O’Reilly — who bootstrapped his own company, O’Reilly…