Dear Sophie: Is it easier and faster to get an O-1A than an EB-1A?

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. “Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says

Google Assistant gets an incognito-like guest mode

Google is launching a few new privacy features today that include a refreshed Safety Center that’s now live in the U.S. and coming soon globally, as well as more prominent alerts when the company expects that your account has been tampered with. The most interesting new feature, however, is a

Former Apple engineer and autocorrect creator builds his first app, a word game called Up Spell

Former Apple software engineer and designer Ken Kocienda, whose work included the original iPhone and the development of touchscreen autocorrect, has created his first iOS app, Up Spell. The fast-paced, fun word game challenges users to spell all the words you can in two minutes and uses a lexicon

YC grad DigitalBrain snags $3.4M seed to streamline customer service tasks

Most startup founders have a tough road to their first round of funding, but the founders of Digital Brain had it a bit tougher than most. The two young founders survived by entering and winning hackathons to pay their rent and put food on the table. One of the ideas they came up with at those hack

Instagram’s Threads app now lets you message everyone, like its Direct app once did

Last year, Instagram announced it was ending support for its standalone mobile messaging app known as Direct, which had allowed users to quickly create and share messages with friends. Shortly thereafter, the company launched Threads, a new messaging app focused on status updates and communication

Zira raises $3.1M for its shift-scheduling service that helps manage hourly workers

This morning Zira raised $3.1 million in a seed round. The startup provides software that helps businesses schedule their hourly workforce in a more intelligent manner. Software often fails to reach non-information workers, so it’s nice to see a startup focus on a somewhat forgotten demograph

Here’s your first look at Boom Supersonic’s faster-than-sound XB-1 demonstrator aircraft

Boom Supersonic is closer than ever to its goal of introducing supersonic commercial aviation back to the global stage — the Colorado-based startup unveiled the final design of its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft today. This is a fully functional prototype airplane, which will help the company tes

See what's happening on day two of TC Sessions: Mobility 2020

Grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and get ready for Day Two of TC Sessions: Mobility 2020! Yesterday featured an incredible lineup packed with trends, insights and opportunities designed to help you build a stronger business. Buckle up folks, because we have even more in store today. Heads u

DoorDash introduces a new corporate product, DoorDash for Work

Delivery service DoorDash is giving employers a way to feed their remote employees through a new suite of products called DoorDash for Work. There are four main products, starting with DashPass for Work, where employers can fund employee memberships to DashPass, a program that eliminates delivery

Solvo raises $3M seed round to automatically manage cloud infrastructure permissions

Solvo, a Tel Aviv-based startup that promises to automatically generate cloud security permissions by analyzing a developer’s code, today announced that it has raised a $3 million seed funding round from TLV Partners and Surround Ventures. The idea here is to analyze the code and generate the

Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna shares her perspective on COVID-19 and CRISPR

CRISPR co-discoverer Jennifer Doudna was named a Nobel laureate in Chemistry today, sharing the honour with Emmanuelle Charpentier. We had the opportunity to speak to Doudna recently at our technewss Disrupt 2020 event, and she shared her thoughts on CRISPR, and how it can be used to test and pot

European antitrust regulators settle with Broadcom a year after ‘interim measures’ flex

A European antitrust probe of chipmaker Broadcom has been settled at an impressive clip, a little over a year after formally kicking off. The Commission announced today it has accepted commitments from the U.S. chipmaker to suspend all existing agreements containing exclusivity or quasi-exclusivity

Uber still sees micromobility and AVs in its future, and could push Prop 22 beyond California

Uber made headlines earlier this year when it offloaded Jump, the shared bike and scooter unit that once appeared to be a critical piece of its transportation. Despite that move, Uber still sees micromobility as “really important” to the company, according to Uber Director of Policy, Ci

Apple brings Health Records to iPhone in the UK and Canada

Apple has added support for the Health Records feature of its Health app on iPhones in two new markets — the U.K. and Canada. The electronic medical records feature originally debuted in the U.S. in 2018, and the company says that it’s now supported by more than 500 institutions across