Google pushes Europe to limit ‘gatekeeper’ platform rules

Google has made its pitch to shape the next decades of digital regulation across the European Union, submitting a 135-page response yesterday to the consultation on the forthcoming Digital Services Act (DSA) — which will update the bloc’s long-standing rules around e-commerce. The packa

Yandex spins out self-driving car unit from its Uber JV, invests $150M into new company

Self-driving cars are stl many years away from becoming a ubiquitous reality, but today, one of the bigger efforts to bud and develop them is taking a significant step out as part of its strategy to be at the forefront for when they do. Yandex — the publicly traded Russian tech giant that sta

Teemyco creates virtual offices so you can grab a room and talk with colleagues

Meet Teemyco, a Stockholm-based startup that wants to reproduce office interactions in a virtual environment. The company wants to foster spontaneous interactions and casual collaboration with a room-based interface. Each employee moves from one room to another just like in a physical office. If yo

Tinder’s interactive video event ‘Swipe Night’ will launch in international markets this month

Tinder's “Swipe Night” is going global. The dating app announced today that its interactive video series will be available in Asia and other international markets starting on September 12, giving users another way to connect as they continue to stay at home because of the COVID-19 p

That Whole Foods is an Amazon warehouse; get used to it

Earlier this week, in Brooklyn, near the waterfront, Amazon opened what looks from the outside like a typical Whole Foods store. It isn’t open to the public, however; it’s a new fulfillment center. “Grocery delivery continues to be one of the fastest-growing businesses at Amazon,” t

Cyber threat startup Cygilant hit by ransomware

Cygilant, a threat detection cybersecurity company, has confirmed a ransomware attack. Christina Lattuca, Cygilant’s chief financial officer, said in a statement that the company was “aware of a ransomware attack impacting a portion of Cygilant's technology environment.”

In amended filing, Palantir admits it won't have independent board governance for up to a year

When we leaked Palantir's S-1 IPO filing a week and a half ago, one of the more bizarre components that came out of that document was the company's corporate governance. In a unique three-class voting structure, Palantir founders Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen and Peter Thiel will be given a spec

Nintendo rips the seal off the next generation of nostalgia, but fans fret

It has always been considered a matter of if, and not when, Nintendo would begin capitalizing in earnest on content from beyond the SNES generation. The company is finally showing its intent to do so today — but with an uneven approach that leaves some fans worried about its intentions for other

Nintendo is remaking the first portable gaming system it ever built

Quick, what was the first portable gaming system Nintendo made? If you said “Game Boy”… solid guess, but not quite. For nearly a decade before Nintendo released that iconic gray beast, it was making the Game & Watch — a collection of handheld devices, each dedicated to playi

Daily Crunch: Apple delays ad-tracking changes

Apple announces a surprising delay, Facebook bans new political ads for the week before the U.S. election and SpaceX is testing its Starlink internet system. This is your Daily Crunch for September 3, 2020. The big story: Apple delays ad-tracking changes At this year’s Worldwi

Spirit Airlines starts testing biometric check-ins

Discount carrier Spirit Airlines today announced that it is introducing biometric check-ins in its ticket lobby at Chicago’s O’Hare airport to streamline the check-in process and reduce face-to-face interactions between its employees and passengers during the pandemic. The new process i

WhatsApp reveals six previously undisclosed vulnerabilities on new security site

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has revealed six previously undisclosed vulnerabities, which the company has now fixed. The vulnerabities are being reported on a dedicated security advisory website that wl serve as the new resource providing a comprehensive list of WhatsApp security updates and associated

Facebook to warn third-party developers of vulnerable code

Facebook has announced a policy change that will see the company notify third-party developers if it finds a security vulnerability in their code. In a blog post announcing the change,Facebook said it “may occasionally find” critical bugs and vulnerabilities in third-party code and syst

Oracle loses $10B JEDI cloud contract appeal yet again

Oracle was never fond of the JEDI cloud contract process, that massive $10 billion, decade-long Department of Defense cloud contract that went to a single vendor. It was forever arguing to anyone who would listen that that process was faulty and favored Amazon. Yesterday it lost another round in co