Alexander Martin / The Record:
Law enforcement officials and experts: criminal groups are shying away from large ransomware-as-a-service platforms after disruption operations and an exit scam — Veteran cybercriminals involved in ransomware attacks are increasingly shying away from large ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) …
Google updates the Play Store on Android to add categorized “collections” to show installed app content, expands Play Pass, and adds curated comics in Japan (Chris Welch/The Verge)
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Google updates the Play Store on Android to add categorized “collections” to show installed app content, expands Play Pass, and adds curated comics in Japan — Google is bringing a handful of new features to its Google Play store on Android today.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 review: very good battery life, easy multitasking, and seven years of updates, but narrow cover screen, bulky, heavy, and expensive (Allison Johnson/The Verge)
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 review: very good battery life, easy multitasking, and seven years of updates, but narrow cover screen, bulky, heavy, and expensive — Samsung’s flagship foldable is as good as ever, but it feels anything but fresh. … The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is like staying in a really fancy Airbnb.
The Overture Maps Foundation, backed by Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and others, releases four global open maps datasets; transportation remains in beta (Paul Sawers/TechCrunch)
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
The Overture Maps Foundation, backed by Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and others, releases four global open maps datasets; transportation remains in beta — It’s not often you’ll find Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta in the same room collaborating toward the same goals.
Twitch introduces new policy and moderation updates to curb sexual harassment, including making its policy “easier to understand” and adding moderation tools (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge)
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Twitch introduces new policy and moderation updates to curb sexual harassment, including making its policy “easier to understand” and adding moderation tools — Twitch has introduced new policy and moderation updates that aim to help curb sexual harassment.
Compliance startup Vanta raised a $150M Series C led by Sequoia Capital at a $2.45B valuation, up from $1.6B in 2022, to accelerate adding AI to its products (Sarah McBride/Bloomberg)
Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:
Compliance startup Vanta raised a $150M Series C led by Sequoia Capital at a $2.45B valuation, up from $1.6B in 2022, to accelerate adding AI to its products — Sequoia Capital led the financing, which the company said it would use in part to accelerate work in artificial intelligence.
LA-based Pearl, an FDA-approved startup that uses AI to assist dentists to make diagnoses, raised a $58M Series B led by Left Lane Capital at a $400M valuation (Katie Roof/Bloomberg)
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
LA-based Pearl, an FDA-approved startup that uses AI to assist dentists to make diagnoses, raised a $58M Series B led by Left Lane Capital at a $400M valuation — – Los Angeles-based startup backed by Craft Ventures, Left Lane — Pearl is valued at $400 million in fresh financing deal
Ferrari plans to accept crypto payments for its cars at European dealers from the start of August, and internationally by the end of 2024, expanding on the US (Giulio Piovaccari/Reuters)
Giulio Piovaccari / Reuters:
Ferrari plans to accept crypto payments for its cars at European dealers from the start of August, and internationally by the end of 2024, expanding on the US — Ferrari (RACE.MI) said on Wednesday it would extend its scheme to accept payments in cryptocurrency for its luxury sports cars …
Google’s failed deal with Wiz, and with HubSpot before that, puts Google in an awkward spot to grow Cloud; Wiz staff are likely upset at missing a big payday (Parmy Olson/Bloomberg)
Parmy Olson / Bloomberg:
Google’s failed deal with Wiz, and with HubSpot before that, puts Google in an awkward spot to grow Cloud; Wiz staff are likely upset at missing a big payday — It’s the second time in as many months that the tech giant has lost a deal to boost its lagging cloud business.
Kamala Harris took a leading White House role on AI, including meeting executives, and a win could mean a continued relatively smooth runway for AI companies (New York Times)
New York Times:
Kamala Harris took a leading White House role on AI, including meeting executives, and a win could mean a continued relatively smooth runway for AI companies — The presumptive Democratic nominee has won concessions from Big Tech leaders on A.I., but she hasn’t successfully pushed Congress to regulate.
