GadgetFreak

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer : A new Golang-based worm has been actively dropping XMRig cryptocurrency malware on Windows and Linux servers since early December, mining Monero   —  A newly discovered and self-spreading Golang-based malware has been actively dropping XMRig cryptocurrency miners on Windows and Linux servers since early December. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3rMDvR6 via IFTTT

Poco India has teased the Poco F2’s arrival. This comes a few months after the firm said a Poco F1 successor was in the works. The Poco F1 is still one of the most beloved smartphones around, offering flagship power for ~$300 at launch. Unfortunately, the Xiaomi-affiliated brand hasn’t offered anything like that since then, either launching mid-range phones at this tier or flagship devices like the Poco F2 Pro that are significantly more expensive.  Poco confirmed back in October that it was working on a “true successor” to the Poco F1, and it’s now teased the so-called Poco F2 on Twitter. The company posted a video highlighting its achievements in 2020, but it also snuck in a reference to the Poco F2. Check out the screenshot below. Credit: Poco India/Twitter The company didn’t include any other details in the post, so we’re still in the dark regarding what we should expect from the upcoming smartphone. Conventional wisdom says that a “true successor” to the Poco

Sony said on Friday that it will launch the PlayStation 5 in India on February 2, suggesting improvements in the supply chain network that has been severely throttled by the coronavirus pandemic. The Japanese firm said it will begin taking pre-order requests for the new gaming console in India, the world’s second largest internet market, on January 12. The console will be available for pre-order from a number of retailers including Amazon India, Flipkart, Croma, Reliance Digital, Games the Shop, Sony Center, and Vijay Sales, the company said. The PlayStation 5 is priced at Indian rupees 49,990 ($685), while the digital edition of the console will sell at Indian rupees 39,990 ($550). Xbox Series X is priced at $685 in India, and Xbox Series S sells at $480. Like elsewhere in the world, Microsoft has been struggling to meet the demand for the new Xbox consoles in India. The Xbox Series X is facing so much shortage in the country that it’s not even easy to locate its page on Amazon Ind

Rita Liao / TechCrunch : Flexiv, a Chinese startup that makes general-purpose adaptive robots powered by computer vision and AI, raises $100M+ Series B from investors including Meituan   —  As businesses around the world look to automate production lines and supply chains, companies making the robots are attracting great investor interest. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/384Xump via IFTTT

Max Zimmerman / Bloomberg : NYSE says it will delist three Chinese companies, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, on January 7 to comply with a US EO imposing restrictions   —  The New York Stock Exchange said it will delist three Chinese companies to comply with a U.S. executive order that imposed restrictions … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/385gbGo via IFTTT

Ari Levy / CNBC : 7 most valuable US tech companies added a combined $3.4T in market cap in 2020: Apple gained ~$1T, Amazon $710B, Microsoft $480B, Alphabet $268B, Facebook $193B   —  - Apple's market cap jumped by almost $1 trillion this year, followed by Amazon, which increased by over $700 billion. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/38POqkn via IFTTT

David Shepardson / Reuters : Alphabet's Wing says new FAA drone rules mandating radio-frequency broadcasts for remote identification will erode privacy, suggests internet-based tracking   —  Alphabet Inc's drone delivery unit Wing criticized Trump administration rules issued this week mandating broadcast-based remote identification … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/395OKMj via IFTTT

Wired : Gebru's firing reveals tech's ability to co-opt and minimize criticism of its AI systems, highlighting the need for tech unions, research protection, regulation   —  The situation has made clear that the field needs to change.  Here's where to start, according to a current and a former Googler. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2JA1Et9 via IFTTT

As 2020 comes to a long-awaited end, a series of filings indicate that venture capitalists are ending the year with fresh money. According to SEC paperwork, Learn Capital and USV have filed paperwork that shows the firms have raised new, multimillion-dollar funds. If you’ve been paying attention to news this past year, it’s clear that much of venture capital isn’t just surviving 2020 – it’s flourishing through it. Zoom investing , it seems, is working just fine for cash-rich firms looking to double down on bets in categories from edtech to climate. First up, New York-based USV submitted a pair of filings on late Thursday. The first filing shows that the firm has closed $151 million for USV Climate 2021, which one can assume is focused on climate-tech investments. As my colleague Jonathan Shieber has pointed out, climate tech. The other, more nebulous filing , is the firm’s $22.4 million investment vehicle titled USV Bundled. It’s unclear what this is focused on, but a recent blog

When Salesforce acquired Quip in 2016 for $750 million, it gained CEO and co-founder Bret Taylor as part of the deal. Taylor has since risen quickly through the ranks of the software giant to become president and COO, second in command behind CEO Marc Benioff. Taylor’s experience shows that startup founders can sometimes play a key role in the companies that acquire them. Benioff, 56, has been running Salesforce since its founding more than 20 years ago. While he hasn’t given any public hints that he intends to leave anytime soon, if he wanted to step back from the day-to-day running of the company or even job share the role, he has a deep bench of executive talent including many experienced CEOs, who like Taylor came to the company via acquisition. One way to step back from the enormous responsibility of running Salesforce would be by sharing the role. He and his wife Lynne have been active in charitable giving and in 2016 signed The Giving Pledge , an initiative from the The B

2020 has been a dumpster fire of a year, and tech companies are feeling the burn as well. They’ve been forced to push back product launches and delay software updates for consumer tech, not to mention doing so while working from home. I wish I could say the troubles of 2020 are the reason Google’s Wear OS isn’t flourishing, but that’s unfortunately not the case. Google has struggled to stay on top of Wear OS development for years. It’s consistently behind on bringing new features to the platform, and it still relies on third-party watchmakers to make up for the OS’s shortcomings. The wearables market is growing quickly and shows no sign of stopping . Dedicated fitness companies have released game-changing health technology for wearables. On the other end of the spectrum is the Apple Watch. It has basically become the benchmark device for how other smartwatches should function. Google finds itself somewhere in the middle. It’s not a fitness and health company. Google is constantly

Credit: NBCUniversal Update: December 31, 2020 – The time has come. The Office leaves Netflix after today (December 31). On Friday, January 1, 2021, one of the most popular shows on streaming moves over to NBCUniversal’s Peacock service. You can sign up for the service at the link below.  You can learn more about this transition by reading the article below. Sign up for Peacock The US version of The Office was already a highly popular sitcom before its nine seasons debuted on Netflix . However, the workplace comedy has gotten even more popular since it has been on the streaming service. Millions of new fans, some of which were not even born when the show first debuted in 2005, have been entertained by the workers of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. However, it won’t be long before the show leaves the streaming service. So when does The Office leave Netflix? Read more : Best Netflix originals We will tell you when The Office leaves Netf

It’s easy to find a good Chromebook on a budget. After all, the whole idea behind Chrome OS devices is that they serve as a cheaper alternative to Windows laptops. We’ve rounded up some of the best Chromebook deals on the internet so you won’t have to search too hard for a good price. Scroll on for a whole host of discounts on Chromebooks from all of the main manufacturers. Featured Deal: Save $200 on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Credit: Amazon Amid leaked rumors and images  of the Galaxy Chromebook 2, the original Samsung Galaxy Chromebook has seen a big price drop on Amazon. Right now you can pick up the Mercury Gray model for $799 ( $201 off ). Both colors are also available for the same price from Best Buy right now. We’ve largely focused on cheaper options in the rest of this post, but the Galaxy Chromebook is easily one of the best touchscreen Chromebooks you can find. The design is amazing, featuring a brushed aluminum finish and 9.9mm thinness, as well as w

Adi Robertson / The Verge : Ticketmaster agrees to pay a $10M fine after admitting to hiring an ex-CrowdSurge staffer and using his credentials to access the rival ticket seller's systems   —  It used stolen login credentials at a company summit  —  Ticketmaster has agreed to pay $10 million for breaking into a competitors' network. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3mXokkA via IFTTT

Pei Li / Reuters : Report: Apple removed 46K+ apps, including 39K games from its China store on Thursday, as it set a year-end deadline for game publishers to obtain a license   —  HONG KONG (Reuters) - Apple removed 39,000 game apps on its China store Thursday, the biggest removal ever in a single day … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3rGMGmc via IFTTT

Gamesage : Study finds no correlation between growing up playing violent video games and increased levels of aggression 10 years later   —  A ten-year longitudinal study published in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking on a group in early adolescence from as young as ten years old … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/3htqFTk via IFTTT

Over the past few weeks, we’ve posted a lot of “best of” lists to summarize the year. Most of those lists obviously revolve around smartphones. If you want to know what we really think is the best phone of the year, here you go . But what about our favorite tech of the year that wasn’t a phone? That’s what this list is all about! Here, you’ll find a selection of tech products that became favorites of people who work here at  Android Authority . In a very dark year, these were the bright lights that helped us get through the chaos. See also:  Seven smartphone trends that really should stop in 2021 The only hard-and-fast rule for this list is that no phones were allowed. Other than that, all products were fair game. The product doesn’t even need to have been launched in 2020. It just needs to have been an indispensable piece of tech that we fell in love with more than any other during the year. Without further ado, let’s get to the products! If you’re feeling talkative, we’d love t