News

Apple Support docs show that unusual mid-production hardware changes were made to its A12, A13, and S5 chips last fall, to update the Secure Storage Component  —  Apple made unusual mid-production hardware changes to the A12, A13, and S5 processors in its devices in the fall of 2020 to update … Source

In an internal memo, Apple acknowledges concerns and “misunderstandings” about its new photo scanning feature but says it is necessary to “protect children”  —  Apple yesterday officially announced a range of new features coming later this year, dubbed Expanded Protections for Children. Source

How Canada-based sports gaming and media company theScore, valued at $1B, is trying to expand its US reach through its sports news and betting apps  —  – Canada-based gaming and media company theScore is worth $1 billion and wants to gain market share in U.S. online sports betting. Source

Substack says it plans to roll out a “multipub” tool, which will let users aggregate newsletters and podcasts they manage under one publication, in February  —  Substack is adding a long-awaited new feature today: the ability to change the look of newsletters. Source

Have I Been Pwned goes open source, starting with the Pwned Password code; FBI to begin sharing compromised passwords discovered in investigations with the site  —  Want to find out if someone’s stolen your user IDs and passwords?  Then you can use “Have I Been Pwned,” and now the code behind it is being open-sourced…

Nashville-based XSOLIS, which uses AI to improve healthcare operations and communication between hospitals and insurance companies, raises $75M  —  One of Nashville’s largest health tech firms just landed cash that could accelerate its growth.  —  Data analytics company Xsolis (stylized XSOLIS) …Source

Q&A with Aaron Saunders, VP at Boston Dynamics, on teaching robots to dance and how that informs the company’s approach to robotics for commercial applications  —  A week ago, Boston Dynamics posted a video of Atlas, Spot, and Handle dancing to “Do You Love Me.”.. Source

Sources: Zillow is pitching institutional investors on the sale of 7K homes for ~$2.8B to recover from buying too many, which it blames on its bidding algorithm  —  – Online listing giant has been buying thousands of homes  —  Zillow Group Inc. is looking to sell about 7,000 homes as it seeks … Source

Interview with Niantic CEO John Hanke about the company’s vision for the metaverse and how it could become a dystopian nightmare  —  The metaverse, the concept of an alternative, shared digital world that originated in sci-fi, has bubbled up to the surface of tech chatter during the later days of the pandemic… Source