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    • Sources: Microsoft, which was in advanced talks to buy the US operations of TikTok, has paused negotiations after Trump said on Friday that he opposes the deal (Wall Street Journal)

    Wall Street Journal: Sources: Microsoft, which was in advanced talks to buy the US operations of TikTok, has paused negotiations after Trump said on Friday that he opposes the deal  —  Talks aren’t believed to be dead, but the companies are trying to get clarity on White House’s stance Sources: Microsoft, which was in advanced

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    Playing the Pixelflut

    {$inline_image} Every hacker gathering needs as many pixels as its hackers can get their hands on. Get a group together and you’ll be blinded by the amount of light on display. (We propose “a blinkenlights” as the taxonomic name for such a group.) At a large gathering, what better way to show of your elite

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    • Vertex, which provides tax software for companies in more than 19,000 jurisdictions globally, raised $401M in its Nasdaq IPO on Tuesday at a valuation of $3B (Luisa Beltran/Barron's Online)

    Luisa Beltran / Barron’s Online: Vertex, which provides tax software for companies in more than 19,000 jurisdictions globally, raised $401M in its Nasdaq IPO on Tuesday at a valuation of $3B  —  Vertex, a tax software company, saw its shares rise Wednesday nearly 29% in its market debut.  —  Late Tuesday, Vertex raised $401 million

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    • Q&A: Niantic COO Megan Quinn on its plans to open up tech that powers Pokémon Go to other developers, working with Qualcomm on AR reference hardware, and more (Janko Roettgers/Protocol)

    Janko Roettgers / Protocol: Q&A: Niantic COO Megan Quinn on its plans to open up tech that powers Pokémon Go to other developers, working with Qualcomm on AR reference hardware, and more  —  Starting a new job during the pandemic can be a challenge.  Joining a 600-plus employee startup as a C-level executive … Q&A:

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    Why vehicle-to-grid charging could be the cheapest way to secure renewable energy

    The UK electricity system is undergoing significant and rapid change. It has the world’s largest installed capacity of offshore wind, has effectively stopped generating electricity from coal, and has recorded a 20% drop in demand since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this transition from traditional, reliable coal to weather-dependent wind and solar generation

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    How Many of You Are There, Really?

    We’re now accustomed to hearing, “We’re all special in our own unique ways.” But what if we weren’t really aren’t all that unique? Many people think there are no more than two political opinions, maybe a handful of religious beliefs, and certainly no more than one way to characterize a hack. But despite this controversy

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    • Acquiring TikTok would be a big bet for Microsoft in the consumer social media space that could bring content moderation and other regulatory risks (Aaron Tilley/Wall Street Journal)

    Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal: Acquiring TikTok would be a big bet for Microsoft in the consumer social media space that could bring content moderation and other regulatory risks  —  Consumer products have been a minefield for the software giant even as Xbox has succeeded  —  For Microsoft MSFT .54% Corp. Chief Executive …

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    • Court documents show how FBI used a leaked copy of the OGUsers forum database, user details from Discord, and data from Coinbase to track down Twitter hackers (Catalin Cimpanu/ZDNet)

    Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: Court documents show how FBI used a leaked copy of the OGUsers forum database, user details from Discord, and data from Coinbase to track down Twitter hackers  —  A timeline of the Twitter hack composed from court documents published today.  —  After earlier today US law enforcement charged … Court documents

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    • Sources: ByteDance has agreed to divest US operations of TikTok under a proposed new deal with the White House that would see Microsoft take over TikTok in US (Echo Wang/Reuters)

    Echo Wang / Reuters: Sources: ByteDance has agreed to divest US operations of TikTok under a proposed new deal with the White House that would see Microsoft take over TikTok in US  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) – China’s ByteDance has agreed to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok completely in a bid to save a

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