• Tech Solution

    Apple’s ‘privacy’ changes undermine international advertising best practices

    Apple’s decision to require users to opt-in to its IDFA tracking has understandably disrupted the ad tech ecosystem. Its new measures, albeit now delayed until “early” 2021, ignore current initiatives from the IAB around transparency and privacy-first best practices. The IAB-led initiatives I’m referring to include ads.txt, app-ads.txt, sellers.json, the GDPR Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), and the Open Measurement SDK. Each of these solutions was created to help standardize marketing practices around the world. And in doing so, the IAB managed to help simplify digital advertising processes while making them more open and transparent to all parties. Privacy … Read More

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  • News

    Facebook names VP of product growth Alex Schultz as new CMO – TechCrunch

    To fill its empty CMO position, Facebook just promoted to the C-suite a longtime Facebook executive focused on product growth. Former VP of product growth and analytics Alex Schultz, who has been with the company since 2007, announced the move Tuesday in a Facebook post. Schultz will fill the position left open by Antonio Lucio, who joined the company from HP in 2018 and announced his departure last month. Lucio said he was leaving the company to “dedicate 100{69439eabc38bbe67fb47fc503d1b0f790fcef507f9cafca8a4ef4fbfe163a7c5} of my time to diversity, inclusion and equity.” In his Facebook post, Schultz said he planned to bring “experience … Read More

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  • Tech Solution

    The technology that powers the 2020 campaigns, explained

    Campaigns and elections have always been about data—underneath the empathetic promises to fix your problems and fight for your family, it’s a business of metrics. If a campaign is lucky, it will find its way through a wilderness of polling, voter attributes, demographics, turnout, impressions, gerrymandering, and ad buys to connect with voters in a way that moves or even inspires them. Obama, MAGA, AOC—all have had some of that special sauce. Still, campaigns that collect and use the numbers best win. That’s been true for some time, of course. In 2017, Hillary Clinton lamented that the Democratic National Committee … Read More

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  • News

    XtalPi lands massive $319M SoftBank-led round C to continue its high-tech drug discovery – TechCrunch

    XtalPi, an American-Chinese biotech firm that focuses on AI-assisted drug discovery, has raised a $319 million round C from a slate of enthusiastic investors led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund. It joins numerous others with 9-figure rounds in what is clearly a valuable and competitive space. XtalPi works with major pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer that need to identify promising new drug-like molecules and learn as much about them as possible. It’s very much a race, so companies claiming to use AI to speed up the process have attracted major funding. Though there have been no prominent breakthroughs to speak of resulting … Read More

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  • Tech Solution

    The D20 Beat: The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk’s humor doesn’t hit my funny bone

    I’ve long embraced humor in my role-playing games. The Bard Tale’s IV is among my favorite RPGs of the past few years, and I’m always up for Dragon Quest’s puns. And right now, Wasteland 3 is still making me laugh. But when your game goes from RPG-with-laughs to a parody, you gotta make sure those jokes are good and smart from the get-go. And while I appreciate the tactical combat that’s the foundation of The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos, I just don’t care for its crass humor. And this is coming from the person who … Read More

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    Philippines payment processing startup PayMongo lands $12 million Series A led by Stripe – TechCrunch

    Stripe has led a $12 million Series A round in Manila-based online payment platform PayMongo, the startup announced today. PayMongo, which offers an online payments API for businesses in the Philippines, was the first Filipino-owned financial tech startup to take part in Y Combinator’s accelerator program. Y Combinator and Global Founders Capital, another previous investor, both returned for the Series A, which also included participation from new backer BedRock Capital. PayMongo partners with financial institutions, and its products include a payments API that can be integrated into websites and apps, allowing them to accept payments from bank cards and … Read More

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