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Bluesky raises $15 million in Series A and plans to launch subscriptions

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Decentralized social media app Bluesky announced on Thursday that it has raised $15 million in a Series A round after last yr’s $8 million seed round. The funding comes as Bluesky has seen a surge in growth, driven in part by X users who’re concerned about recent changes to the blocking feature, in addition to the power to allow third parties to train artificial intelligence on users’ public posts. In the last month alone, Bluesky added roughly 3 million recent users, bringing its total user base to roughly 13 million.

Bluesky was initially incubated at Twitter as former CEO Jack Dorsey’s vision of what the long run of social media should appear to be. However, the social networking site and creator of the open source AT Protocol isn’t any longer affiliated with Dorsey, who left the startup’s board earlier this yr. Still, a lot of Bluesky’s initial goals remain unchanged: like Mastodon, Bluesky’s AT protocol is decentralized, which implies that individuals will give you the chance to arrange their very own servers and social applications, and those outside the corporate could have visibility into what’s being developed and the way it is being developed .

“With this fundraising, we will continue to support and grow the Bluesky community, investing in trust and security, and supporting the ATmphere developer ecosystem” – Bluesky blog announcement reads. “Additionally, we will begin developing a subscription model that will include features such as higher quality video uploads or profile customization such as avatar colors and frames.”

The Bluesky team was quick to tell users that this paid tier wouldn’t be like X, where subscribers would receive exclusive blue checkmarks and algorithmic rating boosts, making their posts more visible.

“The way Twitter did subscriptions was basically a blueprint for how Bluesky shouldn’t do it” – Paul Frazee, Bluesky developer sent. “Pay to win features like gaining visibility or checking if you are a subscriber are simply wrong and are ruining the web for everyone.”

The Series A round is led by Blockchain Capital with participation from Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, SevenX, Darkmode’s Amir Shevat and Kubernetes co-founder Joe Beda. The presence of a cryptocurrency company may alarm skeptics, especially since CEO Jay Graber was once a software engineer at crypto firm Zcash, but Bluesky has actively assured users that the corporate shouldn’t be moving to web3.

“Our leader, Blockchain Capital, shares our philosophy that technology should serve the user, not the other way around – the technology used should never come at the expense of the user experience,” Bluesky said in its announcement. “This does not change the fact that the Bluesky app and the AT protocol do not use blockchains or cryptocurrencies, and we will not hyper-finance social experiences (via tokens, cryptocurrency trading, NFTs, etc.)”

Graber also announced that Kinjal Shah, general partner at Blockchain Capital, will join Bluesky’s board of directors.

“(Shah) shares our vision of a social media ecosystem that empowers users and supports developer freedom, and working together with her has been a terrific experience. Thanks to her support, we’re well prepared for development,” Graber he wrote.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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US medical device giant Artivion says hackers stole files during a cybersecurity incident

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Artivion, a medical device company that produces implantable tissue for heart and vascular transplants, says its services have been “disrupted” resulting from a cybersecurity incident.

In 8-K filing In an interview with the SEC on Monday, Georgia-based Artivion, formerly CryoLife, said it became aware of a “cybersecurity incident” that involved the “compromise and encryption” of information on November 21. This suggests that the corporate was attacked by ransomware, but Artivion has not yet confirmed the character of the incident and didn’t immediately reply to TechCrunch’s questions. No major ransomware group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Artivion said it took some systems offline in response to the cyberattack, which the corporate said caused “disruptions to certain ordering and shipping processes.”

Artivion, which reported third-quarter revenue of $95.8 million, said it didn’t expect the incident to have a material impact on the corporate’s funds.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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It’s a Raspberry Pi 5 in a keyboard and it’s called Raspberry Pi 500

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Manufacturer of single-board computers Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer keyboard device with higher specs. Named Raspberry Pi500This successor to the Raspberry Pi 400 is just as powerful as the present Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It is on the market for purchase now from Raspberry Pi resellers.

The Raspberry Pi 500 is the simplest method to start with the Raspberry Pi because it’s not as intimidating because the Raspberry Pi 5. When you take a look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you do not see any chipsets or PCBs (printed circuit boards). The Raspberry Pi is totally hidden in the familiar housing, the keyboard.

The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is you could connect a mouse and a display and you are able to go. If, for instance, you’ve got a relative who uses a very outdated computer with an outdated version of Windows, the Raspberry Pi 500 can easily replace the old PC tower for many computing tasks.

More importantly, this device brings us back to the roots of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational applications. Over time, technology enthusiasts and industrial customers began using single-board computers all over the place. (For example, when you’ve ever been to London Heathrow Airport, all of the departures and arrivals boards are there powered by Raspberry Pi.)

Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the roots of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a non-profit organization. It’s the right first computer for college. In some ways, it’s a lot better than a Chromebook or iPad because it’s low cost and highly customizable, which inspires creative pondering.

The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution. It costs $90, which is a slight ($20) price increase over the Raspberry Pi 400.

Only UK and US keyboard variants will probably be available at launch. But versions with French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nordic and Spanish keyboard layouts will probably be available soon. And when you’re in search of a bundle that features all the things you would like, Raspberry Pi also offers a $120 desktop kit that features the Raspberry Pi 500, a mouse, a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable.

In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced one other recent thing: the Raspberry Pi monitor. It is a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor that’s priced at $100. Since there are quite a few 1080p portable monitors available on the market, this launch is not as noteworthy because the Pi 500. However, for die-hard Pi fans, there’s now also a Raspberry Pi-branded monitor option available.

Image credits:Raspberry Pi

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Apple Vision Pro may add support for PlayStation VR controllers

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Vision Pro headset

According to Apple, Apple desires to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive for gamers and game developers latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

The Vision Pro was presented more as a productivity and media consumption device than a tool geared toward gamers, due partly to its reliance on visual and hand controls moderately than a separate controller.

However, Apple may need gamers if it desires to expand the Vision Pro’s audience, especially since Gurman reports that lower than half one million units have been sold to this point. As such, the corporate has reportedly been in talks with Sony about adding support for PlayStation VR2 handheld controllers, and has also talked to developers about whether they may support the controllers of their games.

Offering more precise control, Apple may also make other forms of software available in Vision Pro, reminiscent of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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