Day: October 2, 2020
Controversial former Uber exec Emil Michael has registered plans for a $250 million SPAC
SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, are all the rage right now, and people are emerging from all corners to raise them.
Among the latest entrants — and someone who might be of interest to Silicon Valley watchers — is Emil Michael, a former Uber executive and top lieutenant to former CEO Travis Kalanick. Earlier today, Micheal registered plans with the SEC to raise $250 million in an IPO for a blank-check company that will broadly acquire a company in the tech sector.
IPO Edge had reported earlier today that the SPAC might be in the works.
The filing lists as special advisors Alphabet’s former executive chairman Eric Schmidt, and Betsy Atkins, a founder of Ascend Communications and investor who has served on so many boards that last year she wrote a book about it. Indeed, among her other roles currently, she’s on the boards of Volvo, Wynn Resorts, and Oyo Hotels.
Michael was as senior vice president of field operations at Tellme Networks, then later served as COO of the startup Klout before landing at Uber, where he was a senior vice president for business for nearly four years.
He gained prominence in the role, but also some disrepute after he publicly made comments about hiring opposition researchers to quite journalists critical of the company and following a later report that he had attended an “escort bar” in Seoul with other Uber executives, including Kalanick. Indeed, when he left the company in 2017, Uber declined to say if he left of his own accord.
Despite — or perhaps even because of — his trajectory at Uber, Michael was reportedly vetted at one point for the position of Secretary of Transportation after Donald Trump was elected president. Now, he apparently sees a way to jump back into tech by using
Apple Pulls Problematic Safari 14 and Security Updates for macOS Mojave [Updated]
Apple appears to have pulled the latest macOS Mojave Security Update (2020-005), which was released on September 24 alongside the macOS Catalina 10.15.7 update. Apple has also removed Safari 14 for macOS Mojave from download.
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Both the Mojave Security Update and the Safari 14 update were causing numerous problems for those still running macOS Mojave, as outlined by Mr. Macintosh.
macOS Mojave users who installed the updates have been noticing memory issues, slow boot times and Finder stalling, numerous system.log entires, and crashes when attempting to use Migration assistant, among other problems. Complaints about the update started shortly after it was released, but Apple did not pull the updates until yesterday.
Those who had already downloaded the Mojave Security Update or installed Safari 14 should soon be getting a fix in the form of updated software that addresses the bugs that were introduced. Reverting to a Time Machine backup, reinstalling macOS Mojave, or installing macOS Catalina also seem to successfully fix the issues.
(Thanks, Jeff!)
Update: Apple has released a supplemental update for Mojave which presumably addresses the issues above. It should become available in your macOS software update.
Edinburgh International Festival ordered to improve diversity in its programming
The Edinburgh International Festival has been ordered to ensure greater diversity in its programming by the Scottish Government in the wake of claims that women, disabled acts and artists of colour were overlooked in this year’s online programme.
Saturday, 3rd October 2020, 7:00 am
The event is to be closely monitored in future to ensure it makes improvements and meets official “obligations” on equality, diversity and inclusion.
The government has revealed that the festivals has “accepted” there were a lack of “female artists, artists with disabilities and artists from non-white backgrounds in the online programme, which was announced in early August.
The festival, which receives more than £4.5 million from the government and the city council each year, has apologised for the make-up of this year’s programme after being targeted in an online petition.
Formal complaints were also made to culture secretary Fiona Hyslop and Iain Munro, chief executive of the government’s arts quango, Creative Scotland. They were urged to take steps to “ensure positive change happens and that this organisation is held accountable for their unethical working and programming.”
Campaigners claim the festival failed to respond to the Black Lives Matter movement with a line-up of artists who were “almost 90 per cent white.”
The number of male performers in the programme were said to be double the number of women, while disabled artists were said to be overlooked completely.
Organisers admitted they had failed to “reflect the diversity of practice in
IPL 2020, CSK vs SRH: Despite Loss, MS Dhoni Wins Internet For His Dedication, Struggle in Dry Conditions
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© Ankit Banerjee | India.com Sports Desk
Image: Twitter
MS Dhoni gave it his all on Friday but could not take Chennai Super Kings over the line against Subrisers Hyderabad in Dubai, losing their third consecutive game. Dhoni – who walked in at No 5, with the side needing over 12 runs per over, the CSK skipper took his time initially. But once he got a hang of the conditions, he took on the bowling but soon started coughing and struggling in the middle. It seemed Dhoni had injured himself and was batting with the pain, but that was not the case. At the post-match presentation, Dhoni clarified that there was no injury but the dry conditions that made his struggle in the middle. “I tried to get as much as time as possible. It is quite dry out here. So, the throat gets dry and you start to cough. When you have legal signs, you can take some time off,” he said after the match. Now ardent fans of Dhoni are hailing his dedication despite the loss.
Hats off to @msdhoni bhai..even in this heat keeping for 20 overs and then running (sprinting for his team) lots n lots of respect..now that’s what we call never ever giving up in toughest moments. Giving all in for his team#respect #cricket pic.twitter.com/LijSsHCUR7
Abhi Rajput (@Abhii2910) October 3, 2020
Struggled to finish the game, but we always loves you MS ❤ #CSKvSRH #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/7ukGVgwcue
Kalyan Sagar (@pksagar07) October 3, 2020
I could understand his pain… Being a wicketkeeper and playing for almost 11 overs in UAE condition is absolutely difficult. This time too shall pass MSD.. #respect #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/fcBn2lnWdo
Amit Gawande (@AmitThewall) October 3, 2020
Hats off to @msdhoni bhai..even in this heat keeping for 20 overs and then running (sprinting for
U.S. government appeals judge’s ruling to block WeChat app store ban
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Friday said it was appealing a judge’s decision to block the government from barring Apple Inc <AAPL.O> and Alphabet Inc’s <GOOGL.O> Google from offering Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for download in U.S. app stores.
The government said it was appealing the Sept. 19 preliminary junction issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The injunction blocked the U.S. Commerce Department order, which would also bar other U.S. transactions with Tencent Holding’s <0700.HK> WeChat, potentially making the app unusable in the United States.
A U.S. spokesman for Tencent did not immediately comment.
The Justice Department said earlier that Beeler’s order was in error and “permits the continued, unfettered use of WeChat, a mobile application that the Executive Branch has determined constitutes a threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
Lawyers for the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance, the group behind the legal challenge to the WeChat ban, said on Friday the department “has still presented no compelling national security interest to justify such an unprecedented ban” and will oppose the effort.
The group noted Tencent tried to negotiate a settlement with the Commerce Department and offered a number of mitigation measures to address data security concerns.
Beeler said WeChat users “have shown serious questions going to the merits of the First Amendment claim.” The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech.
WeChat has had an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States, analytics firms Apptopia said in early August. It is popular among Chinese students, Americans living in China and some Americans who have personal or business relationships in China.
WeChat is an all-in-one mobile app that combines services similar to Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram
