Built Robotics, which makes autonomous construction equipment, raises a $64M Series C led by Tiger Global, bringing its total funding to $112M  —  If you’re still wrapping your head around the idea of self-driving cars, get ready for something that might seem even wilder … Source

Internal documents: Amazon’s planned internal messaging app would block union-related words, including “union”, “grievance”, “pay raise”, and “compensation”  —  Amazon will block and flag employee posts on a planned internal messaging app … Source

Netflix is rolling out a Double Thumbs Up ratings option, which will appear next to the thumbs up and down buttons, to let it refine content recommendations  —  For nearly five years, Netflix has had simple thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons to express viewing preferences and help its algorithms provide better recommendations. Source

In a letter to Tim Cook, written and edited by about 80 people, Apple employees push back against a policy requiring them to return to the office in September  —  “Over the last year we often felt not just unheard, but at times actively ignored”  —  Apple employees are pushing … Source

Coinbase, Robinhood, Rivian, UiPath, Marqeta, and Toast are down 65%+ from their IPO; over half of 53 tech companies that went public in 2021 are down 50%+  —  – After a banner year for tech IPOs in 2021, the most notable companies to go public are now suffering some of the biggest losses on the…

Joe Rogan apologizes for his past use of the N-word after a compilation video of him using the slur went viral; 70 JRE episodes have been removed from Spotify  —  His apology came as listeners said that as many as 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast had been quietly taken off Spotify ……

Russia has created its own trusted TLS certificate authority as sanctions prevent Russian sites from renewing existing TLS certificates  —  Russia has created its own trusted TLS certificate authority (CA) to solve website access problems that have been piling up after sanctions prevent certificate renewals. Source

A joint advisory by the FBI, NSA, CISA, and EPA reveals three more ransomware attacks on water treatment plants this year in Nevada, Maine, and California  —  Ransomware gangs have silently hit three US water and wastewater treatment facilities this year, in 2021, the US government … Source

Microsoft warns customers to disable Windows Print Spooler service after identifying the third Windows print flaw in five weeks and despite a patch issued Tues.  —  The third serious Windows print flaw in 5 weeks prompts new Microsoft warning.  —  Microsoft hit yet another snag in its efforts … Source

Sources: Apple hired Afrooz Family, its former employee and a co-founder of speaker startup Syng, to lead HomePod software efforts  —  – Apple’s smart-speaker efforts have struggled since 2018 debut  — Afrooz Family takes job after co-founding Syng speaker startup Source