The big story: Facebook faces questions over data breach

A data breach involving personal data (such as email addresses and phone numbers) of more than 500 million Facebook accounts came to light over the weekend thanks to a story in Business Insider. Although Facebook said the breach was related to a vulnerability that was “found and fixed” in August 2019, the Irish Data Protection Commission — Facebook’s lead data regulator in the European Union — suggested that it’s seeking the “full facts” in the matter.

“The newly published dataset seems to comprise the original 2018 (pre-GDPR) dataset and combined with additional records, which may be from a later period,” said deputy commissioner Graham Doyle in a statement. “A significant number of the users are EU users. Much of the data appears to been data scraped some time ago from Facebook public profiles.”

In addition, it looks like EU regulators may also look into Facebook’s acquisition of customer service company Kustomer.

The tech giants

Apple launches an app for testing devices that work with ‘Find My’ — Find My Certification Asst. is designed for use by Made for iPhone Licensees who need to test their accessories’ interoperability with Apple’s Find My network.

Google Cloud joins the FinOps Foundation — The FinOps Foundation is a relatively new open-source foundation that aims to bring together companies in the “cloud financial management” space to establish best practices and standards.

Facebook confirms ‘test’ of Venmo-like QR codes for person-to-person payments in US — The feature will allow a user to scan a friend’s code with their smartphone’s camera to send or request money.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Clubhouse launches payments so creators can make money — It’s like a virtual tip jar, or a Clubhouse-branded version of Venmo.

Robotic exoskeleton maker Sarcos announces SPAC plans — The deal could potentially value the robotic exoskeleton maker and blank check company at a combined $1.3 billion.

Hipmunk’s founders launch Flight Penguin to bring back Hipmunk-style flight search — I’ve missed Hipmunk.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Giving EV batteries a second life for sustainability and profit — Automakers and startups are eying ways to reuse batteries before they’re sent for recycling.

Will Topps’ SPAC-led debut expand the bustling NFT market? — Topps and its products are popular with the same set of folks who are very excited about creating rare digital items on particular blockchains.

LG’s exit from the smartphone market comes as no surprise — Why didn’t it happen sooner?

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Everything else

GM to build an electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with more than 400 miles of range — GM is positioning the full-sized pickup for both consumer and commercial markets.

Putting Belfast on the TechCrunch map — TechCrunch’s European Cities Survey 2021 — This is the follow-up to the huge survey of investors we’ve done over the last six or more months, largely in capital cities.

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