10 things in tech you need to know today

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1. Alphabet smashed its earnings estimates. Google’s parent reported its Q3 earnings revealing that revenues jumped a mammoth 14% to $38.01 billion beating Wall Street estimates. 

2. Facebook also exceeded Q3 expectations. The tech giant reported $21.5 billion in revenue for the period, up 22% year-on-year, and beating Wall Street’s expectations of $19.8 billion.

3. Apple beat estimates ahead of the iPhone 12 launch. The firm beat revenue expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter even without the boost it typically gets from early sales of its new iPhones. 

4. Amazon’s net profits tripled. Amazon’s sales grew 37% to $96.1 billion in the third quarter, driven by the heightened demand in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic with net profits growing to $6.33 billion.

5. Twitter rounded out the pack  to surpass Wall Street expectations. The firm reported a total of $936 million in revenue, up 14% from this time last year but saw daily active users fall to 187 million compared to 195 million previously. 

6. ByteDance quietly leased US data centers. In 2019 and 2020, TikTok’s parent company leased a total of 62 megawatts of data-center space in northern Virginia. 

7. TikTok sued one of its rivals. TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are suing rival video app Triller over patent infringement claims. 

8. Expensify is dealing with fallout from its support of Biden. The expenses-logging service faced backlash and lost contracts, but its CEO said sales leads also exploded.

9. Netflix prices are going up. Netflix is raising the price of its standard and premium 4K plans in the US while basic plans will remain at $9 a month. 

10. Hackers stole from Wisconsin’s Trump campaign. Wisconsin’s Republican Party said hackers stole $2.3 million from a fund dedicated to Trump’s reelection in the key battleground state.