Techmeme
April 17, 2018, 12:10 AM

Top News

Reuters:
Dept of Commerce blocks sales from US firms to ZTE for seven years, after alleged false statements to officials that followed guilty plea on sanctions violation  —  LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Commerce has banned American companies from selling components …
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Coinbase acquires Earn.com, which lets users earn bitcoin by completing tasks, hires Earn.com CEO Balaji Srinivasan as CTO; sources say deal is valued at $120M+  —  Coinbase is acquiring Earn.com, a paid inbox service formerly known as 21 inc., with CEO Balaji Srinivasan joining as chief technology officer …
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft announces the Azure Sphere stack for securing IoT devices, includes a Linux-based OS, custom silicon for microcontrollers, and matching cloud service  —  Microsoft is introducing new custom silicon, a Linux-based embedded OS and cloud service aimed at securing microcontroller-based devices.
Alfred Ng / CNET:
TaskRabbit informs users that it is investigating a cybersecurity incident and that it has temporarily taken down its app and website  —  The handyman-for-hire app sent an email to users today recommending they change their passwords if they used the same ones for different websites.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / Motherboard:
GrayKey, the tool law enforcement's been buying to unlock iPhones, appears to work by brute forcing passcodes, another reason to use a strong alphanumeric code  —  Now that police agents can allegedly crack iPhones protected with passcodes made of six numbers, it's time to use longer, harder to guess and crack alphanumeric passphrases.
New York Times:
China's Weibo backs down from censoring gay content following backlash from users, after saying it would ban it along with other content to comply with new law  —  BEIJING — With hashtags like #Iamgaynotapervert and images of hearts and rainbows, tens of thousands of Chinese residents took …
Dustin Volz / Reuters:
Rob Joyce to return to the NSA after more than a year as White House cybersecurity coordinator; his departure follows that of his boss, Tom Bossert, last week  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House cyber security coordinator Rob Joyce will leave his post and return to the National Security Agency, a White House official said on Monday.
More: Wired and CyberscoopThanks:@dnvolz
Eliot Brown / Wall Street Journal:
Pitchbook: US VC firms are at record levels of late-stage funding with 102 startups receiving at least $50M in Q1 2018, totaling $16B  —  The rush of venture funds has led to bidding wars and heightened concerns that the sector is overvalued  —  When Tony Xu, chief executive …
More: PYMNTS.com
David Shepardson / Reuters:
T-Mobile fined $40M by FCC for failing to fix rural calling problems and playing ringing sounds to mislead “hundreds of millions” into thinking calls connected  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA Inc (TMUS.O) agreed on Monday to pay $40 million to resolve a government investigation …
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Lyft says its drivers have earned $500M+ in tips since the company was founded in 2012; tip averages up 8% YoY in 2017 due to app encouraging higher tip amounts  —  Lyft drivers have earned more than $500 million in tips to date, Lyft announced today.  Since fleshing out tip functionality …
More: Lyft Blog, CNET, and Mashable

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI that works  —  Tribe builds tech for top AI companies.  Get in touch to learn how our bench of 500+ engineers and researchers can accelerate your roadmap.
Kulkan Security:
Hire Kulkan as your penetration testing partner  —  Kulkan prioritizes deep-dive manual security reviews, dissecting your software and infrastructure to find issues that once remediated can truly reduce security risk.
Zoho:
Environmental impact of remote support: Reducing carbon footprints in IT  —  Information technology is essential for powering core business processes and facilitating communication.
Mastodon:
Donate to Mastodon  —  Mastodon gGmbH, the non-profit behind the open-source software powering the social web, relies entirely on support from users like you.  Donate directly with a credit card or through Patreon.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Magatte Wade, Unlocking Prosperity in Africa (#53)
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 04/18 - Game Emulators On iOS And The Atlas Robot Lives!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:10 AM ET, April 17, 2018.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

CNBC:
Robert Draper / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:
Chris Welch / The Verge: