Techmeme
September 6, 2018, 2:05 PM

Top News

Peter Kafka / Recode:
A recap of Facebook and Twitter hearings: Republican claims of bias, Democratic claims of political manipulation, and appearances by Alex Jones and Laura Loomer  —  A capsule review of tech's visit to Washington: The Senate seemed serious, the House did not, and Republicans aren't done complaining about bias.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Washington Post:
The Intercept:
Interviews and documents show IBM used NYPD surveillance footage in 2012 to develop object identification tech that could search by skin color and more  —  In the decade after the 9/11 attacks, the New York City Police Department moved to put millions of New Yorkers under constant watch.
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
DOJ announces hacking charges against a North Korean government spy, linked to the Lazarus Group, in connection with the 2014 Sony hack  —  The Justice Department will announce computer hacking charges Thursday against a North Korean government spy in connection with the 2014 attack …
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Lyft launches a fleet of around 350 electric scooters in Denver, its first market, available for $1+ from 6AM to 8PM daily  —  The company is playing catch-up in a flush market, but it believes it can win by playing nice with cities  —  Lyft is the latest company to jump on the shared-scooter bandwagon …
Mehedi Hassan / Thurrott.com:
Microsoft begins testing Cortana and Alexa support for the Xbox One, letting users power the console on and off and start games and apps  —  Microsoft's Xbox One is getting a whole lot easier to use.  The company today announced a new Xbox Skill for Cortana and Amazon Alexa …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
MasterClass, which offers online classes from well known experts for a $180 annual fee, raises $80M Series D led by IVP  —  Filmmaking taught by Martin Scorsese?  Comedy taught by Steve Martin?  Chess taught by Garry Kasparov?  Tennis taught by Serena Williams?  Cooking taught by Gordon Ramsay?
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Sources detail how Spotify has quietly signed direct licensing deals with some artists, a move that is worrying major record labels  —  For decades, the path to stardom in the music industry has usually gone through a major record company.  —  Almost every artist today who reaches the top of the charts …
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Insight Venture Partners buys content management platform Episerver for $1.1B from the private equity firm Accel-KKR  —  Episerver, the Irvine, California-based company which provides services for marketers to manage content, was bought by Insight Venture Partners for a cool $1.1 billion from the private equity firm Accel-KKR.
Fathin Ungku / Reuters:
Facebook says it will invest more than $1B to build its first Asian data center in Singapore, slated to open in 2022  —  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) said on Thursday it will invest more than $1 billion to build its first data centre in Asia in Singapore, slated to open in 2022.
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch:
Monese, which provides a mobile-only current account targeting customers with a thin credit file, raises $60M Series B led by Kinnevik  —  The large amounts of cash that is being invested in challenger banks in the U.K., whether that be startups with a fully fledged banking license or those using …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Sources: Apple has considered the name “iPhone Xs Max” for the 6.5-inch model; both Xs and Xs Max will have 4GB RAM, up from 3GB, and dual SIM options  —  Last week 9to5Mac exclusively shared the first look at the new iPhone Xs models due to be officially announced by Apple on September 12.
Guilherme Rambo / 9to5Mac:

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Earlier Picks

Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo:
James Vincent / The Verge: