Techmeme: Weaknesses in DEP, Apple's free service for remote enterprise device management, may give attackers access to the network by guessing serial numbers of devices (John Leyden/The Register)

Top News

SEC sues Elon Musk, accusing him of misleading investors when he tweeted that he had funding lined up to take Tesla private; stock drops 11%+ after hours — The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a case against Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, according to a docket entry …

Sara Salinas / CNBC:

SEC seeks to bar Elon Musk from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company if found guilty; Musk calls SEC action unjustified — - The SEC complaint alleges that Musk issued “false and misleading” statements and failed to properly notify regulators of material company events.

More: CNNMoney, Digital Trends, Gizmodo, Business Insider, The Next Web, Mercury News, NPR, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, Engadget, The Daily Caller, BGR, Fortune, CBS New York, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacDailyNews, and Newser

Tweets: @danprimack, @tsrandall, @business, @krisvancleave, @probesreporter, and @business

John Leyden / The Register:

Weaknesses in DEP, Apple's free service for remote enterprise device management, may give attackers access to the network by guessing serial numbers of devices — Researchers check bootstrap enrolment tech, suck teeth, whistle — Hackers can blow holes in Apple's managed service technology …

More: The Duo Blog, Forbes, CNET, Computerworld, BetaNews, Ars Technica, Dark Reading, Neowin, VentureBeat, Threatpost, Cult of Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, and ZDNet

Tweets: @thepacketrat and @iblametom

Dan Thorp-Lancaster / Windows Central:

Microsoft will end support for “classic” Skype 7.0 in November, with desktop support ending November 1, mobile and tablets on November 15 — It looks like Microsoft is ready to take a second stab at moving Skype users to the modernized desktop app.

More: Skype Blogs, Thurrott.com, and TechCrunch

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Google says it will now include creator and credit metadata in photos it displays on Google Images and will add copyright notice metadata in the coming weeks — Google hasn't always had the best of relationships with photographers, but today it announced a small measure that should go some way toward appeasing image rightsholders.

More: The Keyword, 9to5Google, Engadget, TechCrunch, Search Engine Journal, IPTC, and Neowin. Tweets: @samharrelson

Nour Al Ali / Bloomberg:

Swiss-based Seba has secured ~$104M in funding, dependent on being granted a banking license from Finma, to create a cryptocurrency-focused regulated bank — - Seba raises $104 million from private, institutional investors — Company in talks with Swiss financial regulator since April

More: Reuters, CoinDesk, Financial Times, ETHNews, CryptoSlate, PYMNTS.com, Virtual Mining Bitcoin News, NewsBTC, Bitsonline, Coingeek, and Cointelegraph

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Alphabet's Chronicle launches VirusTotal Enterprise, a business version of its free offering that, it says, increases malware search speed by 100x — Alphabet in January unveiled Chronicle as the latest project to graduate from the X moonshot factory. Focusing on cybersecurity …

More: Chronicle Blog, SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, ZDNet, VentureBeat, gHacks Technology News, SecurityWeek, and Dark Reading

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Julian Assange steps down as editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks but retains publisher title, appoints Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson to replace him — Julian Assange has stepped aside as editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, with the group saying his departure was “due to the extraordinary circumstances” …

More: TechSpot. Tweets: @wikileaks

See also Mediagazer

David Stringer / Bloomberg:

Unnamed Australian teenager sentenced to eight months probation for breaching Apple's systems; investigators recovered 1TB of sensitive info copied from Apple — - Youth found accessing Apple networks addictive, court hears — Customers' data wasn't compromised by the attacks, Apple says

More: The Age, AppleInsider, MyBroadband, TechSpot, Engadget, The Hacker News, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, iPhone Hacks, and CNET

Tweets: @austingrice_ibm and @mwaurakibebe

Matthew Prince / The Cloudflare Blog:

Cloudflare launches its own domain registrar called Cloudflare Registrar, promises to never charge anything more than the wholesale price each TLD charges — “I love my domain registrar.” Has anyone ever said this? From before Cloudflare even launched in September 2010 …

More: Domain Name Wire and TechCrunch

Tweets: @prdonahue and @magicroundabout

Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:

Coinbase adds Coinbase Bundle, a new offering that lets users buy a market-weighted sampling of its 5 available cryptocurrencies, for as little as $25 — Coinbase is shaking things up quite a bit lately and its latest tools are geared toward cryptocurrency traders just getting their toes wet.

More: The Coinbase Blog, The Next Web, KnowTechie, The Block, CryptoGlobe, and Bitcoin Magazine

Tweets: @readdanwrite, @brian_armstrong, and @dickerson_des

Consumer Reports:

Most Microsoft Surface laptops regain Consumer Reports' “recommended” status; Surface Go is still not recommended, mainly due to its slow performance — New reliability ratings prompt the change, but Surface Go falls short on performance — Microsoft Surface laptops are now eligible for …

More: ZDNet, The Verge, SlashGear, TechSpot, Thurrott.com, BGR, Windows Central, MSPoweruser, GeekWire, and Neowin

Sara Atske / Pew Research Center:

Study of US teens finds 59% say they have been bullied or harassed online, 79% say elected officials are doing only a fair or poor job of addressing the problem — 59% of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online, and a similar share says it's a major problem for people their age.

More: TechCrunch. Tweets: @pewinternet, @sarahintampa, and @pewresearch

Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:

Opendoor, which buys homes from sellers directly and then sells them at a profit, raises $400M from SoftBank's Vision Fund, source says at $2B valuation — It's official. Two weeks ago, we reported that Opendoor — the four year-old, San Francisco-based company aiming to make it possible …

More: VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE, PYMNTS.com, Bloomberg, Fortune, Axios, and The Real Deal New York

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Microsoft's SwiftKey keyboard on Android adds two-way translation for 60+ languages, enabling it to translate both outgoing and incoming messages — Microsoft-owned mobile keyboard company SwiftKey has announced a new translation feature in its Android app, one that leverages Microsoft Translator …

More: GeekWire and Android Police

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:

Didi Chuxing launches a taxi-hailing service in Osaka, Japan that links passengers with drivers from 10 local taxi companies — China's Didi Chuxing is fighting fires at home around passenger safety, but overseas the ride-hailing giant has moved into another new market after its taxi-booking service began operations in Japan.

Bloomberg:

SoftBank's Vision Fund has already committed $65B; Masayoshi Son says that he plans to raise a new $100B fund every two or three years and spend ~$50B per year — The Japanese dealmaker says he'll raise a new $100 billion fund every few years. Silicon Valley's disruptors are struggling to keep up.

More: Silicon Valley Business … and Bloomberg

Tweets: @teddyschleifer, @business, @mcbridesg, @pelstrom, @peter_tl, @robinwauters, @selina_y_wang, @tmfassociates, and @martinsfp. Thanks:@pelstrom

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Cargo, which makes boxes of items such as gum, phone chargers, and snacks to help drivers sell goods to ride-hailing passengers, raises $22.5M Series A — In-car commerce startup Cargo has raised $22.5 million in a series A round of funding led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund …

More: PE Hub Blog, Forbes, and FinSMEs

Kate Clark / TechCrunch:

The Infatuation, a restaurant discovery platform which bought Zagat from Google, raises $30M from Jeffrey Katzenberg's WndrCo — WndrCo, the consumer tech investment and holding company founded by longtime Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, has invested $30 million in The Infatuation, a restaurant discovery platform.

Jon Fingas / Engadget:

Google Maps for Android and iOS now helps you plan group events by adding places to a shortlist, sharing it via messaging services, and voting on the choices — If you've ever tried to settle on a place to eat, you know how time-consuming it can be. If you're not trying to describe each …

More: TechCrunch, The Keyword, Firstpost, XDA Developers, Thurrott.com, The Verge, and BGR

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Real estate tech company Compass raises $400M Series F, led by SoftBank's Vision Fund and the Qatar Investment Authority, at a $4.4B valuation — Compass, the New York startup that has built a tech-first platform to take on the antiquated market of real estate, is building up its own house today.

More: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and VentureBeat. Tweets: @shaig. Thanks:@ingridlunden

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

A look at how, ten years after Google introduced Android to prevent the industry's other players from becoming dominant, its mobile OS has become just that — It's an Android world; we just live in it — Android is 10 years old now, give or take. It was revealed on September 23rd …

More: The Register. Tweets: @ow, @brchastain, @indeadline, and @verge

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Shopify:

Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.

Zoho:

Zoho Webinar: A look back at 2025 — As 2025 comes to a close, it's the perfect time to look back at how Zoho Webinar has transformed the way businesses connect, engage, and grow.

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:

'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson

The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.

Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.

Big Technology Podcast:

2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.

Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control

Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.

Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.

BG2 Pod:

AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean

Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.

Subscribe to BG2 Pod.

Great Chat:

The stories we told ourselves in 2025

A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.

Subscribe to Great Chat.

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:

Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.

Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:20 PM ET, September 27, 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.