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August 21, 2019, 8:40 PM
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Top News

Joseph Cox / VICE:
Google, Mozilla, Apple to block root certificate issued by Kazakhstan which could be used to monitor users; Microsoft says cert not in its Trusted Root Program  —  Browser makers announced they would block the Kazakhstan government's root certificate, which was designed to spy on citizens' internet usage.
Stephen Hall / 9to5Google:
Source: Google is planning an update to the Home Mini, called the Nest Mini, with a similar form factor, wall mount, improved sound, and 3.5mm jack  —  Google plans to launch a followup to 2017's Google Home Mini with a second-generation ‘Nest Mini,’ a reliable source tells 9to5Google.
Reuters:
Sources: Alibaba has delayed its listing in Hong Kong, which had been slated for late August and aimed to raise $10B-$15B, amid growing political unrest  —  HONG KONG/NEW YORK (Reuters) - China's biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has delayed its up to $15 billion listing …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Microsoft contractors say they listened to recordings, including accidentally invoked ones, of Xbox users, many of them children, to improve voice command tech  —  Multiple contractors working for Microsoft explain how they listened to audio captured by Xbox consoles.
Bloomberg:
Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, who led a heavily criticized unit focusing on practical AI uses, has been placed on leave for unspecified reasons  —  - Mustafa Suleyman is head of applied artifical intelligence  — He led heavily critized unit focusing on AI and healthcare
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Big data analytics service Splunk to acquire cloud monitoring company SignalFx for $1.05B  —  The company announced the deal along with its second quarter financial results, which topped estimates.  —  Splunk delivered better-than-expected second quarter financial results and announced …
Rose Eveleth / Slate:
A look at the weird and wacky patents filed by tech companies, some seemingly unrelated to the industry, and the reasons behind filing for them  —  Companies are constantly patenting strange things they have no intention of developing.  Here's why.  —  Amazon is putting humans in cages to protect them from machines!
Ryan Smith / AnandTech:
Intel unveils 10th-gen Comet Lake CPUs with up to 6 cores for thin and light laptops, based on its Skylake CPU architecture and 14nm process  —  Capping off a busy few weeks for processors for Intel, today the company is announcing the second half of their product stack for their low-power 10th generation Core processors.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Researcher who was banned from Valve's HackerOne bug bounty program after submitting a Steam 0-day that Valve downplayed reveals details of another Steam 0-day  —  Valve gets heavily criticized for mishandling a crucial bug report.  —  A Russian security researcher has published details about a zero-day in the Steam gaming client.
Washington Post:
Apple is delaying its plans to limit third-party tracking and ads in kids' apps, which it planned to implement in Sept., after some developers raised concerns  —  Apple plans to change the rules it has for kids apps, raising concerns among some app developers about the way the tech giant wields power unilaterally over its App Store.
Nat Levy / GeekWire:
LinkedIn says it blocked or removed 21.6M fake accounts in the first half 2019, of which 19.5M were blocked at the registration stage  —  LinkedIn blocked or removed 21.6 million fake accounts on its platform from January to June of this year, a sign that the Microsoft-owned social network …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook debuts first findings from conservative bias audit led by former GOP senator, says it influenced policy changes like creating a content oversight board  —  Facebook will release the findings of a roughly year-long conservative bias audit Tuesday, along with changes to its advertising policies …
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Facebook's conservative bias “audit” draws criticism from both sides after relying on interviews with 130 unnamed conservatives over internal data
Glenda Toma / Forbes:
Used clothing online marketplace ThredUp says it has raised a total of $175M over the past year; ThredUp is valued at ~$670M according to PitchBook  —  Even as the retail industry has slumped, dragged down by disappointing earnings and an unending trade war, resale is exploding.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
IAC has acquired short-term nursing jobs marketplace NurseFly, source says for $15M  —  NurseFly, a startup that's created a job marketplace for short-term nursing positions, is announcing its acquisition by holding company IAC.  —  While the companies aren't disclosing the deal terms …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
YouTube says it is shutting down its Messages feature for mobile and web, introduced in 2017, to encourage usage of posts, comments, and stories  —  In August 2017, YouTube introduced a “Messages” feature for its mobile apps and later the web.  Two years later, the Google video site announced …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Google says it has started rolling out AI-powered real-time spelling and grammar check features on Gmail for all G Suite users  —  Ever been stumped by spelling or sentence syntax while pecking out an email to colleagues?  Fortunately for G Suite users, Google will soon introduce improved spelling …

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:40 PM ET, August 21, 2019.

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From Mediagazer

Paul Glynn / BBC:
HarperCollins UK drops children's author and comedian David Walliams following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward young women

Natalie Korach / @nataliekorach:
Sources: VF's article by Chris Whipple featuring quotes from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles led to VF's biggest subscription signup day since 2016

Kirsten Chuba / The Hollywood Reporter:
TikTok's first awards show, held on December 18, handed out 14 awards, including Creator of the Year for Keith Lee; at the event, none of the screens worked

More News

Earlier Picks

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Go, the lightweight search app that takes up only ~7MB of phone storage, launches to Android users worldwide, is optimized to save about 40% on data
Casey Newton / The Verge:
After announcing the Clear History privacy tool over a year ago, Facebook finally begins rolling it out in Ireland, South Korea, and Spain
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple announces that Apple Card is now available to all iPhone users in the United States, with a 3% cashback offer for Uber and Uber Eats
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