Techmeme
November 6, 2019, 4:05 AM

Top News

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Facebook says ~100 app developers might have had improper access to Groups member data even after the company announced restrictions to Groups API last year  —  At least 11 accessed data in the last two months  —  Facebook says that even after it locked down its Groups system last year …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
FTC says AT&T has agreed to pay $60M to settle the agency's 2014 lawsuit that alleged it lied to customers about “unlimited” data plans that it throttled  —  Unlimited should mean unlimited!  —  On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that AT&T will pay $60 million to settle a case with the agency.
Dylan Byers / NBC News:
Yaël Eisenstat / Washington Post:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google promises one more update coming in December for the original Google Pixel, which will then be past its three-year security update support window  —  Pour one out for Pixel  —  The Google Pixel and Pixel XL will get “one final software update” in December, the company confirms to The Verge.
Brandon Kochkodin / Bloomberg:
Users on Reddit say they have discovered a flaw in Robinhood's system that lets them trade stocks with excess borrowed funds, essentially free money  —  A glitch in the Robinhood Markets Inc. system is allowing users to trade stocks with excess borrowed funds, giving them access to what amounts to free money.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Kaspersky identifies DarkUniverse, an APT that had been active from 2009 but went silent after a mention in Shadow Brokers' 2017 leak, and details 20 victims  —  The NSA had superior insight into foreign nation-state hacking operations than many cyber-security vendors.
Aaron Wood / Cointelegraph:
Stellar Development Foundation has burned 55B XLM tokens, worth ~$4.7B, shrinking the supply from 105B to 50B; XLM's price jumped as much as ~25% on news  —  The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced a new mandate today for its network's development, stating that it has burned over 55 billion Stellar Lumens (XLM) tokens.
New York Times:
A warrant granted in Florida this July let a detective override GEDmatch's privacy rules to search a database of 1.2M users; experts say it may set a precedent  —  Privacy experts say it could set a precedent, opening up all consumer DNA sites to law enforcement agencies across the country.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Facebook Portal TV review: big screen video chatting feels futuristic and, with Alexa built in, the device is compelling enough at $149 but unlikely to be a hit  —  Facebook's new Portal TV video chat device won't do much to take away share from Apple Inc., Roku Inc. or Amazon in the TV space.
Washington Post:
Apple and TikTok drew criticism from lawmakers, especially Sen. Josh Hawley, for skipping a congressional hearing meant to explore tech industry's ties to China  —  Apple and TikTok took a lashing Tuesday for skipping a congressional hearing meant to explore the tech industry and its ties to China …
Washington Post:
Overview of TikTok's evolving censorship approach: ex-US staff say Chinese bosses set rules on videos with heavy kissing, political topics, subversive content  —  Managers insist they are revamping policies to give American staff greater autonomy from Beijing.
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
Joshua Brustein / Bloomberg:
Walmart and other companies are testing a monitoring device for workplace safety made by StrongArm in warehouses, raising concerns about workplace surveillance  —  Every morning when he goes to work in the freezer room of a warehouse in eastern Pennsylvania, Jack Westley throws on a hooded sweatshirt …
Mitchel Broussard / MacRumors:
CIRP: over the last 12 months, 35% of iPhone buyers in the US owned a smartwatch, compared to just 16% of Android buyers  —  New data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners indicates that 35 percent of iPhone buyers in the United States have a smartwatch, compared to just 16 percent of Android buyers.
More: iMore

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Earlier Picks

Jennifer Langston / Microsoft:
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios: