Techmeme
November 21, 2019, 3:05 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is overhauling how it tests software, making daily builds disable unfinished features by default, after a swarm of bugs marred the iOS 13 debut  —  Apple Inc. is overhauling how it tests software after a swarm of bugs marred the latest iPhone and iPad operating systems, according to people familiar with the shift.
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Tim Cook and Apple did not correct Trump after he took credit for opening a Texas manufacturing plant that has been in operation since 2013  —  President Trump said on Wednesday that he opened a facility that makes computers for Apple.  It's been operating since 2013.
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:
NBC News:
President Donald Trump hosted an undisclosed dinner with Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel at the White House in October, Facebook confirmed on Wednesday  —  The meeting took place during Zuckerberg's most recent visit to Washington, where he testified before Congress about Facebook's new cryptocurrency Libra.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google Duplex launches on the web as Google Assistant in Chrome, lets users buy movie tickets from 70+ cinemas and ticketing services in the US  —  At I/O 2019, Sundar Pichai announced that Google Duplex was “moving beyond voice” and coming to the web.  After publicly testing in late September …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter rolls out its “Hide Replies” feature to all users globally  —  Twitter's radical “Hide Replies” feature, one of the biggest changes to how Twitter works since the invention of the Retweet, is now available to Twitter's global user base.  The company says the feature …
Scott Spencer / The Keyword:
Google announces new political ad rules, limits microtargeting to age, gender, and general location categories, will start enforcing them in UK within a week  —  We're proud that people around the world use Google to find relevant information about elections and that candidates use Google …
New York Times:
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Google increases rewards for Titan M secure element exploits on Pixels to $1.5M and to $750K for other exploits; Android hack rewards used to top out at $200K  —  Big bump coincides with investments Google has poured into securing its Pixel phone.  —  Google will pay up to $1.5 million …
Daniel Rubino / Windows Central:
Microsoft pushes the release of Surface Earbuds, which it said earlier were coming in the fall, to Spring 2020  —  Surface Earbuds will miss the crucial holiday shopping season for 2019.  —  What you need to know  — Microsoft's Surface Earbuds won't ship now until spring 2020.
Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:
Uber plans to test letting riders and drivers in the US record audio of their trips “soon”, as a similar pilot program debuts next month in Brazil and Mexico  —  Uber plans to record audio during rides in the United States as part of a new security feature, its latest push …
Kate Conger / New York Times:
Amnesty International:
Amnesty International says Facebook and Google's omnipresent surveillance is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and is a danger to human rights  —  Facebook and Google's omnipresent surveillance of billions of people poses a systemic threat to human rights …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook brings Stories to Facebook Dating, letting users add their Facebook or Instagram Stories to dating profiles  —  Facebook Dating, an opt-in feature of the main Facebook app, will begin to tap into the content users are already creating across both Facebook and Instagram to enhance its service.
More: The Verge and CNET
Bloomberg:
A look at Google's work with US military, as senior military officials worry about parts of Google's employee base approaching a state of open rebellion  —  In early November several dozen experts from the American military industrial complex—including senior officers, defense contracting executives …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Robotic process automation startup Automation Anywhere raises $290M Series B at a valuation of $6.8B, now has 3,500+ enterprise clients in 90+ countries  —  Robotic process automation (RPA), or bots that can be programmed to perform tedious and mundane tasks, is undergoing a period of explosive growth.
Buster Hein / Cult of Mac:
Guilherme Rambo, who has published scoops about unreleased Apple products by examining beta software, says Apple locked his dev account with no stated reason  —  Guilherme Rambo, one of the top Apple secret-spillers, says Apple locked him out of his developer account, preventing …

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April Glaser / Slate:
Matthew Gault / VICE:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: