Techmeme
January 14, 2020, 6:20 AM

Top News

Scott Lucas / BuzzFeed:
After AG Barr called on Apple to unlock Pensacola shooter's iPhones, Apple releases statement rejecting backdoors but highlighting its help in the investigation  —  “We reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation," the company said in a statement.
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Visa is buying Plaid, which helps popular fintech apps connect to users' bank accounts, for $5.3B  —  - Visa is buying Plaid in a deal worth $5.3 billion — roughly double the start-up's last private valuation.  — Plaid's API software lets start-ups connect to users' bank accounts and works with Venmo …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Sources: Microsoft is slated to release a Windows update on Tuesday to fix a critical flaw in a crypto component present in all versions of Windows  —  Sources tell KrebsOnSecurity that Microsoft Corp. is slated to release a software update on Tuesday to fix an extraordinarily serious security vulnerability …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
In Q4, Gartner estimates global PC shipments grew 2.3% to 70.6M units; IDC estimates 4.8% growth to 71.8M units; both say Lenovo and HP lead PC shipment growth  —  After years of bad news, the PC market has a reason to celebrate before computer makers start shipping 5G and dual-screen devices.
New York Times:
Security experts say Russia's GRU phished login credentials, accessed servers for Burisma, a gas company on whose board Hunter Biden served, starting Nov. 2019  —  With President Trump facing an impeachment trial over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr …
Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:
Sony Interactive Entertainment says it won't participate in E3 again this year, will instead attend “hundreds of consumer events” globally ahead of PS5 launch  —  The company will instead attend ‘hundreds of consumer events across the globe’  —  PlayStation will miss E3 for a second year in a row.
Helen Warrell / Financial Times:
Ahead of Boris Johnson's expected decision on Huawei equipment in the UK, the US showed his government a dossier with allegedly damning info on the company  —  Senior US officials have presented Boris Johnson's government with a new dossier of intelligence challenging the UK's claim …
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Justin Kan's legal tech startup Atrium, which has raised $75M, is laying off most of its lawyers and will now focus on tech it made for attorneys and law firms  —  Atrium, a law firm for startups led by Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, is laying off most of its attorneys and paralegals.
Nicholas Thompson / Wired:
Q&A with Twitter's head of product Kayvon Beykpour about how Twitter is trying to stop incentivizing toxic behavior, giving users a “troll score”, more  —  Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter's head of product, admits the platform can still incentivize toxic behavior.

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Reuters:
Max Weinbach / XDA Developers: