Techmeme
February 21, 2020, 9:50 AM

Top News

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Facebook will pay users up to $5 for voice recordings via its Viewpoints app to improve its speech recognition tech; recordings won't be tied to user profiles  —  But it won't pay much  —  Facebook will offer to pay some users for voice recordings that will be used to help improve …
Ben Collins / NBC News:
Twitter confirms it is testing bright labels beneath lies and misinfo posted by politicians and public figures, and points-based “community badges” for users  —  A leaked demo features bright red and orange badges for tweets that have been deemed “harmfully misleading.”
Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:
Sony and Facebook say they will not attend Game Developers Conference this year due to coronavirus concerns; Facebook to make Oculus announcements online  —  Oculus announcements will now take place online  —  PlayStation and Facebook Gaming/Oculus will not be attending …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces Defender ATP for Linux, will offer the antivirus software for Android and iOS later this year as part of its enterprise security platform  —  New Defender mobile apps will be available later this year  —  Microsoft is planning to bring its Defender antivirus software to Android and iOS later this year.
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to amend their merger agreement to give Deutsche Telekom a higher ownership stake in the new combined company  —  - Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to amend their merger deal agreement to give Deutsche Telekom a higher ownership stake in the new combined company.
Nico Grant / Bloomberg:
Sources: around 300 workers at Oracle offices around the world walked out on Thursday to protest Larry Ellison's fundraiser for Trump on Wednesday  —  - Chairman's fundraiser for Trump re-election sparked anger  — Activism more muted than at tech companies like Google
Nick Statt / The Verge:
New Mexico AG sues Google, alleging the company tracks data of students who use free Chromebooks provided to schools through its G Suite for Education platform  —  ‘Tracking student data without parental consent is not only illegal, it is dangerous’  —  Google is facing a new lawsuit filed …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Researcher says Cameo exposed user data including email addresses, hashed and salted passwords, phone numbers, and messages via a misconfiguration in its app  —  Cameo, the increasingly popular app for paying celebrities to record short personal videos, exposed a wealth of user data including …
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
US links Sandworm hacking group to Russian agency GRU's Main Center for Special Technology, blaming it for cyberattacks that hit neighboring Georgia in October  —  By calling out Russia for digital assaults on its neighboring country, the US hopes to head off similar efforts at home.
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Google removed ~600 Android apps, which were installed 4.5B+ times, and banned the developers behind them from Play Store for ad fraud and “disruptive” ads  —  Google has removed close to 600 Android apps and banned their developers from the Play store and its ad networks as part …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
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.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
The Pull to Build: Joubin Mirzadegan on Grit and Starting Roadrunner
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The 100-person AI lab that became Anthropic and Google's secret weapon | Edwin Chen (Surge AI)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers
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:
"Hollywood is Truly Freaked Out." Inside the Netflix/WBD Deal with Lucas Shaw
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.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:50 AM ET, February 21, 2020.

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.

More News

Vincent Woo / New York Magazine:
Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

Shona Ghosh / Business Insider:
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
New York Times:
Jezebel:
Joseph Menn / Reuters: