Techmeme
February 22, 2020, 11:25 PM

Top News

Los Angeles Times:
Twitter is suspending 70 accounts linked to Michael Bloomberg's campaign for violating its policies, citing platform manipulation and duplicative content  —  Michael R. Bloomberg's presidential campaign has been experimenting with novel tactics to cultivate an online following, or at least the appearance of one.
Mon(IoT)r Research Group:
Study: smart speakers accidentally activate to random words between 1.5 and 19 times per day on average, with HomePod and Cortana devices activating the most  —  WHEN SPEAKERS ARE ALL EARS  —  Understanding when smart speakers mistakenly record conversations
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Researchers detail “SweynTooth” bugs, which could allow hackers in radio range to crash Bluetooth Low Energy-based devices like pacemakers and fitness trackers  —  Hundreds of smart devices—including pacemakers—are exposed thanks to a series of vulnerabilities in the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Comcast's NBCUniversal is in advanced talks to acquire streaming-video service Vudu from Walmart  —  Entertainment giants increasingly look to give consumers free or low-cost alternatives to premium subscription streaming services  —  Fox Corp. and Comcast Corp. are each in discussions …
FinSMEs:
Reggora, a residential appraisal software platform, raises $10M Series A, led by Spark Capital with Boston Seed Capital participating  —  Reggora, a Boston, MA-based residential appraisal software platform provider, raised $10m in Series A funding.  —  The round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from Boston Seed Capital.
Jon Evans / TechCrunch:
Decentralized Finance (DeFi), the best performing sector in crypto today, feels more like cosplaying a financial system than an actual viable alternative to it  —  Over the last year or so, much-to-most of the cryptocurrency world has pivoted from the failure of “fat tokens” and ICOs …
Sam Nussey / Reuters:
Alphabet and Softbank ally with telcos like China Telecom and vendors like Nokia to promote industry-wide standards for balloon, drone network tech  —  TOKYO (Reuters) - Alphabet and SoftBank's attempts to launch flying cellphone antennas high into the atmosphere have received backing from global telcos …
More: Slashdot
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Enveil, a startup working on homomorphic encryption, raises $10M Series A led by C5 Capital, with Mastercard, Capital One Ventures, and others participating  —  Analyzing, searching, and performing calculations on encrypted data hasn't historically been possible at scale.
Bloomberg:
Sources: the Trump campaign has bought exclusive nationwide masthead ads on YouTube for days leading up to and on election day; ads may cost up to $1M+ a day  —  In the immediate run up to the U.S. presidential election and on Election Day, the homepage of YouTube is set to advertise just one candidate: Donald Trump.

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More News

Leila McNeill / BBC Future:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
CNBC:

Earlier Picks

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Jon Porter / The Verge: