Techmeme
March 16, 2020, 2:05 PM

Top News

The Intercept:
Leaked docs: TikTok told moderators to suppress posts from those deemed “ugly”, poor, or disabled, and censor political speech in livestreams, to attract users  —  The makers of TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing app with hundreds of millions of users around the world …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Alphabet's Verily launches a coronavirus screening website limited to the San Francisco Bay area, requires users to log in with their Google account  —  - Alphabet's Verily on Sunday night launched a pilot of a COVID-19 screening and testing website in the San Francisco Bay Area, a day earlier than it said it would.
Diane Bartz / Reuters:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Richard Leadbetter / Eurogamer.net:
Microsoft details Xbox Series X specs: custom 8-core 3.8GHz AMD Zen 2 CPU, custom 1.825GHz AMD RNDA 2 GPU, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD with expansion card support  —  This is it.  After months of teaser trailers, blog posts and even the occasional leak, we can finally reveal firm …
Bloomberg:
Sources: US Department of Health and Human Services suffered a cyberattack on its computer system Sunday night, apparently aimed at slowing coronavirus response  —  The U.S. Health and Human Services Department suffered a cyber-attack on its computer system Sunday night during the nation's response …
CNBC:
Apple fined €1.1B by French antitrust authorities for anticompetitive behavior within its distribution networks; Apple says it will appeal  —  Apple was fined 1.1 billion euros ($1.23 billion) for anti-competitive behavior Monday by the French antitrust authorities.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Beats announces $149 Powerbeats with 15 hours of battery life, Apple's H1 chip for quick pairing, and IPX4 rating for water resistance, available March 18  —  They've already leaked plenty and Walmart even put them on shelves before an official announcement, but now Apple's Beats brand is launching the new Powerbeats 4 earbuds.
Michael McSweeney / The Block:
Intercontinental Exchange's Bakkt raises $300M Series B with M12 among the investors, says an app to help consumers manage digital assets is coming in summer  —  Bakkt has raised a $300 million Series B round of financing, according to a Monday morning announcement.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
New York Times:
Sources: Israel's Netanyahu has authorized the use of a previously undisclosed trove of cellphone data to fight coronavirus; the move still requires approval  —  The information, intended for use in counterterrorism, would help identify people who have crossed paths with known patients.
David Pierce / Protocol:
Profile of Zoom, which has conquered video chat with a simple service that keeps latency under 150 milliseconds, as COVID-19 forces employees to work remotely  —  Before coronavrius locked workers at home, Zoom was a leading videoconferencing tool.  But it wants to be more.  It wants to be your whole office.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says 1B devices are now running Windows 10, which includes PCs, laptops, Xbox One consoles, and HoloLens  —  Microsoft's original milestone has been reached  —  Microsoft is revealing today that 1 billion active machines are now running Windows 10.
The Keyword:
YouTube says it will be relying more on automated systems as content moderators stay home, and creators may see fewer strikes against videos but more removals  —  During the unprecedented COVID-19 situation, many companies are closing their offices and directing their employees to work from home …

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Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Cohere's Aidan Gomez: The Canadian Founder Taking AI Models To The World, Not Just Big Tech
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
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Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
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Big Technology Podcast:
The Pentagon's AI Plan + Behind the Anthropic Fight — With Under Secretary of War Emil Michael
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Great Chat:
Developer marketing when everyone is a developer
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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The Social Radars:
Justin Kan, Cofounder, Twitch
Come be a fly on the wall as Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy talk to some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley about how they did it.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

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More News

Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC News:
Noam Cohen / Wired:

Earlier Picks

Frank McShan / MacRumors:
Grant Martin / Forbes: