Techmeme: How Wirecard, a global electronic-payments giant that was once valued at $14B+ and said it processed $140B of transactions a year, fully unraveled in eight days (Paul J. Davies/Wall Street Journal)

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July 5, 2020, 8:05 PM

Top News

Will Oremus / OneZero :

A look at some radical proposals for creating better social networks, from establishing sites as nonprofits to restrictions on data collection — An offhand tweet sparked an outpouring of ideas to fix what's broken about Facebook and Twitter — Welcome back to Pattern Matching …

More: The Guardian, CCN.com, and New York Times

Tweets: @jilliancyork, @willoremus, @medium, @willoremus, @schemaly, @willoremus, @jayrosen_nyu, @slpng_giants, @paulstewartii, @willoremus, @mattnavarra, @willoremus, @willoremus, @jason_kint, @caseynewton, @profcarroll, @cwarzel, and @lebassett

Michael Flarup / Apply Pixels:

With macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple seems to have lifted a ban on fun, allowing for an expressiveness in visual design that we haven't seen from it in almost a decade — It's finally here. The thing I have been advocating for through my work, writing, videos and talks for years. A swing of the pendulum.

Tweets: @natisho, @flarup, @gavmn, @lkanies, @flarup, @sachinrekhi, @maxrudberg, and @samhenrigold

Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:

iCloud Keychain in iOS 14 alerts users about passwords that are easy to guess and those that may have leaked on the web — In addition to the redesigned Home screen with widgets, App Library, and features like Car Key, iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 brings important enhancements to iCloud Keychain.

Tweets: @detroitborg

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google VP in charge of Android security withdraws from Black Hat conference and asks the infosec community to stop using terms like “black hat” and “white hat” — A Google security researcher withdrew from the Black Hat security conference and asked the community to stop using the ‘black hat’ term.

More: CNET and Digital Trends

Tweets: @alecmuffett, @semibogan, @fox0x01, @ourielohayon, @viking_sec, @somospostpc, @chrismessina, @carnage4life, @quinnypig, @splcenter, and @daveksecure

Bloomberg:

Source: UK to begin phasing out use of Huawei equipment in its 5G network as soon as this year, after report doubted viability of Huawei due to new US sanctions — - Officials said to speed up plans to remove Huawei kit — Decision would reverse green light given to Chinese tech giant

More: The Guardian, CNET, Engadget, Financial Times, Telegraph, Telegraph, Sky News, The Irish Times, and The Guardian

Tweets: @tom_fowdy, @sunlorrie, and @iowbobseely

Greg Thomson / Decrypt:

Voice, a blockchain-based social media site on EOS that rewards users with tokens for posting “quality content”, is now open for the public to browse — The EOS-based crypto-based social media platform first conjured up by Block.one, Voice, today opened its doors to the public.

More: Voice, coinspeaker.com, BitcoinExchangeGuide, and Cointelegraph

Paul J. Davies / Wall Street Journal:

How Wirecard, a global electronic-payments giant that was once valued at $14B+ and said it processed $140B of transactions a year, fully unraveled in eight days — Prosecutors are probing whether the electronic-payments giant used fictitious income to inflate its sales and fool investors; a missing $2 billion

More: Reuters and Bloomberg

Tweets: @edbott, @wsj, and @wsj

Pei Li / Reuters:

Tencent launches US game studio LightSpeed LA, to create AAA titles and increase overseas share of its total games revenue, which accounted for 23% in Q4 2019 — HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings, China's biggest social media and video game company, launched a new California-based studio this week …

More: GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, Eurogamer.net, Game Rant, GameSpot, and VG247

Tweets: @zhugeex, @therealjoshye, @gibiz, and @domsplaying

Nate Lanxon / Bloomberg:

UK tech companies say operating with remote workers has changed their approach to post-Brexit hiring: executives will be local to HQs, most other roles won't — - Shift to remote working suggests many visas may not be needed — The pandemic taught Britain's technology executives …

Financial Times:

Sources: amid India-China tensions, Zomato is unable to access $100M of the $150M it secured from Ant Financial in January as the government reviews the funding — Indian food delivery start-up unable to access $100m of investment from Ant Financial — The $3bn Indian food delivery start …

Tweets: @jkynge and @sarthakgh

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Facebook partners with CBSE, an Indian government education body, to launch a certified curriculum on AR and digital safety for students and teachers in India — Facebook, which reaches more users than any other international firm in India, has identified a new area of opportunity …

Tweets: @mikebutcher, @hackylawyer, @chrisinsilico, and @smerrells

Dave Lee / Financial Times:

eMarketer: US consumers to spend $710B online in 2020, up 18% YoY, with ecommerce's share of the retail market growing to a record 14.5% — Amazon and Shopify reap rewards as consumers and stores take their trading online — When coronavirus forced Heidi Sabelhaus Myers to shutter …

Tweets: @_mrherbert, @neilretail, and @sub8u

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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.

From Mediagazer

Salon:

Salon, launched in 1995 to cover politics, culture, and more, says it is closing: “business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly”

Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:

Nexstar reports Q3 net income up 285% YoY to $250M and net revenue up 78% YoY to $2.1B, as Q3 political ads brought in $317M; results include Tegna numbers

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

How Democrats' midterm wins may affect Hollywood and media: uncertainty over federal tax incentive bill, greater FCC oversight, restoring CPB funding, and more

More News

Manuel Vonau / Android Police:

Indian ISPs start restoring access to DuckDuckGo after blocking the service via their DNS servers starting July 1; it is unclear why the service was blocked

More: The Verge, Neowin, and TechWorm. Tweets: @duckduckgo

Sankalp Phartiyal / Reuters:

India's TikTok ban resulted in a surge in popularity for Indian apps like Roposo, Mitron, and Chingari; Roposo says it has added 22M users in 48 hours

More: The Indian Express

Nitasha Tiku / Washington Post:

Ifeoma Ozoma, Aerica Shimizu Banks, and five other former Pinterest employees share examples of Pinterest's failure in addressing racial discrimination and bias

More: VentureBeat. Tweets: @kschwabable, @nitashatiku, @raisingself, @nikitatmitchell, @erikashimizu, @evany, @ifeomaozoma, @carnage4life, @heatherkelly, @nitashatiku, @nitashatiku, and @ericajoy

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:

India's e-commerce policy draft seeks creation of an e-commerce regulator, mandates government access to online companies' source codes and algorithms, more

More: The Economic Times, The Economist, The Economic Times, MediaNama, and The New Indian Express

Tweets: @economictimes, @theunsaif, @shshk, @shukla, and @sushubh

Bloomberg:

Colin Huang, the CEO of Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo, steps down; the company says he will remain chairman and work on long-term strategy

More: The Straits Times, KrASIA, MarketWatch, Caixin Global, Financial Times, Pinduoduo Inc., Business Insider, TechNode, The Star Online, and Nikkei Asian Review

Tweets: @johnhuber72, @malcolmmoore, @ruima, @docolumide, and @pingroma

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:

Hong Kong's new national security law could force platforms like Facebook and Twitter to relinquish some of the freedom their operations have had in the city

More: Reclaim The Net, Seeking Alpha, and South China Morning Post

Tweets: @martinapennisi, @prasannavishy, @digitallybones, @jchengwsj, @netblocks, and @albertfong98

Kevin Roose / New York Times:

The Wild Wild Web, a shoot-first, aim-later era of tech strategy, is coming to an end, and a less willfully naïve, self-policing ethos is taking its place

Tweets: @nytimesbusiness, @sachinrekhi, @rajumudhar, @steve_e, @alex, @carnage4life, @shiraovide, @marilink, @livingstone_s, @nathanjurgenson, @evelyndouek, @kmmunger, @hackylawyer, @nytimes, @p2son, @puiwingtam, @orensegal, and @hoofnagle

Neil Greenberg / Washington Post:

Evo, a renowned esports tournament that moved online in 2020 due to the pandemic, is canceled after parting ways with co-founder for alleged sexual misconduct

More: Digital Trends, Micky, Gamasutra, Ars Technica, GameSpot, PC Gamer, Windows Central, GamingBolt, The Verge, VG247, USgamer.net, USgamer.net, GamesIndustry.biz, Destructoid, Engadget, Dexerto, Pocket Gamer.biz, and Polygon

Tweets: @netherrealm, @evo, @mrwiz, @imad, @aliciaxlife_, @mikehaimoto, @theycallmedsp, @markman23, and @gsmvoid

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

Profile of investor Lee Fixel, the partner behind Tiger Global's investments in Flipkart and Peloton, who says he raised $1.3B for his VC firm Addition

More: Business Insider and PitchBook

Tweets: @zachweinberg, @alexrkonrad, @wolfejosh, @gavinsbaker, @alexrkonrad, @vjsesh, @gavinsbaker, @alexrkonrad, @antoinegara, @wustl, @alexrkonrad, @fauna, @natsturner, @zlurie, @hkanji, and @mdudas. Thanks:@alexrkonrad