Techmeme
July 31, 2020, 4:45 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: President Trump plans to sign an order directing China's ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok  —  President Donald Trump plans to sign an order to direct China's ByteDance Ltd.'s to divest its ownership of the popular U.S.-based music-video app TikTok, according to people familiar …
New York Times:
Source: Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok  —  The talks come as TikTok's ownership by a Chinese company is under scrutiny by the White House and lawmakers.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app, according to a person with knowledge …
Ryan Hughes / WFLA-TV:
A Florida state attorney files 30 felony charges against a 17-year old arrested in Tampa, in connection with the July 15 Twitter hack  —  TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) - A Tampa teenager is in jail, accused of being the “mastermind” behind a hack on the social media website Twitter that caused limited access …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
In an update to the July 15 hack, Twitter says a few employees were targeted in a phone spear phishing attack, and it had since limited access to internal tools  —  ‘This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees’  —  Twitter provided an update …
Financial Times:
Sources: Nvidia in talks to buy Arm in a cash-and-stock deal that would value it at more than the $32B SoftBank paid to buy the UK chip designer in 2016  —  US chipmaker seeks cash-and-stock purchase of UK chip designer from its Japanese owner  —  US chip company Nvidia is in talks to buy …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook confirms it will begin rolling out official music videos across its platform in the US, and introduce a new Music destination within Facebook Watch  —  Facebook today confirmed it will begin rolling out official music videos across its platform in the U.S., as TechCrunch first reported …
Caitlin Dewey / OneZero :
A look at the “hustle economy”, where unemployed teachers, cooks, and dancers are turning to Patreon, Twitch, and OnlyFans to monetize their digital offerings  —  Unemployed teachers, cooks, dancers are turning to Patreon, Twitch, and OnlyFans  —  e have nothing to sell besides physical touch.
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Netflix is rolling out playback speed controls of up to 0.5x slower or 1.5x faster on Android devices and is set to begin testing the option for iOS  —  Stream up to 0.5 times slower or 1.5 times faster  —  Netflix is letting people choose the speed at which they want to watch something …
Steven Musil / CNET:
Twitter permanently bans the account of white supremacist David Duke  —  Duke's Twitter account was “permanently suspended” for violating the company's policy against hateful conduct, a spokesperson for the social network says.  —  White supremacist David Duke has been permanently banned …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sources: Microsoft isn't planning to fully reopen its US offices until at least January 19, 2021  —  Microsoft is measuring its reopening with a new workplace dial  —  Microsoft isn't planning to fully reopen its US offices until at least January 2021.  Sources familiar with the company's plans tell …
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
The makers of the app BlueMail say Google kicked their email app off Play Store on Friday in retaliation for cooperating with House antitrust investigation  —  Blix, maker of an email app, was kicked off Google's Play Store Friday.  —  Google kicked an email app off its Play Store Friday …
Politico:
North Face and Heineken are among the companies who say they will resume Facebook ads from August, Levi Strauss and Smucker Co. will continue the boycott  —  More than 1,000 organizations stopped ads for the month of July, without getting many concessions.  Can they keep it going and build global pressure?
Facebook:
Sean Keane / CNET:
Canalys, Counterpoint, and IDC agree that Huawei became the biggest smartphone vendor in Q2, surpassing Samsung and pushing Apple to third place  —  Samsung and Apple held the top spot for years, but Canalys Counterpoint and IDC say the coronavirus pandemic gave the Chinese company the edge.
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Emails from Jeff Bezos and other Amazon employees suggest the acquisition of Ring was for “market position — not technology”  —  ‘And that market position and momentum is very valuable’  —  On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee held its last hearing as part …
More: Micky
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Pinterest closes up 36% after reporting Q2 revenue of $272M, up 4% YoY, and global MAUs of 416M, up 39% YoY  —  - Pinterest shares closed up 36.13% on Friday.  — The company reported earnings before the bell on Friday.  It saw total revenue of $272 million, an increase of 4% year-over-year …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Celebrating 10 years of Zoho Marketplace  —  30 Zoho products,2,900+ extensions and integrations,1 million+ users, and2 million installations.Zoho Marketplace celebrates a decade-long journey of adding timeless value …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI's Head of Design: This is the best time in history to be a designer | Ian Silber
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:
Best of Big Technology: How Ozempic Changes Our Bodies, Minds, and Economy — With Johann Hari
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.
Hard Fork:
Zuckerberg's Anti-Doom Fantasy + Finally an A.I. Detector That Works + A.I. Math
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Joanna Stern on the New Siri, OpenAI's Weird Gadget, and Life After the Wall Street Journal
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.
Invest Like the Best:
Eric Vishria - A Decade of Lessons Investing in Software & Hardware
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:45 PM ET, July 31, 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

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Associated Press: