Techmeme
July 31, 2020, 6:25 PM

Top News

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 …
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 …
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 …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
DOJ announces charges against two other suspects in the Twitter hack, including a 19-year-old in UK and a 22-year-old in Orlando, Florida  —  The arrest comes after hackers hijacked some of the most high profile accounts on the social network by leveraging an internal Twitter tool.  —  Joseph Cox
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 …
Dave Burke / The Keyword:
Google updates its Exposure Notification API with interoperability between countries, ability for apps to work without turning on location in Android 11, more  —  In May, we partnered with Apple to launch the Exposure Notifications System (ENS) and made it available to public health authorities around …
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 …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
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

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
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:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
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:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:25 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