Techmeme
August 2, 2020, 5:00 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Microsoft, which was in advanced talks to buy the US operations of TikTok, has paused negotiations after Trump said on Friday that he opposes the deal  —  Talks aren't believed to be dead, but the companies are trying to get clarity on White House's stance
Echo Wang / Reuters:
Sources: ByteDance has agreed to divest US operations of TikTok under a proposed new deal with the White House that would see Microsoft take over TikTok in US  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - China's ByteDance has agreed to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok completely in a bid to save a deal with the White House …
Aaron Tilley / Wall Street Journal:
Acquiring TikTok would be a big bet for Microsoft in the consumer social media space that could bring content moderation and other regulatory risks  —  Consumer products have been a minefield for the software giant even as Xbox has succeeded  —  For Microsoft MSFT .54% Corp. Chief Executive …
CNBC:
More: NBC News, Bloomberg, Constine's Moving …, MacRumors, The Verge, NBC News, Gizmodo, Social Media Today, Vox, Pocketnow, The Hill, Washington Post, The Daily Dot, Slate, 9to5Google, Reuters, Techdirt, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Digital Trends, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Variety, BuzzFeed News, BBC, TechRadar, CNET, Fossbytes, Associated Press, Pocket-lint, Axios, Fortune, Business Insider, news.com.au, CBS News, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, Engadget, Ubergizmo, The Information, Wired, Newser, TechSpot, and PYMNTS.com
Ryan Hughes / WFLA-TV:
A Florida state attorney files 30 felony charges against a 17-year old who was 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 …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Gil Kazimirov / OneZero :
A look back at the rise of the custom ringtone industry, which had sales of $1.1B at its peak in 2007 before sales shrunk by 97% in the following decade  —  Before the iPhone, Venmo, or Spotify, there were ringtones.  You might remember them fondly as those lo-fidelity sounds we used …
Charlie Osborne / ZDNet:
IBM report: in 2020, the average data breach costs companies $3.86M to remedy, up 1.5% YoY; “mega” breaches involving 50M+ consumer records can cost up to $392M  —  When consumer PII is involved, the cost increases.  —  The average cost of a “mega” data breach has risen astronomically …

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Earlier Picks

Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: