Techmeme
August 4, 2020, 8:55 PM

Top News

Apple:
Greg Joswiak will replace Phil Schiller as SVP of Worldwide Marketing; Schiller becomes an Apple Fellow and will continue to lead the App Store and Apple Events  —  Greg Joswiak joins Apple executive team as senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing  —  Cupertino, California …
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
In a letter to staff, ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming says a forced sale of TikTok to a US buyer is “unreasonable” and the real goal of the US is a ban  —  - U.S. doesn't really want to see a sale to American buyers  — Founder Zhang Yiming issues second letter in two days
Wall Street Journal:
Microsoft should refuse Trump's TikTok payoff, as it would set a dangerous precedent for the seizure of foreign businesses through regulatory fiat  —  Paying the U.S. government a cut of TikTok's sale price would be a dangerous precedent that could blow up in corporate America's face
Wall Street Journal:
Dan Primack / Axios:
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Disney says Disney+ has grown to 60.5M subscribers, up from 54M in May, says it has 100M+ paid subs for streaming services including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+  —  Disney+ had more than 60.5 million paying subscribers as of yesterday, according to The Walt Disney Company's CEO Bob Chapek.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft's xCloud game streaming service will launch on September 15 on Android in 22 countries, bundled with the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription  —  Available in 22 countries, but no iOS support at launch  —  Microsoft will launch its game streaming service, known as Project xCloud …
TechCrunch:
Anthony Levandowski, ex-Uber self-driving head, was sentenced to 18 months in prison as Levandowski files a new lawsuit against Waymo and Uber  —  Maverick self-driving car engineer will not need to report until threat of COVID-19 pandemic has passed  —  Anthony Levandowski …
European Commission:
The European Commission opens an in-depth investigation into Google's proposed acquisition of Fitbit over concerns about vast amounts of data Google could use  —  The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed acquisition of Fitbit by Google under the EU Merger Regulation.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google launches Nearby Share on Android, an AirDrop-style tool, rolling out to Pixel and Samsung devices; support for Chromebooks will arrive in coming months  —  It only took Google nine years to catch up to AirDrop  —  It will finally be slightly easier to share files, images, links, and other content between Android devices.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Analysis of the questions asked by Democrats and Republicans during the House antitrust hearing and what it reveals about their partisan priorities  —  The only thing more predictable than members of Congress using hearings to make statements instead of ask questions, and when they do ask questions …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Apple refreshes 27" iMacs with 10th-gen Intel CPUs and a 1080p webcam, shipping this week, and makes SSDs standard across its iMac lineup  —  But the design remains the same  —  Apple is announcing updates for both the 27-inch and 21.5-inch iMacs.  It's updating the processors inside …
Katie Roof / Bloomberg:
Rippling, an employee data management company led by Parker Conrad, raises $145M led by Founders Fund, valuing it at $1.35B, up 5x from its last valuation  —  - Former Zenefits founder's new company valued at $1.35 billion  — Investors include Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins and Coatue
Jason Parham / Wired:
Interviews with 29 Black TikTok creators highlight issues of muted posts, in-app harassment, and incidents of racism, even as users lionize Black culture  —  On the app, users drape themselves in the trappings of Black culture—and steal the viral spotlight.  It's exploitation at its most refined and disturbing.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Activision Blizzard reports Q2 revenue of $1.93B, up 38% YoY, vs. est. $1.69B, and each of its titles had better-than-expected results amid the pandemic  —  Activision Blizzard reported earnings today that beat expectations as the company saw a surge for its Call of Duty games because people are staying inside due to the pandemic.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Microsoft has awarded $13.7M to security researchers who reported vulnerabilities in the last 12 months through 15 bug bounty programs, up from $4.4M last year  —  Microsoft has awarded $13.7 million to security researchers who have reported vulnerabilities over the last 12 months through …
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
Fawkes, a tool developed by researchers at the University of Chicago, disguises photos with pixel-level changes that confuse facial recognition systems  —  Researchers at the University of Chicago want you to be able to post selfies without worrying that the next Clearview AI will use them to identify you.

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More News

Matthew Haag / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Caleb Potts / Android Police:
Bloomberg: