Techmeme
August 11, 2020, 4:25 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google is partnering with USGS and creating a worldwide, Android phone-powered opt-in earthquake alert system using phone accelerometers  —  Google is creating a worldwide, Android phone-powered earthquake alert system.  The first part of that system is rolling out today.
Sam Rutherford / Gizmodo:
Google announces new features in its computer vision Lookout app, like document scanning, an Android Auto refresh, and Bedtime mode is no longer Pixel-exclusive  —  Ahead of the upcoming official release of Android 11, Google is pushing out a few updates to all Android phones …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Mozilla says it plans to lay off around 250 employees and is closing the company's current operations in Taipei, Taiwan  —  The changes come as the Mozilla Corporation looks to invest in more revenue-generating projects like its recently announced VPN.  —  Joseph Cox
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook says it removed 22.5M posts for violating hate speech policies in Q2, up 2x from Q1, and that 95% of the violations were caught using automated systems  —  - Hate speech removal has jumped nearly 10-fold since 2018  — Facebook to undergo third party audit for content in 2021
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
Clearview AI has hired pre-eminent First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who plans to assert a free-speech right to disseminate publicly available photos  —  Clearview AI has hired Floyd Abrams, a top lawyer, to help fight claims that selling its data to law enforcement agencies violates privacy laws.
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
MicroStrategy buys ~$250M in bitcoin, becoming the first publicly traded company to buy the currency as part of its capital allocation strategy  —  MicroStrategy, the Nasdaq-listed business intelligence company, has become the first publicly-traded company to buy bitcoin as part of its capital allocation strategy.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn says it has sold presentation-sharing service SlideShare to Scribd, which will take over its operation on September 24  —  SlideShare has a new owner, with LinkedIn selling the presentation-sharing service to Scribd for an undisclosed price.  —  According to LinkedIn …
Sam Nussey / Reuters:
SoftBank reports quarterly net profit of ~$12B, up 12% YoY, and a $2.8B gain in Vision Fund; by July, Vision Fund's $75.2B in investments was worth $71.5B  —  TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp broke with tradition on Tuesday and declined to disclose operating profit in its quarterly results …
Lauren Clark / Official Google India Blog:
Google rolls out virtual business cards in Google Search in India with links to user's website and social media profiles and optionally, phone number and email  —  If you search for famous people on Google, it's easy to find information about well-known personalities: search their names …
Samuel Axon / Ars Technica:
Parallels Desktop 16 adds support for Big Sur, 3D in Metal, and zoom and rotate gestures on multitouch trackpads, and claims 20% faster DirectX performance  —  Windows on Apple Silicon is still a question mark, though.  —  Parallels Desktop 16 launched on the Mac today.
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
RevenueCat, a startup offering in-app subscription tools, raises $15M Series A led by Index Ventures, says over 3,000 apps are using its services  —  RevenueCat raised a $15 million Series A round, led by Index Ventures, to help developers find subscribers for their applications.
Jonathan Roeder / Bloomberg:
Kroger says it is working with Mirakl to develop an e-commerce marketplace for third-party vendors, in a bid to compete with Amazon and Walmart  —  Kroger Co. is setting up an e-commerce marketplace open to third-party vendors, part of the grocery-store operator's bid to wrest web sales away …
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Sources: about a month before BigCommerce's successful IPO, Intuit offered to buy the company for $1.5B  —  - Intuit offered to buy BigCommerce for $1.5 billion about a month before the e-commerce software company's IPO.  — BigCommerce opted to go public instead, and the stock jumped over 200% in its debut last week.
James Vincent / The Verge:
Pinterest says it is expanding its skin tone search tool, which uses machine vision to sort beauty-related pins and debuted in US in 2018, to five more markets  —  Users can filter by skin tone to get more relevant results  —  Pinterest is upgrading its skin tone search feature …
More: VentureBeatThanks:@malliegator

Sponsor Posts

ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs  —  You know us for voice.  Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency.  Hear it for yourself.
Niantic Spatial:
World models need real-world data  —  Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics.  Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
Zoho:
Introducing the Zoho Vault desktop app for Windows and Mac  —  You asked—we delivered.  We're thrilled to announce the launch of the brand-new Zoho Vault desktop app for Windows and Mac.
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

Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Max Mullen from Instacart
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Access:
Canva's CEO on what happens when AI does the design
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Cohere's Aidan Gomez: The Canadian Founder Taking AI Models To The World, Not Just Big Tech
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Data Centers...IN SPACE!!
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Big Technology Podcast:
The Pentagon's AI Plan + Behind the Anthropic Fight — With Under Secretary of War Emil Michael
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
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 4:25 PM ET, August 11, 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

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Earlier Picks

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
NBC News:
Bloomberg:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Abner Li / 9to5Google: