Techmeme
September 6, 2020, 7:00 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Nonparent employees are increasingly voicing their grievances over the extra benefits companies like Facebook extend to parents working from home  —  Pandemic policies at tech companies have created a rift between parents offered more benefits and resentful workers who don't have children.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
In court filing, Epic says Fortnite has 116M iOS users, a third of the game's 350M users, and iOS DAUs declined by 60%+ since its removal from the App Store  —  Epic is formally asking for a preliminary injunction  —  Shortly before midnight on the Friday before Labor Day weekend …
Andy Chalk / PC Gamer:
Twitch says it is shutting down Twitch Sings, a live streaming karaoke game it had co-developed with Rock Band studio Harmonix, on January 1, 2021  —  Twitch said it's being shuttered to ‘invest in broader tools and services’ for its music community.  —  Twitch Sings has sung its last …
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Interview with Reed Hastings, on the future of Hollywood, the US election and social media, his new book about Netflix's aggressive company culture, and more  —  Netflix started with sending DVDs — remember them? — through the mail, but now the streaming pioneer sits atop a Hollywood it has thoroughly upended.
Jeanne Whalen / Washington Post:
US government is considering adding Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC to the Entity List, which would block US companies from selling SMIC tech without a license  —  Pentagon says the Trump administration is weighing possible trade sanction on SMIC  —  The Trump administration …
Wall Street Journal:
Amazon bans foreign plant sales in the US, after mystery seeds sent to households this summer led US officials to raise alarm over ease of e-commerce seed sales  —  Shift by the e-commerce giant comes as agricultural authorities investigate the delivery of thousands of packets of seeds
Carl Miller / WIRED UK:
Investigation sheds light on a huge ISIS cache of 90K+ online documents that are still being used to actively disseminate propaganda on social media and the web  —  The terrorist group is defeated and routed.  But its backup plan survives  —  It all began on October 27, 2019.
FinSMEs:
Turing.com, a service using automated tech to vet and match remote software developers with companies, raises $14M in seed funding led by Foundation Capital  —  Turing.com, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of an automated platform that allows companies to hire software engineers, raised $14m in seed funding.
Steven Levy / Wired:
Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs on the “Holy Wars of Wireless” and why there is no US equivalent to Huawei that is pioneering next gen wireless infrastructure  —  Plus: Wireless at the turn of the century, a highly anticipated question, and a surprise in the stratosphere.
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
Q&A with AI Now Institute's Amba Kak on the organization's new report detailing eight case studies of how biometric ID systems are regulated around the world  —  A new report from the AI Now Institute reveals how different regulatory approaches work or fall short in protecting communities from surveillance.

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Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis: AI's Next Breakthroughs, AGI Timeline, Google's AI Glasses Bet
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Vinod Khosla and Keith Rabois from Khosla Ventures
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Chuck Klosterman on Why Football Owns TV (and Why It Won't Forever)
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.
The Social Radars:
Christina Cacioppo, Founder & CEO, Vanta
Come be a fly on the wall as Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy talk to some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley about how they did it.
Subscribe to The Social Radars.
Invest Like the Best:
Patrick O'Shaughnessy - Creating on Principle
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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.
 

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More News

Paul Mozur / New York Times:
Laura Hautala / CNET:
Aroon Deep / MediaNama:

Earlier Picks

Zeynep Tufekci / The Atlantic:
Jeremy B. Merrill / ProPublica:
Amazon Web Services: