Techmeme
October 8, 2020, 4:55 PM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:
Microsoft adopts 10 “principles” for its app store, including letting developers choose a payment system for IAPs, that it says should be a model for others  —  In a not-so-subtle dig at Apple and Google, Microsoft today announced a series of “principles” for its Windows 10 App Store …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
ProtonMail CEO says Apple made it add in-app purchases in 2018 even though it had been free for years, compares Apple's tactics to a mafia protection racket  —  Remember Hey and WordPress?  ProtonMail was forced into IAP too.  —  SHARE All sharing options
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Square purchases $50M worth of bitcoin, becoming the second publicly listed company after MicroStrategy to invest in the cryptocurrency  —  Revolut, the London-based fintech firm, has enlisted crypto security firm Fireblocks to lay the foundations for new crypto products.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple to extend Apple TV+ free year trials that started between Nov. 1 2019, and Jan. 31 2020, through February 2021  —  If you purchased a new Apple device from September 2019 last year — like an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV — you were automatically eligible for a free year of Apple TV+.
Brian Armstrong / The Coinbase Blog:
Coinbase CEO says 60 employees, or about 5% of its staff, have taken the exit package the company offered for those not comfortable with its apolitical mission  —  A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company  —  Last week, I shared that Coinbase is a mission focused company.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Google is preparing to launch a $129 Nest Thermostat with hand gesture controls, using a sensor similar to the Soli system included in Pixel 4  —  - New Nest Thermostat to cost $129; goes on sale in coming weeks  — Lower pricing may spur adoption of Google smart home devices
Ira Boudway / Bloomberg:
Waymo says it will open its fully driverless ride-hailing service in suburban Phoenix to the public  —  Waymo said Thursday that it is opening its fully driverless ride-hailing service in suburban Phoenix to the public.  Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving car unit began ferrying a select group …
Alfred Ng / CNET:
Court documents in a Florida case show Google provided US law enforcement with IP addresses for any user searching for specific key words  —  There are few things as revealing as a person's search history, and police typically need a warrant on a known suspect to demand that sensitive information.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget:
Google says Assistant can now search and control third-party apps, starting with the top 30 on the Play Store, with support for more coming soon  —  Before today, if you ask Siri or the Google Assistant to “check the news on Twitter,” you'll either be shown the @CHEK_News account …
David Gilbert / VICE:
An ISP took down the website for the group calling itself The Real Facebook Oversight Board after Facebook complained that the site was involved in “phishing”  —  “Nothing says ‘free speech’ quite as much as a multi-billion dollar corporation with a global monopoly getting its critics shut down."
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
AMD announces Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 CPUs for desktops, the first chips from AMD with its next-gen Zen 3 architecture, available on November 5, starting at $299  —  Available on November 5th, starting at $299  —  AMD just announced its new lineup of Ryzen 5000 series processors for desktops …
Kartikay Mehrotra / Bloomberg:
US DOJ seizes 92 websites it said were used by Iran to spread disinformation, including four domains disguised as genuine news outlets based in the US  —  - Four of the domains were fake news sites targeting Americans  —  The U.S. Justice Department seized 92 websites it said were used …
Sherisse Pham / CNN:
Samsung says it expects to make an operating profit of $10.6B in the July-September quarter, up 58% YoY, and sales of $7B, up 6% in its earnings guidance  —  Hong Kong (CNN Business)Samsung (SSNLF) predicts its profit jumped nearly 60% last quarter, suggesting it could soon retake its position …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
IBM announces that it plans to spin off its managed infrastructure services unit, with $19B in sales and 90K staff, to help it focus on hybrid cloud apps  —  IBM will become a company that gets more than half of its sales from recurring revenue instead of services.
Abrar Al-Heeti / CNET:
Google rolls out Sound Notifications on Android to alert people with hearing loss about “critical household sounds” like appliances beeping and dogs barking  —  Google on Thursday rolled out a new feature for Android designed to alert people with hearing loss about …
Nikkei Asia:
Inside the US campaign to cut China out of supply chains, which already pressured companies like Apple to look at moving 15% to 30% of output out of the country  —  Apple, Google and others shift production to prepare for ‘decoupled’ global market  —  It was a hot summer morning in Taipei …
Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz:
Interviews with 16 Twitch employees from throughout its history detail a culture of indifference to inappropriate and abusive behavior, although some disagree  —  Employees from throughout the streaming platform's history describe a culture of indifference to inappropriate, unsafe, and abusive behavior
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Facebook says it will temporarily suspend political ads after US polls close on Nov. 3 and will remove calls for poll watching that use “militarized” language  —  The move is intended to limit confusion and misinformation on the platform, the social media company says
Tom Krazit / Protocol:
Sources: Google to give up control of the open-source project Knative later this year and implement a structure in which no single vendor can have control  —  Under an agreement recently approved by the Knative leadership team, the project will transition to a governance structure …

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Earlier Picks

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Monica Chin / The Verge:
Logan Moore / Wall Street Journal: