Techmeme
November 15, 2020, 9:15 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
A look at Parler, which is backed by Rebekah Mercer, has doubled its user base to 10M in a week, but unlike Facebook and Twitter, leaves moderation to users  —  The libertarian-minded platform aims to challenge tech giants through a focus on free speech; surge in users since the election
Phil Vachon / Security Embedded:
A deep dive into OCSP responder Apple uses to verify integrity of Mac apps, which is a critical part of macOS security, but could benefit from more transparency  —  On November 12, 2020 Apple released macOS Big Sur.  In the hours after the release went live, somewhere in Apple's infrastructure …
Max Weinbach / Android Police:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Sales readiness service MindTickle raises $100M in a round of debt and equity led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2; source: MindTickle is now valued at ~$500M  —  MindTickle, a startup that is helping hundreds of small and large firms improve their sales through its eponymous sales readiness platform …
Cyrus Farivar / NBC News:
Report: most major tech companies in Silicon Valley have kept paying their thousands of unionized blue-collar workers for now, but future remains uncertain  —  Nora Morales, 57, an overnight janitor at Google's main campus in Mountain View, California, knows better than anyone else how empty Silicon Valley's offices have become.
Whitney Kimball / Gizmodo:
Airbnb says 1.4M users have rejected its non-discrimination agreement, foregoing their use of the platform, since it implemented the policy in 2016  —  In the four years since it implemented an agreement to promote equitable treatment of its users, Airbnb claims that 1.4 million individuals …
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Researchers: flaws in Bumble exposed info of ~95M Bumble users, including Facebook data of some, and it took over 200 days after being notified to fix the bug  —  Bumble prides itself on being one of the more ethically-minded dating apps.  But is it doing enough to protect the private data of its 95 million users?
FinSMEs:
Thoughtexchange, which hosts large group conversations while shielding participants' identities to reduce gender and ethnicity biases, raises $34M Series B  —  Thoughtexchange, a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based advanced platform for scaling conversations, received an investment from HarbourVest Partners.
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Qualcomm has received a US license to sell some 4G smartphone chips to Huawei  —  (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc on Friday received a license from the U.S. government to sell 4G mobile phone chips to China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, an exemption to U.S. trade restrictions imposed amid rising tensions with China.
Owen Hughes / TechRepublic:
Interview with Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, who first began work on the language in 1979 and still remains very much involved in its development  —  Powerful, flexible, complex: The origins of C++ date back 40 years, yet it remains one of the most widely used programming languages today.

Sponsor Posts

Okara:
Meet Okara, the AI platform that doesn't train on your data  —  Chat with 30+ open-source models (Llama, Kimi, Qwen, DeepSeek) through encrypted infrastructure.  Used by teams handling proprietary code and strategy.
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
Turn your Zoho CRM into a communication hub  —  This is a guest post by Shray Sawariya, Marketing Executive at Times Mobile.A common problem that sales teams face that negatively impacts businesses …
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

Channels with Peter Kafka:
Running a Newsroom in Minneapolis + How to Make a Game of Thrones For Less
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.
Acquired:
The NFL (2026 Update)
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Mitigated Disaster', With Daniel Jalkut
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Grit:
The Safest Dollar on the Internet | Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
5 questions to ask when your product stops growing | Jason Cohen (2x unicorn founder)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:15 PM ET, November 15, 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

Earlier Picks

Cameron Faulkner / The Verge:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors: