Techmeme
November 18, 2020, 7:00 PM

Top News

Nick Statt / The Verge:
Apple will reduce its App Store cut to 15% from any developer who earns less than $1M in revenue per year from all their apps, starting January 1  —  Any developer that earns less than $1 million in revenue per year is eligible  —  On Wednesday, Apple announced a reduction …
More: Apple, Apple, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNBC, MacRumors, The Verge, The Guardian, Engadget, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, MacRumors, CNBC, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Softpedia News, AppleInsider, CNN, Forbes, PC Gamer, MacStories, Associated Press, Redmond Pie, Apple Terminal, iA, Michael Tsai, USgamer.net, Light Reading, Daring Fireball, Android Police, Nieman Lab, IGN, iMore, TalkAndroid.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, Developer Tech News, iDownloadBlog.com, Kotaku, iThinkDifferent, Gamasutra, TechRadar, The Hill, KnowTechie, Trusted Reviews, Cult of Mac, Input, Ars Technica, Polygon, GamingBolt, HotHardware.com News, Patently Apple, MCV/DEVELOP, Wccftech, GamesIndustry.biz, ZDNet, TouchArcade, coinspeaker.com, MSPoweruser, International Business Times, Macworld, Six Colors, The Mac Observer, iPhone Hacks, phonearena.com, Apple Must, 9to5Mac, CNET, BBC, and Axios
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Sensor Tower: Apple's move will affect ~98% of developers that pay the company a commission, but they accounted for less than 5% of App Store revenue last year  —  App makers bridled at the 30 percent commission, which has drawn scrutiny from regulators looking into antitrust claims.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google unveils major redesign for Google Pay for iOS and Android and partners with 11 banks to launch a mobile-first bank accounts service called Plex in 2021  —  Google is launching a major redesign of its Google Pay app on both Android and iOS today.  Like similar phone-based contactless …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Apple agrees to pay $113M to settle an investigation into iPhone throttling brought by 34 states and District of Columbia  —  Apple will pay $113 million to settle an investigation by nearly three dozen states into the tech giant's past practice of slowing customers' old iPhones in an attempt to preserve their batteries.
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
Over 200 Facebook contract moderators sign an open letter criticizing Facebook, Accenture, and CPL for ending WFH policies and call for better protections  —  Here's what you need to know:  —  Facebook moderators forced back to the office raise alarms about Covid-19 protections.
Amanda Macias / CNBC:
Trump says he has fired CISA Director Christopher Krebs, baselessly calling Krebs' previous statement on the security of the 2020 election “highly inaccurate”  —  - President Donald Trump announced Tuesday on Twitter that he has “terminated” top U.S. cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Google rolls out update to Chrome, with pages now loading up to 7% faster, CPU usage reduced by up to 5x by throttling background tabs, and reduced usage of RAM  —  The last Chrome update for 2020 is all about efficiency  —  Google is wrapping up 2020 with what it claims …
Om Malik / On my Om:
M1 completes Steve Jobs' vision of Apple making “the whole widget” for all the devices in the company's product line  —  Even as Apple's final event of 2020 gradually becomes a speck in the rearview mirror, I can't help continually thinking about the new M1 chip that debuted there.
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Marissa Mayer's Lumi Labs, now called Sunshine, unveils Sunshine Contacts, an AI-powered contact organizer app for iOS  —  Marissa Mayer shoves her iPhone toward her MacBook's webcam until it overwhelms the screen on the Google Meet video call we are sharing.  —  “I admire Apple,” she declares.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple's iOS 14.3 beta 2 lets users run shortcuts from the home screen without launching the Shortcuts app, making custom app icons more seamless  —  Apple introduced the second developer beta of iOS 14.3 yesterday, and it includes a major change to Shortcuts.
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Welcome, which helps businesses create and host virtual and in-person events, raises $12M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins  —  On the heels of Hopin's $125 million funding round, a newcomer in the virtual events space is gaining steam.  Welcome, led by co-founder and CEO Roberto Ortiz …
Nick Summers / Engadget:
Fortnite now offers Houseparty video calls on PC, PS4, and PS5; users need the Houseparty app installed on an iOS or Android device, which functions as a webcam  —  Houseparty wants to change the way that people communicate while playing video games.  The company, which offers …
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Cloudbolt, which helps companies manage hybrid cloud environments, raises $15M in equity and $20M in debt, bringing its total raised to $61M  —  Cloudbolt, a Bethesda, MD startup that helps companies manage hybrid cloud environments, announced a $35 million Series B investment today.

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.
Intel:
5G's most deployed platform  —  Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN.  That's the power of Intel Inside®
Zoho:
WorkDrive 6.0: Advancing toward intelligent enterprise content management (Phase 1)  —  Artificial intelligence is redefining how enterprises process data.  Large language models can understand context …
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

Cheeky Pint:
Compliance at scale and why TAM is a distraction with Christina Cacioppo of Vanta
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
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.
Invest Like the Best:
Sergey Levine - Building LLMs for the Physical World
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'You're Going to Have the Niggles', With Christina Warren
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.
Lenny's Podcast:
From skeptic to true believer: How OpenClaw changed my life | Claire Vo
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Why OpenAI Killed Sora, Did Apple Just Save Siri?, Meta's Big Loss
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:00 PM ET, November 18, 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

Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Kate Conger / New York Times: