Techmeme
December 3, 2020, 11:20 AM

Top News

Brian Barrett / Wired:
A sophisticated global phishing campaign is targeting the companies involved in the cold chain necessary to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine  —  As vaccines await US approval, a sophisticated global phishing campaign has tried to harvest credentials from companies involved in their distribution.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Slack's struggles to succeed as a standalone company mirror the fortunes of other one-time innovators in enterprise productivity who struggled with distribution  —  And why the era of worker-centered work tools may be over  —  Slack's life as an underdog darling of Silicon Valley ended on November 2, 2016.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google will let users with ARCore-compatible Android phones submit Street View imagery, starting in Toronto, NY, Austin, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Costa Rica  —  No special equipment required  —  Google Maps is getting a new update that lets you create Street View photos using just a phone.
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Three Democratic lawmakers introduce a bill that would require stablecoin issuers to obtain a banking charter, approval from the Federal Reserve and FDIC, more  —  A new U.S. Congressional bill would require stablecoin issuers to secure bank charters and secure regulatory approval prior to circulating any stablecoins.
Peter Rudegeair / Wall Street Journal:
Stripe launches Treasury to let its customers offer checking accounts and other business-banking services; Shopify will offer the services from early next year  —  Shopify, a Stripe customer, will begin offering the service to its merchants early next year  —  Stripe Inc. is teaming …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
PhonePe is partially spinning off, reducing Flipkart's stake from 100% to 87%, and raises $700M led by Walmart at a post-money valuation of $5.5B  —  PhonePe, the crown jewel in Flipkart's acquisition by Walmart, is “partially” spinning off, the financial services firm said on Thursday.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Alphabet transitions its navigation system for its fleet of Loon high-altitude balloons to one controlled by AI, a first for commercial aerospace systems  —  The company's new AI flight control system outperforms its human-made one  —  Alphabet's Loon, the team responsible for beaming internet …
Thomas Black / Bloomberg:
FedEx has agreed to buy e-commerce shipping service ShopRunner, which will operate as a subsidiary of FedEx Services, for an undisclosed sum  —  FedEx Corp. has agreed to acquire ShopRunner, an e-commerce service that provides shipping for more than 100 brands, as the courier seeks to deepen its ties with online shoppers.
Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:
GitHub: JavaScript, Python, and Java remain most popular languages on GitHub in 2020, followed by TypeScript; open source project creation jumped up to 40% YoY  —  GitHub released its annual Octoverse report today to reveal trends found in one of the largest developer communities on the planet …
More: ZDNet
Caitlin Dewey / OneZero :
How Americans are using Cash App and Venmo to practice direct giving to one another in a new way, as an alternative to giving through charitable institutions  —  In 2020, Venmoing total strangers in need became a radical act of support — and trust  —  aised in a six-bedroom mansion …
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
A look at MANRS, a group of ~600 participants including Google, which aims to add safeguards to the Border Gateway Protocol, improving internet routing security  —  Efforts to secure the Border Gateway Protocol have picked up critical momentum, including a big assist from Google.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Amazon adds webcam support to the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube, enabling video calls with Alexa-enabled devices, rolling out in the coming weeks in US, UK, elsewhere  —  Call any Alexa-enabled device with a screen, including smartphones, Fire tablets, and the Echo Show
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Facebook says it will start removing false claims about coronavirus vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts  —  - So far, Facebook's policy has been to remove false claims about Covid-19 which it says could lead to “imminent physical harm.”
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Bizay, which has created a marketplace for highly customized products for SMBs, raises €32M Series C co-led by Indico Capital and the European Investment Bank  —  Bizay, a marketplace for small-to-medium-sized businesses allowing them to create highly customized products (such as merchandise) …
More: Tech.eu
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Twitter expands its hate speech policies to “prohibit language that dehumanizes people on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin”  —  Twitter is once again expanding its hate speech policies.  The company updated its rules to “prohibit language that dehumanizes people …

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