Techmeme
December 3, 2020, 10:55 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.
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.
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.
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 …
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.”
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.
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 …
Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal:
DHS' IG says it's probing the department's practice of tracking people without a warrant by buying brokered cellphone data, after Democratic senators' request  —  Inspector general to investigate legality of tracking Americans without a warrant  —  WASHINGTON—The Department …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Celebrating 10 years of Zoho Marketplace  —  30 Zoho products,2,900+ extensions and integrations,1 million+ users, and2 million installations.Zoho Marketplace celebrates a decade-long journey of adding timeless value …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Best of Big Technology: How Ozempic Changes Our Bodies, Minds, and Economy — With Johann Hari
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.
Hard Fork:
Zuckerberg's Anti-Doom Fantasy + Finally an A.I. Detector That Works + A.I. Math
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Joanna Stern on the New Siri, OpenAI's Weird Gadget, and Life After the Wall Street Journal
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.
Invest Like the Best:
Eric Vishria - A Decade of Lessons Investing in Software & Hardware
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:
'Getting the Snack Right', With Chance Miller
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 10:55 AM ET, December 3, 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

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Chris Velazco / Engadget:

Earlier Picks

Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Wall Street Journal:
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Mike Wuerthele / AppleInsider:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: