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January 31, 2021, 5:00 AM
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Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Kashmir Hill / New York Times: |
How one disgruntled person destroyed the online reputations of 145+ people, aided by “complaint sites” in the US and platforms like Google that rarely intervene — Outrageous lies destroyed Guy Babcock's online reputation. When he went hunting for their source, what he discovered was worse than he could have imagined.
Tweets: @kashhill, @zoeschiffer, @chriswelch, @dabeard, @mmasnick, @nfergus, @nedraggett, @dispositive, @nicoleperlroth, @mattrosoff, @davidenrich, @frankpasquale, @ryanqnorth, @audreyhasnews, @edwardnh, @kashhill, @overingtonc, @drjengunter, @emilybazelon, @oliviasolon, @ericliptonnyt, @ceciliakang, @kashhill, @chriswelch, @kimmasters, @chriswelch, @jasonschreier, @kashhill, @rhodri, and @j_bloodworth
| Cat Ferguson / MIT Technology Review: |
VAMS, a CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M to manage rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, has been abandoned by states due to bugs and problems — The CDC ordered software that was meant to manage the vaccine rollout. Instead, it has been plagued by problems and abandoned by most states.
More:
Bloomberg, Becker's Hospital Review, and The Verge
Tweets: @biocuriosity, @jdcmedlock, @maxclermont, @maanavsunman, @alexsjacquez, @rob_tarzwell, @data_nerd, @_danielsinclair, @civicwhitaker, @joelhousman, @bryanrbeal, @kevinakwok, @mcbyrne, @joeblubaugh, @v0max, @r_h_ebright, @mcbyrne, @jhweissmann, @rezendi, @waldojaquith, @bobbie, @roseveleth, @hillarymueri, @mikedmitchell2, @andykimnj, @viss, @kfury, @caseyhelbling, @willoremus, and @edzitron
| Corbin Davenport / Android Police: |
Google has reinstated federated chat app Element on the Play Store after briefly pulling it over abusive content, which is now removed, on Element's servers — Element is a popular client for the federated chat protocol Matrix, and we highlighted it in our roundup of the best open-source alternatives …
More:
Element Blog, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, and Engadget
Tweets: @element_hq, @element_hq, @rafbuff, @rabble, @rphmeier, @guardianproject, @fightfortheftr, @rabble, @jason_a_w, @element_hq, @anjiecast, @jasonpjason, @photomatt, @carlogubi, @mikebutcher, and @balajis
| Ryan Browne / CNBC: |
After dogecoin spiked 800%+, Robinhood halted instant deposits for crypto purchases and restricted trading in cryptocurrencies on Friday — - Users reported that the trading app had halted instant deposits for crypto purchases on Friday. — Robinhood confirmed the move …
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Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Fox Business, Data Driven Investor, Bloomberg, New York Times, hackernoon.com, Better Programming, Slate, CryptoSlate, Input, PCMag, CoinDesk, Crypto Briefing, Techdirt, and PYMNTS.com
Tweets: @cnbc, @cnbc, @sequoia, @arjunkharpal, @kofinas, @cnbc, @tanvim, @thenewsoncnbc, @yunli626, @jbarro, @stephenpunwasi, @means_tv, @jamessurowiecki, @teroterotero, @hshaban, @ryan_browne_, @jennfranconews, @rachblevins, @orcainthecourt, @jeremyjojola, @thedextriarchy, @octofinance, @netnobody, @danprimack, @llchristyll, @alltheway08, @zguz, @tomwarren, @newyorkstateag, @jamessurowiecki, @longshorttrader, @rwhelanwsj, @dellcam, @rmac18, @carnage4life, @northmantrader, @gerberkawasaki, @maxkennerly, @balajis, @kellymakena, and @_semahernandez_
| Jesse Westbrook / Bloomberg: |
More:
Wall Street Journal, Finbold, Washington Post, and U.S. Securities …
| Under the Hood: |
More:
New York Times, PRWeb, Gizmodo, BGR, BitcoinExchangeGuide, The Guardian, TechCrunch, Washington Post, Daring Fireball, Slashdot, FinLedger, Ars Technica, and The Verge
Tweets: @robinhoodapp, @bigtechalert, @felixsalmon, @danprimack, @mattzeitlin, @jhweissmann, @johnolilly, @maxwinebach, @bgurley, @sruhle, @tomgara, @micsolana, @compound248, @katekelly, @zachweinberg, @m2jr, @charlesforelle, @katekelly, @nathanielpopper, @christopherbaer, @frances_coppola, @lanceulanoff, @mcwm, @tomwarren, @hblodget, @ivanthek, @carnage4life, @ourielohayon, @piercejohnston, @pitdesi, @louwhiteman, @ourielohayon, @bgurley, @barbariancap, @jason, @brooke, @qtrresearch, @amir, @joshelman, @reedgalen, @wheatpond, @thestalwart, @justinkan, @michaelpachter, and @bennettjonah
| Wall Street Journal: |
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New York Times, New York Times, Business Insider, The Startup, New York Daily News, USA Today, The Information, Kotaku, The Logic, Input, Bloomberg, The Verge, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, and Slashdot
Tweets: @mylesudland, @ashkan, @autismcapital, @seattletimes, @hshaban, @nytimes, @nytimestech, @kellen_browning, @ampressman, @nytimes, @nathanielpopper, @marklittlenews, @davidjlynch, @sarthakgh, @bgurley, @carnage4life, @gelles, @rkrigney, @eliotwb, @austinhunt, @lucasmtny, @chrislhayes, @srussolillo, @rxfaro, @phatmike9, @davecbenoit, @wsj, @jasonzweigwsj, and @emanuelderman
| John Herrman / New York Times: |
More:
CNN and Data Driven Investor
Tweets: @doctorow, @amuse, @caseynewton, @lifewinning, @jwherrman, @frankpasquale, @can, @awealthofcs, @dcherring, @rashaabdulla, @reckless, and @cwarzel
| Ben Schoon / 9to5Google: |
Canalys: a record 11.2M Chromebooks were shipped in Q4 2020, up 287% YoY, with Lenovo Chromebooks up 1,766%; in 2020, 30.7M Chromebooks were shipped, up 109% — COVID-19 has had a lot of negative effects on the market, but it's been great for the PC market as millions of people transitioned to working and learning from home.| Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: |
ELSA, an app that helps non-native English speakers improve pronunciation and speaking skills, raises $15M Series B, says its revenue increased by ~300% in 2020 — - Founder draws on her experience for English-language app — ELSA's backers led by Vietnam Investments Group, SIG
Tweets: @technology
| The Internet Health Report 2020: |
Mozilla's 2020 Internet Health Report spotlights racial injustice of algorithms, lax data rights for gig workers, and accountability of social media firms — In a challenging year for the world, the internet helped us and harmed us like never before. With 2020 in the rearview, we combine research and stories about what can be done.| Zoe Schiffer / The Verge: |
Alphabet Workers Union members in the US say they were blindsided by the announcement of an international alliance and are considering disaffiliation from CWA — Members say they were blindsided by the news, and some are considering a push to disaffiliate from the Communications Workers of America
Tweets: @reckless and @zoeschiffer
| Brad Templeton / Forbes: |
Chinese self-driving startup AutoX announces that its robotaxi service, with no safety drivers on board, is now available to the general public in Shenzhen — AutoX, a Chinese self-driving startup funded by Alibaba BABA and others has announced that its Robotaxi service, with no safety drivers on board …
More:
Engadget, New Atlas, TechSpot, caixinglobal.com, and The Robot Report
| Zeyi Yang / Protocol: |
A look at Bilibili, the “YouTube for China”, as it balances competition and cooperation with Alibaba and Tencent, both of which invested in the video platform — “Should Bilibili keep expanding and become a larger player, their relationship with Tencent will surely deteriorate.”| Wall Street Journal: |
Experts say Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature will damage Facebook's core business; the feature will limit Facebook's data collection from 85K+ iOS apps — New feature on iPhones will limit Facebook's ability to collect data from apps and prove that ads work
More:
Wired and Vox
Tweets: @padresj, @counternotions, @mkarolian, @thetweetofjohn, @edbott, @hoofnagle, @jason_kint, @byrontau, and @jason_kint
| Bloomberg: |
Current and former staff say much of Amazon's struggles in gaming rest with the leadership of its gaming division, which reportedly has a budget of $500M/year — Mike Frazzini had never made a video game when he helped start Amazon Game Studios. Eight years later, he has released two duds …
More:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun, VG247, Game Rant, Gamasutra, GamesIndustry.biz, and Kotaku
Tweets: @blackbookalpha, @sonic9jct, @valentinachrys, @notpatrick, @venuv62, @studioanisa, @richgel999, @cathroon, @beavs, @faris, @manvsgame, @markmilian, and @jasonschreier
| Tom Hals / Reuters: |
Legal experts say Robinhood is not legally bound to carry out every trade and is protected from lawsuits by its user agreement — (Reuters) - Robinhood Markets Inc's user agreement is likely to protect the brokerage app from a barrage of lawsuits filed by customers after it blocked …
Tweets: @anthony
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