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Techmeme
February 16, 2021, 8:05 AM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sources: Microsoft is testing a browser-based version of its xCloud game streaming service, currently for Chromium browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge  —  This is what Xbox looks like in a browser  —  Microsoft has started testing its xCloud game streaming through a web browser.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Clubhouse, which centralizes creation and consumption into a feedback loop, will do for audio what Twitter, Stories, and TikTok did for text, images, and video  —  To what extent are new companies, particularly those in new spaces, pushed versus pulled into existence?  Last week I wrote about how Tesla is a Meme Company:
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
UK filing: OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei's new venture Nothing has acquired Essential, Andy Rubin's now-defunct smartphone brand  —  After a series of launch teasers and little information on upcoming product lines, Carl Pei's flegling technology brand Nothing is now the sole owner of the one-time smartphone brand Essential.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Parler says it is now accessible for existing users and will accept new signups starting next week, announces Tea Party activist Mark Meckler as interim CEO  —  An Amazon suspension shut it down in January  —  The alternative social network Parler has reopened after a month offline.
David Meyer / Fortune:
TikTok has been hit with a volley of complaints from Europe's consumer protection watchdogs over “misleading” privacy practices and “ambiguous” terms  —  Our mission to make business better is fueled by readers like you.  To enjoy unlimited access to our journalism, subscribe today.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
France says Russia-linked Sandworm hacking group breached several French entities running the Centreon IT monitoring software in a three year operation  —  New ANSSI report exposes new Sandworm APT attacks targeting IT companies using Centreon servers.  —  France's cyber-security agency …
@pwnallthethings:
[Thread] A breakdown of significant issues with Bloomberg's recent Supermicro story, which may have relied on misunderstandings of an FBI briefing by a source  —  tl;dr is a source misunderstood an FBI defensive briefing on China's supply chain activities, leaked it to the press, and bloomberg has *again* failed to do the work necessary to verify the sensational claims, because they mistake impressive credentials with domain expertise.
Financial Times:
France is pushing for changes to EU's upcoming tech regulations so that member states will have expanded powers to punish bad behavior and police more content  —  Paris wants member states to have more power to act against illegal content  —  France is pushing for the EU's upcoming regulations …
Meir Orbach / CTech:
Source: Palo Alto Networks acquires Israeli startup BridgeCrew, which develops and delivers security as code, for $200M  —  This is the seventh Israeli company purchased by the Silicon Valley cyber powerhouse  —  Israeli-founded cyber company Bridgecrew Technologies has been acquired by Palo Alto Networks …
More: TechCrunch
Matthew Hutson / New Yorker:
Nicole Perlroth / Wired:
Early 0-day exploit brokers, some active in the late 90s, share stories about a nascent industry that became key to espionage, organized crime, and war planning  —  The lucrative business of dealing in code vulnerabilities is central to espionage and war planning, which is why brokers never spoke about it—until now.

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Chainalysis Blog:
Will Oremus / OneZero :
Noah Smith / Noahpinion:
Wall Street Journal: