Techmeme
February 20, 2021, 4:40 AM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:
Margaret Mitchell, co-lead of Google's Ethical AI team, says she has been fired; Google says an employee conduct review confirmed multiple policy violations  —  Margaret Mitchell, the co-lead of Google's Ethical AI team, says that the company has fired her following an investigation into her use of corporate email.
Ina Fried / Axios:
Report: Google's AI Chief Jeff Dean apologizes in an email after Timnit Gebru's exit, saying his team should have managed the situation “with more sensitivity”  —  Google told employees Friday it has wrapped up its investigation into the ouster of prominent AI researcher Timnit Gebru.
Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:
App Annie: Australian Broadcasting Corporation's news app was briefly the most downloaded app on the AU App Store after Facebook's news ban and is now second  —  Readers may be going directly to the source  —  The Australian Broadcast Company's ABC News app shot to the top of Apple's App Store charts …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Jason Scott / Bloomberg:
Rich Stanton / PC Gamer:
Court filings: Apple is asking Valve to provide extensive sales data for about 600 games on Steam, as part of Epic lawsuit; Valve has rejected the demand  —  These lawyers are getting steamed up.  —  A new court filing has revealed that, as part of the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games …
Shen Lu / Protocol:
An ex-ByteDance employee recounts the inner workings of the company's complex content moderation system and the role of China's internet censorship policies  —  This is the story of Li An, a pseudonymous former employee at ByteDance, as told to Protocol's Shen Lu.
Dan Primack / Axios:
Sources: Coinbase was valued at $100B+ in private share sale ahead of direct listing; docs reveal $141M net income on $691M revenue for first 9 months of 2020  —  Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was valued at just over $100 billion in a recent private market share sale ahead of its upcoming public listing …
Wolfie Zhao / The Block:
Bitcoin's market capitalization passes $1T as its price surges above $56K  —  Bitcoin's market capitalization has crossed the $1 trillion milestone for the first time after over a decade's development as it gains increasing mainstream attention.  —  Bitcoin's price set new record highs …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is in talks with suppliers for next-gen lidar sensors for self-driving cars, that will be considered cutting edge four to five years from now  —  - Vetting of laser sensor vendors is developmental milestone  — iPhone maker has several years of work ahead on autonomous car
Dave Gershgorn / OneZero :
AI researchers doubt the efficacy and ethics of emotion recognition tech, as studies show facial expressions match a person's emotions only 20%-30% of the time  —  People's facial expressions line up with their emotions less than half the time  —  OneZero's General Intelligence is a roundup …
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Zoho Mail MCP: Make your inbox work for you  —  Maya is the head of operations at a 500-person B2B software company.  She's sharp, she's busy, and she starts every morning the same way-with her coffee, laptop, inbox.Not to work.
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

The Upstarts Podcast:
Writer's May Habib: Building AI Tools For Corporate 'Normal People' The Labs Leave Behind
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
A Nick, Dick, and Paul Buffet!
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic's Labs Lead On Fable's Capabilities + Building AI-Native Products — With Mike Krieger
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.
Great Chat:
How much data do we actually want about our bodies?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Training Data:
Memory and Continual Learning: Engram's Dan Biderman and Jessy Lin
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
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 4:40 AM ET, February 20, 2021.

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

Jeff Horwitz / Wall Street Journal:
Wall Street Journal:
Amir Efrati / The Information:

Earlier Picks

Bloomberg:
Alex Mahadevan / Poynter:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge: