Techmeme
April 8, 2021, 8:15 AM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Twitter discussed acquiring Clubhouse for around $4B but the talks fell apart; Clubhouse is now looking to raise funding at a $4B valuation  —  - Talks no longer active between Twitter, social media startup  — Clubhouse is seeking to raise funding at a similar valuation
Max Chafkin / Bloomberg:
Peter Thiel says he is a pro-Bitcoin maximalist, but Bitcoin threatens fiat money and might be used by China to undercut the US dollar's reserve currency status  —  Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist and conservative political donor, urged the U.S. government to consider tighter regulations …
Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters:
Facebook says it did not notify users about the 2019 data leak affecting 533M accounts at the time and doesn't plan to do so now  —  (Reuters) - Facebook Inc did not notify the more than 530 million users whose details were obtained through the misuse of a feature before 2019 and recently …
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple unveils a revamped Find My program with support for third-party devices and says devices from Belkin, Chipolo, and VanMoof will be first to work with it  —  Apple today announced the launch of its Find My network accessory program, which is designed to allow third-party Bluetooth devices …
Nikkei Asia:
Sources: production of some MacBooks and iPads has been postponed due to the global component shortage, a sign that the chip shortage is growing more serious  —  US tech giant's headaches suggest even worse chip shortages lie ahead  —  TAIPEI — Production of some MacBooks and iPads …
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook's NPE team launches a public beta for Hotline, a web-based app letting creators stream live video or audio-only Q&As; events are recorded automatically  —  Facebook's internal R&D group, NPE Team, has today launched its latest experiment, Hotline, into public beta testing.
Emi Nietfeld / New York Times:
An ex-Google engineer says she endured harassment for over a year and that Google's positive external image led her to delay reporting it  —  I learned the hard way that no publicly traded company is a family.  —  Ms. Nietfeld is a software engineer.  She worked at Google from 2015 to 2019.
Melissa Repko / CNBC:
Best Buy is piloting Best Buy Beta, a new membership program with perks including unlimited tech support and free shipping for $200/yr, starting in IA, OK, PA  —  - Best Buy is piloting an annual membership program in select stores in Iowa, Oklahoma and eastern Pennsylvania.
Quint Forgey / Politico:
Twitter says it won't let the US National Archives make @realDonaldTrump's old tweets available publicly via Twitter's platform, citing his permanent suspension  —  Twitter will not allow the National Archives to make former President Donald Trump's past tweets from his @realDonaldTrump account available …
Dave Lee / Financial Times:
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Twitch expands its misconduct policy to ban users who harass members of its community, even when that harassment takes place off Twitch  —  It's a major expansion of the platform's misconduct policy  —  Twitch will now ban users who harass members of its community — even when that harassment takes place off Twitch.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google announces a virtual I/O from May 18 to May 20, with registration opening soon; the date was hidden behind a puzzle  —  After canceling entirely last year, Google today announced that I/O 2021 will be virtual and free to attend.  The conference is historically held …
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Apple's conclusions of law in Epic case: App Store doesn't lead the gaming market, so consequently it cannot be considered a monopoly  —  Back in August 2020, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store after an update that bypassed the App Store's in-app purchases system.
Tate Ryan-Mosley / MIT Technology Review:
An in-depth look at the impact, often negative and not fully understood, of AR beauty filters on social media, especially on girls and young women  —  Veronica started using filters to edit pictures of herself on social media when she was 14 years old.  She remembers everyone in her middle school …
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Pew: YouTube usage grew from 73% of US adults in 2019 to 81% in 2021, with 95% of 18- to 29-year-olds using the service; 69% use Facebook and 21% use TikTok  —  - YouTube saw the most significant growth of any social media app among American users during the pandemic, according to the Pew Research Center.

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More News

Bloomberg:
Allison Johnson / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch: