Techmeme
April 13, 2021, 5:30 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Surface Laptop 4 with 13.5" and 15" displays, starting at $999 for AMD model and $1,299 for Intel, shipping April 15 in US, Canada, and Japan  —  The AMD version starts at $300 less than Intel's equivalent  —  Microsoft is refreshing its Surface lineup with the Surface Laptop 4 today …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple announces an online event on April 20 at 10am PT, entitled “Spring Loaded”, where new iPads Pros and more are expected  —  Following an overnight leak by Siri, Apple today officially announced that it will be holding a special “Spring Loaded” event on Tuesday …
The Guardian:
Facebook VP of Integrity Guy Rosen called the return of the Honduran president's disinformation campaign a “bummer” in 2019, but it continued for 11 months  —  Juan Orlando Hernández falsely inflated his posts' popularity for nearly a year after the company was informed about it
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify announces Car Thing, a Spotify-only, voice-controlled device for the car, launching today for free for select US users  —  It's free, but users have to pay for shipping  —  Spotify's first gadget has landed.  Car Thing, a Spotify-only, voice-controlled device for the car …
Oversight Board:
Facebook Oversight Board will now accept appeals to remove content from Facebook and Instagram; previously, users were only able to appeal to restore content  —  From today, users will be able to appeal content to the Oversight Board which they want removed from Facebook and Instagram.
Jeff Dunn / Ars Technica:
Roku announces a trio of new devices: $40 Express 4K Plus streaming device, a $30 rechargeable Voice Remote Pro, and $180 Streambar Pro  —  Plus new Roku OS updates and a revised two-in-one streaming soundbar.  —  Roku on Tuesday announced its latest 4K media streamer, the Roku Express 4K+.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Epic Games raises $1B at a $28.7B equity valuation, including an additional $200M from Sony  —  Epic Games, the company behind global smash hit “Fortnite,” announced that it completed a $1 billion round of funding — giving it a whopping equity valuation of $28.7 billion.
Bloomberg:
Mengqi Sun / Wall Street Journal:
Alphabet shareholder Trillium Asset Management pushes Google for better whistleblower protections, referencing the firing of Timnit Gebru and a 2020 NLRB report  —  Citing recent red flags, Trillium Asset Management files another shareholder proposal urging tech giant to review protections for employees voicing human rights concerns
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Facebook is testing a free video speed dating app called Sparked, which requires a Facebook profile to create an account  —  Users will be set up on four-minute video dates  —  Facebook is testing a video speed dating app called Sparked.  The app, which requires a Facebook profile to create an account …
Ifeoma Ozoma / New York Times:
Ex-Pinterest employee Ifeoma Ozoma describes why she helped draft the Silenced No More Act, a CA bill aiming to let discriminated-against employees bypass NDAs  —  I chose not to be.  We need to end gag orders for victims of workplace abuse.  —  Ms. Ozoma is a tech policy expert …
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Over 650 tech workers at the NYT announce they have formed a union to be represented by the NewsGuild of New York and are seeking union recognition from the NYT  —  Tech workers at The New York Times announced on Tuesday that they had formed a union and would ask the company to recognize it.
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Grab is going public on NASDAQ via SPAC, raising $4B+ at a ~$39.6B valuation; deal would make it the first Southeast Asian tech unicorn to go public via SPAC  —  - SoftBank-backed Grab strikes pact with Gerstner's Altimeter  — Southeast Asia ride-hailing giant set to trade on Nasdaq
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
In its April batch of patches, Microsoft fixes 108 flaws, including 19 “critical” flaws, five 0-days, and four NSA-discovered critical Exchange flaws  —  Today is Microsoft's April 2021 Patch Tuesday, and with it comes five zero-day vulnerabilities and more Critical Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities.
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Researchers find new vulnerabilities called NAME:WRECK in the TCP/IP stack that impact hundreds of millions of servers, smart devices, and industrial equipment  —  Security researchers have found a new set of vulnerabilities that impact hundreds of millions of servers, smart devices, and industrial equipment.
Everett Randle / The Valley of Dunning-Kruger:
Tiger Global is playing a different venture game by paying far more than competitors, speeding up diligence, and adopting a lightweight post-investment approach  —  Or why Tiger is eating your lunch (& your deals)  —  The Tiger Phenomenon … If you actively invest in private …
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
OnePlus Watch review: long battery life, nice finish, and low price, but no voice assistant, no always-on display, few notification options, only one big size  —  The OnePlus Watch pairs with and is controlled by the OnePlus Health app for Android — there's no iPhone compatibility at all.
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
ConsenSys raises $65M from JP Morgan, Mastercard, UBS AG, and others to build the infrastructure for DeFi apps  —  ConsenSys, a key player in crypto and a major proponent of the Ethereum blockchain, has raised a $65 million funding round from J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and UBS AG …
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
Disney, Viacom, and 10 ad tech companies agree to remove or disable software from children's apps that could target children with ads, resolving three lawsuits  —  In legal settlements that could reshape the children's app market, Disney, Viacom and 10 advertising technology firms have agreed …

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