Techmeme
April 19, 2021, 4:50 PM

Top News

About Facebook:
Facebook says it will start testing Live Audio Rooms in Groups and expects to roll out the feature to everyone on the Facebook app by the summer  —  Storytelling helps people build meaningful bonds: we all have stories to share with our friends, our communities, and the world at large.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit shares a preview of Reddit Talk, a Clubhouse-like social audio feature for subreddits coming to iOS and Android; moderators can join a waitlist to try it  —  Sign up now to get on the waitlist  —  Reddit unveiled its take on a Clubhouse-like social audio product on Monday, called Reddit Talk.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Zuckerberg says Facebook is planning a short-form audio product called Soundbites, a podcast discovery tool, and more audio products for the next 3 to 6 months  —  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday said Facebook was launching a suite of new tools and features designed to help users better connect …
Brian Fung / CNN:
In a letter to Congress, Apple says it has approved Parler's return to the App Store, following moderation improvements by Parler  —  Washington (CNN Business)Apple has approved Parler's return to the iOS app store following improvements the social media company made to better detect …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says xCloud game streaming service will launch on iOS and PC tomorrow as an invite-only beta via browsers, available to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers  —  An invite-only beta begins for xCloud via the web  —  Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) will officially arrive on iOS and PC tomorrow, April 20th.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Sony backtracks on removing PS3 and Vita digital stores, saying it was “the wrong decision”; PSP store will still shut down on July 2  —  The PSP store is still shutting down on July 2nd  —  Sony has announced that it'll be keeping its PS3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefront open “for the foreseeable future.”
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
The Bank of England and the UK Treasury jointly create a taskforce to explore a potential central bank digital currency  —  Quick Take  — The Bank of England and HM Treasury have jointly created a CBDC taskforce.  — They will explore a potential digital currency in the U.K.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Facebook expands a tool to let users export posts and notes to Blogger, Google Docs, and Wordpress and calls for new guidelines on data flows between services  —  - Facebook announced Monday it's expanding a tool that allows users to transfer their data to other services.
Reuters:
UK says it will intervene in SoftBank's sale of ARM to Nvidia on national security grounds  —  Britain said on Monday it would intervene in SoftBank's (9984.T) sale of chip designer ARM Holdings to U.S. group Nvidia (NVDA.O) on national security grounds, and had requested a report on the implications of the $40 billion deal.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Facebook details moderation steps around the trial of Derek Chauvin, accused of murdering George Floyd, including designating Minneapolis a “high-risk location”  —  It's designated Minneapolis a ‘high-risk location’  —  Facebook says it's taking extra moderation measures around …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
What to expect from Apple's April 20 event: refreshed iPads, including Pro model with mini-LED display, 3rd-gen Pencil, AirTags, iMacs in different colors, more  —  Apple is planning to hold its first event of 2021 on Tuesday, April 20, and it's looking like it will be an iPad-centric event.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Zoom announces a $100M investment fund, which will invest $250K to $2.5M each in promising startups that use Zoom's toolkits  —  When Zoom launched Zoom Apps and the Marketplace as a place to sell them last year, it was a big signal that the company wanted to be more than just a popular video conferencing application.

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Paresh Dave / Reuters:

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