Techmeme
April 20, 2021, 1:40 PM

Top News

Apple:
Livestream of Apple's “Spring Loaded” event  —  Apple Event - April 20, 2021.  This stream is best experienced on an iPhone 7 or later, iPad (5th generation or later), or iPod touch (7th generation) using Safari on iOS 12 or later; or a Mac using Safari on macOS Mojave 10.14 or later.
The Verge:
Live blog of Apple's event, where new iPads, AirPods, Apple TV, AirTags, and refreshed iMacs could be announced  —  iPads?  AirTags?  AirPods?  There could be a lot on tap today  —  Apple seemingly has a big backlog of products to announce.  We've been anticipating new iPad Pros …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Apple officially launches AirTags, an item tracker that works with Apple's Find My app, with one unit for $29 and four units for $99, launching April 30  —  The long-rumored trackers are now official  —  Apple is officially launching a Tile-like item tracker that will work with the company's software and services.
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Apple announces Podcasts Subscriptions for new premium and ad free content, a new Podcasts app design, channels, launching next month in 170 regions  —  Apple has officially an all-new feature coming to Podcasts next month.  Apple Podcasts Subscriptions will allow listeners to directly support podcasters through the Podcasts app.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Apple refreshes Apple TV 4K with A12 Bionic, high frame rate HDR video, revamped remote with new click pad and buttons, coming in May for $179 and $199  —  Now with the A12 Bionic  —  Apple has just announced a new Apple TV streaming box, replacing the Apple TV 4K that came out in 2017.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Hartley Charlton / MacRumors:
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Zac Bowden / Windows Central:
Sources: Microsoft is revamping its Store app on Windows 10 and will let devs submit unpackaged Win32 apps, use third-party commerce platforms in apps, and more  —  Microsoft wants to bring life back to the Store app on Windows 10.  —  What you need to know  — Microsoft is working on a new Store app for Windows 10.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Venmo adds support for buying, holding, and selling four types of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash  —  Venmo is adding support for cryptocurrency, starting today.  The company says it will begin to roll out the ability for Venmo's more than 70 million users to buy …
Saqib Shah / Engadget:
Amazon is opening a hair salon in London, where customers can try on virtual hair colors using an AR color bar and shop beauty products using QR codes  —  Amazon reinvented supermarket shopping with its  —  checkout-less Go stores, now the e-commerce giant is applying its tech prowess to hairdressing.
Charlie Osborne / ZDNet:
Internal Facebook emails, accidentally sent to a journalist, show its “long-term strategy” for data scraping incidents, framing it as a “broad industry issue”  —  More scraping incidents are “expected” in the future.  —  An internal email accidentally leaked by Facebook …
Wall Street Journal:
An in-depth look at the reasons behind the chip shortage, including focus on higher-margin, cutting-edge chips, and stockpiling due to US China trade tensions  —  Semiconductor producers are trying to increase output, but the small gains are unlikely to fix the shortfalls hampering production …
New York Times:
Governments around the world are moving to limit the power of tech companies with an urgency and breadth that no single industry had experienced before  —  Never before have so many countries, including China, moved with such vigor at the same time to limit the power of a single industry.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Source: Facebook-backed Diem is aiming to launch a pilot with a single stablecoin pegged to the US dollar later this year  —  - The Diem Association is aiming to launch a pilot with a single stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar in 2021, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Adam Janofsky / The Record:
Biden launches a 100-day plan to boost electric utilities' cybersecurity; officials say more cyber initiatives for other key infrastructure sectors will follow  —  The Biden administration announced today a 100-day plan aimed at enhancing the security of electric utilities' industrial control systems …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Chargebee, which helps enterprises with billing, subscriptions, revenue operations, and compliance, raises $125M at a $1.4B valuation  —  A startup that enables businesses to set up and manage their billing, subscription, revenue operations and compliance has become the newest firm to earn the much coveted unicorn status.
John Seabrook / New Yorker:
As NYC selects Bird, Lime, and Veo for its e-scooter pilot program, a look at why NYC is seen as an invaluable proving ground for the scooter-sharing concept  —  Fleets of electric scooters have taken over city streets worldwide.  With New York finally climbing aboard, do they represent a tech hustle or a transit revolution?
Rachel Levin / Outside Online:
As a disproportionate number of people who purchased homes in Tahoe in 2020 were tech employees from the Bay Area, locals worry about “Aspenification of Tahoe”  —  Rachel Levin is a San Francisco-based journalist who has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker …
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Nextdoor is introducing an anti-racism notification, which asks users to reconsider posting content if the app thinks it may be offensive  —  It calls the feature the anti-racism notification  —  Nextdoor is introducing a new anti-racism notification, which asks users to reconsider posting content …

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