Techmeme
June 19, 2021, 12:25 PM

Top News

Mercury News:
California launches a digital vaccine verification system built using the open-source SMART Health Card Framework, with QR codes to show COVID-19 vaccine status  —  Vaccinated Californians now have a new way to show they are inoculated against the coronavirus without carrying around a flimsy paper card.
Kara Swisher / New York Times:
Interview with Rep. Cicilline on his bipartisan package taking on Big Tech, Apple's DOJ subpoena, Facebook's platform lock-in, and acquisition and merger reform  —  Representative David Cicilline's bipartisan package takes aim at tech companies and would be the biggest antitrust reform in decades.
Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
The Platform Competition and Opportunity Act, which ends Big Tech acquisitions, could backfire in several ways, like discouraging startups' productive behavior  —  Congress wants to stop most Big Tech acquisitions.  But that won't neccesarily increase competition.  —  5 hr ago
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
YouTube says it is rolling out picture-in-picture support for YouTube Premium users on iOS and plans to launch the feature for all iOS users in the US  —  After a long wait, YouTube for iOS is officially gaining picture-in-picture support, allowing all users, non-premium and premium subscribers …
Reuters:
PayPal will increase US sellers' costs to 3.49% plus $0.49 per transaction on its payment products starting Aug. 2, up from 2.9% plus $0.30 on most transactions  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) -PayPal Holdings Inc will lift merchant costs for its branded payment products while cutting those for behind …
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
How Roku beat larger companies by focusing on distribution, as it pivots to focus on original programming with plans to spend $1B on content next year  —  - Roku has out-executed larger companies and leaned on an unusual corporate culture to gain a $45 billion valuation.
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Todd Feathers / VICE:
Some US unemployment applicants say facial recognition models used by ID verification service ID.me are failing to identify them, locking them out of benefits  —  ID.me's CEO says unemployment fraud is costing taxpayers $400 billion, but his own company is denying claims because of problems with its tech, users say.
Rest of World:
Koo, the Indian microblogging app that has positioned itself as a government-friendly alternative to Twitter in India, is taking a similar approach in Nigeria  —  The Indian microblogging app has built a partisan audience in India by supporting government restrictions on social platforms.

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Earlier Picks

Hugh Son / CNBC:
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: