Techmeme: Tax experts say that ransomware victims' ransom payments are probably tax deductible in the US, unless they were paid by an insurance company (Alan Suderman/Associated Press)

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June 21, 2021, 2:10 AM

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Ezra Fieser / Bloomberg:

A look at El Zonte, a surfing village in El Salvador dubbed Bitcoin Beach after an anonymous 2019 donation turned it into a controlled alt-currency experiment — An anonymous donor turned a tiny Pacific coast town without a bank into the world's biggest Bitcoin experiment. Up next: the entire country.

Matt Dougherty / KHOU-TV:

Some power companies in Texas are remotely adjusting the smart thermostats of users enrolled in their energy saving programs to reduce strain on power grids — Some said they didn't know their thermostats were being accessed from afar until it was almost 80 degrees inside their homes.

More: Android Police, The Verge, Gizmodo, USA Today, BGR, AppleInsider, Insider, Click2Houston.com, The Daily Dot, and Slate

Tweets: @dellcam, @stealthygeek, @karlbode, @arvindpawan1, @elpasotimes, @erratarob, @apoorv_bh89, @vickerysec, @natebeachw, @grantstern, @nuclear94, @jgamblin, @phil_lewis_, and @mollyjongfast

Rita Liao / TechCrunch:

Amber Group, a Hong Kong-based crypto finance startup that provides trading and asset management services, raises $100M Series B at $1B pre-money valuation — More mainstream venture capital firms are jumping on the crypto bandwagon as investors increasingly consider bitcoin an investable asset …

More: Forkast, CNBC, CoinDesk, Bloomberg, and Cointelegraph. Tweets: @_annabellehuang

Alan Suderman / Associated Press:

Tax experts say that ransomware victims' ransom payments are probably tax deductible in the US, unless they were paid by an insurance company — As ransomware attacks surge, the FBI is doubling down on its guidance to affected businesses: Don't pay the cybercriminals.

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:

Interview with Jim Keller, a chip expert lauded for his work at AMD and Apple, on ARM vs x86 vs RISC-V, managing 1,000 people at Intel, and plans at Tenstorrent — I've spoken about Jim Keller many times on AnandTech. In the world of semiconductor design, his name draws attention …

Tweets: @iancutress, @anandtech, @0xcats, and @hkanji. Thanks:@anandtech

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

Wristcam, which makes a $299 Apple Watch band with a camera capable of taking 4K images and recording 1080p video, raises $25M led by Marker LLC — Last week word got out that Facebook was taking another big step into first-party hardware with the planned launch of its own smartwatch.

Tweets: @brianfagioli and @daniel_duan. Thanks:@vscpr

Wall Street Journal:

Analysts say the dominance of TSMC, which makes ~92% of the world's most sophisticated chips and 60% of chips used in cars, poses risks to the global economy — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s dominance poses risks to the global economy, amid geopolitical tensions and a major chip shortage

More: phonearena.com. Tweets: @chinarealtime, @jasonmillerindc, @zackkanter, @djtgallagher, @jchengwsj, and @scottlincicome

Betsy Ladyzhets / MIT Technology Review:

An analysis of the usage of COVID-19 contact tracing apps in 25 US states and DC finds that only 13 have enough usage to benefit from exposure notification — A year ago, engineers built apps to track potential virus exposure. Our research shows the impact has been mixed—but there's still potential.

More: PCMag, Android Police, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @matthew_d_green, @techreview, @malwarejake, @pathcheck_fnd, @charlesmok, @techreview, @jennydove, @fabiochiusi, @techreview, and @techreview

Nicole Kobie / Wired UK:

A look at the evolution of AI chips and where they are headed, as companies like Google, Amazon, Graphcore, and Cerebras look to challenge Nvidia's dominance — NVIDIA's GPUs dominate AI chips. But a raft of startups say new architecture is needed for the fast-evolving AI field

Tweets: @jbonne5, @cerebrassystems, @wireduk, @vickiturk, and @sub8u

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

Pandemic boosted the “phone-ization” of PCs, which are adopting power efficient CPUs and thin designs, a trend which will accelerate with broader adoption of 5G — Apple is dragging Microsoft, Google and the entire PC industry into the 21st century

Tweets: @parthodasgupta, @mims, @psb_dc, @gregorymbryant, @onelinders, @mims, @dsilverman, and @stevesi

Forbes:

Leonid Radvinsky, billionaire owner of OnlyFans, ran sites in the '90s promoting “hacked” porn site passwords, including links promising access to child porn — Associate editor at Forbes, covering cybercrime, privacy, security and surveillance. — I cover the work and wealth of Europe's richest.

Tweets: @blacklodgewhore, @rizzn, @iblametom, @iblametom, @iwantjules, @iblametom, and @alanaevansxxx

Kristen Sinclair / The Verge:

A look at some Twitch streamers using the service to showcase minority languages like Galician, Welsh, Basque, and te reo Māori — Minority languages are often associated with aging rural communities, thought to have fallen out of use or confined to textbooks.

More: Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Tweets: @biliteracyseal, @unaminhkavanagh, @3000twitz, @zacharydiaz, and @xipiryon

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:10 AM ET, June 21, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Disney CEO Bob Iger's pay package rose 11.5% in 2025 to $45.8M; the Disney board is expected to name his successor early this year

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Analysis: among the top 50 news websites in the US and the UK, 34% blocked all major AI training bots; 14%, including Fox and Substack, allowed access to all

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

British podcasters like Steven Bartlett of The Diary of a CEO are adopting various strategies, including moving to the US, to break into the larger US market

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More News

Emma Folts / Los Angeles Business Journal stories:

Eltropy, whose suite allows financial institutions to communicate with customers via text messages, announces $21M investment from K1 as part of its Series A

Source: Eltropy and PR Newswire. More: FinSMEs

Heather Landi / FierceHealthcare:

Brightline, which provides virtual behavioral health therapy for children and teenagers, raises $72M Series B led by GV, bringing its total raised to ~$100M

Source: PR Newswire. More: FinSMEs and hitconsultant.net. Tweets: @gvteam

Omar Faridi / Crowdfund Insider:

Shopping and pay later app nate, which allows users to buy products from any e-commerce store and centralize their purchases, raises $38M Series A

Source: Business Wire. More: Finextra, AlleyWatch, and FinSMEs

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Lingokids, which offers educational games through its “playlearning” app for kids aged 2-8, raises $40M Series C and claims to reach 30M+ families worldwide

Source: Lingokids. More: Kidscreen, Angel News, Pocket Gamer.biz, Tech.eu, and FinSMEs

Tweets: @lingokids, @googlestartupes, @deantak, and @reachfund

Juliet Chung / Wall Street Journal:

Addepar, a provider of wealth management software, raises $150M from D1 Capital Partners at a $2.17B valuation; source: Addepar was valued at ~$1B in November

Source: PR Newswire. More: IBS Intelligence Market News, InvestmentNews, FinSMEs, and Silicon Valley Business …

Tweets: @davidsacks and @addepar

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Survey: social media users see the removal of hate speech as more fair than removing profanity, with moderators who removed hate speech seen as more trustworthy

More: Center for Media Management. Tweets: @engagingnews, @iansherr, and @ginammasullo

Earlier Picks

Olivia Solon / NBC News:

Drought-stricken communities in the US push back against data centers' water usage; a typical data center uses same water per day as a city of 30K-50K people

More: The Overspill, Slashdot, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @athertonkd, @dburbach, @alicebell, @thornet, @peterkatel, @william_fitz, @wndu, @sujeevshakya, @mattk, @alex, @oliviasolon, @deborahblum, @nycdsatechwg, @iainthomson, @hypervisible, @oliviasolon, @oliviasolon, and @pinboard

Chuq Von Rospach / 6FPS:

Apple, whose arrogance and sense of entitlement let it treat developers as a hassle for two decades, will find few allies as it fights looming regulation

Tweets: @sethjberman, @marccanter4real, @jamiequint, @siegel, @sethjberman, @siegel, @carnage4life, @siegel, @marcoarment, @chuq, @jimcarroll, @samdeane, @brucel, @keleftheriou, @chuq, @siegel, @kocienda, @kocienda, @savaran, @siegel, @kocienda, @siegel, and @marcoarment

Juan José Relmucao / Rest of World:

How an Argentinian govt. program that issued netbooks to 4M low-income students from 2011 to 2015 helped indirectly create a new generation of teen musicians

Tweets: @restofworld, @basgras, @rossdawson, @restofworld, @thatericalper, @sub8u, @restofworld, @restofworld, and @anirvan

Eric Newcomer / Newcomer:

Andreessen Horowitz's Future doesn't compete with journalism because it offers up essays, not reporting, limiting its potential to promote tech-positive views

More: Columbia Journalism Review. Tweets: @ericnewcomer, @davidgerard, @dotben, @jaycuthrell, @sarthakgh, @mattyglesias, @davewiner, @gaberivera, @gaberivera, @edzitron, @cathyreisenwitz, @iansherr, and @ericnewcomer

Karissa Bell / Engadget:

Facebook says it will update its community standards to clarify how it treats satirical content as a result of recommendations from the Oversight Board

More: mobilesyrup.com, The Verge, Gizmodo, MUO, and Android Central. Tweets: @iansherr