Techmeme
August 14, 2021, 2:45 PM

Top News

Mark Sullivan / Fast Company:
Interview with Niantic CEO John Hanke about Niantic's vision for the metaverse and how the metaverse could become a dystopian nightmare  —  The metaverse, the concept of an alternative, shared digital world that originated in sci-fi, has bubbled up to the surface of tech chatter during the later days of the pandemic.
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple details its CSAM detection system, says it expects to set a match threshold of 30 known CSAM images before an iCloud account is flagged for manual review  —  Apple today shared a document that provides a more detailed overview of the child safety features that it first announced last week …
Wall Street Journal:
Craig Federighi says introducing two similar features at the same time, iMessage protections for children and CSAM scanning of iCloud photos, caused confusion  —  Facing criticism about eroding privacy on the iPhone, Apple's Craig Federighi says new tools aimed at best ensuring privacy while fighting illegal images
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Facebook rolls out end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls on Messenger, and says it will begin testing opt-in e2e encryption for Instagram DMs  —  rolling out a host of features for Messenger users who switch on  —  end-to-end encryption (E2EE).  You can now call Messenger contacts using voice or video
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it is changing the contrast of its new buttons, as users complain about headaches after its redesign that some experts say isn't very accessible  —  After teasing its new font in January, Twitter made some major changes to its website and app design this week.
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
In a preliminary ruling, ITC judge finds Google infringed on five patents owned by Sonos; full commission will make a final ruling in December  —  In a preliminary finding by the United States International Trade Commission, a judge ruled that the internet company infringed on speaker-technology patents.
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Twitter pauses rolling out access to apply for verification, after admitting that several fake accounts, reportedly part of a botnet, were wrongly verified  —  It wants to improve the application and review process  —  Twitter is halting the expansion of its verification program …
Vishal Singh / Silicon Canals:
Germany-based WorkMotion, an HR software startup that helps companies onboard and manage staff abroad, raises ~$24M Series A led by Activant Capital and XAnge  —  According to Statista, there will be a shortage of about two million skilled workers in Germany by 2030, which will force companies to look for personnel abroad.
More: WorkMotion and Sifted

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More News

Rachel Feintzeig / Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Reuters:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE: