|
August 17, 2021, 3:50 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Allison Johnson / The Verge: |
Google's new $449 Pixel 5a review: IP67 water resistance, big 4,680mAh battery, and top-class camera, but limited availability and only three years of updates — Smart updates and a lower price — Google is revealing a phone this year where it's pulling out all the stops and going big on a cutting-edge …
More:
The Keyword, Android Police, 9to5Mac, Financial Times, Ars Technica, Android Police, XDA Developers, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, AppleInsider, 9to5Google, PCMag, ZDNet, CNET, Insider, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, The Verge, Android Police, 9to5Google, ExtremeTech, Android Headlines, Phandroid, CNBC, Wired, and Droid Life
Tweets: @franciscof_1990, @allisonjo1, @dcseifert, and @backlon
| Allison Johnson / The Verge: |
Google says the Pixel 5a is the last Pixel phone that will come with a charging brick, claiming most people already have a USB-C charger — Google says the 5A is the last Pixel phone to include a charging brick — Google is the latest manufacturer to bid farewell to the in-box charging brick …
More:
9to5Google, MobileSyrup, TalkAndroid.com, Phandroid, SamMobile, and Droid Life
Tweets: @film_girl, @scalzi, @rdrv3, and @counternotions
| Bloomberg: |
Adam Mosseri says Facebook is “proactively” removing content from its platforms that promotes or represents the Taliban — A Facebook Inc. executive said the company is “proactively” removing content from its platforms that promotes the Taliban as the group seizes power in Afghanistan.
More:
Washington Post, CNBC, BBC, Insider, The Verge, The Independent, CNET, Reuters, Reuters, PolitiFact, Reason, Agence France-Presse, The Independent, Washington Free Beacon, and Tech Policy Press
Tweets: @donie, @willoremus, @donie, @epro, @sam_l_shead, @evelyndouek, @issielapowsky, @sam_l_shead, @amyspitalnick, @rajeshwarie, @gulalai_ismail, @heytammybruce, @donie, @donie, and @dineshdsouza
| Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times: |
WhatsApp shuts down Taliban helpline in Kabul that was allegedly for reporting violence and looting, as Facebook blocks other “official Taliban channels” — Complaints number meant to act as emergency hotline for civilians to report violence and looting
More:
CNN and Reuters
Tweets: @nahaltoosi, @dailytrix, @dlknowles, @b_fung, @michaeldweiss, @ariehkovler, @cr3, @aaschapiro, @mmasnick, @rmac18, and @mshannahmurphy
| Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE: |
More:
Washington Post, Metro.co.uk, Preston Byrne, Washington Examiner, Gizmodo, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, and Beyond Search
Tweets: @sam_l_shead, @markscott82, @bbcyaldahakim, @lorenzofb, @motherboard, @ayazgul64, @prestonjbyrne, @aaschapiro, @thewilsoncenter, @_halemaw, @ericgeller, @dnvolz, @mikebutcher, @frudbezhan, @lorenzofb, @jihadwatchrs, @runasand, @zamaan_qureshi, @tomas_hozman, @akiperitz, @mikeelgan, @talkopan, @alex, and @odonnell4nh
| Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
OnlyFans begins promoting OFTV, a free safe-for-work app available on iOS and Android with 800+ videos, as it prepares to raise new funding — The most common question customers ask Tim Stokely, the chief executive officer of OnlyFans, is why he doesn't have an app.
More:
The Verge, TechCrunch, Android Police, Gizmodo, Android Central, TechSpot, New York Post, Mashable, Input, and Pixel Envy
Tweets: @martinsfp, @lucas_shaw, @jediqueenie, @alanaevansxxx, and @ashleylatke
| Ax Sharma / BleepingComputer: |
Researcher finds a terrorist watchlist of 1.9M people, including “no-fly” records, on an unsecured Elasticsearch cluster; DHS later took the server offline — A secret terrorist watchlist with 1.9 million records, including classified “no-fly” records was exposed on the internet.
More:
LinkedIn, Gizmodo, WeLiveSecurity, The Record, Threatpost, HackRead, fossbytes.com, PCMag, Security Affairs, TechRadar, SecurityWeek, Slashdot, and Beyond Search. Tweets: @quinnypig
| Lily Hay Newman / Wired: |
Researchers find a bug in the ThroughTek Kalay SDK, which connects over 83M IoT devices with apps, that lets attackers access audio and video streams — A vulnerability in the Kalay platform leaves countless IoT devices susceptible to hackers. — A VULNERABILITY IS lurking in numerous types …
Source:
FireEye. More:
ZDNet, Threatpost, TechSpot, The Register, TechRadar, Security Affairs, SecurityWeek, CyberScoop, and BleepingComputer
| Christian Shepherd / Financial Times: |
Shares in Alibaba, Tencent, and JD fall after China's antitrust watchdog announces a ban on unfair competitive practices, including exploiting user data — Shares of country's big tech companies slide as crackdown on sector intensifies — China will ban its internet platforms from a wide array …
More:
Reuters, Barron's Online, CNBC, PYMNTS.com, Livemint, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg
Tweets: @financialtimes and @mdudas
| South China Morning Post: |
More:
Wall Street Journal, Livemint, and The Economic Times
Tweets: @therealjoshye, @therealjoshye, @therealjoshye, and @therealjoshye
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Apple tells staff it will increase COVID-19 testing for corporate and retail employees and pauses relaunching classes at Apple Stores this month in some regions — - Company to start testing employees for Covid-19 twice per week — Apple reverses course on relaunching store classes this month
More:
AppleInsider, Bloomberg, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, The Mac Observer, and iDownloadBlog.com
Tweets: @markgurman and @markgurman
| Taylor Soper / GeekWire: |
Microsoft hires former Uber product chief Manik Gupta as corporate vice president for Teams Consumer, Skype, and GroupMe — Tech Moves covers notable hires, promotions and personnel changes in the Pacific NW tech community. Submissions: tips@geekwire.com| New York Times: |
Amazon has surpassed Walmart as the world's top retail seller outside China; FactSet says people spent $610B+ on Amazon in the 12 months ending in June — Proof that the online future has arrived: The biggest e-commerce company outside China has unseated the biggest brick-and-mortar seller.
More:
Thurrott. Tweets: @kyweise, @stevelohr, @phkeane, @aparanjape, @nytimes, @shiraovide, and @puiwingtam
| Ryan Browne / CNBC: |
Vienna-based crypto trading platform Bitpanda raises $263M led by Valar Ventures at a $4.1B valuation, up from $1.2B five months ago — - Cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpanda raised $263 million in a fresh round of funding valuing the company at $4.1 billion.
Source:
Bitpanda Blog. More:
TechCrunch, Tech.eu, Sifted, Cointelegraph, cryptodaily.co.uk, The Block, altfi.com, CoinJournal, Crypto Briefing, Finextra, CoinDesk, Blockworks, and EU-Startups. Tweets: @eric_demuth
| Samantha Hissong / Rolling Stone: |
TikTok partners with Audius, a music streaming service built on Ethereum, to let users upload their music as TikTok Sounds — It's the blockchain-powered Audius, rather than Spotify or Apple Music, that will let artists share their sounds into TikTok in one click
More:
CoinDesk, benzinga.com, Tubefilter, BitcoinExchangeGuide, blockchain.news, Crypto Briefing, Coinspeaker, CoinJournal, and Decrypt
Tweets: @audiusproject, @joemccann, and @audiusproject
| Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac: |
iOS 15 beta 6 adds an option to show Safari's address bar at the top, while displaying some buttons like back, forward, and share in a bottom toolbar — Apple has just released the sixth beta of iOS 15 for developers, and while we don't know exactly what has changed with this update …
More:
The Verge, Macworld, iThinkDifferent, MacRumors, AppleInsider, OS X Daily, iPhone Hacks, SlashGear, iPhone in Canada Blog, iClarified, and AppleTrack
Tweets: @markgurman, @filipeesposito, @gregorymcfadden, @9to5mac, and @9to5mac
| Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch: |
Brex, which offers credit cards tailored to startups, acquires Weav, a developer of a universal API for commerce platforms, for $50M — Fintech Brex first partnered with Weav, a developer of a universal API for commerce platforms, last summer. — In March, Brex launched Instant Payouts …
More:
PYMNTS.com, Business Wire, Crowdfund Insider, CTech, Globes Online, and Finextra
Tweets: @bayareawriter and @angusdav
| Kim Lyons / The Verge: |
Tinder says it will bring its optional ID Verification feature, which has been available in Japan since 2019, to all members globally “in the coming quarters” — The feature has been active in Japan since 2019 — Tinder said on Monday that it will make its ID Verification feature available …
Source:
Tinder Newsroom. More:
9to5Mac, phonearena.com, iPhone in Canada Blog, PCMag, KnowTechie, Silicon Republic, Neowin, TNW, Mashable, and SiliconANGLE
| Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch: |
Travel booking app Hopper raises $170M Series G at a $3.5B+ valuation, after raising $170M Series F in March 2021, bringing its total raised to nearly $600M — Travel tech company Hopper has raised a $175 million Series G, the company said today. That's nearly the same amount it raised …
More:
PR Newswire, FinLedger, PYMNTS.com, BetaKit, PhocusWire, FinSMEs, and VentureBeat
| Dina Bass / Bloomberg: |
Microsoft invests in IT and cloud security startup Rubrik to sell anti-ransomware tools; source: investment was in the low tens of millions at a ~$4B valuation — 'You don't have to pay the bad guys,' Rubrik CEO Says. — Microsoft Corp. is investing in software startup Rubrik Inc … | Joseph Cox / VICE: |
T-Mobile confirms hackers gained access to its systems, following reports that sensitive data, including SSNs, for over 100M people was for sale on the dark web — “We have determined that unauthorized access to some T-Mobile data occurred.” — Joseph Cox
Source:
T-Mobile. More:
CNET, Krebs on Security, Ars Technica, BleepingComputer, Reuters, Wired, Gizmodo, Engadget, ZDNet, Gizmodo, CyberScoop, Threatpost, Cybereason I Cybersecurity …, Fast Company, New York Post, XDA Developers, Pocketables, Light Reading, IT PRO, MediaNama, Wccftech, iMore, Wall Street Journal, Telecompetitor, Android Central, IT PRO, SlashGear, PYMNTS.com, IT Management, The Register, KnowTechie, NBC News, TechCrunch, Techdirt, 9to5Mac, Phandroid, Tom's Guide, MacRumors, Bitcoin Magazine, AppleInsider, FierceWireless, TechRadar, The Record, infosecurity-magazine.com, and Softpedia News
| Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: |
A look at Amazon's plans to expand its ad business by monetizing podcasts, after spending $350M+ buying rights to podcasts over the last 12 months — Amazon.com Inc. announced earlier this summer that it had acquired distribution rights to SmartLess, a popular podcast hosted by actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes.
Tweets: @lucas_shaw
| Michael McSweeney / The Block: |
Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter in 2019, will be led by Jay Graber, a former startup founder and cryptocurrency dev — Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at the end of 2019, has a project lead, according to a Monday announcement.
More:
TechCrunch, Techdirt, The Verge, and BitcoinExchangeGuide
Tweets: @arcalinea, @jack, @arcalinea, @arcalinea, @petermccormack, @arcalinea, @glenweyl, @chrisblec, @evan_greer, @avsa, @mikeelgan, @jeffjarvis, @bluesky, @timbray, @lsanger, @nischalshetty, @rabble, and @mmasnick
Sponsor Posts
Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26 — Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Shopify: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26 — Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control — Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control — Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
So what happens after AGI?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:50 PM ET, August 17, 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
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Upcoming Tech Events
Earlier Picks
| Tim Marcin / Mashable: |
More:
App Store, NPR, Protocol, TNW, Neowin, iMore, The Overspill, and TechCrunch
| Tom Krisher / Associated Press: |
Source:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More:
Slate, New York Times, The Business of Business, Washington Post, Fortune, Reuters, Wired, Wccftech, Bloomberg, and Financial Times
Tweets: @nytimes, @teslacharts, @senmarkey, @garyblack00, and @bgrahamdisciple