Techmeme
August 18, 2021, 10:10 AM

Top News

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:
T-Mobile says an investigation found 7.8M current users and 40M past and prospective users who applied for credit had information stolen in a cyberattack  —  - About 7.8 million current customers had information stolen  — Records from former and prospective users also accessed
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
As Facebook bans the Taliban, Twitter says it only takes action against accounts breaking its rules and YouTube says it will terminate Taliban-linked accounts  —  Who will control Afghanistan's official Facebook page?  —  Social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are coming under …
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
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Samsung confirms it will stop showing ads in default apps, including Weather, Pay, and Theme, starting later this year  —  Including its Weather, Pay, and Theme apps  —  Samsung has confirmed that it will stop showing ads in default apps including Samsung Weather, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Theme.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Twitter tests adding an option for users to report misinformation in the US, Australia, South Korea, and will use the reports to study and identify trends  —  - Not all flagged tweets will be reviewed by fact checkers  — Experiment will run in the U.S., Australia and South Korea
South China Morning Post:
Tencent reports Q2 revenue rose 20% YoY to $21.3B, beating estimates, as profit reached $6.6B, up 29% YoY from $5.1B  —  The Hong Kong-listed company reported a profit of US$6.6 billion in the quarter ended June The results come amid a recent stock market rout for the country's tech sector …
Politico:
BlackBerry discloses a critical flaw in QNX OS, impacting 200M+ cars, hospital equipment, more; sources say it resisted public disclosure until talks with CISA  —  A flaw in software made by BlackBerry has left two hundred million cars, along with critical hospital and factory equipment …
Reuters:
Apple appeals a 2019 copyright case it lost against Corellium, after settling other claims with the company relating to the DMCA this month to avoid a trial  —  Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Tuesday filed a notice of appeal in a copyright case it brought against cybersecurity firm Corellium LLC in 2019.
The Intercept:
Sources: the Taliban have seized US military biometric devices, known as HIIDE, that could aid in the identification of Afghans who supported coalition forces  —  The Taliban have seized U.S. military biometrics devices that could aid in the identification of Afghans who assisted coalition forces …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
YouTube introduces new search features, including viewing video chapters directly on the search page and better recommendations for translated videos  —  YouTube announced two feature updates today to make it easier for people to find the content they're looking for on the platform.
Joseph Bernstein / Harper's:
A look at the focus on disinformation by media, tech, and academic leaders, and how assumptions about disinfo effectiveness echo old media and advertising myths  —  In the beginning, there were ABC, NBC, and CBS, and they were good.  Midcentury American man could come home after eight hours …
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg:
Filing: Palantir acquired $50.7M in 100-ounce gold bars in August, in preparation for a “black swan event”, and will accept payment from clients in gold  —  - Company spent $50.7 million on 100-ounce gold bars in August  — Customers can now pay for software in gold or Bitcoin
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Postman, which helps developers build, test, and iterate their APIs, raises $225M Series D led by Insight Partners at a $5.6B valuation, up from $2B in 2020  —  San Francisco-based Postman, which operates a collaborative platform for developers to help them build, design, test and iterate their APIs …
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
David Gilbert / VICE:
Report: militias like the Three Percenters are key spreaders of vaccine misinfo on Facebook, and some of their Facebook Group admins get a “Group Expert” badge  —  Violent militia groups have become “key” spreaders of vaccine misinformation on Facebook, and now those groups …
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 …
Allison Johnson / The Verge:
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.
Carrie Mihalcik / CNET:
The Consumer Technology Association says attendees of CES 2022 will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination  —  People attending CES 2022 in person in Las Vegas will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, the Consumer Technology Association announced on Tuesday.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
London-based Stacker, which offers no-code tools to build business apps, raises $20M Series A led by a16z, bringing its total funding to $23M  —  No code platforms have developed into a hot market, and Stacker, a London-based no-code platform is attempting to bring the concept to a new level.
Dylan Martin / CRN:
Intel says it's “winding down” its RealSense camera business, which focused on hardware for computer vision applications  —  The semiconductor giant tells CRN that it is ‘winding down’ the company's portfolio of high-tech cameras and sensors that were built for computer vision applications …
Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE:
Rapid Robotics, which is developing AI-powered industrial robots, raises $36.7M Series B led by Kleiner Perkins and Tiger Global  —  Kleiner Perkins and Tiger Global have led a $36.7 million funding round for Rapid Robotics Inc., a startup developing artificial intelligence-powered robots aimed at the industrial sector.
Jacob Silverman / New Republic:
Profile of DDoSecrets, a collective formed in 2018 that has shared confidential documents from US law enforcement, Myanmar, Ukraine, Gab, and others  —  As Freddy Martinez tracked the latest impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump on Twitter, he saw a screencap of a CNN broadcast that struck him as odd.
Bloomberg:
Sources: several execs at Waymo, which saw a mass exodus of top talent this spring, felt frustrated about the sluggish pace of progress with its driverless tech  —  The world's most famous autonomous car shop has lost its CEO and is still getting stymied by traffic cones.  What's taking so long?

Sponsor Posts

Okara:
Meet Okara, the AI platform that doesn't train on your data  —  Chat with 30+ open-source models (Llama, Kimi, Qwen, DeepSeek) through encrypted infrastructure.  Used by teams handling proprietary code and strategy.
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
ERP software from the builders of world-class products  —  Every business starts with a vision.  Sustaining it is a more rigorous and complex pursuit.It lives in reconciled books, accurate inventory, and predictable cash flow.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
The Safest Dollar on the Internet | Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
5 questions to ask when your product stops growing | Jason Cohen (2x unicorn founder)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's $50 Billion Fundraise, AI Advertising Game Theory, Apple's AI Wearable Pin
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:
Will ChatGPT Ads Change OpenAI? + Amanda Askell Explains Claude's New Constitution
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:
Home robots are coming faster than you think, with Sunday's Tony Zhao
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:10 AM ET, August 18, 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.

More News

Earlier Picks