Techmeme
August 19, 2021, 12:15 PM

Top News

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
FTC files a new antitrust complaint against Facebook, after a judge dismissed the first complaint in June; Facebook has until October 4 to respond  —  - The Federal Trade Commission filed a new antitrust complaint against Facebook on Thursday.  — A federal judge dismissed …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Facebook announces Horizon Workrooms, a virtual meeting space with avatars, spatial audio, a whiteboard, and more, in beta on Oculus Quest 2  —  It wasn't long into a recent press briefing I attended in virtual reality when Mark Zuckerberg showed up to talk about the metaverse.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Amazon plans to open several large physical stores across the US, starting in Ohio and California, to extend its reach in clothing and other areas  —  Online shopping pioneer wants a larger retail presence to sell clothing and household items and facilitate exchanges
Ethan Zuckerman:
Facebook's new report reinforces its narrative that most content on the News Feed is not news, but doesn't provide enough data to make meaningful conclusions  —  What content is popular on Facebook?  —  This is a surprisingly difficult - and very important - question to answer.
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Facebook, for the first time, shares a report on the most widely viewed domains, links, posts, and Pages on Facebook in the US during Q2  —  A video of two cats walking, tails intertwined, looking like the best of friends.  A resource site for Green Bay Packers alumni.
Maggie Fitzgerald / CNBC:
Robinhood reports Q2 revenue of $565M, up 131% YoY, net loss of $502M, down from $58M net income in Q2 2020, and crypto revenue of $233M; stock down 5%+  —  Robinhood's revenue more than doubled in the second quarter to $565 million, bolstered by a massive surge in crypto trading …
Dan Primack / Axios:
Sources: OnlyFans is struggling to find investors, possibly due to hosting adult content; Pitch Deck shows it predicts $5.9B GMV in 2021 and $1.2B net revenue  —  OnlyFans, the online creator platform known for its adult content, is struggling to find outside investors, according to multiple sources.
Matt Robinson / Bloomberg:
SEC sues three ex-Netflix software engineers and two others for allegedly using confidential subscriber growth numbers to trade ahead of earnings announcements  —  - Group allegedly made $3 million in profits from illicit tips  — Scheme involved illegal trades on subscriber data, SEC says
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Intel details its Alder Lake lineup, coming this fall, which uses a 10nm process and offers hybrid performance and efficiency x86 cores  —  Coming this fall  —  Intel has spent much of 2021 announcing plans for its future: a new IDM 2.0 strategy, new naming schemes for its process nodes, and new desktop GPUs.
David Jeans / Forbes:
How Big Tech companies use shell corporations to get massive tax breaks from US cities for data centers that create few jobs and consume a lot of power  —  Local governments are dangling hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to persuade companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft to build server farms in their backyards.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook says it is testing Reels in the News Feed and Groups in the US, after launching the feature in India, Mexico, and Canada earlier this year  —  Reels are coming to Facebook in the U.S. The company this morning announced it will begin testing a new feature, Facebook Reels …
More: The Verge and 9to5Mac
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Apple says NeuralHash flaw found by researchers in CSAM detection system was in a generic version of the software and not in the final version it plans to use  —  Apple said the version of NeuralHash analyzed by researchers is not the final version that will be used for iCloud Photos CSAM detection.
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 review: good inside screen and water resistant but long-term durability is unknown, cover screen is too small, and hard to use one-handed  —  Third time is maybe the charm  —  The story of folding phones thus far has been one of compromise.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Netflix says it is now rolling out support for Spatial Audio on iPhones and iPads  —  Netflix has confirmed that it is now rolling out Spatial Audio support to its iPhone and iPad applications.  This enables an immersive experience using directional audio filters, and it has been a long time coming to Netflix users.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Facebook says it took action against 12 COVID vaccine misinfo “superspreaders” but disputes claims that those 12 were responsible for 73% of misinfo on Facebook  —  Back in March, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) published  —  a report linking more than two-thirds …

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:15 PM ET, August 19, 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

Pew Research Center:

Earlier Picks