Techmeme: UN-backed initiative Tech Against Terrorism adds the Taliban to its list of terrorist organizations and will alert tech companies when Taliban content is posted (Issie Lapowsky/Protocol)

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August 23, 2021, 8:50 PM

Top News

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

Researchers find 1,000+ web apps, from Ford, American Airlines, and others, mistakenly exposed 38M records stored on Microsoft's Power Apps service — Misconfigured Power Apps from Microsoft led to more than a thousand web apps accessible to anyone who found them.

Source: UpGuard Data Breach Research. More: Gizmodo, Threatpost, PCMag, The Register, The Hill, SiliconANGLE, Slashdot, StateScoop, ZDNet, Dark Reading, Tech.co, Engadget, AppleInsider, Thurrott, Neowin, Windows Central, OnMSFT.com, and MSPoweruser

Tweets: @privacyspeak, @gossithedog, @engadget, @vulgarcontend3r, @arekfurt, @kennwhite, @brfreed, @mbrg0, @thesunus, @lanceulanoff, @howtogeek, and @upguard

Bloomberg:

Sources: Tim Cook and Satya Nadella plan to attend a meeting with Joe Biden on Wednesday to discuss efforts by private companies to improve cybersecurity — Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella plan to attend a White House meeting with President Joe Biden …

More: 9to5Mac, MacRumors, The Verge, and AppleInsider. Tweets: @chuckreynolds

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

After criticism, Centre, the consortium founded by Circle and Coinbase, says it will exclusively back its USDC stablecoin reserves with cash and US treasuries — - Digital currency company Circle says it's changing the makeup of its dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin to just cash and U.S. Treasury bonds.

Source: Centre Blog. More: PYMNTS.com, The Block, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, Coinspeaker, and Decrypt

Tweets: @emiliemc, @emiliemc, @samkazemian, @migueldeicaza, @b_eichengreen, @brian_armstrong, @emiliemc, @tylergellasch, @rulexrp, @ccatalini, @lex_node, @andr3w321, @emiliemc, @centre_io, @jp_koning, @jp_koning, @statecommon, and @awice

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:

Poly Network says it has now recovered all of $610M in cryptocurrencies it lost to a hacker, and is in the process of returning them to their rightful owners — One of the most unusual cryptocurrency heists in recent memory has come to a close. On Monday, Poly Network …

More: Poly Network, AppleInsider, The Register, The Verge, Gizmodo, VICE, PYMNTS.com, BleepingComputer, and infosecurity-magazine.com. Tweets: @polynetwork2

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Instagram says it's retiring the swipe-up link feature, which allows users to visit external links by swiping up, in favor of tappable stickers starting Aug. 30 — The swipe-up will be no more. Instagram is planning to retire the feature, which allows people to visit external webpages by swiping up …

More: 9to5Mac, MobileSyrup, TechCrunch, and Social Media Today

Tweets: @wongmjane, @samsheffer, @merone, @whosjasmine, @rachbainbridge, @junaebrown, @navjosh, @thekenyeung, @bpopetv, @jasebyjason, @thekenyeung, @summerson, and @missbeebright

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:

A bug in Razer's Synapse software, which Windows fetches and installs when a Razer accessory is plugged in, lets anyone with a Razer mouse gain admin privileges — A Razer Synapse zero-day vulnerability has been disclosed on Twitter, allowing you to gain Windows admin privileges simply by plugging in a Razer mouse or keyboard.

Turner Wright / Cointelegraph:

Substack begins accepting bitcoin as payment for subscriptions, initially for a few crypto publications, using payments processor OpenNode — Substack has more than 500,000 paid subscribers, but Bitcoin payments will first be available to “a select group of crypto-focused publications.”

More: PR Newswire, OpenNode Blog, Insider, Bitcoin Magazine, CoinDesk, Bitcoinist.com, Decrypt, BitcoinExchangeGuide, The Block, and The Mac Observer

Tweets: @coinesper, @russellbrandom, @cointelegraph, and @coindesk

Packy McCormick / Not Boring:

An in-depth look at Solana blockchain project: $0.0001/transaction and 65,000 transactions/second, well ahead of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and a $21.2B market cap — The $21B Blockchain and the Arrow of Time … Today's essay, the whole thing, is brought to you by... Solana — Hi friends 👋,

Tweets: @packym, @ldrogen, @forculus, @zoescaman, @divine_economy, @mccannatron, and @solanablog

Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:

Apple confirms it has been scanning iCloud Mail for CSAM since 2019 but has not been scanning iCloud Photos or iCloud backups — Apple has confirmed to me that it already scans iCloud Mail for CSAM, and has been doing so since 2019. It has not, however, been scanning iCloud Photos or iCloud backups.

More: Pocketnow, Pixel Envy, TechRadar, Gizmodo, Ubergizmo, iPhone in Canada Blog, iThinkDifferent, TechSpot, KnowTechie, Cult of Mac, iPhone Hacks, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, and iClarified

Tweets: @gregbensinger, @benlovejoy, and @foxfortmobile

Reuters:

Report: Didi has suspended plans to launch in the UK and Europe for at least a year, amid a regulatory backlash in China over data privacy — China's ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) has suspended its plans to launch in Britain and continental Europe, The Telegraph reported on Monday …

Source: Telegraph. More: PingWest, The Times, DealStreetAsia, Benzinga, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @jamestitcomb and @telegraphtech

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

TikTok launches Effect Studio, which allows developers to build AR effects for use in the app, in private beta in select markets including the US — Both Facebook and Snap offer tools that allow developers to build out augmented reality (AR) experiences and features for their own respective family of apps.

More: Social Media Today. Tweets: @nathanbazley

Android Developers Blog:

Google says it will make app ratings on the Play Store more personalized by localizing by users' country from November 2021 and device type from early 2022 — Ratings and reviews are important. They provide valuable quantitative and qualitative feedback on your users' reported experience …

More: 9to5Google, Engadget, The Verge, SlashGear, Android Police, XDA Developers, Android Central, and DroidMaze

Yogita Khatri / The Block:

Visa says it acquired CryptoPunk 7610, one of the 3,840 female punk NFTs, for around $150K last week, adding it to its art collection — Quick Take — Visa has bought CryptoPunk 7610 as it enters into the world of NFT commerce. — “NFTs are an intersection of culture and commerce …

More: Larva Labs, Meet Visa. A network working …, Forbes, Finextra, CoinDesk, Bitcoin News, CNBC, New York Post, The Daily Hodl, PYMNTS.com, FinLedger, SiliconANGLE, Decrypt, Input, CNBC, TechSpot, Blockworks, Coinspeaker, CryptoSlate, CoinDesk, Decrypt, BitcoinExchangeGuide, and Mashable

Tweets: @visanews, @visanews, @casey, @bx, @banks, @bobbyhundreds, and @mdudas

Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:

Nigerian mobile payments service OPay raises $400M led by Vision Fund 2 at a $2B valuation, marking SoftBank's first investment in Africa — - Sequoia Capital China and Redpoint China also participated — Investment marks Vision Fund 2's first bet in Africa

More: TechCrunch, Quartz, PYMNTS.com, TechCabal, afrotech.com, FinLedger, Finextra, Tech News, and Total Telecom

Tweets: @fatuogwuche, @eajene, @cvllr, @alex, @mrstephendeng, @bosuntijani, @ophirgottlieb, and @jessetheranter

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

UN-backed initiative Tech Against Terrorism adds the Taliban to its list of terrorist organizations and will alert tech companies when Taliban content is posted — A key UN-backed group that advises the tech industry on dealing with terrorist groups online has added the Afghan Taliban …

More: Terrorist Content … and The Hill

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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

CNN:

Source: UFC CEO Dana White has declined Trump's offer to become press secretary

Washington Post:

An ex-Trump campaign aide and others say Trump ally Laura Loomer was paid $3K-$5K per political X post; she announced a hiatus from her show after an inquiry

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Fox makes a commitment to keep carrying non-Fox content on Roku for at least three years and “will not discriminate against non-Fox content” in search results

More News

Aria Alamalhodaei / TechCrunch:

SpaceX says it has now shipped 100K Starlink terminals to customers, and has launched more than 1,700 satellites since its first in November 2019

Tweets: @epro

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

Facebook is running a test in the US to bring voice and video calling back to the main Facebook app, to reduce the need to jump between Facebook and Messenger

More: MacRumors, The Verge, Reuters, and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @kurtwagner8, @kurtwagner8, @zerohedge, and @mattnavarra

Echo Wang / Reuters:

Sources: SEC has started asking Chinese firms planning to list on NYSE for greater disclosures, including risks for investors if Chinese authorities interfere

Patrick Klepek / VICE:

Sources detail Unity's GovTech division, which contracts with governments and militaries, as some staff complain about the lack of transparency around such work

More: PC Gamer, thegamer.com, Kotaku, Gamasutra, and Protocol

Tweets: @josephfcox, @xoxogossipgita, @fasterthanlime, and @patrickklepek

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Shelf.io, which helps companies organize info to quickly find answers and respond to customers, raises $52.5M Series B led by Tiger Global and Insight Partners

More: FinSMEs. Tweets: @base10partners and @rexhidollaku

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:

London-based payments company Zepz, formerly WorldRemit, raises $292M from Farallon Capital, Accel, and others at a $5B valuation

More: PYMNTS.com, Business Wire, Silicon Republic, and Finextra

David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:

Sources: before its acquisition by Facebook, Giphy paid investors a dividend, reducing its value and ensuring antitrust officials did not need to be notified

More: The Information and Gizmodo

Tweets: @saraforden, @kajrozga, and @bdsams

Kim Lyons / The Verge:

YouTube says its Partner Program has 2M creators and the number of new channels joining the program in 2020 doubled YoY as channels making $100K+ grew 35% YoY

Source: YouTube Official Blog. More: 9to5Google, Bloomberg, Barron's Online, PYMNTS.com, Adweek, Social Media Today, and Benzinga

Earlier Picks

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Review of new $150 OnePlus Buds Pro: lightweight and water resistant with good controls, sound quality, and ANC, but no EQ adjustments in its app

More: TNW, phonearena.com, HotHardware.com News, CNET, SoundGuys, XDA Developers, Mashable, BGR, Engadget, and GSMArena.com

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:

Chinese comics app Kuaikan, which has 50M MAUs, raises $240M Series F from CCB International, Tencent, and others, source says at a $1.25B valuation

More: South China Morning Post and Tech in Asia