Techmeme
August 25, 2021, 10:20 AM

Top News

Insider:
In an abrupt reversal, OnlyFans suspends its October 1 policy change banning porn after securing “assurances” and aims to provide “a home for all creators”  —  - OnlyFans is reversing its recent decision to ban porn.  — It had planned to prohibit sexually explicit …
Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:
OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely blames banks, including BNY Mellon, Metro Bank, JPMorgan, for its porn ban, but says Mastercard's rules had no bearing on the ban  —  Tim Stokely says Bank of New York Mellon ‘flagged and rejected’ all interbank wires linked to website
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Fitbit announces Charge 5 with a rounded design, a larger and brighter color AMOLED display, GPS, and more, arriving in the fall for $179.95  —  It costs $179.95 and will be out this fall  —  Following a couple of big leaks, Fitbit is officially announcing the Charge 5 …
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook's David Marcus says Novi digital wallet is “ready now”, but will wait for the Diem currency, and it is “definitely looking at” building NFT features  —  Social network is ‘definitely looking’ at digital assets as part of push into financial products, executive says
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Microsoft says that Xbox Cloud Gaming will expand beyond PC and mobile to its Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One consoles this holiday season  —  - Microsoft said its Xbox Cloud Gaming service will arrive on console this holiday.  — Cloud gaming lets people stream games over the internet rather than install them locally.
Washington Post:
A look at Vaccine Talk, a tightly moderated Facebook group for vaccine skeptics with ~70K members that aims to change their minds with evidence-based info  —  As social media giants struggle to crack down on false claims about covid, ordinary users are finding ways to reach vaccine skeptics — and win them over.
Axios:
California expands lawsuit against Activision Blizzard to include temp workers and says the game maker interfered with investigation by shredding pertinent docs  —  California has expanded its anti-discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, adding temporary workers to the female full …
Sean Lyngaas / CyberScoop:
Interview with CISA Director Jen Easterly on attack prevention, hiring new staff, improving CISA's ability to scan federal networks for malicious code, and more  —  U.S. cybersecurity officials have scrambled to respond to one major hacking incident after another over the past nine months …
Jessica Guynn / USA Today:
Researchers: Trump tweets with fact-check labels spread further on Twitter than those without; tweets blocked by Twitter remained popular on Facebook and Reddit  —  Twitter blocked and labeled some Donald Trump's claims of election fraud in the run-up and aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
Bahk Eun-ji / The Korea Times:
South Korea will abolish a decade-old law that stops kids under 16 from playing online games between 12AM and 6AM, after heavy criticism  —  The government has decided to abolish the game curfew for children, 10 years after the controversial rule was established, as the outdated law is not having …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Last-mile delivery robot startup Coco raises $36M Series A led by Sam Altman, Silicon Valley Bank, and Founders Fund, bringing total funding to $43M  —  Los Angeles delivery robot startup Coco this week has announced $36 million in funding.  The Series A was led by Sam Altman …
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Facebook's most-viewed story in Q1, from Chicago Tribune linking a doctor's death to COVID vaccines, shows why publishers should consider how content is shared  —  On Friday, The New York Times had a scoop.  Facebook — that known vector for the spread of kid photos, neighborhood goings-on …
Matthew Ball / MatthewBall.vc:
A deep look at why expanding into gaming is so important to Netflix, the competition it faces from games like Fortnite, and what its current strategy looks like  —  In 2018, I released the third entry in my “Netflix Misunderstandings” series: “Netflix Isn't Being Reckless, It's Just Playing a Game No One Else Dares.”
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Knoetic, which builds software for HR departments, comes out of stealth with $18M Series A led by Accel  —  Knoetic, a startup that has built a software analytics platform for chief people officers, emerged from stealth today with $18 million in Series A funding.
Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
FBI says a man phished thousands of iCloud accounts via an email scam where he impersonated customer support, stealing 620K photos and 9K videos until mid-2018  —  A Los Angeles County man broke into thousands of Apple iCloud accounts and collected more than 620,000 private photos and videos …

Sponsor Posts

ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs  —  You know us for voice.  Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency.  Hear it for yourself.
Niantic Spatial:
World models need real-world data  —  Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics.  Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
Zoho:
ETL tool evaluation checklist: 6 things to look for before you choose  —  Your data is only as valuable as your ability to move, prepare, and access it efficiently.  Choosing the wrong ETL tool can lead to months of rework …
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Apple After Tim Cook, OpenAI's New Mojo, Meta's Internal Tracking Escapade
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:
Tim Cook's Legacy + The Future of U.B.I. With Andrew Yang + HatGPT
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Chapter's Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz: From Palantir To $3B Medicare Disruptor
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Lenny's Podcast:
How Anthropic's product team moves faster than anyone else | Cat Wu (Head of Product, Claude Code)
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.
Access:
Silicon Valley finally has its "Succession"
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:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
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 10:20 AM ET, August 25, 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

Will Knight / Wired:
Tom Warren / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Matt Phillips / New York Times:
Sascha Segan / PCMag:
Erin Woo / New York Times:
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
The Citizen Lab:
Charles Riley / CNN:
New York Times: