Techmeme
September 1, 2021, 5:35 PM

Top News

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Apple says Arizona and Georgia will be first to support adding IDs to Wallet in iOS 15, with six states, including Utah, Maryland, and Iowa, expected to follow  —  Apple's plan to digitize your wallet is slowly taking shape.  What started with boarding passes and venue tickets later became credit cards …
Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia:
Sources: Google is developing Arm-based chips for laptops and tablets that run on Chrome OS, set to launch around 2023  —  US software giant ramps up hiring blitz for semiconductor and hardware ambitions  —  TAIPEI — Google is developing its own central processors for its notebook and tablet computers …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces an online-only Surface hardware event for September 22, where an updated Surface Duo and Laptop are expected  —  New Surface hardware is on the way  —  Microsoft is holding a special Surface hardware event on September 22nd.  The software maker has started sending media invites …
Kait Sanchez / The Verge:
Twitter launches Super Follows for iOS users, allowing a select group of US test users to charge either $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 per month for their tweets  —  Select users in the US can now charge for tweets  —  Twitter is starting to roll out Super Follows, its new feature that lets users charge for subscriber-only content.
Jarrod Doherty / Twitter:
Twitter introduces Safety Mode, which blocks harassing accounts for seven days, in beta for some English-language accounts  —  Feeling safe on Twitter looks different for everyone.  We've rolled out features and settings that may help you to feel more comfortable and in control of your experience …
Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:
Andy Jassy says Amazon plans to hire over 55,000 corporate employees globally, including over 40,000 in the US, a 20% increase in tech and corporate staff  —  Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) is planning to hire 55,000 people for corporate and technology roles globally in the coming months, Chief Executive Andy Jassy told Reuters.
Joe Williams / Protocol:
Sources: Andy Jassy overruled an internal recommendation to fire a top AWS executive after a probe of claims the executive made discriminatory comments in 2019  —  Amazon CEO Andy Jassy intervened to prevent the firing of a top executive after an internal HR report recommended …
More: The VergeThanks:@tomkrazit
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple is planning to add health features, including a blood pressure monitor and thermometer to track fertility, to Watch as soon as 2022  —  Tech giant seeks to push past obstacles in adding health features on your wrist  —  Apple Inc. is working on new health-related features for its smartwatch …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple says it has asked all of its US employees to report their vaccination status voluntarily by mid-September, but stops short of mandating COVID-19 vaccines  —  - Company is still stopping short of mandating Covid-19 shots  — It previously ramped up an optional virus testing program
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Profile of Li Jin, an aggressively pro-worker VC who founded Atelier Ventures, which manages $13M, to invest in influencer-related startups  —  Li Jin, 31, began backing creators years ago.  She has raised her own fund to invest in influencer-related start-ups.
James Vincent / The Verge:
Analysis: governments intentionally blocked internet access nearly 850 times in the past decade, including 213 shutdowns in 2019, 155 in 2020, and 50 in 2021  —  A favorite tactic for stifling dissent in the 21st century  —  The number of government-led internet shutdowns has exploded …
Oscar Gonzalez / CNET:
Reddit bans r/NoNewNormal, its largest anti-vax subreddit, for harassing other communities, following weeks of user moderators asking Reddit admins to ban it  —  It's also putting 54 other subreddits in quarantine. … Last week, more than a thousand subreddit's posted the same message calling …
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Financial Times:
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
A look at the implications of South Korea's alternative app store payment law: confusion for non-technical users, difficulty managing subscriptions, and more  —  Apple, in a statement to MacRumors (and other media outlets), regarding South Korea's just-passed “Google power-abuse-prevention law” …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Telegram releases an update that removes the cap on live stream viewers, from 1,000 to unlimited, introduces more options for forwarding messages, and more  —  Along with more forwarding options  —  Telegram, the messaging app that's becoming more and more like a fully-fledged social media network …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Amazon says it will stop showing autocomplete search suggestions for horse de-worming drug ivermectin; the drug remains easy to purchase on the site  —  Amazon claims it will fix autocomplete search suggestions  —  Earlier this week, I started a search on Amazon and mistyped, entering just two letters in: “iv.”
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Insurify, which has built an ML-based virtual insurance agent to help people get better rates, raises $100M Series B led by Motive Partners  —  How many of us have not switched insurance carriers because we don't want to deal with the hassle of comparison shopping?  —  A lot, I'd bet.
Jonathan Greig / ZDNet:
Asana beats in Q2 with revenue of $89.5M, up 72% YoY, net loss of $68.4M, up from $41.1M last year, and says it has over 107K paying customers  —  Asana brought in a revenue of $89.5 million in Q2, an increase of 72% year over year.  —  Team management software provider Asana reported better …
Zinnia Lee / Forbes:
Malaysian used car marketplace Carsome Group raises $170M from MediaTek and others at a $1.3B valuation, making it Malaysia's largest tech startup  —  Carsome Group, an online platform for buying and selling used cars, said on Wednesday that it had become Malaysia's largest tech unicorn …
Matthew Monks / Bloomberg:
Samsara, a cloud-based fleet vehicle management service, says it has confidentially filed for an IPO; Samsara raised $400M at a $5.4B valuation last year  —  Samsara Inc., a software company valued at $5.4 billion last year, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering.
More: Reuters
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Code Climate, which offers software engineering project management tools, raises $50M Series C from PSG, USV, and others  —  The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility.  Register now!  —  Code Climate, a platform …
The Tutanota Blog:
Australia passes bill that lets police hack user devices to modify, collect, or delete data and take over social media accounts without a judge's warrant  —  The Microsoft database hack shows that data stored in the cloud must always be encrypted end-to-end.

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 5:35 PM ET, September 1, 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

Mark Scott / Politico:
Garett Sloane / Ad Age: