Techmeme
September 9, 2021, 10:30 PM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Facebook launches $299 Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses in six countries including the US; users can capture photo and video, listen to music, or take phone calls  —  Hands-on with Facebook and Ray-Ban's first pair of smart glasses  —  Starting Thursday, the first pair of smart glasses …
Source: Facebook TechnologyMore: BuzzFeed News, Wired, Axios, Ray-Ban, The Verge, TechCrunch, Platformer, About Facebook, App Store, CNN, Big Technology, CNET, Mashable, VICE, Washington Post, Insider, San Francisco Business Journal, TechCrunch, Associated Press, CNBC, Forbes, International Business Times, Engadget, Gizmodo, YouTube, iTnews, TechCrunch, Reuters, Barron's Online, Vogue Business, Bloomberg, USA Today, TNW, Android Central, Pocketables, LarrysWorld.com, Sydney Morning Herald, Liliputing, BBC, Input, inews.co.uk, 9to5Mac, Engadget, Pocketnow, British GQ, UploadVR, Road to VR, Pocket-lint, Silicon Republic, Livemint, XDA Developers, TalkAndroid.com, BGR India, MobileSyrup, iDownloadBlog.com, and TechRadar
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft indefinitely postpones the return to its offices in the US, saying it has “decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening”  —  The pandemic keeps pushing back Microsoft's plans  —  Microsoft is shelving its plans to fully reopen its US offices next month.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has appointed longtime Apple Watch and Health software chief Kevin Lynch as the new head of its Apple Car project after Doug Field's departure  —  - Kevin Lynch replaces Doug Field as head of Apple's car efforts  — Field left Apple's project after three years to work at Ford
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon launches the Fire TV Omni Series, its first smart TVs, starting at $410 and shipping in October  —  Amazon is officially in the TV set business.  —  After years of selling Fire TV devices that plug into third-party HDTVs and teaming with TV makers for Fire TV-based products …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Epic asks Apple to reinstate its Fortnite developer account in S. Korea, after passage of a Korean bill forcing app stores to allow alternative payment systems  —  Following the passing of a bill allowing alternative payment systems on the App Store  —  Epic Games has asked Apple to reinstate …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Epic to shut down Houseparty, the video chat app it acquired in 2019, in October, along with Fortnite Mode, which uses Houseparty for video chats  —  Houseparty, the social video chat app acquired by Fortnite maker Epic Games for a reported $35 million back in 2019, is shutting down.
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Security researchers say Apple's bug bounty program is undermined by Apple's insular culture, confusion about payments, and long delays in fixing bugs  —  Lack of communication, confusion about payments and long delays have security researchers fed up with Apple's bug bounty program
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Texas governor signs bill banning social media companies with 50M+ MAUs from blocking or restricting people or their content based on their viewpoint  —  The law is an escalation of a conservative critique of Silicon Valley and will likely to face legal challenges from the industry
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
While SEC rules are hazy, Coinbase's Lend product likely does constitute a security; to avoid SEC oversight, Coinbase would need to be regulated like a bank  —  Is lending your Bitcoins a security?  —  Oh, sure, yes, absolutely.  The rule in the U.S. is that an “investment contract,” …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Affirm beats in Q4 with $261.8M, up 71% YoY, vs. estimates of $225M, with 7.1M active customers, up from 5.4M in the previous quarter; stock up more than 20%  —  - Affirm reported better-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter after the bell Thursday and gave strong guidance for the current quarter.
Stephen Graves / Decrypt:
Mastercard acquires CipherTrace, which offers a crypto-focused analytics service that specializes in anti-money laundering and forensics  —  Mastercard has announced that it has acquired cryptocurrency tracking firm CipherTrace with a view to providing “additional transparency and support” for the emerging ecosystem of digital assets.
Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:
Report: since 2004, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter have earned $43.8B in contracts with the Pentagon, mostly in relation to the War on Terror  —  A team of researchers have published a new report detailing how Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Twitter have profited from the global campaign of violence.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
A number of playlist curators say Spotify is not addressing playlist abuse, letting bad actors report rivals to gain better visibility for their own playlists  —  A number of Spotify playlist curators are complaining that the streaming music company is not addressing the ongoing issue of playlist abuse …

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