Techmeme
September 21, 2021, 2:20 PM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
iPhone 13 review: excellent cameras and battery life, more base storage, but front camera is unchanged, refresh rate is standard, and iPhone 12 cases don't fit  —  So are bigger cameras  —  What, really, do you want out of a new phone?  —  Assuming you're starting with a good foundation …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Apple iPhone 13 Pro review: incredible cameras, improved battery, and high refresh display, but front camera is average, no USB-C, and Cinematic Mode is limited  —  The iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max are phones designed for people who care about the details.  The improvements over last year's iPhones …
Konrad Putzier / Wall Street Journal:
Google says it will buy St. John's Terminal, a 1.3M square foot office building it is leasing on Manhattan's West Side, for $2.1B in Q1 2022  —  Manhattan deal is priciest sale of a U.S. office building since pandemic began  —  Google said it is buying a Manhattan office building for $2.1 billion …
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple is working with UCLA and Biogen to identify depression, cognitive decline, and other issues using sensor data, such as typing behavior and sleep  —  Company is working with UCLA, Biogen to see if sensitive data like facial expressions, typing metrics could signal mental-health concerns
Harry Baker / UploadVR:
Netflix releases Eden Unearthed, a free VR game for Oculus Quest that appears to be related to a Netflix anime series  —  Netflix has released a VR game called Eden Unearthed on App Lab for Oculus Quest, available now for free.  —  The release has come as a surprise, with very little …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Treasury Department sanctions cryptocurrency exchange Suex for helping facilitate and launder transactions from at least eight ransomware variants  —  - The U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday it will sanction a cryptocurrency exchange for its alleged role in laundering ransoms for cyberattacks.
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Paris-based Sorare, a soccer-focused NFT trading platform, raises $680M Series B led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a $4.3B valuation  —  Quick Take  — The fundraise values the Paris-based NFT startup at $4.3 billion.  — It comes off a period of rapid growth for Sorare, which now boasts 600,000 registered users.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Slack announces Clips, short video voicemail messages for channels, rolling out today for paid accounts, changes to Connect, GovSlack, and more  —  Slack is getting video voicemails  —  Slack is launching its new clips feature today, allowing coworkers to record video messages that exist in Slack channels.
Corin Faife / The Markup:
Analysis: Facebook appears to be adding code to interfere with automated data collection of News Feed posts by researchers, such as NYU's Ad Observatory  —  The tweak, which targets the code in accessibility features for visually impaired users, drew ire from researchers and those who monitor the platform
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
HP announces refreshed consumer devices, including Spectre x360 16" 2-in-1 for $1,639+, Envy 34" 5K all-in-one desktop for $1,999+, and Tablet PC 11" for $499+  —  The consumer PC refresh accounts for Windows 11 and a heavy dose of hybrid work features.  —  HP is revamping its consumer lineup …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
PayPal updates its app to include more services, such as direct deposits, crypto tools, peer-to-peer payments, and a digital wallet  —  PayPal has been talking about its “super app” plans for some time, having recently told investors its upcoming digital wallet and payments app had been given a go for launch.
Todd Haselton / CNBC:
Amazon introduces three new Kindle Paperwhites: $140 Paperwhite with 6.8" display and USB-C, $190 Signature Edition with 32GB of storage, and $160 Kids Edition  —  - Amazon on Tuesday announced three new versions of its Kindle Paperwhite e-reader, including the Paperwhite, Paperwhite Kids Edition and Paperwhite Signature Edition.
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
BitClout creator raises $200M for “Decentralized Social”, a blockchain project with social tools such as profiles, from a16z, Sequoia, Coinbase, and others  —  Quick Take  — BitClout's creator has revealed his identity today.  He is Nader Al-Naji, the founder of the stablecoin startup Basis that shut down in 2018.
Freedom House:
Report finds global internet freedom has declined for the 11th consecutive year including in the US, tech giants clashed with governments over data, and more  —  In the high-stakes battle between states and technology companies, the rights of internet users have become the main casualties.
Pádraig Belton / The Guardian:
As TSMC pledges to reach net zero emissions by 2050, a look at how the semiconductor industry is tackling its huge carbon footprint and resource consumption  —  As demand for chips surges, the semicondutor industry is trying to grapple with its huge carbon foot print  —  he semiconductor industry has a problem.
Pew Research Center:
Survey: 47% of US Facebook users regularly get news on the platform, down from 54% in 2020; 29% of US TikTok users regularly get news from the app, up from 22%  —  More than half of Twitter user get news on the site regularly  —  To better examine the ways Americans get news in a digital age …
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Netflix launches a free plan in Kenya with a quarter of the content from its paid plans, available only on Android phones  —  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Netflix Inc on Monday began offering a free mobile plan with about one-quarter of its TV shows and movies in Kenya, a strategy aimed …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Review of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, which are now available: focus modes are great, Safari update is an acquired taste, and iOS' Dark Sky-style Weather is excellent  —  Apple's latest updates lay good groundwork, but don't add many big new features  —  iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 are strange updates.
Federico Viticci / MacStories:

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Meet Zoho Social MCP: Your AI assistant can now help run social media  —  Social media management has come a long way from simply publishing posts.Today, marketers are expected to create content …
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

Channels with Peter Kafka:
Joanna Stern on the New Siri, OpenAI's Weird Gadget, and Life After the Wall Street Journal
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Big Technology Podcast:
Here's How The AI Bubble Bursts — With Paul Kedrosky
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.
Invest Like the Best:
Eric Vishria - A Decade of Lessons Investing in Software & Hardware
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Getting the Snack Right', With Chance Miller
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Grit:
Booking.com CEO on AI and the Future of Travel
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 2:20 PM ET, September 21, 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

Wall Street Journal:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: