Techmeme
September 22, 2021, 4:30 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Sources: last month Zuckerberg agreed to show users positive stories about Facebook via News Feed; Facebook says it ran only a small test with labeled posts  —  Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, has signed off on an effort to show users pro-Facebook stories and to distance himself from scandals.
Andrius Sytas / Reuters:
Lithuanian government recommends ditching Chinese phones after finding Xiaomi devices with censorship capabilities that can be activated remotely  —  Lithuania's Defense Ministry recommended that consumers avoid buying Chinese mobile phones and advised people to throw away the ones …
Washington Post:
Sources: FBI refrained from sharing a ransomware decryptor with businesses for almost three weeks, as it carried out an operation to disrupt the REvil gang  —  The FBI refrained for almost three weeks from helping to unlock the computers of hundreds of businesses and institutions hobbled …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
iOS 15.1 beta lets users store their verifiable health records, including COVID-19 vaccination cards and test results, in the Health app  —  The iOS 15.1 beta that was introduced today allows iPhone users to upload their COVID-19 vaccination status to the Health app and then generate a vaccination card in Apple Wallet.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Facebook's Oversight Board wants the company to explain its “cross-check” system, which reportedly lets celebrities, politicians, and others break its rules  —  pushing Facebook to provide more information on its controversial “cross-check” system, following a report that the company …
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
macOS is susceptible to running arbitrary code when a user opens a malicious .inetloc file, and Apple's first attempt to silently fix the issue failed  —  Security researchers disclosed today a new vulnerability in Apple's macOS Finder, which makes it possible for attackers to run arbitrary commands …
Leah Nylen / Politico:
Shareholders allege Facebook conditioned its $5B Cambridge Analytica settlement on the FTC dropping plans to sue and depose Zuckerberg  —  Facebook conditioned its $5 billion payment to the Federal Trade Commission to resolve the Cambridge Analytica data leak probe on the agency dropping plans …
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.
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:
Cathrin Schaer / Wired UK:
Profile of Johannes Caspar, who was Hamburg's data protection commissioner for over a decade and investigated Facebook, WhatsApp, Clearview, PimEyes, and Amazon  —  Under former commissioner Johannes Caspar, Hamburg sent shock waves from Brussels to Silicon Valley  —  In Germany, they call him the “Facebook hunter”.
James Rubin / CoinDesk:
Blockdaemon, which offers blockchain staking infrastructure, raises $155M Series B led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a $1.26B valuation  —  Blockdaemon has raised $155 million in a Series B capital round at a valuation of $1.3 billion, the provider of blockchain staking infrastructure said Tuesday.
Matt Day / Bloomberg:
An in-depth look at Amazon's flagship BFI4 warehouse, located in Kent, WA and capable of processing over 1M items/day, which is run almost entirely by software  —  At BFI4 outside Seattle, the retailer uses algorithms and robots to ship more than a million packages a day—vastly changing the jobs of humans in the process.
Ranjan Roy / Margins:
How Reddit's business model change, hiring of COO Jen Wong, and UX tweaks after raising $200M in 2017 laid the foundations for this year's meme stock mania  —  “You may be interested in....” … Reddit is probably the social platform that has brought me the most uncomplicated joy over the past decade (Note 1).
Tatiana Cirisano / Billboard:
Twitch and NMPA reach deal after tensions over takedown notices; sources: deal doesn't include music licenses, and Twitch will warn users before suspending them  —  Twitch and the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) have reached a long-awaited agreement focused on building …
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Following WSJ's investigation series, Facebook says it has spent over $13B on safety and security since the 2016 election and 40K employees work on these issues  —  - Company now has more than 40,000 safety and security employees  — Facebook responds after critical series of newspaper stories
Nicole Lee / Engadget:
Facebook announces the Portal Go, a $199 10" portable device, and a new $349 Portal+ device with a 14" tilting display and stereo speakers, shipping October 19  —  Facebook's Portal devices have proven surprisingly popular over the past year, largely due to the pandemic and our dependence on video calls.

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