Techmeme
September 22, 2021, 9:50 AM

Top News

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 …
New York Times:
Sources: last month, Mark Zuckerberg agreed to show users positive stories about Facebook via News Feed; Facebook says it ran 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.
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Netflix agrees to acquire the Roald Dahl Story Company, expanding on a three-year deal to make animated shows, with plans to create TV, movies, games, and more  —  Netflix has acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company and will expand their existing deal to create a universe spanning several formats.
Simon Sharwood / The Register:
VMware urges customers to immediately patch a critical arbitrary file upload vulnerability in its flagship vCenter and vSphere products  —  File upload vuln lets miscreants hijack vCenter Server  —  VMware has disclosed a critical bug in its flagship vSphere and vCenter products and urged users to drop everything and patch it.
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 …
Scott Stein / CNET:
Apple iPad mini (2021) review: A15, Pencil 2 support, better cameras, and USB-C, but no keyboard case support and the screen feels too small for some apps  —  What's the most improved product in Apple's lineup this year?  It might be the 6th-gen iPad Mini.
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:
Facebook shareholders allege Facebook conditioned its $5B Cambridge Analytica settlement on the FTC dropping plans to sue and depose Mark Zuckerberg  —  Facebook conditioned its $5 billion payment to the Federal Trade Commission to resolve the Cambridge Analytica data leak probe …
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.
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 …
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 …
Ari Notis / Kotaku:
Blizzard's chief legal officer Claire Hart leaves Activision Blizzard amid a series of high-level departures  —  Claire Hart, who had been the company's top lawyer for three years, resigned Friday  —  Blizzard Entertainment's chief legal officer, Claire Hart, has resigned from the embattled company.
Tory Newmyer / Washington Post:
SEC's Gary Gensler says stablecoins are a risk to consumers, like “poker chips at the casino”, and equates crypto boom to “wildcat banking” in the 1830s  —  The top Wall Street regulator described the digital assets frequently pegged to the U.S. dollar as a danger to consumers
Horace Dediu / Asymco:
As it passes 2B iPhones sold, Apple has avoided disruption by adding useful features nobody asked for and avoiding overshooting on performance that few need  —  Just recently, the 2 billionth iPhone was sold.  Unlike the 1 billionth, there was no announcement, no celebration.
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Source: ahead of its NYSE debut, Toast prices its IPO at $40 per share, above its original $30-$33 range, which would give it a market cap of ~$20B  —  - Toast priced its IPO at $40 a share, after previously raising its price range to as high as $36.  — The company, which sells technology …
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”.
Jing Yang / Wall Street Journal:
Ant Group's Huabei consumer lending service says user data will be made available to China's central bank credit reporting system  —  User data from lending service Huabei will be made available to the central bank's credit-reporting system  —  Credit data generated by Ant Group Co.'s …
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.
Andrew Asmakov / Decrypt:
Orca, a decentralized crypto exchange built on the Solana blockchain, raises $18M Series A led by Polychain, Placeholder, and Three Arrows Capital  —  Orca, a decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) built on the Solana blockchain, has today announced $18 million in fresh funding led by Polychain, Placeholder, and Three Arrows Capital.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Zoho People in 2025: A year in review  —  As we wrap up 2025, we're taking a moment to look back on a year filled with progress and transformation at Zoho People.  Our team has been constantly pushing boundaries …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
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.
Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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 9:50 AM ET, September 22, 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

Nicole Lee / Engadget: