Techmeme: Chainalysis: crypto transaction volume for Central, Northern, and Western Europe reached $1T+ from July 2020-June 2021, comprising 25% of global crypto activity (Sam Bourgi/Cointelegraph)

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September 30, 2021, 7:10 AM

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The Verge:

Facebook shares two of its internal research docs about Instagram's impact on teen mental health reported on by WSJ, with annotations for context — The company shared the PDFs Wednesday night — Facebook has shared the internal research about the impact of Instagram on teenage mental …

Source: Facebook and Facebook. More: New York Times, Financial Times, TechCrunch, Engadget, Ad Age, Forbes, and CNET

Wall Street Journal:

WSJ publishes six internal Facebook documents it used for its report about Instagram's negative impact on teen girls, after Facebook published two of the docs — The Senate holds a hearing Thursday about the social network's impact, prompted by The Wall Street Journal's coverage

More: WSJ, Music Ally, Tech Xplore, CNET, WSJ, WSJ, Washington Post, WSJ, WSJ, Protocol, WSJ, fossbytes.com, and Forbes

Tweets: @georgia_wells, @jeffhorwitz, @jeffhorwitz, @jesselehrich, @ceciliakang, @jeffhorwitz, @jeffhorwitz, @digitalprivacy, @davidakaye, @dseetharaman, @fboversight, @zamosta, @jasonrdean, @jason_kint, @wsj, and @sfpelosi

Reuters:

Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal say a Facebook whistleblower will testify at an October 5 Senate hearing on child safety — Two U.S. senators said on Tuesday a Facebook Inc (FB.O) whistleblower will testify at a Senate hearing next week about what one of them called the social media company's “toxic effects” on young users.

More: Senate Commerce Committee, Wall Street Journal, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn …, The Guardian, and Newsbusters

Tweets: @60minutes, @senblumenthal, @donie, @viacristiano, @justinhendrix, @marshablackburn, @melissaryan, @ceciliakang, and @jason_kint

Bloomberg:

Employees at 11 video game companies say their teams have a 4K Switch developer kit, but sources say a 4K Nintendo console won't go on sale until late 2022 — At least 11 companies, including Zynga, have tools from Nintendo to make 4K Switch games. — Many people were surprised to learn …

More: GamesIndustry.biz, Video Games Chronicle, Pocket-lint, Gamereactor UK, Pocketnow, thegamer.com, TechRadar, The Verge, Game Rant, Wccftech, Daring Fireball, SlashGear, Kotaku, GameSpot, Engadget, Ubergizmo, Press Start, Dot Esports, iMore, Polygon, and GamingBolt

Tweets: @6d6f636869, @splatoon2inkbot, @drbarnard, @romudeth, @zhugeex, @6d6f636869, @margarita, @stevestreza, @gwotaku, and @lvghst

Gerrit De Vynck / Washington Post:

YouTube says it is banning prominent anti-vaccine activists, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and blocking all anti-vax content, not just about COVID-19 vaccines — The Google-owned video site previously only banned misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. Facebook made the same change months ago.

Source: YouTube Official Blog. More: New York Times, NBC News, CNBC, The Register, TechRadar, Bloomberg, Axios, Bloomberg, MediaNama, Fortune, Slate, Reclaim The Net, DW.COM, NPR, Mashable, and International Business Times

See also Mediagazer

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Google Maps adds a wildfire info layer, rolling out to Android this week and iOS and desktop in October, expands its Tree Canopy tool to 100 cities worldwide — “Fire” will be a top-level layer just like traffic, satellite, and transit maps. — Google Maps is getting a few new features …

Source: The Keyword. More: XDA Developers, The Verge, phonearena.com, Android Central, Neowin, MobileSyrup, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, and Mashable

Tweets: @googlemaps, @googlemaps, and @doiwildlandfire

Cheyenne Ligon / CoinDesk:

Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith pleads guilty to violating US sanctions law following a crypto and blockchain presentation at a 2019 North Korean conference — Griffith was charged with violating sanctions law by giving a cryptocurrency and blockchain presentation at a North Korean conference in 2019.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice. More: Insider, ZyCrypto, The Register, Coingape, Washington Post, and The Daily Hodl

Tweets: @daviduberti, @cryptoyieldinfo, @chuckbaggett, @autismcapital, @josephmenn, @fredwalton216, @brianeklein, @kenkingcastle1, and @johnlilic

Juli Clover / MacRumors:

Visually impaired users say that iOS 15 appears to have removed call, email, and voicemail Siri features they relied on — With the recent release of iOS 15, Apple appears to have made some changes to Siri functionality that have removed features relied on by low vision and blind iPhone users.

More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, iMore, iThinkDifferent, AppleInsider, Pixel Envy, and phonearena.com

Tweets: @saranbyte, @zollotech, and @samifathi_

Ana Diaz / Polygon:

Twitch rolls out the option for streamers to require phone and email-verified accounts in chat, as part of the company's effort to reduce targeted harassment — Curbing harassment continues to be a “top priority” for Twitch — After an upswell in targeted harassment on the streaming platform Twitch …

Source: Twitch Blog. More: PC Gamer, Shacknews, The Hollywood Reporter, CNET, Digital Trends, Game Rant, dexerto.com, The Verge, NBC News, Engadget, and TechCrunch

Tweets: @majinphil, @rayapollo, @saysmasonlive, @iambrandontv, @ohkayplays, @darkviperau, @ninagreenbean, and @oregonrolleda20

BBC:

Researchers: a flaw in Apple Pay lets attackers make a Visa payment with a locked iPhone in Express Transit mode; Apple calls it “a concern with a Visa system” — Large unauthorised contactless payments can be made on locked iPhones by exploiting how an Apple Pay feature designed …

Source: TimeTrust. More: Telegraph, 2022 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, iThinkDifferent, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, ZDNet, Tech Xplore, iMore, AppleInsider, BleepingComputer, and mirror

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Google says it is improving Search using the MUM AI model, with features like “Things to know”, which gives users additional context about searched topics — At its Search On event today, Google introduced several new features that, taken together, are its strongest attempts yet …

Source: Official Google India Blog. More: TNW, AI News, Bloomberg, The Economic Times, TechCircle, Social Media Today, The Overspill, TechCrunch, phonearena.com, iTnews, Search Engine Journal, SlashGear, Android Central, Search Engine Land, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @google, @searchliaison, @grady_booch, and @backlon

Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge:

Google announces online shopping tools, including a Lens upgrade coming first to iOS and Chrome desktop that helps users find products seen in images and videos

Source: The Keyword. More: Wall Street Journal, PYMNTS.com, PCMag, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @searchliaison, @searchliaison, and @producthunt

Sam Bourgi / Cointelegraph:

Chainalysis: crypto transaction volume for Central, Northern, and Western Europe reached $1T+ from July 2020-June 2021, comprising 25% of global crypto activity — DeFi has become a major catalyst for Europe's crypto economy. Large institutions have also upped their share of transactions significantly.

Source: Chainalysis Blog. More: CryptoSlate, euronews, The Daily Hodl, and Bitcoinist.com

Tweets: @cointelegraph, @wublockchain, @cryptounfolded, and @chainalysis

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Indian social commerce startup Meesho raises $570M Series F co-led by Fidelity and B Capital Group, more than doubling its valuation in under 6 months to $4.9B — Meesho has more than doubled its valuation in less than six months, to $4.9 billion, as a growing number of high-profile investors …

More: FinSMEs, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times, Entrackr, Bloomberg, Forbes India, and Tech in Asia

Tweets: @viditaatrey and @viditaatrey

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

Researchers discover a malware operation that has infected 10M+ Android devices in 70+ countries via benign-looking apps, netting $1.5M-$4M per month — Security researchers have found a massive malware operation that has infected more than 10 million Android smartphones across …

Source: Zimperium Mobile Security Blog. More: Wired, ZDNet, fossbytes.com, The Register, Slashdot, SiliconANGLE, TechSpot, and Threatpost

Tweets: @slightlylate and @campuscodi

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

ContractPodAI, which offers AI contract management tools, raises $115M Series C led by Vision Fund 2, bringing total funding to $170M+ — The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility. Register now!

More: PR Newswire and LAW.com

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:

GM announces Ultifi, a software platform for its cars that will enable OTA updates, in-car subscription services, and more, rolling out in 2023 — Ultifi will start rolling out to GM vehicles in 2023 — General Motors announced a new “end-to-end” software platform for its cars called …

Source: General Motors Company. More: Bloomberg, t3.com, Engadget, TechCrunch, Android Headlines, and SlashGear

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Apple has quietly begun allowing users to rate and review its built-in iPhone and iPad apps in the App Store with iOS 15 — For the longest time, the App Store did not allow users to rate or review Apple's built-in iPhone and iPad apps, like Mail, Music, News, Stocks and Calculator.

More: MacRumors, The Verge, Engadget, AppleInsider, and iClarified

Tweets: @keleftheriou, @bzamayo, @rklau, @rklau, and @wongmjane

Campbell Kwan / ZDNet:

US and EU will cooperate across various tech areas, including AI, semiconductors, and supply chain security, to ensure sensitive technologies are not misused — The new US-EU Trade and Technology Council aims to keep an eye on how sensitive technologies are used.

Source: United States Trade Representative. More: Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, iTnews, and European Commission

Karen Weise / New York Times:

Amazon settles with two former employee activists, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, over accusations it illegally fired them for organizing — Amazon has settled with two of its most prominent internal critics, staving off a public hearing over accusations that the company illegally fired the pair …

Source: Amazon Employees For Climate Justice. More: Engadget, CNBC, Bloomberg, Washington Post, GeekWire, The Verge, and Insider

Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg:

Ripple Labs says it is starting a $250M fund for NFT creators, exploring new use cases and providing financial, creative, and technical support — - Mintable, mintNFT, VSA Partners will have access to the fund — Projects will be tokenized on the XRP Ledger blockchain

Source: Ripple and Ripple. More: Blockonomi, cryptodaily.co.uk, CryptoNinjas, Forkast, Coinspeaker, Blockworks, Finextra, and SiliconANGLE. Tweets: @kylesgibson

Financial Times:

Profile of Chinese AI company SenseTime, which has raised $3B+, as it prepares for a Hong Kong IPO and tries to retain support from China, its biggest customer — Start-up is close to an IPO but remains heavily dependent on Beijing's support — Three years ago, Tang Xiao'ou joked …

Tweets: @primroseriordan, @chinabeigebook, @financialtimes, and @primroseriordan

Nick Statt / Protocol:

How EA is expanding its footprint on mobile, the fastest growing gaming category, as part of a cross-platform portfolio to reach new consumers — In June, Electronic Arts made what seemed like a peculiar announcement. It revealed one of its biggest-ever purchases, and its third major acquisition in less than seven months.

Tweets: @nickstatt and @nickstatt

Benjamin Wallace / New York Magazine:

Miami's mayor has helped turn Miami into the most crypto-friendly US city, even as Florida's governor appears to object to the idea of an influx of tech workers — Silicon Valley's favorite politician, Miami mayor Francis Suarez, has many lures to dangle when he's wooing techies to relocate to his city.

More: Washington Post. Tweets: @chicagosean, @rmb, @bishoplawfirm, @intelligencer, @francissuarez, and @libshipwreck

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