Techmeme
September 20, 2023, 4:00 PM

Top News

The Verge:
Everything Amazon announced at its product event: Alexa Emergency Assist for $6/month, the Alexa Eye Gaze accessibility feature, the $50 Echo Pop Kids, and more  —  Amazon is kicking off its annual fall product announcements at its HQ2 campus in Arlington, Virginia.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Amazon refreshes its Alexa-powered Echo Frames glasses: enhanced speech processing, better noise isolation, 15% thinner, and a six-hour battery life for $270  —  Amazon today unveiled a new generation of Echo Frames, its Alexa-powered glasses, with enhanced speech processing, better noise isolation and a $269.99 price tag.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Ina Fried / Axios:
CNBC:
Sources: as equities soared in 2020, Apple and Goldman were working on an iPhone stock trading feature but shelved the project when markets turned south in 2022  —  - Apple was exploring the launch of an iPhone feature that would let users buy and sell stocks, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 review: Double Tap is great, but Precision Finding requires an iPhone 15, and the Siri and brightness improvements feel minor  —  Iterative updates aren't flashy, but these smartwatches are mainly for folks who don't have Apple Watches yet.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta expands its Meta Verified program to businesses on Facebook and Instagram in select markets, for $21.99/month/page for each or $34.99/month/page for both  —  Meta announced today that it is expanding Meta Verified to businesses after first launching it for creators in March.
Financial Times:
BBC:
After Meta criticized the UK's potential E2EE rules, the UK says Meta “failed to provide assurances” over keeping its platforms “safe from sickening abusers”  —  Facebook's owner Meta has hit back at a new government campaign strongly critical of its plans to encrypt messages.
Qianer Liu / Financial Times:
Sources: the Kirin 9000S SoC has four CPUs that use Arm designs, the other four use Huawei-modified Arm designs, HiSilicon developed the GPU and NPU, and more  —  Facing US sanctions, Chinese company emulates Apple by using its own designs in chips for Mate 60 Pro
Nikkei Asia:
On WeChat, China's Ministry of State Security says the US, since 2009, has continuously hacked Huawei's servers, stolen critical data, and installed backdoors  —  Beijing says Washington forces tech companies to install backdoors for spying  —  China has accused the U.S. of hacking Huawei's servers continuously since 2009.
Ben Weiss / Fortune:
PayPal says select Venmo users can now purchase its stablecoin PYUSD, with a rollout to more users in the coming weeks, in addition to BTC, ETH, BCH, and LTC  —  PayPal announced on Wednesday that Venmo users will be able to buy PayPal's new stablecoin, PayPal USD, increasing the number …
WABetaInfo:
WhatsApp releases a beta for iOS via Apple's TestFlight with a companion mode for iPadOS, built using Mac Catalyst, after years of user requests for an iPad app  —  WhatsApp has just submitted a new update through the TestFlight beta Program, bringing the version up to 23.19.1.71.
Mariam Sunny / Reuters:
Neuralink is recruiting for the first human trial of its brain implant for paralysis patients, expected to take about six years, likely for fewer than 10 people  —  Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink said on Tuesday it has received approval from an independent review board …
The Verge:
Memo: Phil Spencer tells staff the FTC v. Microsoft documents leak is “disappointing” and that the company failed to live up to its confidentiality expectations  —  / ‘We all put incredible amounts of passion and energy into our work, and this is never how we want that hard work to be shared with the community.’

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Earlier Picks

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
Bloomberg:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Casey Newton / Platformer: