Techmeme
August 21, 2018, 7:50 PM

Top News

Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Facebook assigns a trustworthiness score to each of its users, tracking things like whether an article a user flags as false turns out, after review, to be true  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook has begun to assign its users a reputation score, predicting their trustworthiness on a scale from zero to one.
New York Times:
Research that looked at every anti-refugee attack in Germany over two years shows more attacks on refugees happened where Facebook use was higher than average  —  ALTENA, Germany — When you ask locals why Dirk Denkhaus, a young firefighter trainee who had been considered neither dangerous nor political …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Netflix is testing bypassing iTunes payment method in 33 countries, redirecting users to the mobile web version to log payment details directly with Netflix  —  Netflix is one of the highest-grossing apps on the iOS App Store, but it looks like the video streaming giant is contemplating …
New York Times:
Microsoft says hackers linked to the Russian military intelligence agency formerly known as the GRU targeted conservative US think tanks that challenge Moscow  —  BOSTON — The Russian military intelligence unit that sought to influence the 2016 election appears to have a new target …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Slack raises $427M Series H led by Dragoneer Investment Group and General Atlantic at a valuation of over $7.1B  —  Slack, the workplace communications platform, has taken off like a rocket since launching in 2013 and now has more than 8 million daily active users and 70,000 teams paying to use it.
Facebook:
Facebook says it removed 652 Pages, groups and accounts that originated in Iran for coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram  —  Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed News:
Facebook says it plans to remove over 5,000 ad targeting options by this fall in an effort to prevent discriminatory advertising  —  Facebook is planning to remove more than 5,000 ad targeting options in an effort to prevent discriminatory advertising.  —  The bulk of the 5,000 targeting options …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Fit on iOS and Android is redesigned with “move minutes” and “heart points” to encourage cardiac exercise, new health-tracking rings, and activity goals  —  You'll collect ‘Heart Points’ instead of counting steps  —  Today, Google is rolling out a complete redesign …
Shona Ghosh / Business Insider:
Y Combinator says it's accepting all 15,000+ applicants to its Startup School program after a glitch sent acceptance emails to those who had been rejected  —  - Y Combinator emailed tech founders this week saying they had been accepted into Startup School, its free online course for entrepreneurs.
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Cloud-based file transfer company WeTransfer acquires FiftyThree, which makes the popular Paper app, including its entire patent portfolio and executive team  —  File-sharing company WeTransfer has acquired the Paper and Paste creative apps from FiftyThree.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
A look at Facebook's voice ambitions: from developing a speech recognition feature for Facebook and Messenger apps called Aloha to patents for a speaker device  —  Code reveals unlaunched speech recognition feature  —  Facebook has been a bit slow to adopt the voice computing revolution.
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
HTC announces Vive Wireless Adapter, coming Sept. 24 for $300, allowing wireless usage of Vive and Vive Pro, though the Pro needs a $60 compatibility add-on  —  HTC's long-awaited Vive Wireless Adapter is almost ready to purchase, the company announced today, as the cutting-edge collaboration between …
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed News:
In an interview, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says Twitter should be built around following topics and interests, thinks an impartial product can exist  —  Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey doesn't have all the answers.  For one, he's not sure whether you should delete your old tweets.
Patricia Hernandez / The Verge:
Google launches experimental feature for Assistant users in the US that shares stories from Solutions Journalism Network when asked “tell me something good”  —  Good news, literally  —  Trying to keep up with the news might be aspirational, but these days, it can also be depressing.
Hugh Son / CNBC:
JPMorgan Chase to debut You Trade service next week, letting investors make up to 100 free trades within first year, via Chase's mobile app and on its site  —  - J.P. Morgan's new digital brokerage service comes with free trades, portfolio building tool and access to equity research.
Peter Blumberg / Bloomberg:
Federal court filing: Uber harassment case settlement will award $1.9M in damages across 56 current and former employees who filed claims  —  The cost of Uber Technologies Inc.'s sexual harassment scandal is now itemized: 56 current and former employees who filed claims stand to collect an average of $33,928.57.
More: CNNMoney, Axios, and Engadget

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:
Get your favorite apps talking to Zoho Sign with Zapier  —  Your business didn't come together overnight.  It's something you've built, refined, and fine-tuned over time.  Every tool you use has a purpose …
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 7:50 PM ET, August 21, 2018.

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