Techmeme
March 4, 2019, 3:00 PM

Top News

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Facebook has urged users to enable phone number-based 2FA, but the numbers are used in a user lookup feature with no opt out and to target ads, sparking outcry  —  Users are complaining that the phone number Facebook hassled them to use to secure their account with two-factor authentication …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
USB Implementers Forum announces USB 4, which offers a maximum speed of 40 Gbps, double that of USB 3.2, and support for Thunderbolt 3  —  Double the speed of USB 3.2 up to 40 Gbps  —  Hot on the heels of USB 3.2 receiving a confusing Gen 2x2 suffix, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) …
New York Times:
Sources: Huawei is preparing to sue the US government for banning federal agencies from using the company's products  —  SHANGHAI — The Chinese electronics giant Huawei is preparing to sue the United States government for banning federal agencies from using the company's products, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:
Google employees believe the company is still working on Dragonfly, after finding recent code changes associated with the censored search engine and more  —  Google employees have carried out their own investigation into the company's plan to launch a censored search engine for China …
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Luminary, a subscription-based podcasting app, has just emerged from stealth with $100M in funding and shows from Conan O'Brien, Lena Dunham, and more  —  LOS ANGELES — Patti LuPone as a bebop-singing junkie nun in John Cameron Mitchell's musical follow-up to “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”
New York Post:
Agents and producers working on streaming projects for Apple complain about how involved and “intrusive” execs, including Tim Cook, have been, leading to delays  —  Apple's push into Hollywood is off to a rough start — thanks in part to “intrusive” tech executives, including Tim Cook, The Post has learned.
Saqib Shah / Engadget:
Messenger is the first Facebook app to get dark mode, now available on iOS and Android  —  Days after Facebook Messenger's dark mode was outed on Reddit, the social network has made the update official for iOS and Android.  For now, you can only enable it by sending the crescent moon emoji in an existing chat thread or new message.
Usama Jawad / Neowin:
Google discloses a “high severity” security flaw in macOS kernel after privately reporting the flaw to Apple in November 2018; no patch available yet  —  Google's Project Zero team is well-known for its knack of finding security flaws in the company's own products as well as those manufactured by other firms.

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Earlier Picks

Messari:
Shwanika Narayan / San Francisco Chronicle:
Alan Boyle / GeekWire: