Techmeme
March 21, 2019, 12:45 PM

Top News

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Facebook admits it inadvertently stored some user passwords in plain text, searchable by employees; source says it may have been between 200M and 600M passwords  —  Hundreds of millions of Facebook users had their account passwords stored in plain text and searchable by thousands of Facebook employees …
Pedro Canahuati / Facebook:
Facebook says it will notify hundreds of millions of Facebook users and thousands of Instagram users after it found passwords were stored in a readable format  —  As part of a routine security review in January, we found that some user passwords were being stored in a readable format within our internal data storage systems.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft launches Windows Virtual Desktop in public preview and Microsoft Defender ATP for macOS in limited preview  —  Microsoft today made a slew of announcements to help IT pros reduce costs, increase security, and boost employee productivity.  The headline items are the launch …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Four European Wikipedia sites are blocking access and directing users to contact their EU representatives on March 21 to protest the copyright directive  —  Sites including Reddit, Twitch, and PornHub are also encouraging users in the EU to contact local politicians
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Square CEO Jack Dorsey introduces Square Crypto, a new initiative for open source contributions to the “bitcoin/crypto ecosystem”  —  Payments startup Square plans to hire a number of engineers and a designer to work on its crypto initiatives, according to tweets from CEO Jack Dorsey.
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
Instagram, which has largely escaped scrutiny, is teeming with conspiracy theories, misinformation, and extremist memes, linked by its recommendation algorithm  —  When Alex, now a high-school senior, saw an Instagram account he followed post about something called QAnon back in 2017 …
Guy Rosen / Facebook:
Facebook says it blocked 800+ distinct variants of New Zealand shooting video, in contrast to ISIS-style propaganda which is not rebroadcast or reshared widely  —  We continue to keep the people, families and communities affected by the tragedy in New Zealand in our hearts.
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Sources: WSJ plans to join the new paid tier of Apple News to be announced on Monday, expected to cost $10/month; NYT and The Washington Post have opted out  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The Wall Street Journal plans to join a new paid subscription news service run by Apple, according to two people familiar …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Apple iPad mini (2019) review: same specs as larger iPad Air, headphone jack, and solid performance, but has huge bezels and a Lightning port instead of USB-C  —  Sometimes smaller is better  —  People who love the iPad mini really, really love the iPad mini.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Microsoft says support for Windows 7, which makes up 40% of desktop market, will end Jan. 14, 2020; enterprise customers can pay for extended support until 2023  —  Microsoft has rolled out a patch that will warn Windows 7 users that security updates will soon come to an end.
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Tesla files two lawsuits against multiple former employees and the self-driving car startup Zoox alleging misappropriation of the company's trade secrets  —  The automaker claims employees brought logistics info to Zoox, while another took Autopilot data to Xiaopeng Motors
Jez Corden / Windows Central:
Internal documents: disc-less Xbox One S, a cheaper alternative with a 1TB HDD, will launch globally on May 7  —  Photoshop mockup of the Xbox One S All-Digital edition.  —  Following up on our previous reveal of the Xbox One S All-Digital console, we now have a bit more information, as well as the box art and tentative release date.
Yogita Khatri / CoinDesk:
Two crypto indices from CoinMarketCap, CMC Crypto 200, which includes bitcoin, and CMC Crypto ex BTC, which doesn't, launch on Nasdaq, Bloomberg, and Reuters  —  Two cryptocurrency benchmark indices from data provider CoinMarketCap will launch today on financial data feeds …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google's Stadia could be the future of gaming but the announcement left questions unanswered, like cost and subscription, launch date, or available games  —  A lot of questions remain unanswered  —  “The future of gaming is not a box,” according to Google.  “It's a place.”
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
EU Press Room:
The European Commission has fined Google €1.49B for “abusive practices in online advertising” and breaching EU antitrust rules  —  The European Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules.  Google has abused its market dominance by imposing …

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