Techmeme: Gab experienced a huge growth spurt in H1 2019 as SimilarWeb data shows its traffic between January and July grew almost 200% and unique visitors are up 180% (David Gilbert/VICE)

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Five years later, a deep dive into Gamergate's origins and how conspiracy-fed trolling tactics it took mainstream are now central to post-truth information wars — On August 15, 2014, an angry 20-something ex-boyfriend published a 9,425-word screed and set in motion a series of vile events that changed the way we fight online.

More: New York Times, New York Times, and OneZero

Tweets: @sarahjeong, @hshaban, @karnythia, @nytopinion, @rue_walker, @jayrosen_nyu, @poniewozik, @cwarzel, @unburntwitch, @roseveleth, @jaredlholt, @a_h_reaume, @eveewing, and @adrjeffries

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Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:

SmileDirectClub, which ships teeth-aligners directly to users, with dental professionals monitoring patient progress remotely, files for an IPO — SmileDirectClub, the at-home teeth-straightening service, is on its way to becoming a public company. SmileDirectClub is seeking to raise …

More: PR Newswire, CNBC, TheStreet, MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, Business Insider, Nashville Post, SEC.report, and Business Insider

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:

In internal letter, Facebook moderators in Austin claim Accenture managers pressured on-site counselors to divulge info on trauma sessions; one counselor quit — Nearly 1,500 miles from the Menlo Park headquarters of Facebook, at a company outpost in Austin, Texas, moderators toil around …

Tweets: @samfbiddle, @violetblue, and @mikeisaac

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:

Bluetooth SIG issues a security notice for the “KNOB” flaw, which allows hackers to steal data by brute forcing the encryption key used during bluetooth pairing — A new Bluetooth vulnerability named “KNOB” has been disclosed that allow attackers to more easily brute force …

More: Engadget, The Verge, Forbes, Tom's Hardware, 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, PYMNTS.com, SlashGear, iDownloadBlog.com, Digital Trends, The Next Web, Fast Company, and bit-tech.net

Tweets: @seldo, @gatsbysghost, @pry0cc, @dcuthbert, @iwillleavenow, @edzitron, and @gcluley

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Google's Area 120 incubator is testing Fundo, a service for YouTube creators to sell invites to online events, personalized shoutouts to fans, and more — Google's skunkworks lab Area 120 has been quietly testing an events-centric crowdfunding service for YouTubers, Variety has learned.

More: Engadget, Tubefilter, and The Verge. Tweets: @jank0

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google says it bought homework helper app Socratic in 2018, launches an AI-powered version on iOS, adds subject guides, and promises Android launch this fall — Google publicly disclosed its acquisition of homework helper app Socratic in an announcement this week, detailing the added support …

More: The Keyword, blog.socratic.org, and 9to5Google

Reuters:

Segway-Ninebot unveils the semi-autonomous KickScooter T60 that it says can return itself to charging stations, expected to be available in Q1 2020 for ~$1,420 — BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Segway-Ninebot Group, a Beijing-based electric scooter maker, on Friday unveiled a scooter …

More: The Verge, TechSpot, and Engadget

GameSpot:

Interview with Microsoft's Executive VP of Gaming Phil Spencer on how xCloud is years away from becoming mainstream, how it fits into Xbox's repertoire, more — Cloudy skies. — Xbox head Phil Spencer is a busy man, his mind occupied by the next generation of Xbox consoles and helping to build new development teams.

More: The Verge, Petri, The Next Web, KnowTechie, Business Insider, MSPoweruser, WinBuzzer, Thurrott, Engadget, and Inquirer

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:

Federal judge rules Georgia will have to fall back to paper ballots if it doesn't replace its electronic voting machines with a secure system for 2020 election — Judge finds several serious flaws with Georgia's current election technology. — Election security advocates scored a major victory …

More: Engadget, Associated Press, WSB-TV, ThinkProgress, Governing, CBS News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NPR, Reuters, CNET, and Boing Boing. Tweets: @atheist_in_nc

David Gilbert / VICE:

Gab experienced a huge growth spurt in H1 2019 as SimilarWeb data shows its traffic between January and July grew almost 200% and unique visitors are up 180% — Gab has experienced a huge growth spurt in the first half of 2019, a worrying sign of the spread of hateful ideologies and radicalization online.

Tweets: @learmonth and @daithaigilbert

Karen Yue / Amazon Developer Services:

Amazon launches “Custom Interfaces”, a new API that allows developers to connect gadgets and smart toys with Alexa-enabled devices to create new interactions — Since launching Alexa more than four years ago, customers have purchased more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices …

More: Digital Trends, Engadget, Voicebot, and VentureBeat. Tweets: @engadget

Victoria Petrock / eMarketer:

eMarketer estimates that 39.4% of US internet users, or about 112M people, will use a voice assistant at least monthly this year, up 9.5% from 2018 — In just a few short years, Apple's Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant have gone from being virtual unknowns to familiar household names.

Tweets: @yoda

FinSMEs:

Commsignia, which develops software for automotive OEMs that connects vehicles with each other and smart city infrastructure, raises $11M Series A — Commsignia, Inc., a Santa Clara, CA-based provider of V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) solutions, closed an $11m funding round.

More: BBJ on the web, EU-Startups, and PE Hub Blog

Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:

Brazil-based RD Station, a marketing automation platform aimed at SMBs in emerging markets, raises $50M Series D, bringing its total raised to about $90M — Brazilian digital marketing startup RD Station has raised a $50 million Series D led by Silicon Valley-based Riverwood Capital.

More: Forbes. Tweets: @crunchbasenews

Paul Roberts / The Security Ledger:

Huge survey of 6K+ firmware images of devices by 18 vendors including Linksys and Netgear finds no improvement in software security and lax security standards — A survey of more than 6,000 firmware images spanning more than a decade finds no improvement in firmware security and lax security standards …

More: Tom's Hardware and iPhone in Canada Blog

Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:

EU's General Court says it will hear arguments in Apple's and Ireland's challenges to EU's €13B bill over the company's back-taxes on September 17-18 — - EU court sets date for Apple, Ireland appeals of payback order — Apple got record tax bill in 2016 EU order over fiscal deal

More: iMore, The Mac Observer, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, CNET, Patently Apple, Cult of Mac, and Seeking Alpha

FinSMEs:

Edge cloud services provider Zenlayer raises $30M Series B to expand globally with an emphasis on emerging markets like India, Indonesia, and Brazil — Zenlayer, a Los Angeles, CA- and and Shanghai, China-based edge cloud services provider, raised $30m in Series B funding.

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

In a letter to Congress, the Trump administration asks lawmakers to reauthorize a law that lets the NSA gain access to logs of phone and text records — The White House is seeking reauthorization of a law that lets the N.S.A. gain access to logs of Americans' phone and text records …

More: Federal Computer Week. Tweets: @nytimes, @charlie_savage, @trevortimm, @vincewarren, @phil_mattingly, @justinamash, @jameeljaffer, and @bradmossesq

Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:

A close reading of the S-1 of the soap opera that is The We Company, a “tech company” whose mission “is to elevate the world's consciousness” — On August 14th, The We Company (the company formerly known as WeWork) filed its mandatory S-1 paperwork to go public, and it's worth reading in full.

More: Vox, Medium, The Margins, MarketWatch, Search Engine Land, Fortune, Observer, Wired, Bloomberg, and Crunchbase News

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