Techmeme
October 3, 2019, 7:20 PM

Top News

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram launches Threads, a Close Friends-only messaging app with auto-status based on location, accelerometer, and battery level, globally on iOS and Android  —  What if Instagram could automatically tell you're Close Friends you're 🏠 (home), 🤓 (working), 🚗 …
BuzzFeed News:
US AG and officials from UK and Australia to call on Facebook to stop plans for end-to-end encryption across its messaging apps, citing public safety risks  —  Attorney General Bill Barr, along with officials from the United Kingdom and Australia, is set to publish an open letter …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple to launch the iPhone SE 2 in Q1 2020 with an iPhone 8-like design and an A13 chip  —  Apple is set to launch the next version of the iPhone SE 2 in the first quarter of 2020, according to renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.  The new phone will be more affordable …
Lara O'Reilly / Digiday:
Content recommendation company Taboola has bought rival Outbrain for $250M in cash and 30% equity; Taboola says it will hit $1B in revenue in 2019  —  Outbrain and Taboola — the Ross and Rachel “will they, won't they” online advertising story of our times — could finally have its happy ending.
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
EU's top court rules that an individual country can order Facebook to take down defamatory content and restrict global access to that material  —  Comments posted on the social network about an Austrian politician became a battle over the reach of European defamation laws on the internet.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Shopping gets a redesign and new features including price tracking, options to shop from local stores, and style ideas via Google Lens  —  Google Shopping is getting a redesign with several new features, including options to shop local stores, track prices and even find style inspiration through Google Lens.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Fire TV has no deal yet to carry Disney+ because Amazon is pushing for the right to sell a percentage of the ad inventory on other Disney apps  —  Disney resists Amazon push for some of the ad revenue from entertainment giant's apps  —  Amazon.com Inc. AMZN .13% and Walt Disney Co. DIS -.64% …
Kieren McCarthy / The Register:
Apple has banned an app that lets people in Hong Kong keep track of protests and police activity, claiming it facilitates illegal activity  —  Trying to avoid cops, live rounds, tear gas?  Oh no, you don't, say Cook & Co  —  Apple has banned an app that allows people in Hong Kong to keep track …
Max Weinbach / XDA Developers:
Samsung launches a Travelex integration for international money transfers and Samsung Pay Cash virtual debit card for Samsung Pay beta users in the US  —  Samsung Pay is, in my view, the best mobile payment app out there.  It supports making payments through MST on Samsung Galaxy flagships …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
First look at Surface Duo, Microsoft's foldable Android phone and the first pocketable Surface device  —  The mythical Surface phone is here  —  Microsoft surprised us all with the Surface Duo this week.  It's the long-awaited Surface phone that has been rumored for years …
Lauren Goode / Wired:
Financial Times:
Uber launches Uber Works, a new app in Chicago that will match temporary workers looking for shift work with businesses looking for staffing  —  Uber is launching a new app on Friday in Chicago that will match temporary workers looking for shift work with businesses looking to fill gaps in their rosters …
New York Daily News:
Sources say Google contractor Randstad used dubious tactics targeting people of color to gather facial scans for improving the face unlock system on Pixel 4  —  Tech giant Google wants your face — especially if you've got “darker skin.”  —  To get it, the company has funded …
Joshua Brustein / Bloomberg:
Profile of Palmer Luckey's Anduril, which is now shipping drone interceptors to US and UK military clients and has raised $120M from Founders Fund, a16z, others  —  Jason Levin stood on a craggy hill on a Southern California ranch in late July and prepared to destroy a drone.
Helene Fouquet / Bloomberg:
France is rolling out a nationwide digital identity enrollment app with facial recognition in November, despite concerns from its data regulator  —  - Digital identity enrollment app to be rolled out in November  — Privacy, absence of consent and security among concerns raised
Peter Rubin / Wired:
Sony says PlayStation 4 cross-platform gaming has finished beta testing and is now open to all game developers  —  With a price cut and a new commitment to high-profile games, Sony's PlayStation Now makes its case to customers.  —  “I typically prefer doing to talking,” says Jim Ryan …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok says it is banning political ads because they don't fit with its “positive, refreshing environment”  —  Already under fire for advancing Chinese foreign policy by censoring topics like Hong Kong's protests and pro-LGBT content, the Beijing-based video app TikTok …

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Manish Singh / TechCrunch: