Techmeme: How VR Systems, a small FL-based election tech company that Mueller suggested was hacked by Russia, could be a weak link in maintaining US election integrity (Kim Zetter/Politico)

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December 26, 2019, 3:50 PM

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Chuin-Wei Yap / Wall Street Journal:

Huawei got ~$46B in loans from Chinese state lenders, saved $25B in taxes from state incentives, $2B in land discounts, and $1.6B in grants in the last 25 years — China's tech champion got as much as $75 billion in tax breaks, financing and cheap resources as it became the world's top telecom vendor

More: TechCrunch, Engadget, Business Insider, ZDNet, New York Post, and iPhone in Canada Blog

Tweets: @stevenconlon and @cold_peace_

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

YouTube gives creators more ways to handle copyright disputes with a YouTube Studio update that includes an Assisted Trim tool to edit out claimed content — An automatic trim feature helps directly tackle the problem — YouTube's recent Studio update is finally giving people an easier way to deal with copyright claim disputes.

More: support.google.com, Yahoo Finance, 9to5Google, and Input

Tweets: @peggyktc, @mrnightfoxx, @teamyoutube, @mattnavarra, @martinsfp, and @loudmouthjulia

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Sources: building on tactics deployed during 2018 midterms, US Cyber Command is exploring additional strategies to counter Russian 2020 election interference — Military cyber officials are developing information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior Russian officials …

More: New York Post and Security Boulevard

Tweets: @grady_booch, @ilvestoomas, @michnazz, @thomas_drake1, @anneapplebaum, @manaskunt, @chrizap, @jgamblin, @lisackaplan, @isikoff, @wajahatali, @ngleicher, @rodrosenstein, @misscherryjones, and @donie

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Uber says Travis Kalanick, its former CEO, will step down from the company's board of directors effective Dec. 31; Kalanick has sold all of his stock in Uber — - Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick is leaving the board effective Dec. 31. — Kalanick was ousted as CEO in 2017 but remained a director.

More: Uber, Ars Technica, PYMNTS.com, Wall Street Journal, Market Realist, TechSpot, Quartz, Axios, TechCrunch, CNN, Gizmodo, BBC, Financial Times, Forbes, Associated Press, Mashable, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, Digital Trends, Wccftech, Input, The Hill, Telegraph, Mercury News, CNET, Engadget, Washington Post, NBC News, New York Times, Slashdot, and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @harryhur5t, @nuitseracalme, @ericgarland, @calinative, @semil, @jbflint, @justglew, @gizmodo, @jyarow, @mikeisaac, @katie_martin_fx, @tim, @daveleebbc, @axios, @jyarow, @shiraovide, @alex, @kr00ney, and @shiraovide

Varun Mishra / Counterpoint Research:

iPhone XR has been the top-selling model globally in every quarter since Q4 2018 and contributed to over one-quarter of total Apple sales in Q3 2019 — According to Counterpoint Research's Market Pulse, the iPhone XR was the top-selling model globally in Q3 2019, capturing 3% market share.

More: Android Headlines, Android Authority, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Gizchina, TechSpot, SamMobile, Android Central, 9to5Mac, Technology Personalized, Redmond Pie, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacDailyNews, and iPhone Hacks

Tweets: @neiltwitz and @neiltwitz

Cade Metz / New York Times:

Chuck Peddle, a key designer of the cheap MOS 6502 CPU that powered the first big wave of personal computers, like Commodore PET and Apple II, has died at 82 — His invention brought digital technology to a new breed of consumer devices and powered early Apple and Commodore computers.

More: The Western Design Center …, iDownloadBlog.com, Engadget, Born's Tech and Windows World, Bangor Daily News, WCSH, Press Herald, Michael Tsai, and Radar

Tweets: @mikejmika, @dealbook, @realbobbyhealy, @ylecun, @c64takeaway, @octonion, @briancvc, @mkapor, and @harrymccracken

Kim Zetter / Politico:

How VR Systems, a small FL-based election tech company that Mueller suggested was hacked by Russia, could be a weak link in maintaining US election integrity — On November 6, 2016, the Sunday before the presidential election that sent Donald Trump to the White House, a worker in the elections office …

Tweets: @kimzetter, @politico, and @kimzetter

William Feuer / CNBC:

FAA issues a new rule requiring most drones to implement remote ID systems that allow tracking by law enforcement, says it expects compliance within three years — - The rule will implement a remote ID system to identify and track drones in real-time. — Such a rule has long been in the works.

More: TechCrunch, GeekWire, The Hill, GeekWire, and faa.gov. Tweets: @willfoia

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Researcher says he was able to match 17M phone numbers to Twitter user accounts by exploiting a flaw in Twitter's Android app, before Twitter blocked his effort — A security researcher said he has matched 17 million phone numbers to Twitter user accounts by exploiting a flaw in Twitter's Android app.

Adam Yosilewitz / Legendary Live Streaming:

State of Live Streaming in 2019: Fortnite player Tfue was the most popular with 87M viewership hours, League of Legends retook the top title from Fortnite, more — It's the holiday season, so our gift to you is our State of the Stream report created in partnership with Arsenal.gg.

More: Input. Tweets: @its_dwolf, @darkviperau, @streamelements, and @streamelements

Associated Press:

Turkey's top court rules that a two-year ban on Wikipedia violates freedom of expression; it remains unclear when access to the site will be restored — ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's highest court on Thursday ruled in favor of Wikipedia, saying the Turkish government's two-year ban …

More: The Guardian, Engadget, Hürriyet Daily News, Reuters, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @krmaher and @5_2blue

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:50 PM ET, December 26, 2019.

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.

From Mediagazer

Washington Post:

Internal email: 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi told staffers Bari Weiss pulled the CECOT segment after the Trump administration refused an interview

CNN:

A list of times the Trump administration tested the limits of the First Amendment during his second term, stoking alarm among civil rights experts and critics

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Lou Cannon, a veteran Washington Post reporter who wrote several influential biographies of Ronald Reagan, has died at 92

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Aditya Hadi Pratama / Tech in Asia:

Indonesian education platform Ruangguru, which claims to serve 15M+ students and 300K+ teachers, raises $150M Series C led by General Atlantic and GGV Capital

More: KrASIA. Tweets: @adheet_ya and @nfreischlad

Luke Winkie / OneZero:

Discord channels used to sell stolen PayPal accounts, credit and debit card numbers, and Amazon gift cards, thrive despite account bans, untrustworthy sellers

Tweets: @ozm, @tsuyohime_, and @apandahvevo

Sohee Kim / Bloomberg:

Samsung plans to rival chip foundry market leader TSMC, as it invests heavily in a chip miniaturization process called extreme ultraviolet lithography

More: iPhone in Canada Blog. Tweets: @sahilva77216467, @soheefication, and @vladsavov

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:

Deep dive into what is known of Intel's graphics strategy, from its upcoming “Ponte Vecchio” GPU product and Memory Fabric to its new oneAPI software stack

Tweets: @anandtech. Thanks:@iancutress

Paddy Baker / CoinDesk:

Hedera Hashgraph, which has raised $100M+ in 2018 ICO, asks investors to wait longer for purchased tokens, to help stabilize their cratering price

More: Hedera Hashgraph, The Block, Crowdfund Insider, Cryptovest, SiliconANGLE, and Cointelegraph

Tweets: @trengriffin, @dominikweil, @imbagsy, @prestonjbyrne, and @kwerb

Earlier Picks

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

Many schools in the US, including Syracuse U., track students' phones to monitor class attendance, as some worry it desensitizes students to 24/7 surveillance

Craig S. Smith / New York Times:

AI is assisting teachers in the classroom by taking over repetitive tasks like grading and optimizing coursework, helping students with exam prep, and more

More: MIT Technology Review. Tweets: @alexlindsay, @naomikritzer, @drewharwell, @biblioracle, @onlinecrslady, @davecormier, @justinparmenter, @techreview, @b_a_saltzman, @amyjko, @hoonparadise, and @raju

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

SQLite flaws left Chrome open to remote code execution before being patched two weeks ago, were found by Tencent researchers a year after revealing similar bugs

More: Tencent Blade Team, BleepingComputer, Security Affairs, and Born's Tech and Windows World

Tweets: @tencent_blade, @tencent_blade, and @campuscodi

Bloomberg:

Sources: earlier this year, YouTube considered screening all videos for kids under 8 in YouTube Kids but dropped the idea to avoid looking like a media company

More: Engadget and Input

Tweets: @loudmouthjulia, @bloombergca, @alistairmbarr, @mattrosoff, @mhbergen, @woganmay, @lucas_shaw, @mhbergen, @martinsfp, and @thekenyeung