Techmeme
May 12, 2020, 9:55 AM

Top News

Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Sources: Apple's over-ear headphones, called “AirPods Studio”, will feature head and neck detection sensors, automated audio channel routing, and more  —  We've been hearing about Apple's upcoming over-ear headphones for some time, with evidence from multiple sources pointing to the official launch later this year.
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Sources: Facebook is quietly helping to launch American Edge, a political advocacy group in Washington, to battle regulators trying to rein in the tech industry  —  The organization, called American Edge, arrives at a time when the industry is facing withering antitrust scrutiny in Washington.
Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters:
Twitter says it will add labels and warning messages to tweets about COVID-19 with misleading or disputed content and plans to expand the labels to other topics  —  (Reuters) - Twitter Inc will add labels and warning messages on some tweets with disputed or misleading information about COVID-19 …
Travis M. Andrews / Washington Post:
Nicole Sperling / New York Times:
Jeffrey Katzenberg blames COVID-19 for Quibi's paltry downloads as execs lower projections from 7M users and $250M subscriber revenue estimated for first year  —  Downloads of the $1.8 billion short-form streaming app, meant for phones, are paltry.  “I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus,” Mr. Katzenberg said.
Alexander Behrens / Decrypt:
TD Ameritrade-backed ErisX launches the first Ethereum futures trading platform in the US authorized by regulators  —  Ethereum has taken another big step into the regulated financial world.  —  ErisX, a US-based digital asset trading platform backed by TD Ameritrade, today launched trading for Ethereum …
Wolfie Zhao / CoinDesk:
Bitcoin's third “halving”, the programmed event where mining rewards drop, has occurred, lowering the payout to 6.25 BTC per block; the last halving was in 2016  —  Bitcoin's third halving, the network's quadrennial landmark and the most anticipated event this year in the cryptocurrency industry, has finally happened.
Elise Favis / Washington Post:
A look at Nookazon, a fan-made online retailer for trading Animal Crossing in-game items that claims 270K DAUs, over 9M listings, and 7M page views per day  —  Daniel Luu, a 25-year-old software engineer from Maryland, woke up one morning to find hundreds of thousands of people scouring his newly launched website Nookazon.
Bobbie Johnson / MIT Technology Review:
Iceland's contract tracing app has ~38% adoption, the highest in the world, among its population of 364,000, but its impact on containing COVID-19 seems small  —  The country has the highest penetration of any automated contact tracing app in the world, but one senior figure says it “wasn't a game changer.”
Franklin Foer / The Atlantic:
US' election security responses against Russian interference in 2016 remain inadequate as Russian tactics continue to evolve in the run up to the 2020 election  —  Jack Cable sat down at the desk in his cramped dorm room to become an adult in the eyes of democracy.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Microsoft's new Family Safety app, for managing kids' screen time and app usage, launches in preview on Android and iOS and syncs with Windows and Xbox devices  —  The app syncs with Windows and Xbox devices  —  Microsoft is launching a dedicated new app, Family Safety, designed for managing kids' screen time and app usage.
Miles Kruppa / Financial Times:
Equity management platform Carta is planning to launch CartaX, a private share trading platform to rival Nasdaq, this summer for companies worth $1B+  —  Silicon Valley start-up poised to launch exchange as tech companies delay IPOs  —  The Silicon Valley start-up Carta is planning to launch …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify begins rolling out a new feature called Group Session, which lets multiple Premium users control a listening session  —  Spotify is today introducing a new feature, Group Session, that will allow two or more of its Premium users in the same space to share control over they music being played.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
DispatchTrack, which provides logistics services for last-mile deliveries, raises $144M from Spectrum Equity, in its first-ever funding  —  The current state of our COVID-19 world has underscored more than ever before the need for reliable delivery and e-commerce services …
More: VentureBeat and FinSMEs
Danny Crichton / TechCrunch:
Vise, which provides a AI-powered app for investment advisors that helps them choose and personalize investment options for clients, raises $14.5M Series A  —  The retirement wars are heating up.  —  As millions of baby boomers leave their jobs in the coming years and transition into retirement …

Sponsor Posts

ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs  —  You know us for voice.  Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency.  Hear it for yourself.
Niantic Spatial:
World models need real-world data  —  Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics.  Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
Zoho:
Q1 Updates from Bigin: MCP support, AI-powered lead enrichment, Add-in for Outlook and more!  —  Hello!  And welcome to another round of quarterly updates from the world of Bigin, the easy, affordable …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
The Pentagon's AI Plan + Behind the Anthropic Fight — With Under Secretary of War Emil Michael
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Great Chat:
Developer marketing when everyone is a developer
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
The Social Radars:
Justin Kan, Cofounder, Twitch
Come be a fly on the wall as Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy talk to some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley about how they did it.
Subscribe to The Social Radars.
Cheeky Pint:
The world of voice AI, with Mati Staniszewski of ElevenLabs
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Invest Like the Best:
Scott Nolan - SpaceX, Founders Fund, and Rebuilding American Uranium Enrichment
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:55 AM ET, May 12, 2020.

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.

More News

Sarah Emerson / OneZero :

Earlier Picks

Steve Neavling / Detroit Metro Times:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Andy Greenberg / Wired: