Techmeme
June 16, 2020, 8:30 PM

Top News

David Pierce / Protocol:
Shortly after Basecamp debuted its email service, Hey, it says its next iOS app update was rejected because Apple wasn't getting its cut of subscription revenue  —  Right around the time the team at Basecamp was launching their Hey email service to the public on Monday, Zach Waugh …
David Pierce / Protocol:
Aaron Holmes / Business Insider:
Google cracks down on The Federalist and ZeroHedge for violating policies on race-related content and may permanently suspend their access to Google Ads revenue  —  - Google is cracking down on two right-wing outlets, ZeroHedge and The Federalist, for violating its policies on race-related content.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
The European Commission opens two antitrust investigations into Apple's App Store and Apple Pay practices  —  Both investigations begin today  —  The European Commission is opening two antitrust investigations into Apple's App Store and Apple Pay practices today.
Bloomberg:
Being a Black CEO in Silicon Valley can be humiliating, from being advised to have a white wingman in meetings, to being judged on a different rubric by VCs  —  Will Hayes has grown accustomed to an awkward start to business meetings.  On numerous occasions, venture capitalists would confuse Hayes …
Washington Post:
CIA report: security was so lax at the time of the Vault 7 breach that if WikiLeaks hadn't published its trove, CIA may have never known they were compromised  —  The theft of top-secret computer hacking tools from the CIA in 2016 was the result of a workplace culture in which the agency's …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Boston Dynamics says Spot, its quadruped robot, is now available to businesses in the US as part of a developer kit for $74,500  —  Boston Dynamics today opened commercial sales of Spot, its quadruped robot that can climb stairs and traverse rough terrain.  Businesses can purchase …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Researchers disclose 19 flaws in a TCP/IP library, first released in 1997, found in many IoT products; patches are available but unlikely to be widely applied  —  Security researchers disclose 19 vulnerabilities impacting a TCP/IP library found at the base of many IoT products.
Robert McMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Graphika report details a Russia-based influence campaign, known as Secondary Infektion, that ran over 6 years and 300 sites, but failed to win a large audience  —  Group known as Secondary Infektion used multiple languages, burner accounts to circumvent attempts to detect it
Ian Allison / CoinDesk:
ConsenSys launches a pilot “staking-as-a-service” tool, with customers including Binance, ahead of proof-of-stake tech being rolled out with Ethereum 2.0  —  Ethereum development house ConsenSys is being backed by heavy hitters like Binance and Huobi to test its new …
Matt Day / Bloomberg:
Amazon says it is deploying AI-powered software called Distance Assistant in warehouses that tells workers if they are too close to colleagues  —  - Workers failing to keep safe distance will be circled in red  — Robotics engineer likens technology to highway speed checkers
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Dropbox launches a password manager, a secure vault for storing documents like birth certificates, a backup service, and a family plan  —  The company announced a bunch of new updates today  —  Dropbox is launching a bunch of new features today, many of which are security-focused …
BBC:
Report finds 11% of people under 25 use Instagram for news compared with 12% for Twitter, predicts Instagram will overtake Twitter next year as a news source  —  Photo-sharing app Instagram is set to overtake Twitter as a news source, research suggests.  —  The 2020 Reuters Institute Digital …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Oracle reports Q4 revenue of $10.44B, down 6% YoY, missing expectations of $10.65B, cloud and on-premises license revenue fell 22% to $1.96B  —  - Revenue declined more than the company had predicted in the quarter  — The company won business from video-calling software provider Zoom in the quarter.
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Sources: in letters, Facebook and Google signaled they'd dispatch their CEOs to testify to Congress at antitrust hearing provided other tech giants' CEOs went  —  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai signaled they are open to testifying to Congress as part …
Frank Jordans / Associated Press:
Germany launches a COVID-19 contact tracing app on iOS and Android, saying it cost €20M to develop and will require €2.5M- €3.5M per month to operate  —  BERLIN (AP) — Germany launched a coronavirus tracing app Tuesday that officials say is so secure even government ministers can use it.

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