Techmeme
July 8, 2020, 7:40 AM

Top News

Free Press:
After meeting between leaders of Facebook, ADL, Free Press, NAACP, and Color Of Change, boycott organizers are unconvinced meaningful change will occur  —  WASHINGTON — On Tuesday afternoon, leaders of four of the organizations coordinating the #StopHateForProfit advertising boycott met …
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
An independent audit commissioned by Facebook harshly criticizes the company, arguing that some of its decisions were “significant setbacks for civil rights”  —  An independent audit faulted the social network for “vexing and heartbreaking decisions” that affect its users — and potentially the November elections.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Code in the second developer beta of iOS 14 reveals a hidden and unannounced feature in the Wallet app that would allow payments with QR codes using Apple Pay  —  Apple today released the second developer beta of iOS 14 with some small changes across the system.
Tom Simonite / Wired:
A look at how AI companies like Synthesia are creating corporate-friendly uses for deepfakes, like creating multilingual, personalized training videos  —  Coronavirus restrictions make it harder and more expensive to shoot videos.  So some companies are turning to synthetic media instead.
Diane Bartz / Reuters:
Sources: FTC and Justice Department are looking into allegations TikTok failed to live up to a 2019 agreement to protect children's privacy  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Justice Department are looking into allegations that popular app TikTok failed …
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Samsung announces its next Galaxy Unpacked event for August 5, to be held virtually, where the Galaxy Note 20 lineup and Galaxy Fold's successor are expected  —  Time for a new Galaxy Unpacked event  —  Samsung has announced that its next Galaxy Unpacked event will take place on Wednesday, August 5th, at 10AM ET.
Richard C. Moss / Ars Technica:
A retrospective on a nearly 25-year history of Flash, as Adobe prepares to officially end support and distribution of Flash Player in December 2020  —  Before Flash Player sunsets this December, we talk its legacy with those who built it.  —  Few technologies have yielded such divisive and widespread passion as Flash.
The Guardian:
Paul Mozur / New York Times:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Instagram will start letting users pin up to three comments on their posts, after testing the feature in May  —  To help users highlight positive replies and better moderate abusive ones  —  Instagram on Tuesday started the official rollout of its pinned comment feature …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Unacademy acquires PrepLadder, which offers medical education courses online, for $50M, as Unacedemy and Byju's eye edtech consolidation in India with more M&A  —  Indian online learning platform Unacademy said on Tuesday it has acquired Chandigarh-based startup PrepLadder for $50 million …
Carolyn Said / San Francisco Chronicle:
Uber drivers in Southern California and Sacramento can now set their own fares, higher or lower than Uber's existing rates, in response to AB5 state law  —  Uber is letting drivers in Southern California and Sacramento set their own fares, a feature it will soon bring to the Bay Area and the entire state.
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
A group of best-selling authors is teaming up with Amazon in filing a lawsuit against Kiss Library, which they claim sold unauthorized ebooks of their work  —  A group of best-selling authors is teaming up with Amazon in a lawsuit that aims to bring down an alleged counterfeit e-book …
More: TorrentFreakThanks:@toddbishop
Jason Del Rey / Vox:
Sources: Walmart+, a $98/year Amazon Prime rival, will launch in July, with same-day delivery, discounts at Walmart gas stations, reserved delivery slots, more  —  After announcing a number of improvements to its online shopping experience, Walmart is now taking aim at Amazon Prime membership.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast plans to invest $2B in Peacock by 2021, expects it to generate $2.5B in revenue by 2024 with 30M-35M users, says users gravitate to its curated channels  —  In September 2019, Steve Burke, then NBCUniversal chief executive, called Matt Strauss, with a question: Would he take the wheel of the Peacock project?

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Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
Chuck Klosterman on Why Football Owns TV (and Why It Won't Forever)
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Big Technology Podcast:
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon: Future Of AI Devices, AI Fashion, Blending Reality and Computing
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.
The Social Radars:
Christina Cacioppo, Founder & CEO, Vanta
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.
Invest Like the Best:
Patrick O'Shaughnessy - Creating on Principle
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
The non-technical PM's guide to building with Cursor | Zevi Arnovitz (Meta)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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.
 

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More News

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Michael del Castillo / Forbes:

Earlier Picks

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
New York Times:
Abdi Latif Dahir / New York Times: