Techmeme
August 6, 2020, 3:30 AM

Top News

Heather Kelly / Washington Post:
Amanda Macias / CNBC:
Trump admin proposes a “Clean Network” effort to curb potential national security risks from China by banning “untrusted” Chinese apps from US app stores, more  —  - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a five-pronged “Clean Network” effort aimed at curbing potential national security risks from China.
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Telemedicine provider Teladoc Health signs a $18.5B deal to buy Livongo, maker of connected devices for managing diabetes and other chronic conditions  —  In a sign of the growing importance and value of digital healthcare in the world of medicine, two of the industry's publicly traded companies …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook launches Instagram Reels, its TikTok competitor that lets users create and publish 15-second videos, in 50+ countries, including the US, UK, and Japan  —  Instagram Reels, the company's significant effort in challenging TikTok on short-form creative content, is launching globally, starting today.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Samsung announces the Galaxy Z Fold2 with an upgraded camera system, larger 7.6-inch main display, and hole-punch cameras; release date and price TBA  —  The Fold is back  —  Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Z Fold 2 at its Unpacked event, the successor to last year's Galaxy Fold …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Daniel Bader / Android Central:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft ends its xCloud game streaming test on iOS devices, says it had to limit the app to one game and 10,000 testers “to comply with App Store policies”  —  Apple's App Store policies appear to be holding xCloud back  —  Microsoft has ended its xCloud game streaming test for iOS devices today.
Jay Greene / Washington Post:
Microsoft could use data culled from TikTok content, such as video of people of different ethnicities engaged in a variety of activities, to train its AI  —  More than merely appealing to the young users of TikTok, Microsoft could use the data culled from its videos to better compete against its AI rivals.
Eugene Wei / Remains of the Day:
TikTok's video recommendation algorithm shows that machine learning can overcome cultural ignorance, a boon for companies operating in foreign markets  —  I often describe myself as a cultural determinist, more as a way to differentiate myself from people with other dominant worldviews, though I am not a strict adherent.
Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed News:
Instagram says a “bug” caused its hashtag recommendations to favor Trump-related content when searching for hashtags related to Joe Biden and Trump  —  “A technical error caused a number of hashtags to not show related hashtags.  We've disabled this feature while we investigate."
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Intuit has agreed to acquire TradeGecko, an inventory and order management software platform for small retailers and wholesalers, sources say for $80M+  —  - Intuit is said to pay more than $80 million for TradeGecko  — TradeGecko will be integrated into Intuit's QuickBooks Online
Crystal Tse / Bloomberg:
Shares of e-commerce startup BigCommerce rose as much as 292% above its $24 IPO Wednesday; stock closed up 201% and raised $216M  —  BigCommerce Holdings Inc., which makes software for online business operations, rose as much as 292% in its trading debut after pricing its $216 million initial public offering above a targeted range.
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Camera maker Canon struck by apparent ransomware attack resulting in data loss for users of its free cloud storage and affecting many of its website domains  —  ​Canon has suffered a ransomware attack that impacts numerous services, including Canon's email, Microsoft Teams, USA website …
More: Gizmodo
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
California's labor commissioner has filed separate lawsuits against Uber and Lyft for alleged wage theft by misclassifying workers as independent contractors  —  The Golden State is becoming increasingly hostile to app-based ride-hailing  —  Uber and Lyft are committing wage theft …
Davey Alba / New York Times:
In an open letter, 20 state AGs called on Facebook to better prevent messages of hate, bias, and disinformation from spreading and support users facing abuse  —  The call from 20 state officials adds to the rising pressure facing Mark Zuckerberg and his company.

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More News

Rest of World:
Todd Spangler / Variety:

Earlier Picks

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Bloomberg:
Sara Fischer / Axios: