Techmeme
August 26, 2020, 8:25 PM

Top News

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook warns publishers that Apple's upcoming privacy changes in iOS 14, which clamp down on ad tracking IDFA usage, will make Audience Network less effective  —  Facebook is warning advertisers that they can expect weaker ad performance from iPhone users once iOS 14 comes out next month …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Epic says Fortnite gamers on iOS and macOS will not be able to play the game's next season, arriving Thursday, and will lose cross-play with non-Apple platforms  —  Apple players are losing cross-play  —  Fortnite's next season arrives tomorrow, but if you're on iOS or macOS, you won't be able to play it, Epic announced today.
New York Times:
How Microsoft's talks with TikTok ballooned from a small investment into a big, messy, closely watched political soap opera after Trump's intervention  —  Neither side wanted a big deal.  But what began as talks about a small investment ballooned with interventions from President Trump.
Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE:
Most of Scots Wikipedia appears to be written by an American attempting a Scottish accent, not Scots, Scotland's official language; the user has 23K+ articles  —  Scots is an official language of Scotland.  An administrator of the Scots Wikipedia page is an American who doesn't speak Scots …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to add AR content to Apple TV+ next year, as a form of bonus content akin to director commentaries, ahead of an AR headset in 2022  —  - Company plans to add AR-based bonus content to original video  — Apple seeks to make AR more mainstream ahead of headset launch
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Salesforce to cut ~1,000 jobs, 1.8% of its workforce, including some Tableau employees, and will give those affected 60 days to find a new role in the company  —  - The cuts amount to about 2% of Salesforce's workforce, but employees affected will have 60 days to find a new position at the company.
New York Times:
As Palantir files to go public, questions remain about whether to define the company as a software business, a less-profitable consulting firm, or both  —  A tech start-up named for objects in “The Lord of the Rings” has become a major government contractor.  But what it does is not easy to understand.
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Karl Bode / VICE:
US says three members of international piracy ring Sparks Group have been arrested, in coordination with 18 countries, and charged with copyright infringement  —  Three members of the “Sparks Group,” which cracked movies and TV shows for torrent sites ahead of their release, were arrested in a global law enforcement raid.
Kate Cox / Ars Technica:
Unsealed court docs: Google engineers admitted knowing and discussing that the company's location privacy app settings were confusing and could be misleading  —  Users could make change, but it was “difficult enough that people won't,” one employee wrote.  —  Newly unsealed and partially …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
White House announces $1B+ investment to create 12 research institutes focused on AI and quantum computing  —  The White House today detailed the establishment of 12 new research institutes focused on AI and quantum information science.  Agencies including the National Science Foundation …
Dan Primack / Axios:
Ten VC firms say they're adding “diversity riders” in term sheets, pledging startups and lead investors will try to include underrepresented investors in deals  —  Ten venture capital firms on Wednesday will announce that they're now including “diversity riders” …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Sony opens registration for invite-only PlayStation 5 preorders, says supply will be limited and invitation program is aimed at existing PlayStation customers  —  There will be a “limited quantity of PS5 consoles available for pre-order”  —  Sony has announced the latest step in its dragged …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Google announces updates for its Nest Hub aimed at hotels, including adding wake-up calls along with weather and local information  —  Given the number of rooms I've stayed in over the past couple of years that still sported a 30-pin iPod alarm clock, I think it's a safe bet that refreshing …
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
Finix, a SaaS startup selling payments tools to businesses, adds $30M led by Lightspeed and AMEX to its $45M Series B from earlier this year  —  Finix continues to have a good year.  Six months after announcing an initial $45 million Series B, the payments infrastructure company is coming …
Tracy Withers / Bloomberg:
New Zealand's stock exchange halted trading for more than three hours on Wednesday after experiencing its second cyber attack in two days, likely DDoS  —  New Zealand's stock exchange was halted for more than three hours on Wednesday as it came under cyber attack for a second day.
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Habi, a Colombia-based residential real estate marketplace with automated pricing tech, raises $10M Series A to fuel Latin American expansion  —  When Brynne McNulty Rojas moved to Bogotá, Columbia four years ago, she encountered a fragmented real estate industry that lacked …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Joe Budden, one of Spotify's biggest exclusive podcasters, is leaving Spotify on Sept. 23, claims it “is pillaging” his audience and won't give him a bonus  —  “I cannot tell you where this podcast will be.”  —  Joe Budden, one of Spotify's biggest exclusive podcasters, is leaving the platform.
Tweets: @chris_ciaccia
Richard Lai / Engadget:
Hands-on with the ~$950 ASUS ZenFone 7 Pro, which has a flippable camera, Snapdragon 865 Plus, 6.67" 90Hz AMOLED display, and a 5,000mAh battery  —  ASUS has been taking a cautious approach to its new phones, at a time when rivals continue to churn out a mix of flagship and midrange devices.

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