Techmeme
September 30, 2020, 2:40 PM

Top News

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Brian Armstrong's apolitical goal for Coinbase is wishful thinking, limiting its politics to what he deems acceptable during a time of strife in America  —  At a highly polarized time, Brian Armstrong's controversial blog post is an act of wishful thinking  —  This story is part of a group of stories called
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Coinbase offers an exit package with four to six months severance pay and six months COBRA for employees who are not comfortable with its apolitical mission  —  Coinbase is offering a package for employees seeking an exit after the release of a blog post from its CEO outlining …
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Palantir opens at $10 per share following its direct listing on the NYSE, after having a reference price of $7.25  —  - Palantir's public market debut on Wednesdays comes 17 years after the company was created.  — In pursuing a direct listing, Palantir is following the path of Spotify and Slack …
Sharon Weinberger / New York Magazine:
Former US military and intel officials express concerns about Palantir, arguing its success is largely down to its software having a friendlier UI than rivals  —  Back in 2003, John Poindexter got a call from Richard Perle, an old friend from their days serving together in the Reagan administration.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook unveils cross-app communication between Messenger and Instagram, which works even for users without accounts on the other service, rolling out now  —  Facebook announced today it will begin rolling out new functionality that will allow Instagram and Messenger users to communicate across apps …
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
A look at how Facebook is weaving Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp together even as it comes under increasing scrutiny from watchdogs and regulators  —  The social behemoth is weaving together Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp even as watchdogs and regulators close in.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget:
Google unveils Pixel 5 with a 6-inch 90Hz OLED display, ultrawide rear-facing camera instead of zoom lens, 5G, and fingerprint sensor on back for $699  —  It's October, so despite the weird year we're having, Google is hosting a (virtual) event to show off its latest smartphone, the Pixel 5.
Nikkei Asian Review:
Reuters:
Sources: China is considering an antitrust probe into Google, after allegations by Huawei that Google leveraged the dominance of Android to stifle competition  —  BEIJING/SINGAPORE/SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - China is preparing to launch an antitrust probe into Alphabet Inc's Google …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Google announces a new Google TV service that brings streaming apps, a unified search, and live TV, through YouTube TV, into a single interface  —  Not to be confused with the smart TV platform of the same name (2010-2014, RIP) or the Android TV platform it's built on top of, Google has just taken the wraps off the new Google TV.
Natalia Drozdiak / Bloomberg:
Internal docs: EU may ban big tech companies from preferencing their own services or exclusively pre-installing their own apps as part of Digital Services Act  —  - Gatekeeper platforms could also have to share data with rivals  — EU to unveil regulatory proposal for platforms in December
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Twitter says it is expanding voice tweets to more iOS users and plans to add transcriptions to voice tweets to improve accessibility  —  Voice tweets will come to Android and the web in 2021  —  Twitter has just expanded its voice tweets feature, which lets you record a snippet of audio to include with a tweet, to more users on iOS.
Bloomberg:
Clubhouse courted fresh controversy after a conversation with hundreds of listeners devolved into a platform for anti-Semitic comments on a Jewish holy day  —  Controversial private social app Clubhouse was again the target of criticism on Monday, after a conversation with hundreds …
Christopher Harland-Dunaway / The Verge:
Profile of Tron founder and BitTorrent CEO Justin Sun, whose controversial reputation is built on a non-traditional leadership style and marketing stunts  —  When Chinese millionaire Justin Sun acquired BitTorrent, was he trying to skirt the trade war?  Or fly right in the face of it, no matter the cost?
David Meyer / Fortune:
Cloudflare launches a free “privacy-first” analytics tool to rival Google Analytics that records how users engage with websites without invasive tracking  —  The cybersecurity and content-distribution company Cloudflare has become a major part of the Internet's infrastructure …
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Apple and Epic Games stated in a court filing on Tuesday that their coming court battle should be decided in a bench trial by a judge, not a jury  —  Apple and Epic have agreed that the coming court battle should be decided in a bench trial by a judge, not a jury.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
LG says its Wing smartphone will be available in the US beginning October 15 from Verizon and later this fall from AT&T and T-Mobile, starting at $1,000  —  LG's wild sliding phone won't be cheap  —  LG's wild-looking Wing smartphone has gotten a US price and release date …
Max Weinbach / Android Police:
Xiaomi announces a range of new flagship devices: €499 Mi 10T, €599 Mi 10T Pro, and €279 Mi 10T Lite, all with 6.67-inch displays, and €99 Mi Watch  —  Xiaomi is known for its cheap phones, whether they come under its own brand name or its Redmi and Poco sub-brands.

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Earlier Picks

Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
Abner Li / 9to5Google: