Techmeme
October 22, 2020, 1:30 AM

Top News

Medium:
Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg confirm Quibi is shutting down: “Our failure was not for lack of trying; we've considered and exhausted every option”  —  We started with the idea to create the next generation of storytelling and because of you, we were able to create and deliver …
Kevin Collier / NBC News:
US intelligence director says Iran was behind threatening emails to FL Democratic voters demanding they vote for Trump; voter info was likely publicly available  —  Iranian intelligence was responsible for a recent campaign of emails sent to intimidate Florida voters, the FBI announced Wednesday night …
New York Times:
A look at the well-funded Big Tech opponents, from lawyers to academics, that have helped guide potential government regulation like Google's antitrust suit  —  An unlikely collection of lawyers, activists, economists and academics are fueling the tech backlash, armed with funding from billionaire sponsors.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Wall Street Journal:
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says Jony Ive will collaborate with Airbnb as a design consultant, as part of a multi-year partnership with Ive's firm LoveFrom  —  Jony Ive retired from Apple about a year ago, following an almost 25 year tenure as head of Apple product design.
Anna Irrera / Reuters:
PayPal will let users buy and sell cryptocurrency using its online wallets in the coming weeks and shop at merchants on its network starting in early 2021  —  LONDON (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc joined the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, allowing customers to buy …
Nathan Grayson / Kotaku:
Twitch sent DMCA notices to streamers on Tuesday, deleting content without allowing counterclaims; Twitch says “thousands” of music rights holders complained  —  It's finally happening: Twitch is taking action against copyrighted music—long a norm among streamers—in response to music industry pressure.
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Report: at least 2,000 US law enforcement agencies, including 49 of the 50 largest police departments, have the tools to access locked, encrypted phones  —  At least 2,000 law enforcement agencies have tools to get into encrypted smartphones, according to new research, and they are using them far more than previously known.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC's top lawyer defends its authority to interpret Section 230, saying 1996 legislation that included Section 230 amended a 1934 act that created the FCC  —  FCC lawyer claims authority to interpret any part of the Communications Act.  —  The Federal Communications Commission's top lawyer today explained …
The Intercept:
Documents show Google Cloud will be used for its AI capabilities by the CBP in conjunction with Anduril Industries' surveillance tech on the US-Mexico border  —  After years of backlash over controversial government work, Google technology will be used to aid the Trump administration's efforts …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
iPad Air (2020) review: has an excellent screen, very fast processor, and is compatible with iPad Pro accessories, but it's expensive and has no 128GB option  —  Despite the higher cost, this iPad is the one to get  —  If you're looking to get an iPad right now and can afford it …
Hugh Son / CNBC:
JPMorgan launches QuickAccept, a smartphone card reader and payments service for SMBs providing instant deposits of POS transactions for free, unlike Square  —  - JPMorgan's new QuickAccept service lets businesses take card payments within minutes, either through a mobile app or a contactless card reader …
Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Over 430,000 viewers tuned in simultaneously to watch Rep. Ocasio-Cortez play Among Us on Twitch, the third highest ever for an individual Twitch stream  —  More than 430,000 people tuned in simultaneously to Twitch on Tuesday night to watch Rep. Alexia Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) play a hit video game as part of an effort to promote voting.

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Featured Podcasts

Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
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Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
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OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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.
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Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: