Techmeme
November 19, 2020, 10:25 AM

Top News

Nick Statt / The Verge:
Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service launches on iOS as a web app, bypassing Apple's App Store and allowing iOS users to play Fortnite  —  Nvidia joins Microsoft in bypassing Apple's App Store  —  Nvidia is joining its fellow cloud gaming providers in choosing to bypass Apple's App Store …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Sources: state and federal investigators are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Facebook for buying rivals Instagram and WhatsApp  —  State and federal investigators are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Facebook that will challenge the tech giant's acquisition of two rivals …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
The M1 Macs are astonishingly good and Rosetta is the exemplification of “it just works”, but the iOS app experience ranges from terrible to OK, at best  —  Better necessarily implies different.  —  That's one of my favorite axioms.  It's both intuitively and undeniably true.
Sebastiaan de With / Halide:
iPhone 12 Pro Max's camera achieves images of quality previously only seen in dedicated cameras that have sensors four times its size  —  At Halide HQ, we've been busily working away on a very deep, technical analysis of what's new in iPhone 12 cameras this year.  All four of 'em.
Eric Geller / Politico:
CISA is now being led by 15-year DHS veteran Brandon Wales; source says Wales wants to keep operating CISA's Rumor Control site, which debunked election misinfo  —  Five months before President Donald Trump fired him, federal cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs made a key addition to his leadership team …
Amanda Macias / CNBC:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google unveils major redesign for Google Pay for iOS and Android and partners with 11 banks to launch a mobile-first bank accounts service called Plex in 2021  —  Google is launching a major redesign of its Google Pay app on both Android and iOS today.  Like similar phone-based contactless …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Apple agrees to pay $113M to settle an investigation into iPhone throttling brought by 34 states and District of Columbia  —  Apple will pay $113 million to settle an investigation by nearly three dozen states into the tech giant's past practice of slowing customers' old iPhones in an attempt to preserve their batteries.
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
YouTube says channels of all sizes may now see ads on them, though only creators big enough to qualify for its Partner Program will be paid any ad revenue  —  The company is rolling it out on a ‘limited number of videos’  —  Starting today, YouTube will begin running ads on some creators' videos …
Mary Ann Azevedo / FinLedger:
Affirm files its draft S-1 for an IPO; in its fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, Affirm's revenue was $509.5M, up ~93% YoY, while net losses fell to $112.6M  —  Buy now, pay later innovator has over 6.2 million consumers on its network  —  Alternative payments provider Affirm Holdings …
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
Over 200 Facebook contract moderators sign an open letter criticizing Facebook, Accenture, and CPL for ending WFH policies and call for better protections  —  Here's what you need to know:  —  Facebook moderators forced back to the office raise alarms about Covid-19 protections.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Apple debuts a forked version of TensorFlow optimized for macOS, says it trains up to 7x faster on 13" MacBook Pro with M1 than 2020 Macbook Pro 13" with Intel  —  Google today released a new version of TensorFlow, its AI and machine learning development environment, optimized for Intel Macs and Macs powered by Apple's new M1 chip.
Scott Zamost / NBC News:
Criminals launder coronavirus relief money through Venmo, Cash App, PayPal and other apps; so far 80 have been charged with trying to steal $240M+ from the PPP  —  Criminals are laundering illegally obtained funds meant for Covid-19 relief through the most popular apps for legally sending …
More: CNBC
Lananh Nguyen / Bloomberg:
Nasdaq to acquire Verafin, which develops cloud-based software to help customers detect and report financial crimes, for $2.75B  —  - Canadian firm helps clients detect fraud, money laundering  — Market for combating financial crime expected to grow 17%
More: Finextra
Charlotte Tucker / EU-Startups:
FirstVet, which offers on-demand video consultations with veterinarians to pet owners, raises €29.5M led by Mubadala Capital to support its launch in the US  —  FirstVet, the company that provides pet-owners with on-demand video consultations from local, qualified veterinarians …
More: Tech.eu
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Verbit, which develops AI-assisted transcription and captioning software for professional users, raises $60M Series C led by Sapphire Ventures  —  Verbit today announced the close of a $60 million series C round that the company says will bolster its product R&D efforts.
More: Tech.eu
Jake Bright / TechCrunch:
Chipper Cash, which provides cross-border payments services in Africa, raises $30M Series B led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Bezos Expeditions  —  African cross-border fintech startup Chipper Cash has raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital with participation …

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Earlier Picks

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Nick Statt / The Verge: