Techmeme
December 29, 2020, 6:20 PM

Top News

Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Federal judge dismisses Apple's claims that mobile device virtualization company Corellium violated copyright law with its software to run iOS on PCs  —  Corellium helps customers find bugs in Apple's mobile operating system.  Apple aimed to shut it down.  —  Corellium, a security research firm sued …
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Leaked docs: Lens, a supplier for Apple, Tesla, Amazon, used alleged forced Uighur labor; Apple says it has confirmed its suppliers have not used forced labor  —  New documents show Lens Technology, which makes iPhone glass and is owned by China's richest woman, received Uighur Muslim laborers transferred from Xinjiang.
Flurry:
Survey: US smartphone activations on Christmas Day fell 23% YoY as iPhones dominated the top 10 activated smartphones and budget devices, like LG K30, surge  —  Christmas day in the United States is the single greatest day for new smartphone activations.  And despite supply chain delays caused …
Bloomberg:
Source: Ant Group is planning to fold its financial operations into a holding company that could be regulated more like a bank  —  - Financial units face stricter regulation in planned structure  — Lifestyle businesses to be excluded from holding company
Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is tying the fate of $2,000 stimulus checks to the repeal of Section 230, an effort that will likely doom both pieces of legislation in the Senate.
Wall Street Journal:
Unredacted draft version of the lawsuit filed by 10 states earlier this month details a Google-Facebook ad deal that allegedly constituted illegal price fixing  —  Lawmakers have called for an investigation into the tech giants' contract, dubbed ‘Jedi Blue,’ which allegedly allowed for auction rigging
Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Police rely heavily on car sensor and infotainment system data, including GPS and call records, to challenge alibis, thanks to looser privacy standards for cars  —  On June 26, 2017, the lifeless body of Ronald French, a bearded auto mechanic with once-twinkling eyes, was mysteriously found in a cornfield in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google is testing an expansion of its “Short Videos” feature at the top of mobile search that will surface TikTok and Instagram videos in a dedicated carousel  —  Google is testing a new feature that will surface Instagram and TikTok videos in their own dedicated carousel …
CoinDesk:
Coinbase says it will suspend trading of XRP on January 19, 2021, following the SEC's suit against Ripple  —  Coinbase said it will suspend trading of XRP, the cryptocurrency the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claimed last week is really a security.

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Earlier Picks

Siobhan Roberts / New York Times:
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Anthony G. Attrino / New Jersey Online:
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech: