Techmeme
January 12, 2021, 7:40 PM

Top News

Gizmodo:
GPS metadata from videos posted to Parler on Jan. 6 shows several users deep inside the Capitol; source: FBI has expressed interest in examining the data  —  At least several users of the far-right social network Parler appear to be among the hoard of rioters that managed to penetrate deep inside …
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
After reports of all of Parler's data being downloaded by third parties, analysis shows Parler lacked basic security measures to prevent such a data breach  —  The “free speech” social network also allowed unlimited access to every public post, image, and video.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
WhatsApp clarifies its new data sharing policy with Facebook, which mostly concerns businesses, after recent backlash and surge in Telegram and Signal downloads  —  The company is trying to contain fallout over a privacy policy update  —  WhatsApp has published a new FAQ page …
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Sources: Apple held talks with EV startup Canoo in 2020; Apple was largely interested in Canoo's unique scalable electric vehicle platform  —  As part of the Silicon Valley giant's secretive push into the automotive space  —  Apple held meetings with California EV startup Canoo in the first half …
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
A look at those unlucky enough to forget the password to access their bitcoin; Chainalysis says 20% of all bitcoin, or ~$140B, appears to be lost or stranded  —  Bitcoin owners are getting rich because the cryptocurrency has soared.  But what happens when you can't tap that wealth …
Wall Street Journal:
Visa is abandoning its $5.3B planned acquisition of fintech firm Plaid after the DOJ sued over antitrust concerns in November  —  Justice Department sued in November to challenge $5.3 billion deal  —  Visa Inc. is abandoning its $5.3 billion planned acquisition of Plaid Inc. …
Alex Heath / The Information:
Memo: following its Trump ban, Facebook has told employees to avoid wearing company-branded apparel in public as it might put staff at risk  —  Facebook on Monday told employees to avoid wearing or carrying company-branded clothing and other items in public following the company's suspension …
Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech:
Samsung unveils the Exynos 2100 flagship SoC, produced on a 5nm process node, touting 19% better single core and 33% better multi-core performance than last gen  —  Today, Samsung LSI took the virtual stage to announce the new Exynos 2100 flagship SoC.  The new chip is quite special …
Jeff Stone / CyberScoop:
Europol says it has shut down DarkMarket, the largest online marketplace for illicit goods with 2,400+ vendors, and apprehended a suspect, an Australian man  —  German law enforcement has shut down an internet market where users bought and sold narcotics, stolen data and hacking tools, authorities said Tuesday.
Jeff Grubb / VentureBeat:
Nvidia unveils RTX 3060, 3070, and 3080 GPUs, suited for mobile gaming, and says laptops with the RTX 3070 and 3080 will start rolling out this month  —  Nvidia's Ampere architecture is going mobile.  The company revealed its plans and partnerships to bring GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs to more than 70 laptops throughout 2021.
Dave Nyczepir / FedScoop:
White House launches the National AI Initiative Office, which will implement national AI strategy and coordinate research across gov., industry, and academia  —  The White House on Tuesday fulfilled its requirement to establish an office responsible for coordinating artificial intelligence research …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
AMD unveils its Ryzen 5000 Series, 8-core x86 chips for gaming laptops and thin-and-light notebooks coming in February, alongside third-gen Epyc server chips  —  Advanced Micro Devices showed off some impressive Ryzen 5000 mobile processors today and teased the performance of its 3rd Gen Epyc server chips.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
CrowdStrike details Sunspot, a newly discovered malware strain that was the first to be used in the SolarWinds supply chain attack, beginning in September 2019  —  CrowdStrike, one of the two security firms formally investigating the hack, sheds some light on how hackers compromised the SolarWinds Orion app build process.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook expands its Access Your Information tool, adding six new categories of data, a search tool, and more, available now on its Android and iOS apps  —  Facebook today is rolling out an update to its Access Your Information tool with the goal of making the tool easier to both use and navigate …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Google details a sophisticated hacking operation first detected in early 2020 that used several novel Chrome exploits to compromise users on Android and Windows  —  The attackers used a combination of Android, Chrome, and Windows vulnerabilities, including both zero-days and n-days exploits.
Twitter:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Affirm priced its IPO at $49 per share, above the marketed range of $33 to $38 set earlier this week, raising roughly $1.2B  —  - Affirm is first big technology IPO of this year set to trade  — Consumers use Affirm to finance Peloton bikes, other items
Pew Research Center:
Survey of 9,220 US adults: 53% get news from social media at least sometimes; 36% regularly get news from Facebook, 23% from YouTube, 15% from Twitter  —  Facebook stands out as a regular source of news for about a third of Americans … As social media companies struggle to deal …
Will Knight / Wired:
After an outcry, HireVue, which offers automated assessments of job applicants, will stop using facial analysis but will still analyze intonation and behavior  —  But it's still using intonation and behavior to assist with hiring decisions.  —  JOB HUNTERS MAY now need to impress …
Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:
Gig workers and unions sue in CA Supreme Court to have Prop 22 overturned, alleging it violates the state constitution and limits the power of legislators  —  The lawsuit alleges Prop 22 violated the state constitution, and limited the powers of legislators to provide labor protections they are authorized to grant.

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Wed. 03/27 - Hulu Comes To Disney+; WWDC Gets A Date
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:40 PM ET, January 12, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Shibani Mahtani / Washington Post:
Reuters:

Earlier Picks

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech: