Techmeme
January 25, 2021, 10:00 PM

Top News

NBC News:
Twitter debuts Birdwatch, in testing since last year, which lets select users flag and add notes about tweets they think are misleading or false  —  Twitter unveiled a feature Monday meant to bolster its efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation by tapping users in a fashion similar …
Apple:
Adam Weidemann / The Keyword:
Google Threat Analysis Group details a suspected North Korean specialized campaign targeting infosec researchers with fake profiles, blogs and backdoor software  —  Over the past several months, the Threat Analysis Group has identified an ongoing campaign targeting security researchers working …
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired:
A look at r/WallStreetBets, a 2M-member subreddit that helped push GameStop's stock to record highs and is now facing allegations of harassment  —  The denizens of the WallStreetBets subreddit helped push the flailing stock to dizzying heights—while a short seller alleged an accompanying harassment campaign.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Google workers across the world announce Alpha Global, an international alliance of 13 unions representing workers in 10 countries  —  Alpha Global includes workers from 10 countries, including the United States and Germany  —  Google workers across the world are coming together to form a global union alliance.
Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:
Amazon launches new smart home proactive control actions for Alexa, alongside an energy dashboard, and a $4.99/month security-like service, Alexa Guard Plus  —  New updates bring proactive hunches and Guard Plus to the smart assistant  —  Amazon is enabling a new feature today that allows Alexa …
More: Gizmodo and CNETTweets: @mdrndad
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Instagram adds a new “professional dashboard” for creator and business accounts, a dedicated space for analytics, business tools, monetization features, more  —  Instagram is working on a new feature for business owners and influencers.  The app is adding a new “professional dashboard” …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
W3C, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and others launch Open Web Docs, a new project for Web API documentation that will support MDN Docs following Mozilla's layoffs  —  Founding members include the W3C, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Samsung Coil, and Igalia  —  A coalition of tech companies announced today …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple launches Time to Walk for Apple Watch and Fitness+, offering 25- to 40-minute episodes of original audio from influential people, available today  —  Apple has officially unveiled its new Time to Walk feature for Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+ subscribers.
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Sources: Signal's rapid growth following WhatsApp privacy changes has raised concerns from Signal staff who worry the service's new features will be misused  —  SHARE All sharing options  —  On January 6th, WhatsApp users around the world began seeing a pop-up message notifying …
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Facebook says it will give researchers targeting data on 1.3M social issue, electoral, and political ads from August 3 through November 3, 2020  —  Facebook announced the news in a blog post Monday, following years of requests from academics.  Until now, Facebook has only publicly shared data …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Google details its work on a privacy-conscious cookie substitute, called Federated Learning of Cohorts, claims ~95% effectiveness compared to cookie-based ads  —  Google on Monday said new test results show promising signs that the technology it's hoping will replace cookie-based ad targeting is working.
Dan Primack / Axios:
Source: Clubhouse raised around $100M from a16z at a $1B post-money valuation  —  Clubhouse, a San Francisco-based audio social network, raised around $100 million led by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz at a $1 billion post-money valuation, Axios has learned.
Clubhouse:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:00 PM ET, January 25, 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

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Margit Wennmachers / Andreessen Horowitz:

Earlier Picks

Steve Dent / Engadget:
Reuters:
Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch: