Techmeme
February 22, 2021, 1:15 PM

Top News

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Spotify says it will launch a subscription later this year called HiFi that will offer “CD-quality, lossless audio”; Spotify currently tops out at 320kbps audio  —  Your turn, Apple Music  —  Spotify is going hi-fi.  Well, “HiFi.”  It's taken longer than competitors like Tidal …
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Gartner: in Q4 2020, Apple sold 80M new iPhones globally, overtaking Samsung to become the largest smartphone vendor, increasing its market share by ~15%  —  Apple overtook Samsung to become the largest smartphone vendor worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2020, a feat not achieved by Apple since 2016 …
Bloomberg:
Clubhouse says it has added security safeguards and banned a user after some Clubhouse audio and metadata was found on a third-party website  —  - The app's creators had been warned user data was vulnerable  — An unidentified user streamed audio chats to their own website
VICE:
Researchers say a change in iOS 14.5 beta, which improves how iOS handles pointers, makes sandbox escapes and “0-click” attacks much harder to pull off  —  Multiple exploit developers tell Motherboard an upcoming change in iOS could make zero-click exploits harder to pull off.
Anton Troianovski / New York Times:
Russian officials are trying to lure people onto social networks tied to the government, in an attempt to keep dissent from going viral at moments of crisis  —  The Kremlin has constructed an entire infrastructure of repression but has not displaced Western apps.  Instead, it is turning to outright intimidation.
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Alex Barker / Financial Times:
Microsoft says it will work with Europe's four largest news publishing lobbying groups to “mandate payments” for content used by “gatekeepers”  —  Seattle-based company aligns with press industry and exploits difficulties of rivals  —  Microsoft has joined forces …
Cory Doctorow / Pluralistic:
Deep dive on CALERA, the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act unveiled by Sen. Klobuchar, that would effectively revamp US antitrust enforcement  —  When it's railroading time, you get railroads.  —  When the railroads turn into the personal satrapies of rail-barons, you get trustbusters.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify says it will launch in 80+ new markets in the coming days, expanding from 93 markets, making the service available to 1B potential new users  —  Spotify unveiled plans to launch in the next few days in 85 new markets, areas that represent more than 1 billion potential new listeners, according the company.

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More News

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Earlier Picks

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