Techmeme
March 3, 2021, 8:50 PM

Top News

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Google promises it will not build alternate identifiers to track users after phasing out third-party tracking cookies  —  Google says it wants a ‘privacy-first web’  —  Google is slowly phasing out third-party tracking cookies, and today, it's making it clear that it won't just replace …
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Publicly traded identity management company Okta says it is acquiring Auth0, one of its biggest challengers, in an all-stock deal valued at $6.5B  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  Publicly-traded identity management company Okta is acquiring one of its leading challengers …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Arizona House passes bill HB2005, which would force Apple and Google to let apps in its app stores use alternative payment methods; bill now heads to AZ Senate  —  The bill, HB2005, opens the door for alternative payment systems on iOS and Android  —  The Arizona House of Representatives …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix launches Fast Laughs, a TikTok-like feed in its mobile apps that presents a string of comedy clips from its stand-up specials, TV series, and movies  —  Netflix just made its iPhone app a little more funny-looking.  —  The streaming giant Wednesday launched Fast Laughs …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple debuts a service to let users transfer iCloud photos and videos to “another participating service” like Google Photos, initially in US and select markets  —  Apple this week introduced a new service that's designed to make it quick and easy for iCloud users to transfer their stored photos and videos to Google Photos.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Brave acquires Tailcat, an open source search engine made by the team behind the Cliqz anti-tracking browser, and shares plans to launch Brave Search  —  Brave, the privacy-focused browser co-founded by ex-Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, is getting ready to launch an own-brand search engine for desktop and mobile.
Axios:
Indie.vc, a six-year-old effort by O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures to invest small amounts in bootstrapped businesses, shuts down after results left LPs unimpressed  —  Indie.vc, an effort launched six years ago to invest small amounts in bootstrapped businesses, announced on Tuesday that it's winding down.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Microsoft warns users a new Chinese state-sponsored threat actor is exploiting four previously undisclosed zero days in Exchange Server; patches are available  —  Microsoft is warning customers that a new China state-sponsored threat actor is exploiting four previously undisclosed security flaws …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Emails show US surveillance company Flock has rolled out a nationwide network of cameras with AI-powered license plate reading tech via 500+ police departments  —  Hundreds of pages of emails obtained by Motherboard show how little-known company Flock has expanded from surveilling individual neighborhoods …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it is testing a new style of displaying tweets that link to e-commerce product pages, after it was spotted by a Twitter for Android user in Qatar  —  Twitter confirmed it's testing a new way to display tweets that link out to e-commerce product pages — like products on a Shopify store, for example.
More: 9to5MacTweets: @yoda
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook says that on Thursday it will lift the ban on political and social issue ads in the US, imposed after the November election  —  Facebook will finally allow advertisers to resume running political and social issue ads in the U.S. on Thursday, according to a company update.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Five senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, ask Amazon about its use of AI-equipped cameras to monitor delivery drivers, after a Feb. report  —  - Five senators wrote a letter to CEO Jeff Bezos on Wednesday, demanding more context around the company's recent deployment …
More: The Hill and CNET
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Microsoft Mesh, a mixed-reality platform on Azure, and demos a meeting service to let users join virtual rooms using devices like HoloLens 2  —  Mesh is Microsoft's vision for the future of mixed reality  —  Last week, Microsoft's Alex Kipman, the inventor of Kinect and HoloLens …

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