Techmeme
March 12, 2021, 7:25 PM

Top News

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says Microsoft's support of a bill for greater bargaining power for news pubs is “self-serving” and intended to distract from the SolarWinds hack  —  Google has always been committed to providing high-quality and relevant information, and to supporting the news publishers who help create it.
Brad Smith / Microsoft On the Issues:
In House hearing, Brad Smith says monetizing referral traffic has become increasingly difficult for news pubs because Google squeezes out most of the profit  —  Editor's Note: On Mar. 12, Microsoft President Brad Smith testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.
Patrick Howell O'Neill / MIT Technology Review:
ESET: at least ten, mostly state-backed hacking groups are exploiting Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities on thousands of servers in over 115 countries  —  Days before Microsoft released a fix for a secret attack on its email systems, hackers ramped up their activity.  Now experts say swift action is required.
Marco Rubio / USA Today:
Marco Rubio says he is endorsing Amazon workers' unionization efforts in Alabama because Amazon leadership is waging “culture war against working-class values”  —  Amazon is waging a culture war against working-class values and is not helping workers or our economy.
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
In a letter to GOP Senators, Amazon says it removed a book because of its policy not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness  —  Company states policy in response to inquiry by several Republican senators over recent removal of book by conservative author
James Tarmy / Bloomberg:
MetaKovan, an anonymous digital asset investor and founder of NFT focused crypto-based investment fund Metapurse, is the buyer of the $69M Beeple NFT  —  A digital asset investor who goes by the handle Metakovan and refuses to give his full name, announced that he is the buyer …
BuzzFeed News:
An internal doc at Facebook, co-written by Chris Cox, aims to equip employees with rebuttals to the perception that the company's products fuel polarization  —  In a Thursday presentation, Facebook executives told employees the company isn't to blame for social division in the country.
James Vincent / The Verge:
Facebook announces a project to train its AI to understand what is happening in videos, using data from videos publicly available on Facebook  —  AI that can understand video could be put to a variety of uses  —  Teaching AI systems to understand what's happening in videos as completely …
Reuters:
Sources: Qualcomm is struggling to meet higher than expected demand due to the global chip shortage and US sanctions against Huawei  —  SAN FRANCISCO/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc is struggling to keep up with demand for its processor chips used in smartphones and gadgets …
Matt Burgess / WIRED UK:
UK Home Office confirms trial of web surveillance tool that can track users' browsing history in partnership with two unnamed ISPs and National Crime Agency  —  The Investigatory Powers Act, or Snooper's Charter, was introduced in 2016.  Now one of its most contentious surveillance tools is being secretly trialled by internet firms
Eric Martin / Bloomberg:

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Zoho Mail MCP: Make your inbox work for you  —  Maya is the head of operations at a 500-person B2B software company.  She's sharp, she's busy, and she starts every morning the same way-with her coffee, laptop, inbox.Not to work.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce 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:
'The Daily' and 'The Opinions': How A.I. Is Changing Loneliness and Taste
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.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Writer's May Habib: Building AI Tools For Corporate 'Normal People' The Labs Leave Behind
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
A Nick, Dick, and Paul Buffet!
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic's Labs Lead On Fable's Capabilities + Building AI-Native Products — With Mike Krieger
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.
Great Chat:
How much data do we actually want about our bodies?
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:25 PM ET, March 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

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
The 8-Bit:
Christian Peña / NBC News:
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: