Techmeme
March 18, 2021, 3:40 PM

Top News

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
A look at the origins of Clearview AI, which far-right activist Charles Johnson says he co-founded, as it is besieged by lawsuits and investigations  —  In May 2019, an agent at the Department of Homeland Security received a trove of unsettling images.  Found by Yahoo in a Syrian user's account …
Katie Notopoulos / BuzzFeed News:
Facebook is working on a neural wristband that reads signals from brain to hands, to go along with its AR glasses; Bosworth insists it can't “read your brain”  —  Facebook is working on a new neural wristband that can read the electrical signals sent to your hands and send them to an augmented reality interface.
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Facebook, which supported security keys on desktop since 2017, expands support to iOS and Android users  —  Facebook has supported security keys on desktop since 2017 and will now enable iOS and Android users to log in to their account via the physical key.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter says it is testing a way for its iOS users to watch YouTube videos in their timelines, in the US, Japan, Canada, and Saudi Arabia  —  Shortly after Twitter announced it would begin testing a better way to display images on its app, it's now doing the same for YouTube videos.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Kuo: MiniLED displays will be used in the MacBook Air by 2022 and the 2022 iPad Air will feature an OLED display  —  Rumors have been suggesting that Apple will soon release a new iPad Pro with a Mini-LED display, but the company also plans to bring this technology to other devices in the future.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sundar Pichai / The Keyword:
Google says it will invest $7B+ in offices and data centers across the US and create at least 10K new full-time Google jobs in the US this year  —  One of the best parts of my job is getting the opportunity to visit the communities that Google is a part of across the U.S. Whether it's meeting …
Reed Albergotti / Washington Post:
Developer of Watch app FlickType, who previously called out Apple for allowing scam and copycat apps, sues Apple claiming fraud and unfair competition  —  The developer behind FlickType, an Apple Watch keyboard, alleges the company used its power over the App Store to stymie its progress
Robert Hackett / Fortune:
OpenSea, a marketplace for NFTs, raises $23M Series A led by a16z crypto, says $95M in digital merchandise was sold on the service in Feb., up from $8M in Jan.  —  Subscribe to The Ledger for expert weekly analysis on fintech's big stories, delivered free to your inbox.
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers detail XcodeSpy, a custom version of open source back door EggShell that aims to spy on the Macs of iOS developers  —  XcodeSpy uses malicious Xcode project to install the EggShell backdoor.  —  Researchers said they've found a trojanized code library in the wild that attempts …
Austen Goslin / Polygon:
Nvidia is doubling the price of GeForce Now cloud gaming memberships to $10 a month for new users; its almost 10M “Founder” members will keep the same price  —  Nvidia will keep the price the same for Founders subscribers  —  Nvidia is effectively doubling the price of GeForce Now, its cloud streaming service.
Eddie Makuch / GameSpot:
Sony unveils PS5 VR controllers with haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and finger touch detection  —  Sony has begun to share more details on its vision for next-gen virtual reality, today announcing and showing off the new controllers that will come with PSVR 2.0 for PS5.
Annalee Newitz / The Hypothesis:
Substack's decision to pay certain writers to write on the platform is an editorial one as leaders decide what kind of writing they want to support  —  They paid a secret group of writers to make newsletter authorship seem lucrative  —  I think of myself as having decent critical faculties …
Reuters:
Sources: DOJ investigators are asking ad executives whether Google's plan to ban third-party cookies will hobble its smaller rivals  —  (Reuters) - Google's plan to block a popular web tracking tool called “cookies” is a source of concern for U.S. Justice Department investigators …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
YouTube is rolling out its TikTok rival YouTube Shorts in the US, but the beta is missing features and feels half-baked  —  Rolling out to everyone in the US ‘over the next several weeks’  —  YouTube Shorts, the company's short-form answer to TikTok, is launching in beta in the United States starting today.
John Cook / GeekWire:
Real estate tech startup OfferPad, a Zillow rival, says it is going public via SPAC, valuing the company at $3B and raising $650M  —  Former Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff is jumping back into the real estate game in a big way.  —  Rascoff, who left the CEO post at the Seattle real estate juggernaut …
Kishan Vyas / XDA Developers:
Google Chrome adds Live Caption as an accessibility feature in Chrome 89, to transcribe speech in videos  —  Google first showcased its amazing Live Caption accessibility feature at Google I/0 2019.  The feature was first rolled out to the Pixel phones with Android 10 update and subsequently arrived …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
OpenReel, which is building tools to simplifying remote video production, raises $19M Series A and says Dell, ViacomCBS, and Verizon Media are clients  —  OpenReel, a startup that makes it easier for teams to record videos remotely, has raised $19 million in Series A funding.
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Apple's concession to Russia to prompt users to install state-approved apps sets a precedent that other authoritarian countries may seek to follow  —  Russian iPhone buyers will soon be prompted to install software developed in that country, setting a precedent that other authoritarian governments may follow.

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!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Meet the all-new Zia: Your AI-powered HR for smarter work  —  HR is evolving.  It's no longer just about managing processes like hiring, attendance, payroll, and performance.  Today, it's about delivering better …
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

Great Chat:
Who are the billboards for?
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.
Access:
AI is turning sketches into real-world products
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Is AI Conscious?
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:
AI Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton: AI Is Conscious, Superintelligence is Coming, And We Should Be Worried
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
How Dhar Mann Turned After-School Specials Into A Billion-View Business
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
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 3:40 PM ET, March 18, 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

Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Matt Day / Bloomberg: