Techmeme
April 13, 2021, 8:25 PM

Top News

Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
In its April batch of patches, Microsoft fixes 108 flaws, including 19 “critical” flaws, five 0-days, and four NSA-discovered critical Exchange flaws  —  Today is Microsoft's April 2021 Patch Tuesday, and with it comes five zero-day vulnerabilities and more Critical Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
The DOJ says the FBI performed a court-approved operation to “copy and remove malicious web shells” on hundreds of hacked Exchange servers across the US  —  The FBI obtained court approval to access vulnerable computers across the United States.  —  Joseph Cox
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple announces an online event on April 20 at 10am PT, entitled “Spring Loaded”, where new iPad Pro devices and more are expected  —  Following an overnight leak by Siri, Apple today officially announced that it will be holding a special “Spring Loaded” event on Tuesday …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Surface Laptop 4 with 13.5" and 15" displays, starting at $999 for AMD model and $1,299 for Intel, shipping April 15 in US, Canada, and Japan  —  The AMD version starts at $300 less than Intel's equivalent  —  Microsoft is refreshing its Surface lineup with the Surface Laptop 4 today …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify announces Car Thing, a Spotify-only, voice-controlled device for the car, launching today for free for select US users  —  It's free, but users have to pay for shipping  —  Spotify's first gadget has landed.  Car Thing, a Spotify-only, voice-controlled device for the car …
Ari Levy / CNBC:
NASDAQ sets Coinbase's reference price at $250 per share for its direct listing, which would value the cryptocurrency exchange at $65.3B  —  - The Nasdaq said on Tuesday that Coinbase's reference price for its direct listing is $250, which would value the company around $65.3 billion on a fully diluted basis.
Bloomberg:
Oversight Board:
Facebook Oversight Board will now accept appeals to remove content from Facebook and Instagram; previously, users were only able to appeal to restore content  —  From today, users will be able to appeal content to the Oversight Board which they want removed from Facebook and Instagram.
Mike Dano / Light Reading:
Comments from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile suggest they have killed their joint Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative, which aimed to establish RCS interoperability  —  The biggest wireless network operators in the US announced in 2019 that they would jointly launch a Rich Communications Services (RCS) messaging app sometime in 2020.
Mengqi Sun / Wall Street Journal:
Alphabet shareholder Trillium Asset Management pushes Google for better whistleblower protections, referencing the firing of Timnit Gebru and a 2020 NLRB report  —  Citing recent red flags, Trillium Asset Management files another shareholder proposal urging tech giant to review protections for employees voicing human rights concerns
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
1Password acquires secrets management service SecretHub and launches Secrets Automation, a tool for companies to safeguard enterprise credentials  —  Password-management platform 1Password is expanding into the “secrets management” space, helping developer teams across the enterprise safeguard …
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Over 650 tech workers at the NYT announce they have formed a union to be represented by the NewsGuild of New York and are seeking union recognition from the NYT  —  Tech workers at The New York Times announced on Tuesday that they had formed a union and would ask the company to recognize it.
The Guardian:
Facebook VP of Integrity Guy Rosen called the return of the Honduran president's disinformation campaign a “bummer” in 2019, but it continued for 11 months  —  Juan Orlando Hernández falsely inflated his posts' popularity for nearly a year after the company was informed about it
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Facebook is testing a free video speed dating app called Sparked, which requires a Facebook profile to create an account  —  Users will be set up on four-minute video dates  —  Facebook is testing a video speed dating app called Sparked.  The app, which requires a Facebook profile to create an account …
Jeff Dunn / Ars Technica:
Roku announces a trio of new devices: $40 Express 4K Plus streaming device, a $30 rechargeable Voice Remote Pro, and $180 Streambar Pro  —  Plus new Roku OS updates and a revised two-in-one streaming soundbar.  —  Roku on Tuesday announced its latest 4K media streamer, the Roku Express 4K+.
Ifeoma Ozoma / New York Times:
Ex-Pinterest employee Ifeoma Ozoma describes why she helped draft the Silenced No More Act, a CA bill aiming to let discriminated-against employees bypass NDAs  —  I chose not to be.  We need to end gag orders for victims of workplace abuse.  —  Ms. Ozoma is a tech policy expert …
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
OnePlus Watch review: long battery life, nice finish, and low price, but no voice assistant, no always-on display, few notification options, only one big size  —  The OnePlus Watch pairs with and is controlled by the OnePlus Health app for Android — there's no iPhone compatibility at all.
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
Grab is going public on NASDAQ via SPAC, raising $4B+ at a ~$39.6B valuation; deal would make it the first Southeast Asian tech unicorn to go public via SPAC  —  - SoftBank-backed Grab strikes pact with Gerstner's Altimeter  — Southeast Asia ride-hailing giant set to trade on Nasdaq
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
Researchers find new vulnerabilities called NAME:WRECK in the TCP/IP stack that impact hundreds of millions of servers, smart devices, and industrial equipment  —  Security researchers have found a new set of vulnerabilities that impact hundreds of millions of servers, smart devices, and industrial equipment.
Everett Randle / The Valley of Dunning-Kruger:
Tiger Global is playing a different venture game by paying far more than competitors, speeding up diligence, and adopting a lightweight post-investment approach  —  Or why Tiger is eating your lunch (& your deals)  —  The Tiger Phenomenon … If you actively invest in private …

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1, our model for fast decision-making  —  Our new model delivers top performance in latency and quality on structured decision tasks to outperform other models.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting.  Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach.  —  Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
Zoho Books now supports CT600 & Final Accounts Filing as an add-on in the FREE plan  —  Managing end-of-year filing for limited companies in the UK is often expensive and multi-layered.
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Meta & Microsoft's Claude Slowdown, His Agent Leaked His Banking Info, Don't Bully Your AI
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.
Sources:
Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Bringing Back Mammoths And Building Noah's Ark 2.0 | Colossal's Ben Lamm
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.
Great Chat:
The launch industrial complex
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Larry Ellison's Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI's Biggest Gamble
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.
Training Data:
Google's AI Infrastructure Chief, Amin Vahdat, on the Physics & Economics of Frontier AI
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:25 PM ET, April 13, 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

Earlier Picks

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch: