Techmeme
April 14, 2021, 10:55 AM

Top News

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
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.
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  —  - Coinbase is set to become the first major crypto business to go public in the U.S. and, should it reach a $100 billion market cap …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Kuo: 2022 iPhone lineup will feature two 6.1" and two 6.7" devices, no mini-sized 5.4"; high end models will have 48MP camera and 8K video capability  —  The upcoming 2022 iPhone lineup will feature two 6.1-inch devices and two 6.7-inch devices, with no mini-sized 5.4-inch iPhone …
Sami Fathi / MacRumors:
Kuo: 2023 iPhones will feature an under-display Face ID system alongside a new periscope telephoto lens  —  Apple plans to include an under-display Face ID system starting with its 2023 iPhones, removing the need to house the facial recognition system in a notch, according to well-respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Washington Post:
Sources: Australian company Azimuth unlocked San Bernardino shooter's iPhone for FBI, using a flaw in Mozilla's open source code used for lightning accessories  —  Azimuth unlocked the iPhone at the center of an epic legal battle between the FBI and Apple.  Now, Apple is suing the company co-founded …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Ireland's Data Protection Commission says it is investigating Facebook's recently-discovered data leak that affected 533M accounts  —  Facebook's lead data supervisor in the European Union has opened an investigation into whether the tech giant violated data protection rules vis-a-vis the leak of data reported earlier this month.
Ian Hamilton / UploadVR:
Oculus says v28 software update to Quest 2 will add an Air Link mode to play PC VR games wirelessly, a 120Hz refresh rate, and improvements to Infinite Office  —  Facebook's latest update to the Oculus Quest 2 software will add an Air Link mode to play PC VR games wirelessly.
Paul Resnikoff / Digital Music News:
Spotify has now removed 42 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, offering no explanations for the removals  —  Spotify is continuing to remove episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience as part of their $100 million exclusive relationship, with more nixed shows discovered this week.
Mishaal Rahman / XDA Developers:
Leaked Android 12 build gives a look at upcoming features, including quick settings, volume panel UI, location permissions, and clipboard access notification  —  It's been nearly 2 months since Google released the first Android 12 developer preview, and we're expecting the third developer preview to drop at any moment.
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Sony unveils 6.5" Xperia 1 III and 6.1" Xperia 5 III flagships with variable telephoto lenses, Snapdragon 888, three 12MP rear cameras, and 4,500mAH battery  —  Another camera-focused iteration of Sony's flagship Android phone  —  Sony is announcing two new phones today, the Xperia 1 III and the Xperia 5 III.
Jake Offenhartz / Gothamist:
Since October, the NYPD has deployed a quadruped robot called Spot to a handful of crime scenes and hostage situations, raising fears of unwanted surveillance  —  The NYPD's robot dog is once again stirring privacy concerns and cyberpunk prophesies of some New Yorkers, after the four-legged machine …
Shara Tibken / CNET:
Samsung announces its next Galaxy Unpacked event will be held on April 28, as rumors point to Galaxy Book laptops, teasing “the most powerful Galaxy is coming”  —  Samsung is gearing up for its third Unpacked event of 2021.  On Tuesday, the company sent invitations for a virtual event scheduled for 7 a.m. PT on April 28.
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
James Vincent / The Verge:
Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:
A glossary to help decode the language used by Google and Facebook to reassure the public about AI responsibility without inviting deeper scrutiny  —  50-ish words you can use to show that you care without incriminating yourself.  —  AI researchers often say good machine learning is really more art than science.
Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today:
Report: in pitch decks submitted to US advertisers about new ad formats, TikTok says it has 732M MAUs globally, 100M+ in the US, 59% of its users are under 24  —  TikTok is planning to launch a range of new eCommerce focused ad offerings as it seeks to maximize its revenue potential …
New York Times:
Hundreds of executives and companies, including Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon, sign a statement opposing “any discriminatory legislation” around voting  —  Amazon, Google, G.M. and Starbucks were among those joining the biggest show of solidarity by businesses over legislation in numerous states.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Amazon unveils second-gen Echo Buds with a 20% smaller design and enhanced noise cancellation for $120 and a USB-C wireless charging case for $140  —  The second-gen Echo Buds are 20 percent smaller and priced very aggressively  —  Amazon is today introducing its second-generation pair of Echo Buds.
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.
Juro Osawa / The Information:
Sources: Indonesia's Gojek and Tokopedia are finalizing an $18B merger, creating a combined company called Goto, in a deal expected to close as early as April  —  Gojek and Tokopedia, two of Indonesia's biggest internet companies, are finalizing their $18 billion merger to create a giant in ride-hailing, food delivery and e-commerce.
More: KrASIA and Tech in Asia
Charlie Warzel / Galaxy Brain:
Twitter's Trending Topics, designed to surface significant news, invariably leads to context collapse, where disparate audiences are lecturing past each other  —  Adventures in context collapse.  —  1 hr ago … We Need To Get Rid Of Twitter Trending Topics

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Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Tom Warren / The Verge: