Techmeme
April 15, 2021, 3:40 PM

Top News

NBC News:
US sanctions Russia for 2020 election interference and SolarWinds hack, blacklisting six tech companies that provide support to Russian intelligence services  —  The United States is hitting Russia with fresh sanctions for interference in the 2020 presidential election …
David Priest / CNET:
Jeff Bezos says Amazon Prime now has 200M+ subscribers, up 50M from the beginning of 2020, and Amazon's net profit in 2020 was $21.3B  —  A new letter to shareholders from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed that the tech giant's Prime service now has over 200 million subscribers.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches a Kids Mode for Edge, with two age range options of between five to eight years or nine to 12 years  —  A free and simple tool for parents  —  Microsoft is launching a new Kids Mode for its Edge browser today.  It's built directly into Microsoft Edge on Windows and macOS …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google updates Earth with historical 3D time lapses that show the devastating effects of climate change, using satellite photos from the last 37 years  —  The new feature will be available Thursday  —  Google Earth is getting a new 3D time-lapse feature that lets you observe how Earth …
Vjeran Pavic / The Verge:
Review of DJI's new $999 Mavic Air 2S: great for beginners with a big one-inch camera sensor but is expensive and there's a significant crop in 4K 60fps  —  The Mavic Air 2S's camera sensor is the same size as what you get in the higher-end Mavic 2 Pro.  It's much larger than the half-inch sensor used in last year's Air 2.
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
International coalition of 35 children's and consumer groups calls on Mark Zuckerberg to scrap plans for an Instagram for children  —  An international coalition of 35 children's and consumer groups called on Instagram on Thursday to scrap its plans to develop a version of the popular photo-sharing app for users under age 13.
Matthew Boyle / Bloomberg:
Walmart says it is investing in GM's self-driving unit Cruise, bringing its latest round to $2.75B, up from $2B in January when Microsoft invested  —  - Deal brings Cruise's latest funding round to $2.75 billion  — Walmart joins fellow Cruise investors Microsoft and Honda
Diane Bartz / Reuters:
House Judiciary Committee votes to approve a 400-page report accusing Big Tech of buying and crushing smaller rivals, paving the way for future legislation  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has formally approved a report accusing Big Tech companies …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple announces $200M investment fund for forest restoration projects that will develop financially viable initiatives to restore woodland areas  —  As part of Apple's continued environmental commitments, the company today announced a new $200 million ‘Restore Fund’ that will develop …
Ryan Mac / @rmac18:
[Thread] A Facebook moderator at Accenture who just quit decries inadequate mental health support and says the current system is bad for Facebook itself  —  A Facebook content moderator contracted through Accenture in Austin quit this morning with a blistering internal note. I've typed it out in full so people can read it for themselves. https://twitter.com/...
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Tech industry group funded by Amazon, Facebook, Google, and others says it supports a corporate tax hike like the one Biden proposed in his $2T plan  —  - Chamber of Progress, a new tech industry group funded by giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google is announcing its support …

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Earlier Picks

Terry Nguyen / Vox:
Amy Feldman / Forbes:
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: