Techmeme
April 29, 2021, 3:10 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it will reduce its cut for PC games in Windows store from 30% to 12% from August 1, in a bid to compete with Steam  —  Microsoft puts the pressure on Valve's Steam store  —  Microsoft is shaking up the world of PC gaming today with a big cut to the amount of revenue it takes from games on Windows.
Tonya Riley / Washington Post:
A task force of 60+ experts from industry, government, nonprofits, and academia calls on the US and allies to take steps to fight a surge in ransomware attacks  —  A task force of more than 60 experts from industry, government, nonprofits and academia is urging the U.S. government and global allies …
Nandita Bose / Reuters:
US Labor Secretary says most gig workers should be classified as employees deserving of related benefits; shares of Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash are down sharply  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's top labor official said most gig workers in the United States should be classified as …
Reuters:
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
OpenSignal: 5G-capable devices access mmWave 5G less than 1% of the time across all US carriers; Verizon leads with just 0.8% availability  —  Phones capable of using mmWave 5G access it less than 1% of the time.  —  US mobile customers are almost never able to connect to millimeter-wave networks …
Arielle Pardes / Wired:
Founders and VCs are flocking to Miami for “Miami Tech Week”, an impromptu event kicked off by a tweet from Delian Asparouhov, a principal at Founders Fund  —  Founders and funders are flocking to the beach for an impromptu event that some are calling “South by Southeast.”
Canalys.com:
Global smartphone shipments in Q1 reached 347M, up 27% YoY; Samsung took first place, shipping 76.5M for a 22% share, while Apple shipped 52.4M for a 15% share  —  Shanghai (China), Bengaluru (India), Singapore, Reading (UK) and Portland (US) - Thursday, 29 April 2021
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Google finally gives users a way to search through Stadia's 172 games, 526 days after the service's launch  —  If only Google knew anyone with experience building search engines  —  Stadia is an online game streaming service from Google, a company that is practically synonymous with search engines …
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:
Facebook says Q1 ad revenue was $25.4B, up 46% YoY, expects continued growth in Q2, with headwinds in H2 due to regulatory changes and Apple's iOS 14.5 update  —  The average price per ad in Q1 increased by 30 percent year-over-year, driving up Facebook ad revenue growth.
Investor Relations:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Tim Cook says supply shortages will likely impact the Mac and iPad lineups in Q3 due to “legacy node” chip production that uses older manufacturing methods  —  Apple just reported record earnings for Q2 2021, but the company is also warning of supply shortages affecting the Mac and iPad lineups.
Apple:
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
During his first speech to a joint session of Congress, Biden announced that Kamala Harris will lead the administration's rural broadband initiative  —  Vice President Harris will lead the Biden administration's unprecedented effort to ensure every American has access to affordable, high-speed Internet.
Gilad Edelman / Wired:
Q&A: Evelyn Douek, a lecturer and Ph.D. student at Harvard studying online speech regulation, on why a “proportional” approach to online speech is a good thing  —  Major platforms' policies aren't actually inspired by the First Amendment.  This legal scholar says that's a good thing.
James Vincent / The Verge:
EU adopts controversial law forcing internet companies to remove flagged terrorist content within one hour after being notified by national authorities  —  Critics say the legislation could hinder free speech  —  The European Parliament has formally adopted a law requiring internet companies to …
The Markup:
Financial services use Facebook's ad targeting to block people in certain age groups from seeing their ads, violating Facebook's anti-discrimination policies  —  Such ads, along with other age-targeted financial product ads, may violate civil rights laws, attorneys say

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More News

Sheila Dang / Reuters:
Natalia Drozdiak / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:
Josef Adalian / Vulture: